The Boulder Church

6pm! Lafayette Gathering tonight, Sat 3/6

Tim — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 12:06:46 +0000

Author: Tim

Posted: Sat Mar 06, 2010 12:06 pm

PS. We'll head up to Ned next Sat.

PSS. Frozen Dead Guy days are happening this weekend.

Lafayette Gathering tonight, Sat 2/27

Tim — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 09:30:42 +0000

Author: Tim

Posted: Sat Feb 27, 2010 9:30 am

Fellowship,

Lafayette Gathering tonight. Homemade pizza tonight!

6pm-8pm!

Blessings,

Original Sin, one more question.

EvanA — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 14:06:58 +0000

Author: EvanA

Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2010 2:06 pm

I disagree that absolute morality is not the issue. At the very least, it is an issue, and in my opinion it is at the heart of Chesterton's quotation.

Quote:

The ancient masters of religion were quite equally impressed with that necessity. They began with the fact of sin--a fact as practical as potatoes. . . . The strongest saints and the strongest sceptics alike took positive evil as the starting-point of their argument.

Chesterton asserts that sin is a "fact" and implies that all intelligent people believe in "positive evil." These terms imply the existence of absolute evil, not relative evil. Moreover, "pain" and "evil" are not the same thing. Skinning a cat is only painful from a cat's perspective, not evil, as cats (as far as I know) are not utilitarians or Epicureans, or in other words do not have a moral code based on pleasure and pain. The "obvious meaning of the cat's biochemical pain receptors" is not that the skinning is evil from its perspective, but is merely the tautological fact that the cat feels pain. There is no basis in nature, even if it would be more convenient from some people's perspectives if there were, for identifying pain or the infliction of pain with evil.

It is indeed provisional moralities that people are constantly debating about, but to admit that all moral ideas are provisional and not absolute is to disagree sharply with Chesterton, as Chesterton asserts that positive evil and sin are facts, which implies that they can be known from the very nature of our universe.

The pure skeptic can escape the problem in one way. S/he can simply conclude that all of his/her value judgments are not based in any absolute standard. But s/he does not have to conclude that it is better to make or not make value judgments as a result.

On the other hand, I agree that in practice almost all, if not all, people, including even staunch skeptics, do believe in moral codes for various reasons, by various standards, and with various conclusions about what courses of action are good and bad based on those standards. And of course all of these beliefs are provisional, none are demonstrably rooted in an absolute code of morality, and people will certainly continue to debate them. One might ask what the point is of debating moral codes when they have no demonstrable absolute basis. Are we not arguing in circles and despite the fact that no consensus will ever come close to being reached? But I suppose that's true of everything in philosophy, religion, and even science. At that point, I guess we can only decide what moral beliefs to hold based on our own personal preferences. But I maintain that this is a far cry from believing in sin or positive evil as fact, which means it is not very "Chestertonian."

Hmm... I actually think we agree quite a bit, except maybe about the implications and underlying significance of Chesterton's terms sin and positive evil.

Denver Gathering this Sat 2/20

Tim — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 17:32:43 +0000

Author: Tim

Posted: Wed Feb 17, 2010 5:32 pm

Fellowship,

Our Denver Gathering is this Sat, 2/20, 6pm-8pm. Amy has a beautiful place next to downtown, that is easy to get to, and has a nice, free parking lot next door.

This is a potluck, bring a treat if you wish.

Please let me know if you can't get a ride or need directions.

Blessings,

Nederland tonight! Sat, Feb 13

Tim — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 12:04:17 +0000

Author: Tim

Posted: Sun Feb 14, 2010 12:04 pm

Fantastic evening! What a treat.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone. Denver Gathering is next Sat!

Lafayette Gathering Tonight 1/30

Tim — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 08:08:35 +0000

Author: Tim

Posted: Sat Jan 30, 2010 8:08 am

Fellowship,

I had two people last week tell me that last Sat was our best discussion ever. Our discussion was on The Art of Listening...and it was fun!

We will be meeting at the Hanes home in Lafayette tonight (Sat, 1/30) from 6:30pm - 8:30pm. This is not a potluck...and there will be more fondue!

Let me know if you need directions or a ride.

We'll be having our next Nederland gathering, Sat, Feb 13th. Our next Denver gathering will be Sat, Feb 20th. All other gatherings will be in Lafayette for now.

