Thoughts From My Tranquil Hours: Megadeth vs Metallica, Freedom and Salvation, Philosophy of Religion Interview.
The best of Megadeth (Rust in Peace, Peace Sells) is better than what most people consider the best of Metallica (Puppets, Lightening). However, what most people consider the worst of Metallica (Load, Reload, but NOT St. Anger) is as good as the best of Megadeth, and sometimes better. Here’s the reason. When going head to head as thrash bands, Megadeth pulls ahead easily, especially with the fretboard pyrotechnics of Poland and Friedman. Metallica just can’t keep up. However, when shifting to a lower gear, Metallica can groove so well — they are almost impossible to beat. To appreciate this point, listen to Outlaw Torn and Bleeding Me.
People have been asking me questions about human freedom and God’s salvific will. Is everybody saved? If not, here are the possible alternatives. Either God cannot save everybody, or God can save anybody but does not. If God can save everybody but does not, either there is a principled reason why God does not, or not. The latter most option I find wholly unacceptable, in strong contradiction to God’s goodness and divine innocence. The middle option, of there being a principled reason why God does not provide special help for everyone to be saved, is Maritain’s. That principled reason is God works with things according to their mode of being, and ours is a fallible liberty. God permits our failure because that is in accord with what we are and God “plays fair” with natures. Nevertheless, God offers everything everybody needs to be saved, even if he does not unliterally move all to salvation, particularly those who continually resist God (the latter would be akin to miraculous intervention, which, if a matter of general policy, rather than exception, would be contrary to God’s wisdom in governance, and therefore impossible). The former most option is just that God cannot unliterally move all to salvation, even on the order of miracle. This position assumes a strong libertarian notion of freedom, and this option deals nicely with the issue of why not all might be saved: Because not even God can guarantee that. The difficulty, however, is working this account in with other Christian commitments, including the inability to sin in heaven. The best answer to that, I believe, is that we are derivatively free in heaven, having formed a moral character incapable of sin, but that that moral character was attained through prior free choices. Pawl and Timpe offer a good account.
Adrian asked what works of fiction I like. There are many, but novels that had an important moral impact in my youth include Huxley’s Brave New World, Lowry’s The Giver (I enjoyed the movie, as well, unlike most), Peck’s A Day No Pigs Would Die, Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, and Twain’s The Mysterious Stranger.
Jake Busher recently interviewed me about all things philosophy of religion on his podcast Cutting the Gordian Knot. We discussed cosmological reasoning, the moral argument, the fine-tuning argument, and more. We began, of all things, by making general metaphysical remarks about Michael Jackson’s Beat It.
More of these “Thoughts from My Tranquil Hours” in the future. (This should be a way for me to catch up on questions/requests sent via email, which I am way behind on — sorry!)