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Divine Simplicity: The Essence and Existence of God

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Before we search out the answers to scientific questions with a critical and intentional inquisition, those realities can seem deeply mysterious, unintelligible, and/or complex. We begin with an educated guess, and as we experiment, our understanding can become very complex, not knowing exactly how newfound variables are involved. By the time we completely understand the causality of a phenomenon such that we can apply it to technology, it becomes simple, singular, and familiar to us. From mystification to a well-formed perspective, our perception becomes tuned to reality. As the mind approaches God, man has shown this same pattern, imagining Him to be not one but many, not loving but oppressive, etc. However, as one grows familiar with His ways, we also become familiar with His nature. Similar to the manner in which Thomas Aquinas discussed whether God’s existence is demonstrable, God is not so much known through the same method as a physical being but rather by getting to know Him li...
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What is Happiness?

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This question is the foremost question of ethics because it is what joins or separates—depending on our answer—what is objectively good from what we subjectively feel compelled to pursue. Every person desires to be happy, and rightfully so (cf. Ps 4:7; Jn 16:24, Ps 16:11 ). However, real happiness does not lie on the other side of evil (cf. Rom 6:23) . This is where the Catholic Church becomes unpopular, for it reveals the depth of humanity’s fall. If we pursue happiness through what in fact engenders suffering, we seek our destruction and rejoice in it (cf. Prov 14:12 ).[1] This destruction disposes us to greater comfort with evil, creating conditions in which undesirable realities arise—both internal and external—and relationships at every level (with God, others, and ourselves) are degraded (cf. Jas 1:14–15 ).[2] This raises the question of what constitutes real happiness—happiness that does not produce these absurdities yet makes one truly joyful and unburdened. I would argue, and...
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The "Hour of the Son of Man", Suffering, and Mary's Maternity

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The word hour appears twenty times throughout the Gospel of John. More often than not, Jesus uses it to symbolize the climactic event of His glorification through suffering (cf. John 12:23, 27, NRSVCE). “Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father” (John 13:1). This verse begins the Last Supper discourse, and the language signals that the decisive moment has truly “come.” In chapter 16, the word is used to foretell the suffering of the Apostles (John 16:2–4). Later in the same chapter, Jesus foretells their sorrow at His departure: “When a woman is in labor, she has pain, because her hour has come. But when her child is born, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy of having brought a human being into the world. So you have pain now; but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you” (John 16:21–22). Here, suffering is revealed as necessary for th...
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The Strengths and Limits of the Argument from Miracles

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The argument from miracles is often presented as a proof for the existence of God. However, its strength and persuasiveness are largely dependent upon the interpretive framework of its audience. This essay will argue that while miracles can serve as powerful confirmations of belief, their value as arguments against atheism is significantly limited by the epistemological commitments of non-theists. The epistemological restraint of atheists already disallows them to consider abstract or not immediately present evidence, which is the reason they are not theists. The effectiveness of miracle-based arguments is therefore derivative of the effectiveness of arguments from experience. Even if they were presented with a miracle before them, it is likely they would assert it is just a phenomenon that science does not yet have the capability to describe, predict, or affect—or that the laws of nature do not perfectly obtain at every moment and place. Sometimes even the greatest of miracles cannot...
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Where the World’s Definition of Freedom Leads

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Whenever someone asks, “why not?” Usually, it seems the right question has been asked, and it’s understood to mean there is not a sufficient reason to think contrary to what someone has said. It is dismissive framing, suggesting either/both ignoratio elenchi or intentional rhetoric to discredit the contrary without engaging counterarguments. This undermines credibility in balanced discourse, prioritizing persuasion over accuracy. This is not unlike the first sin tantamount to: "He said..." which is honest and responsible for the most part, and it is replied to with "but why not? after all, this is really what God is about..." This is similar to the way the world defines freedom or addresses any significant issue regulated by religion, i.e., an undiscerning, uninvestigating, daft, and disinterested Occam's razor interested in mere perpetual apathy via vincible and therefore culpable ignorance. This "ignorance is bliss and I unilaterally decide to strawman an...
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The Role Sad Songs and Rock Can Have in Healing and Conversion

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"Come to life I remember this Just like paradise (And cyanide) Take a bite The taste of all your sin You've lost your appetite (For sacrifice)" These lyrics come to us from a brand-new song "Silos" by Starset. Before we begin our discussion, I must restrain the category for you lest you think I am discussing something that includes a broader category than my meaning. By rock music, I am not thinking about any song with electric guitar and not even [any with gravelly vocals]. I do mean music, which, in the delivery as well as lyrics, demonstrates some truth about the effects of sin and belief held by those broken by the pain of abuse, regret, and relational strife. By sad songs, I am actually expanding that category to include most of rap, pop, and hip-hop, because the sadness conveyed is not only whether the song is in a minor key but also demonstrative of that selfsame darkness invited in by sins, both our own and that of those we love. In either case, it is m...
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Law & Virtue: Freedom Refined for True Goodness

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The Seven Virtues, Piero and Antonio Pollaiuolo and Botticelli Depicted from left-to-right: Fortitude ~ Temperance ~ Faith ~ Charity ~ Hope ~ Justice ~ Prudence If you have ever observed a significant amount of rhetoric on any contentious issue, then you would have observed an attempt to frame an objective reality subjectively, some ad hominem attacks, and even some conclusions/premises posed without evidence. This comes largely from the cultural inability to either form arguments or a disbelief in objective reality. However, more fundamentally, there is hardly ever a common definition of freedom. What is freedom, and do we have it? True freedom is the aspect of rational man to choose the good (according to the nature of a thing, in that it is some way desirable and that it has its essence in completeness or in that an action contributes or derives from the completeness of an act, thus an act not completely good is evil and it correspond to an imperfection in the actor and lacks being ...
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