“Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence comes evil?” This saying attributed (perhaps incorrectly) to Epicurus is a common argument against the existence of God. When talking about the problem of evil, everyone seems to point his finger at either God, or the world around him. […]
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Institutes of the Christian Religion: The Use and Abuse of Images
What profit is the image, that its maker should carve it, The molded image, a teacher of lies, That the maker of its mold should trust in it, To make mute idols? Woe to him who says to wood, ‘Awake!’ To silent stone, ‘Arise! It shall teach!’ Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, Yet in it there is no breath at all. But the Lord is in his […]
Read more“Institutes of the Christian Religion” by John Calvin
Preface Institutes of the Christian Religion is a foundational work of Protestant systematic theology, and included in the Great Books of the Western World series, which I’ve been reading and blogging in the past few years. Ironically, I was called a Calvinist once, at a time when I had no idea who Calvin was. Now, twenty years later, I’m reading John Calvin’s magnum opus for the first time. One interesting […]
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