October 21-25

I opened a Swiss Bank account on Wednesday. Yeah that is just fun to say. I spoke in French the whole time, except when I was signing documents, they were in English. I thought in regards to my money, I probably shouldn't be signing things that I don't completely understand. The teller was very nice and very helpful. She told me that I spoke French very well. I think she was just being polite. Also, the two tellers at the bank really liked my passport. I think it was the first time that they had seen a new US passport. It never occurred to me that not every country has a passport that is decorated with lots of colorful photos. They took turns flipping through looking at all the pictures while my stuff was printing. They called Mt. Rushmore "Hollywood", though, but I decided not to correct them. Not really that important. The teller who helped me set up my account is going to be coming to the US for a few months to improve her English. She doesn't know where she will be going yet, but she seemed excited.

A friend loaned me a booklet that was published by the RZIM (Ravi Zacarias International Ministries.) It was written by Paul Copan, a lecturer and writer with a a PhD in Philosophy from Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The booklet is entitled "Is everything Really Relative?: Examining the Assumptions of Relativism and the Culture of Truth Decay." The author poses questions and examines the logic of the principles of Relative Truths and Absolute Truths. Basically, he seeks to crumble the foundations of Relativism. I'm curious what others opinions are about these schools of thought. Do you believe that everything is relative and what is true for one may not be true of another, or do you believe that the only truths are absolute? What is absolutely true? How do you define tolerance? What are your feelings about religious pluralism? These are very difficult but interesting questions to think about. I'm curious to discuss them. After I have some more time to reflect and further research what I've read, I'll write more about how I would answer these questions.