What the heck is the “quest for truth”?

And also, why is “just enjoy your life” considered ‘no foundation for life’ or ‘it’s utterly inadequate’. Yeah, I’m sure that if you read enough philosophy then everything does indeed start to look very fraught and horrible and our lives seem like hollow, whistling shells for which there is no balm in Gilead.

But meanwhile, the other 90% of us are down the corner listening to music and drinking beer and bouncing our children on our knees. And yeah there are books, but better Shakespeare and Harry Potter and Basho than than those sad German guys, Nietzsche and Luther.

There has never, in all the life of Man, ever been a more robust, fun, serviceable philosophy than Cheerful Nihilism. It’s a philosophy that actually *does* stand a chance of relieving you of “a moment’s toothache.”

So part of what I take away is this: (1) It is not wrong to engage with intellectual doubts, but it is wrong to do so without intellectual honesty and without humility. And (2) often the most severe challenges to faith are not intellectual, but emotional and relational and sensual, and the corrective (or preventative) to these challenges is an honest and humble flesh-and-blood relationship with Jesus.

But now compare: can you say the same about all the religious people you know, that each and every one has little reticence doubting the truth claims of his or her religious convictions?

Their writings are clear, concise, and to the point, and should give the honest reader at the very least cause to reflect. Of course, it’s much easier to criticize what you may not have read because content and context go hand in hand. They are not loud, strident, militant, nor arrogant; if nothing else, these authors are honest and consistent even if you disagree with their assessments. They do offer their reasons.