Answering Muslims: Sharia Down Under: An Interview with Pastor Daniel Scot
Monday, September 19, 2011
Answering Muslims: Sharia Down Under: An Interview with Pastor Daniel Scot
Answering Muslims: Sharia Down Under: An Interview with Pastor Daniel Scot
Harry McCall on: Did Moses write the Torah? | True Freethinker
Harry McCall on: Did Moses write the Torah? | True Freethinker
Grad School Webcomic 'PHD Comics' Screens Its Live-Action Film at Schools This Fall [Video] - ComicsAlliance | Comic book culture, news, humor, commentary, and reviews
Grad School Webcomic 'PHD Comics' Screens Its Live-Action Film at Schools This Fall [Video] - ComicsAlliance | Comic book culture, news, humor, commentary, and reviews
Richard Dawkins: The Magic of Reality
I have no problem with children seeing Dawkins views but I also think they should see the following video
I am wondering if he is really qualified to answer questions like:
What is a miracle?
What is magic?
I mean in the video, he seems to think that "Supernatural miracles" like Jesus turning water into wine as being on the same level as unicorns and fairies. News flash: They are not the same thing.
Richard Dawkins: The Magic of Reality
FacePalm of the Day #124 - Debunking Christianity: Has Christianity Passed the Outsider Test for Faith?
It is said that Christianity has been passing the Outsider Test for Faith (OTF) from the very beginning, and is still doing so as the gospel penetrates non-Christian cultures. Let me respond briefly.
This ought to be good.
There is a big difference between what takes place in cross-cultural mission work and how reasonable people should evaluate the extraordinary claims of Christianity. I have documented how very superstitious people were in the days when Christianity sprung into existence from the Bible itself, in chapter 7 of Why I Became an Atheist
. So I don't see that people reasonably assessed the probability of Christianity in order to accept the claim that they were rationally converted to it.I think Loftus makes that claim because when he was a "believer" he had not reasonably addressed the validity of Christianity. Therefore assuming that everyone is as gullible as he is really shoddy reasoning.
When it comes to the growth of Christianity in the Southern Hemisphere and in Asia right now, Phillip Jenkins has documented in his book, The New Faces of Christianity
, that the people being converted actually share much of the same superstitious outlook. Superstitious people who share the same outlook can hardly be considered to reasonably assess the extraordinary claims of another superstitious outlook. So these so-called cross-cultural conversions are irrelevant to whether Christianity passes or has passed the OTF.So because Loftus traded one fantasy (that he was born-again) for another (the there is no God), no one can be born again? I don't think so. He is arguing that people from the Southern Hemisphere or in Asia are not sophisticated enough to correctly evaluate Christianity and determine it to be correct. Better examples of Hubris are scant.
Additionally how one person evaluates a religious set of extraordinary claims means nothing to another person, otherwise Islam is passing the OTF since it is the fastest growing religion in the world right now. If Christianity is passing the OTF then so is Islam, which would lead us to conclude they are both probably true, even in their fundamentalist forms. But that cannot be the case given their essential differences. If the successful growth of a religion into other cultures means that a particular religion passes the OTF then many religions have done so, rendering growth as a factor null and void.
I agree that this isn't about growth but if its truly irrelevant how people evaluates a religion's truth claims then the OTF is also irrelevant because then there is no good ways to determent if a religion is true or not.
The only thing that is relevant is how a person assess the religion he or she was enculturated to believe. How others assess the case should mean little or nothing. The OTF simply asks believers who were raised to believe in their particular religion, or sect within it, to adopt a non-double standard approach to assessing it. Approach your own inherited religious faith with the same level of skepticism you use when assessing other religious faiths.
If the OTF is only relevant to access the religion he or she was "encultured to believe", then the OTF looses relevance and credibility. Besides, you can't be be a born-again Christian and believe only because that's what you were raised in. Being born-again means knowing God on a relational level and not just going on what you have been taught. It verifies what you have been taught if you have been taught correctly. It does not seem like Loftus ever truly knew God only what other said of God and sometime he does even get that much right.
I have seen nothing that has disabused me of this approach to religion. It's the only consistent and fair way to do so.
Consistent? Maybe. Fair? Not even close. Load with presuppositions that don't line up with reality? Yup. Surprise? No.
9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.- John 1: 9-13
Debunking Christianity: Has Christianity Passed the Outsider Test for Faith?
