Saturday, May 26, 2012

Surprising No One, 'One Million Moms' Is Mad About Gay X-Men - ComicsAlliance | Comic book culture, news, humor, commentary, and reviews

There has been much media attention given to the X-Man Northstar marring another male character in the comics next month. I think that the commentary by Chris Sims of Comics Alliance should be taken notice of. I respect Chris Sims and enjoy his commentary on culture and media. I don't always agree with him but I like the way he expresses himself. At times he's really insightful. In this case he weighs in on the "One Million Moms" group attacking the move by Marvel and calling for parents to boycott.

He quotes the group's website:

Children desire to be just like superheroes. Children mimic superhero actions and even dress up in costumes to resemble these characters as much as possible. Can you imagine little boys saying, "I want a boyfriend or husband like X-Men?"

I agree with Mr Sims that this is really stupid. Neither reading a book or watching a movie or television makes you gay. Really, really stupid.

I also agree with Sims that the lesson we should get from X-Men and other superheroes:

What they teach you is that you should use your abilities to help the people around you and make the world a better place rather than just throwing your weight around to be a bully. And they teach you that when the world hates and fears someone just because they're different, it's the world that's wrong.

The thing I disagree with is that pointing out embracing a behavior or actions that go against a person's well being is bullying and hatred.  Unfortunately, Christians have not given gay people the love they deserve. Homosexuality is no worse a sin than lying or stealing or murder, but often Christians tell Homosexuals that what they are doing is the worse possible sin you can do. That's not what the Bible says. God doesn't hate homosexuals. God calls all of us to repentance and holiness. Not just homosexuals. We all have sinned not just homosexuals. How is it hatred to tell someone that God loves you and has better for you if you just trust God and obey God. God has got the best for you.God will improve your life. You don't have to settle for less than the very best God has for you. 

The following verse applies to all of us.

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is —his good, pleasing and perfect will. - Romans 12:1,2

But you can't do it without God and God will help you if you give yourself to God.

Surprising No One, 'One Million Moms' Is Mad About Gay X-Men - ComicsAlliance | Comic book culture, news, humor, commentary, and reviews

FacePlant of the Day - Debunking Christianity: Welcome to the World of Christianity

Harry McCall has posted a summarizing of what he thinks is what are the absolute truths of Christianity. Has he succeeded? Not at all. Take a look at what he thinks you believe if you are a Christian. 

As a Christian, you are now following THE supreme God who created the universe. Here are the absolute truths that make your God special:


A. Your God is omnipotent (Having unlimited power and authority). B. Your God is omnipresent (He is present everywhere). C. Your God is omniscient (Having total knowledge). D. Your God commands billions of angels of which just one could destroy the world. As a Christian, you are now part of a large and diverse group totaling over 2.2 billion members that has a yearly worldwide budget totaling approximately one half of a trillion dollars. However! On the other side is God’s arch enemy and now your enemy too: Satan. Satan leads a small army of fallen angels (called demons). A. Satan has limited power (Only what little control God gives him). B. Satan has no earthly members (Just a few "Dabblers"). C. And most of all, Satan has no budget because he has no income from tithes and offerings. BUT YET: According to God's own word the Bible - especially the Book of Revelation; God with all the above supreme attributes is now actually losing a battle He created by putting the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden and by casting Satan and his demons out of Heaven to earth. Moreover, God has even sacrificed His only begotten Son – Jesus - to defeat Satan and sin. At the end of the age, all of humanity will one day stand before your God at the Great White Throne Judgment to give an account of their lives. If they are non-Christians, then they must tell this all knowing God exactly why they as simple mortal sinful creatures with limited understandings screwed up; after which they will be cast into a Lake of Fire whose smoke rises forever all eternity to fry in torment forever. HOW ARE WE TO MAKE SENSE OF ALL OF THE ABOVE? It's a Divine Mystery (A theological term coined by the Catholic Church).

