Ben Joiner's Blog

I wanted to write a short article on the question of tearing down statues.  I do not think it is a very important question compared to others.  But it is an amazingly easy question to answer.  And people get it so incredibly wrong that I may as well say something. 1)Historical monuments are to remember something important that happened. 2)You will find that most important figures of history have also done bad things. 3)Usually those bad things were normal in their day. For example, Thomas Jefferson did own slaves.  But that in no way made him stand out from the crowd.  That was normal back then.  In fact all of planet earth outside of Western Europe was perfectly OK with slavery at the time.  Jefferson stood out from the crowd because of his important work in founding America, the world's first modern democracy.  He also had a hand in the founding of the world's second modern democracy, the French Revolution.  It makes no sense to t...

A classic controversy is whether Christmas, Easter, and Halloween are acceptable for Christians to celebrate.  It is alleged that since these holidays are pagan in origin, then they are not Christian.  This reasoning is stupendously flawed. Christians have a habit of taking things and giving them new meanings.  The earliest Christian depictions of the Jesus are 1)A fish 2)A swan 3)Jonah and the Whale The earliest depictions of Jesus are modeled after art of Apollo.  Later they are modeled after Zeus.  These are pagan gods.  But the Christians gave their own touch.  They had an almost obsession with slipping in coded messages that only the learned would notice. Does any of this make Christianity pagan?  No.  The best way to see this point is by taking it further.  It's the long standing tradition of Christians to take things and redefine them.  For example, the word "God" is a pagan word that refers to Odin, Thor, Fre, Loki,...

I have heard this said many times in many ways.  But this one example stuck with my memory.  On the way back from a ski trip, the guy sitting next to me said that he really liked the ski resort.  But then he decided that he needed to take that back because he couldn't be too positive about it.  He said that the areas cleared for skiing are not natural so it isn't a good thing.  If it was natural, then there would be trees all over the mountain. Well we have to ask how on earth he defines the word "natural."  But I think he perhaps defines it the way he uses it.  I've heard it this way so many times.  p1)The way things would be without the activity of humans is natural.  p2)The way things are when humans do something is unnatural.  (redundant) p3)What is natural is good. Now, I ask you, what is the conclusion? c) Therefore, all human activity is bad. I had to ask him, do humans have a right to exist on this planet?  Do ...

The question of sex is perhaps the biggest issue for Christians in our time. What I want to do is look at what appears to be the most popular options of our day. In the ancient world it was quite different. Huge drunken orgies were practiced as worship to a god like the golden calf at Mt. Sinai. Rape was commonplace if the person was a slave. Polygamy was a mark of success. And sex with animals wasn't abnormal. This stuff is all pretty weird today so I'm going to focus on the modern sexual culture. Single with multiple partners: Or Open Marriage: A husband and wife have agreed to allow each other to have sex with other partners and are okay with it. There are only two ways this can be rationalized. 1)Sex can be casual. 2)Sex is loving, but can be with many partners. Sex is loving, but can be with many partners “Hey I love you so much. By forever. Hey I love you so much. Bye forever. Etc.” Sex can be casual: Empirical research shows peop...

In the typical Left versus Right divide of American politics, one claim the left tends to proclaim is this.   Basic needs are a right.  Healthcare is a right.  Food is a right.  Education and Shelter are a basic right.  In fact transportation is a basic need that could easily be added to this list. This may seem irrational, since there are also those on the left who claim that freedom of speech should be removed from the Bill of Rights.  But perhaps this is just evidence that the left vs. right dichotomy is false. Nevertheless, let's examine freedom of speech.  This implies freedom of thought and belief by it's very nature.  Speech is merely the communication of ideas.  A good argument can be made in favor of freedom of speech.  If we assume that people will have different views, then some of those will be serious and have to be resolved.  The only way to resolve them is by communication or violence.  Violence ends oth...

There is a benefit to subjective morality. While most of them can be easily persuaded, teenagers are generally in the subjective morality camp. This is beneficial. Let's remember the syllogism. Premise 1)Objective Moral Values and Duties Exist Premise 2)Objective Moral Values and Duties Exist ONLY if God Exists Conclusion Therefore God Exists Premise 2 can be difficult for people to comprehend. But subjective morality is really an affirmation of premise 2! Think of it this way. What is morality if not a set of desires about the way the world should be? That's a key point for us here. What is morality if not a set of desires about the way the world should be? Sometimes you get people who tell you that logic or science can give you a set of morals. This is wrong, but an example can help us see. It's like saying that a map can give you a destination. A map can tell you how to get to a destination, but it cannot give you a destina...

The current (August 19') issue of Thrasher features an article titled "Over It."  It's a bunch of interviews of legendary pro skateboarders that went from huge drug users to total sobriety.  They tell the story of how and why that transition happened.  As I was looking at the article, a young man (about 22) told me that skateboarding is a sport with a lot of drug use. I immediately tried to explain to him that there is nothing inherently evil about a piece of plywood with four wheels on the bottom.  But I didn't say exactly that.  Since he had been a football player in high school, I asked him if any of the kids on his team used drugs.  He told me that they did.  So I asked him whether he that causes him to think that football is a sport for drug users.  Since he makes that immediate conclusion when he finds out that a skateboarder uses drugs, then why not draw the same conclusion in football?  I also asked him about weightlifting, since it...