Quote:

�If the person you are talking to doesn't appear to be listening, be patient. It may simply be that he has a small piece of fluff in his ear.� - Winnie the Pooh

Blessings,

Lafayette Gathering Tomorrow 1/23

Tim — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 18:34:40 +0000

Author: Tim

Posted: Fri Jan 22, 2010 6:34 pm

Fellowship,

We will be meeting at the Hanes home in Lafayette tomorrow night (Sat, 1/23) from 6:30pm - 8:30pm. This is not a potluck...it's fondue night! Let me know if you need directions or a ride.

We had a terrific time at Amy's beautiful place in Denver, overlooking the downtown skyline.

Thank you to Joey and Kelly in Nederland, and to Amy in Denver for being terrific hosts!

We'll be having our next Nederland gathering, Sat, Feb 13th. Our next Denver gathering will be Sat, Feb 20th. All other gatherings will be in Lafayette for now.

Quote:

"The truth knocks on the door and you say, "Go away, I'm looking for the truth," and so it goes away. Puzzling." Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Blessings,

Gathering Tomorrow in Denver!

Tim — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 17:08:00 +0000

Author: Tim

Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2010 5:08 pm

Fellowship,

We are gathering tomorrow (1/16) at Amy's house in Denver, 6:30pm-8:30pm. Directions in the "Member's Only" area (must be logged in to see). This will be lots of fun.

Blessings,

Haitian relief

Tim — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 22:03:11 +0000

Author: Tim

Posted: Thu Jan 14, 2010 10:03 pm

You can text 90999 and put the word "Haiti" in the message and you will instantly donate $10 to the Red Cross relief there. The $10 will be added to your cell phone bill.

Let us remember to pray for those folks.

Important Message

Tim — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 22:01:11 +0000

Author: Tim

Posted: Sun Jan 10, 2010 10:01 pm

Fellowship,

We are going to have a few changes to our weekly, Sat evening gatherings. These changes are to expand our conversation and our group, and more easily allow some of you to make it to our gathering.

We are going to meet once a month in Nederland and once a month in Denver. Nederland will be the second Sat of the month, at Joey and Kelly's house. Denver will be the third Sat of the month, at Amy's house.

This Sat, 1/16, we will be meeting in Denver. I'll post directions later this week in the "Member's Only" section (if you can't see it, you need to sign up!).

We will still be meeting the rest of the Sat's at the Hanes home in Lafayette.

This should be a lot of fun! We also hope to grow our group a bit to more easily allow folks in the mountains to attend the monthly Nederland gathering, and more easily allow folks in the Denver area to attend the gathering there.

Last night in Nederland, there were ten of us, and it was amazing and powerful, with original music from Joey. Homemade hummus, smoked salmon, etc. We had a wonderfully engaging conversation. What a treat!

There is always a way to get there! If anyone needs a ride or gas money, please don't hesitate to let me know.

I will make sure to post the dates clearly each month so there is no confusion on where we are meeting. I look forward to seeing each of you at one of these gatherings soon.

Blessings,

Nederland Tomorrow! 1/9

Tim — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 21:40:55 +0000

Author: Tim

Posted: Sun Jan 10, 2010 9:40 pm

What a great night!

Thanks to all who made it.

Gathering Tomorrow in Lafayette

Tim — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 19:23:41 +0000

Author: Tim

Posted: Fri Jan 01, 2010 7:23 pm

Fellowship,

We'll have our gathering tomorrow at the Hanes house in Lafayette (Sat 1/2, 6:30 to 8:30pm). This is a POT LUCK night! We'll be writing New Year's letters to ourselves and playing a few games together.

Thanks to everyone that came to the Christmas gathering last week. That was fun!

Weather permitting, we'll be heading up to Nederland next Sat, 1/9.

See you tomorrow,

Anne Frank Quote

Tim — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 07:27:49 +0000

Author: Tim

Posted: Sat Dec 26, 2009 7:27 am

"People who have a religion should be glad, for not everyone has the gift of believing in heavenly things. You don't necessarily even have to be afraid of punishment after death, purgatory, hell and heaven are things that a lot of people can't accept, but still a religion, it doesn't matter which, keeps a person on the right path. It isn't the fear of God but the upholding of one's own honor and conscience. How noble and good everyone could be if, every evening before falling alseep, they were to recall to their minds the events of the whole day and consider exactly what has been good and bad. Then, without realizing it, you try to imporve yourself at the start of each new day; of course, you achieve quite a lot in the course of time. Anyone can do this, it costs nothing and is certainly very helpful. Whoever doesn't know it must learn and find by experience that: 'A quiet conscience makes one strong.'"