So, What's This Blog About?

NOTE: This post will always be at the top. All other posts are in last-to-first order.

First, this blog is focused on close friends and family.

Second, why the emphasis on authority? I’ll admit to being a bit of a reactionary, but my fundamental reasons are more substantive.

Genesis 1 makes basic assertions about man being (a) created by God, and by implication, under His authority, (b) in the image of God, (c) male & female, and (d) in authority over the rest of creation as a steward.

Genesis 3 records how creation is permanently distorted when Eve, then Adam, reject God’s authority. Since we’re in God’s image, it seems that we intuitively understand we have a legitimate scope of authority. Satan appears to have distorted this understanding to convince Eve and Adam that God’s authority regarding the tree was not legitimate/justified.

The rest of the Bible records a wide range of ways in which distorted understandings of God’s created order emerge, individuals/groups take rebellious actions, suffer the consequences, and are redeemed by Christ’s sacrifice.

Bottom line: Authority seems to be a fundamental thread in the created order, especially when it comes to turning knowledge into action. Even though, on a theoretical basis, questions of epistemology would seem to be more fundamental than questions of authority, I think that they are not. It seems to me that theoretical considerations in epistemology point most strongly toward a common sense conclusion: our knowledge is partial and flawed (critical realism), but is generally complete and accurate enough to take sensible action (see also Quine’s assertions about evidence always underdetermines theory), and that our shortcomings are much more those of emotion/desire than knowledge.