One good thing that we can say in McCall's favor is that at least he does attempt to read the comments of those who disagree with him. Of course reading them and understanding them are not the same thing. He next quoted one of them

Below is the response to this 2006 post here and the supposedly refutation by the TRIABLOGGERS Christian apologetic blog: "It's amazing how many unbiblical assumptions these apostates are able to cram into the Biblical narrative. You see, these apostates love to fluctuate in and out of internal critiques. They'll do a post like this one where they appear to be taking Biblical data into account (consider the "statistics" that were cited), but then they'll push aside everything the Bible says about the subject only to insert their own atheistic presuppositions. But of course the Bible disagrees with atheistic assumptions!"
Harry McCall

McCall does not seem to understand what unbiblical assumptions he uses in critiquing Christianity. Let's look list a few of them he committed in the paragraph above.

1, No where does the Bible tells us how many angels there are. 
2. No where does the Bible tells us how many demons there are other than 1/3 of the angels rebelled against God and followed Lucifer.
3. No where does the Bible describe Satan as God's archenemy. To be an archenemy you'd have to be a threat. The Devil has already lost this. 

Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short.” - Revelations 12:12

And the Bible also tells us that Jesus' victory blindsided Satan. He didn't know that Jesus' death sealed his defeat. 

No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. - 1 Corinthians 2:7,8

4.  Judgement Day isn't about you explaining to God why you messed up the life and time He gave you. It's when you will be held accountable for the things you have said and done. You will be judged. And if you are clothed in the rags of your own righteousness instead of Jesus' you will be going to perdition.
5. You won't need to explain or give an excuse for your own corruption and imperfection

for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust. - Psalm 103:14

6. We are not supposed to make sense of it apart from God allowing us to understand it. If you can't understand any of it, it's because you are too carnally minded and God has not put His spirit into you. McCall illustrates this with every post he writes. 


Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God. - Romans 8: 5-8

If you are going to talk about what the Bible teaches you should get it right. Here is a comment from this post:

NenoDecember 
Why did god feel the need to prove anything about his character to himself or to anyone? Why could he not have been satisfied to know this about himself and leave it at that? Why the need to create a world and conscious beings to whom you can show your glory? Was he not satisfied to just know it about himself? Is he not all-sufficient? Why does he feel the need to create these very real people to show his glory to and expose these very real people, who he loves, to sin and evil and then send these very real people to hell? Isn’t he really just doing all of this for himself while real created beings burn in hell and suffer unending misery for all eternity because of it? This is not a divine mystery--it is divine psychopathic, ego-maniacal selfishness with a touch of stupidity.

Paul answered you

19 One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who is able to resist his will?” 20 But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’”[h] 21 Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?
22 What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction? 23 What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory — 24 even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles? - Romans 9:19-24

Debunking Christianity: Welcome to the World of Christianity

FacePalm of the Day - Debunking Christianity: From a God in a Box to the Universal Sky God: Eternal Blessing and Suffering for All

Harry McCall has post a fairly lengthy article attacking Christianity by taking a nuanced view of history trying to make it seem like the God of the Old Testament is not the same as the God of  the New Testament and that the concepts of Heaven and Hell have changed and therefore we can't trust the Bible. I highly recommend reading the whole thing for a laugh. However, instead of responding to him point by point I think want to only discuss one of his ideas and point out its only the tip of the iceberg about how wrong he is.

McCall writes:

Remember, this was not the Universal Sky God of the New Testament, but a small localize god who only had a contract (covenant) with Israel alone.  Thus, we find Israel’s great King David worried that Box God does not have a house to live while he does, but like a homeless bum, Box God  has to live in a tent:  the king summoned Nathan the prophet. "Look," David said, "I am living in a beautiful cedar palace, but the Ark of God is out there in a tent! (2 Samuel 7:2).

McCall thinks that in the Old Testament, God is only the god of the Jews. He's wrong. Israel is God's special possession but God consistently represented Himself as God over everyone!  None of the scriptures McCall brings up says that God is not God of everyone!

God said the following to Abram:

“I will make you into a great nation,
    and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
    and you will be a blessing.[a]
I will bless those who bless you,
    and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
    will be blessed through you. ”[b] - Genesis 12:2-3
If the goal was to bless everyone all over the earth, then Yahweh can't only be concerned with Jews only.

This undermines the whole article!

Debunking Christianity: From a God in a Box to the Universal Sky God: Eternal Blessing and Suffering for All