Great Throughts Treasury

This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.

Joe Boot

Canadian Author, Theologian and Philosopher

"Any living system must do at least three things: process energy, store information, and replicate."

"Are we all just “dancing to the DNA”… or are human beings more than amoral biochemical machines?"

"Ideas have consequences. If human life is not sacred, it is expendable. It we are mere brutes, then we can be bred for better pedigree like any dog… The eugenic idea is that we do not want to allow “defective stock” to be bred. Today we abort millions of children, often on the basis of a “high risk” of some disorder."

"How we view life is ultimately that which gives us meaning, value and purpose… Our worldview determines how we solve these problems: What are we? Where did we come from? What does it mean to be human? What is truth? What is the meaning and purpose of life? Why is there so much evil in the world? How should we live? What happens when we die? Does it matter?"

"To be human is to long for something more, something beyond us. Fulfillment, peace, and lasting happiness, for no apparent reason, seem to have evaded us. We believe that we are meant for happiness and made for joy. Pain and suffering are somehow a mistake that should not be part of life."

"Punctuated equilibria [is] the abrupt appearance of life everywhere in the fossil record… suggest evolution has taken place in major creative episodes in different times and place, but with huge periods of stability in between. New species, then, have formed in those episodes during thousands rather than millions of years. This is often called the “lucky monster” theory."

"This is the essence of the problem faced by evolutionists wanting to engage ethical questions. The evolutionary humanist is pressed to an inescapable conclusion: There are no absolute moral standards, and morality is merely the result of an interplay between evolution, tradition, and social convention, which can be altered, updated, and changed depending on the situation... diminished responsibility."

"To live by the code of “do as you please regardless” is to become a prisoner of your own moral corruption. It is to be troubled by guilt and tormented by the inconsistency of living contrary to the demands of your own conscience and moral nature. You simply cannot be satisfied while ignoring any part of your nature."

"Ultimately, what we invest our lives in reveals where our heart is. The man who says he loves his family but never spends time with them because he is obsessed with his work has greater love for his work than his family… The things to which we apportion most of our time, thought, and attention reveal where our treasure in life is truly found. If God is not foremost in our lives, if he is not our greatest treasure, he does not have our heart."

"We seek “perpetual novelty” to punctuate the dreariness of a life that so easily can be devoid of expectation, excitement, and wonder."

"We live in a culture that is morally adrift, desperately searching for meaning and absolutes to anchor the soul."

"Barack Obama?s recent address to a Baltimore mosque is indicative of a graver and deeper threat than mere artificial multiculturalism."

"A truly biblical perspective on war and peace rules out the possibility of pacifism."

"A neutral education is philosophically, theologically, and functionally impossible? All education is in terms of a purpose and a program for freedom. The question is, who defines freedom, and to what end? Educational programs will either be in terms of the purposes of God and his creative and redemptive work in creation, or they will be in terms of an alien purpose derived from the god of this world and his falsehoods."

"Biblical law stands in contrast to the dominant alternative, natural law theory, which for all its claims to neutrality, is in fact nothing more than a revived Stoic paganism, and is of no credibility in a world that lacks religious consensus."

"Contrary to modern notions, true freedom is not the casting off of all restraint, but freedom from the power of sin."

"Culture is inescapably religious and therefore it cannot be neutral."

"Either God exists or he does not. There is no middle ground. Both cannot be true. No amount of philosophical trickery can hide from the greatest antithesis of them all... We cannot leave this question for the intellectuals, scientists, philosophers and theologians alone... We must answer it for ourselves."

"Power for power?s sake becomes the only thing of value when a culture abandons God and His word. Even human life becomes merely a means to an end."

"Examination of the origins of The Origin of Species demonstrates that evolutionary theory is neither original to Darwin, nor primarily the product of scientific observations. Darwin sought reasons to reject the scriptural doctrines of God and creation, and found them in Enlightenment deism. Ultimately, evolution is a thoroughly religious worldview."

"The church's historical attitudes toward sex, sexuality and marriage from the first century through to the present day have often been in error. Rather than something to be repressed or brazenly flaunted, sex is a gift of God to mankind, to be enjoyed and celebrated within the God-ordained context of marriage between one man and one woman."

"Sexuality and marriage have been distorted in our contemporary culture. This is a result of false religion which produces self-centred, self-gratifying perversion. But true biblical faith will lead to a proper, fulfilling and other-centred view of sex within marriage which reflects the beauty, sanctity and joy of God."

"The issue of abortion is not merely a matter of pragmatics, but of deep-seated religious convictions. It is a question of where our ultimate allegiance lies and what we worship ? the one true God, or ourselves; there is no third option."

"The most fundamental of all questions that can possibly be asked is, 'Does God exist?' That is not to say that it is the foremost question on everybody's mind. You may well have decided that there is a God and have other questions that are more important to you than this one: How can I find peace and happiness? What does the future hold? How can I solve my personal problems? Other questions of this sort may be far more prominent issues. However, the existence of God has huge implications for all these others."

"When the church chooses to follow the changing tides of culture, rather than hold forth the unchanging Word of truth, it sows the seeds of its own destruction."

"The resurgence of naturalistic, materialist worldviews have dominated much of modern medical practice. The Bible rejects both the ancient esotericism as well as the current belief in an ever-evolving technological materialism."

"Unless it is appreciated and stewarded in obedience to God and his Word, wealth proves to be nothing but a burden and vanity."