Making fun of Scientology
In case you missed the hilarious scientology episode of South Park, you can watch it here (WARNING: Explicit Language). You can also learn all about scientology through this funny flash dealio (WARNING: Explicit Language). And of course, you can find even more fun stuff like anti-scientology t-shirts (“Free Xenu”) at scientomogy.com.
NYT is ready for a Brave New World
The New York Time (as always) is advocating controversial science with no need for public debate.
In an editorial yesterday, the Times editors attempted to calm any doubts or fears about the creation of chimeras (animal-human hybrids).
There’s no problem they assured us. Researchers just want to try to find cures for all our diseases. Stem cell research using chimeras will solve every health problem we’ve ever had. All they want to do is implant human brain stem cells into mice and see how they react. That’s all. Who knows what would really be going on there, but don’t worry just let the scientist do their jobs.
Dog people : golf > cat people : ???
I was meditating on one of my favorite hobbies and realized that my choice of hobby was related to the fact that I was a cat person. Then it hit me – dog people have a favorite pastime that is analogous.
Dog people like golf : cat people like … bird watching. And this is all due to the different nature of dog and cat people.
Global Warming: threat, deception, or cloak for the antichrist?
Many evangelicals have joined the chorus in support of reducing greenhouse emissions, but I am still on the fence about global warming. Like Bill O’Reilly, think we should get off of fossil fuels for both environmental and economic/political reasons, but I have not bought into the Global Warming Panic (GWP).
As Aaron recently noted, this past year’s hurricane season failed to meet the dire predictions of the GWP lobby – and while that may be too small a sample to be conclusive, it does show the speculative nature of the whole apocalyptic approach of the GWPers.
We’ve argued whether or not GW is a threat, or a hoax perpetrated by misinformed environmentalists. But there’s one more unusual perspective – that global warming, whether man-made or not, will be the worldwide catastrophe that unites the world in one cause, and under one world leader – the antichrist.
Halo 3 and Church Youth Groups, Part I – A theology of war, violence, and aggression
The New York Times has an interesting article on churches that use violent video games to draw and engage teenage boys as part of their outreach and service to youth. Of course, the use of such games has those on both the far right and far left balking, and even Focus on the Family is “still trying to figure out…our official view on it.” But look, it’s not a big deal, OK? Put your religious hackles down and pull up a chair, ’cause I think I’ve got it mostly figured out. We need to examine
- Part I: The Christian view of war, aggression, and violence (this post)
- Part II: Specific objections from the political left and right
- Part III: The real issue – what ends and means to those ends are really appropriate for Christian youth groups?
Why are the scriptures not written more plainly?
As part of my hermeneutics class, we must read some of the works of John Owen (1616–1683), one of the greatest (and often least known) Protestant theologians of history, and by many accounts, the greatest that England has ever produced. In this week’s reading from Pneumatologia, we read Owen’s thoughts on illumination (the role of the Spirit of God in helping us understand scripture) and perspicuity (the understandableness of scripture and it’s message). One of the questions he answers is, if God wanted us to understand Him, why are the scriptures not written in a more didactic fashion?
The Christian duty to bear children
As Christians, we have an absolute duty, if married, to obey the biblical mandate to procreate, as given to both Adam and Eve and Noah and his family:
And God blessed them. And God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth. (Genesis 1:28)
Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. The fear and dread of you will fall upon all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air, upon every creature that moves along the ground, and upon all the fish of the sea; they are given into your hands. Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything. (Genesis 9:1-3)
But how many children is too many? And is it immoral to use any kind of birth control? And is it immoral to overpopulate the earth?
A Short Response to Some of Sam Harris’ claims
This is the text of one of my comments buried in one of the threads here. I thought it "good" enough to post as a main article. I am responding to this. The numbered headers are Sam Harris’ words.
Tavis Smiley: Your daily dose of stupid
I’m sorry. It’s rather difficult to be polite to someone who makes a good, publicly-funded salary in order to spout this nonsense.
Yes, hypocrisy makes it worse
As is often the case with controversies surrounding politicians, much of the rhetoric on Rep. Mark Souder's affair with a staffer has been divided politically. As I have stated on numerous occasions, hypocrisy makes it worse on these type of issues for conservative Republicans, especially those who claim to be committed Christians.
