Introduction

A voice cries out:  in the desert prepare the way of the Lord!   Isaiah 40:3

Purpose

    First, note that this site is not complete.  The arguments that I have already put down, I believe, but I have not yet said all that I want to.  Also, because of the nature of the topic, this site can never be complete.  Even when it is "done," it will only be an introduction to Christianity.

    The goal of this site is to put Christianity on a firm intellectual footing.  Many people who are not Christian justify this by saying that it is just not true and cannot be demonstrated to be true.  Assuming this is not the first place you have looked, you  have learned that there is a large amount of nonsense written both for and against Christianity and that it is easy to despair of ever finding a reliable source.  Even when you find well thought out sources, every proof and opinion is based on assumptions that have not been substantiated.  You can read an entire book and never feel confident that the earliest foundations of the author's arguments were well established.  It is my desire to help improve this situation with this site.  As you explore my site, you will find my beliefs about Christianity organized in such a way that you can see every logical dependency at a glance.  It is my hope to use this device to prove Christianity to you beyond a reasonable doubt. 

    I should also say what this site is not.  It is not a balanced survey of modern thought on Christianity.  It is a balanced survey of my thoughts on Christianity.  I will bring up opposing arguments sometimes, but only to counter-argue.  My views are typically those of orthodox (main-line) Catholic Christianity, and I do not knowingly contradict the Church on this site.  However, this site has not received the official approval of the Catholic Church (Nihil obstat and Imprimatur), so you shouldn't assume that my views are free from error, as far as the Church is concerned.

How to Read the Site

    How to best read the site will vary based on where you come from.  If you are violently distrustful of the Bible, it better to start with the section on understanding God from philosophy.  If you find philosophical arguments boring, too difficult, or not very satisfying, it is better to start with the section on understanding God from the New Testament.  If you find one of these two paths difficult, switch to the other one. 

    This site will be most useful if you approach it with an open mind.  You must be willing to question your long held assumptions as well as keeping your resolve to question my argumentation.  If you find weaknesses in my arguments, please e-mail me.  Feedback is a very important part of this process.  Without your responses, I could very easily leave a fundamental flaw in one of my earlier arguments that causes a chain reaction of invalid arguments. 

    Most of the ideas on this site are inspired in whole or in part by my source material.  I encourage you to read the sources in my bibliography.  I only put books and websites in my bibliography that I consider to be very useful.

Fundamental Assumptions

I say above that I desire not merely to explain my beliefs about Christianity, but to prove them to you.  Ideally this means that I make zero assumptions. In practice, this is not possible.  There are two assumptions that are, by definition, unprovable.  I can make them plausible, but I cannot prove them.  However, realize that rejecting these assumptions means rejecting all human knowledge, not just philosophy or theology.

That is, the statements

1) A equals B

2) A does not equal B,

cannot both be true. Other statements, such as A cannot be both greater and less than B fall under the same category. All proofs depend upon this assumption. You cannot prove that truth is logically consistent, because all proofs require the consistency of logic as an assumption. However, the proposition is a reasonable one. All of modern science and engineering depends upon it.  A computer follows the laws of logic. If it did not, it would be impossible to design one that functioned. The ideal laws of science are self consistent. In the past, whenever a law of science has been inconsistent with another law, the problem has been with the laws, not with the universe. In modern times, one of the primary motivations behind theoretical physics is contradiction removal, because it has been so useful in the past. It would be strange indeed if everything in the universe was self consistent, but once you start asking questions about the deeper nature of things consistency was broken.

That is, my web site reveals actual concepts that you are capable of understanding, in the same way that I understand them. I must be careful to define unusual or difficult concepts, but once this is done it is possible for me to relay information to you. It is impossible to prove that language has meaning, because no proof can be made without language. Again, it is plausible, because all of science and engineering depends upon this, as well as all human inter-relationships. I would not be able to repeat experiments carried out by Isaac Newton and get the same answers unless we had a shared understanding of what he wrote in the Principia, more than three hundred years ago.  Language, however, can be an issue in any conversation. It is important when you read my site, that you use my vocabulary. For example, I speak of God frequently. In the beginning, my understanding, and therefore my definition, of God is very minimalist. As I learn more about God, I expand my definition, until it matches that of the Christian God.  It is important that you follow these changing definitions in order to properly understand my site.

There are also a number of facts that I assume because I believe that every rational person accepts them.  This includes basic things, such as the the knowledge that a hydrogen atom is composed of a proton and an electron, as well as more advanced things, such as the belief that humans are sentient.  If you disagree with some of these basic assumptions, feel free to let me know.