Richard Dawkins drops the F-bomb
In one of my classes, we have been watching The Atheism Tapes, a BBC series where atheist Jonathan Miller interviews other prominent atheists on their disbelief and other related topics. Today, we watched his interview with Richard Dawkins.
I was surprised at who poorly Dawkins handled Miller's God's-advocate (as it were) questions. Miller was obviously not pushing the theist point of view, but he asked Dawkins questions from what he believed to be a theistic view point in order to elicit a pro-atheistic answer from the former professor at Oxford. When he was unable to explain his rationale for holding a certain position, Dawkins surprisingly to me fell back on what he so often attacks in others – faith.
Hitchens argument is not great
"What can be asserted with no evidence can be dismissed with no evidence." – Christopher Hitchens
It sounds so convincing, so logical and seemingly so devastating to religious belief. However, I can guarantee that Hitchens most assuredly beliefs something with no evidence and all I need to prove it is the statement I just quoted.
Political motivations somehow always point right
It is a media inevitability that when a high-profile murder occurs the motivations will invariably be described as "right-wing." Somehow, regardless of the circumstances, the political motivations always point toward the right.
Obama deserves credit for progress
Republicans and conservatives are often accused of holding President Obama to an impossible standard and simply criticizing him for every decision he makes. It is not surprising that the GOP is opposed to many of the policy proposals of the president (similar to the Democrat's response to Bush), however when Obama accomplishes something in the War on Terror he deserves credit for that progress.
Does it take a miracle to believe in the supernatural?
Miracles have long been a stumbling block for many investigating Christianity and other religions. Why would a person living in the 21st century believe that the miraculous not only could happen, but did happen?
The Jesus of History
Much has been made of the phrase "Jesus of history." Many liberal theologians have attempted to argue the Jesus of the Bible is different from the Jesus of history. They most often do this by appealing to the Gnostic Gospels and the version of Jesus they present.
That was always struck me as strange. Why would they use documents written hundreds of years after Jesus lived and died to refute documents that were written within decades of His life, if they were truly concerned with an accurate historical presentation of Jesus?
At this point, those skeptical of the Christian claims of Jesus will point out, "I do not believe any of those descriptions of Jesus since they were written with a religious bias." What would the picture of Jesus be if we simply examined the historical, non-Christian records?
Finally something that Obama did not inherit from Bush
One of the repeated political strategies of the Obama administration has be to blame any of the current problems facing our nation on his predecessor (some of it correctly, some of it debatable, some it incorrectly).
Recently however, Vice President Biden signaled that they were going to take responsibility for one of the more important political developments – the success of the war in Iraq.
Richard Dawkins is right … kinda
It's not often I agree with New Atheism spokesman Richard Dawkins. However in this BBC video clip, he details a problem within Christianity (despite it having the feel of a SNL Jack Handy spot). The ardent atheist explains his opposition to the religious identification of children (calling small children "Christian child," or "Muslim child," not so surprisingly he left out "atheist child).
I somewhat agree with Dawkins, despite his refusal to include his own philosophy in his list. A faith must be adopted by an individual on their own. That would be why Baptists and other similar groups of Christians rejected infant baptism.
While Dawkins may prefer to speak of a blind watchmaker, I think this is more an instance of him being a blind squirrel.
New Atheists heart Old Fundamentalists
When I think of horribly unpersuasive spokespersons for their views, I think of Pat Robertson and Richard Dawkins. Both see the absolute worst in those with whom they disagree and feel the need to constantly speak their mind when no one wants to hear it. So why would I be surprised when Dawkins actually defended Robertson's Haiti idiocy? New York Times columnists Russ Douthat explores what he calls "the symbiotic relationship" between new atheists and fundamentalists.
Jesus: Prophet, Priest & King
Recently, I heard Pastor Mark Driscoll explain how the three facets of Jesus' ministry (Prophet, Priest and King) tend to be over-emphasized depending on your religious leaning. I thought he made excellent points that spoke to virtually everyone who would call themselves a follower of Christ.