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Faithful Thinkers: Video: Free Will and Evil
I realize that "Free Will" is often taken as a given and is usually defined as being able to act or act otherwise without influence or force from outside of oneself - motivated by one's own interests and desires. I think the fact that people have minds and wills of the their own is undeniable. My question: Is it "Free". The Bible says we are enslaved to sin and incapable of living without transgressing God's standard. Some of us are so lost and blind we can't even see the need. for salvation. That doesn't seem "free" to me. Our inability to do right in every and all circumstances is not the root cause of evil - its a symptom. We are cursed to sin and death because of evil. I think the question that we must attempt to answer is: What is Evil?
Evil is what you get when anyone acts outside the will of God. We know that God has our best interests in mind so that when ever something happens not in our best interest, we experience evil. At the same time, God uses evil in the best interest of his people.
20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. Genesis 50:20
28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. - Romans 8:28-29
Faithful Thinkers: Video: Free Will and Evil
FacePalm of the Day #123 - Debunking Christianity: Feuerbach Was Right All Along, We Create Our Own Gods
John Loftus recently posted the following on his blog:Some people might be interested in knowing that humans are creating their gods in their own images.
For many religious people, the popular question “ What would Jesus do?” is essentially the same as “What would I do?” That’s the message from an intriguing and controversial new study by Nicholas Epley from the University of Chicago. Through a combination of surveys, psychological manipulation and brain-scanning, he has found that when religious Americans try to infer the will of God, they mainly draw on their own personal beliefs. Link
I think most Christians would totally disagree because we recognize that what Jesus would do in most situations is markedly different than what we would do by default without Him. Skeptics and Atheists can't have it both ways. On one hand they say that God is a moral monster whom commands evil acts that we know are evil and would never do today. On the other, they say that Christians are merely projecting their own personal beliefs on what is right and moral behavior. I don't think these positions can be reconciled with one another.
I find it interesting that the questions asked during the study were "hot-button" political issues regarding same-sex marriages, homosexuality, abortion, and other social issues that most Christians are very vocal about and have firm Biblical basis. These are also "easy" issues for most Christians. Statistically, one is far less likely to be attracted to someone of the same sex than one from the opposite. Of course more Christians would be against homosexuality than for it - that's easy. The study doesn't mention studying how people's brains respond to things that they do or did that the Bible speaks against us. You know the things....one struggles with or gave up because they don't think it's a sin because they liked to do it? For example: what about pre-maritial and extra-maritial sex? The Bible is very clear about it, but our society is so lax on it that even some committed Christians would rather condemn and call-out homosexuality but are silent on adultery, un-wed mothers and pornography. As if homosexuality is the worst possible thing you can do. It isn't.
Being a born-again Christian means publicly acknowledging that we have attitudes and behaviors that are not like God and that we need to change. It is not about God agreeing with us. We agree with God. To do this day there are things that God is against that I wish He weren't. I recognize the need to align my thoughts and deed with Him because He is not going to change.
The truly facepalm worthy thing about this study is that it doesn't address the things that God cares about that would handle all the other issues that they did ask about. A better study would be to look at how brains react to Jesus' teachings as they appear in the Gospel. Like to the question "Who do men say I [Jesus] am?" What do people think about Peter's answer! I assure you that an Evangelical and Unitarian will react differently.
Debunking Christianity: Feuerbach Was Right All Along, We Create Our Own Gods
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Question: How Many Continents are There? [Video]
Question: How Many Continents are There? [Video]
Friday, September 16, 2011
FacePalm of the Day #122: Debunking Christianity: Why the Idea of a Spirit is Full of Hot Air
Long ago in a cave a caveman looked at his friend who then died. He was upset. His friend would not move. He noticed that air no longer came out of his friends mouth. He knew the air had left him.
I wonder how long ago would something like this have taken place? Were these homo sapiens or one of the hominids who some people think we evolved from? Also weren't we descended from African hominids who lived on the African savanna and not cave-dwelling Europeans who came later if you believe evolutionists? Wouldn't our ancestor's been asking about this stuff well before they began living in caves? What's the chronology?
So he gathered up his friend and some food and a few of his friend’s possessions and buried them all. Perhaps it would all go where ever his air went.
Not all human cultures bury their loved ones with their possessions. Where would this have come from?
Sounds silly doesn't it. But when we look at the words for spirit we are confronted with things like "ruach" the Hebrew word that means "spirit," "wind," "air" and "breath." So in the Old Testament God "breaths" into man his "breath" and man becomes a living "soul."
Yes, the scenario is indeed silly and can't be substantiated. What if they those who lived before us actually understood more about reality than we do today? Why assume that we are so much better? Remember a lot of information has been lost and needs to be rediscovered.
From the Greeks we get what still functions as our philosophy. But we find the word "pneuma" in Greek which means guess what, "spirit", 'wind," "air" and "breath." The Greeks thought that there were four elements: "air," "earth," "fire" and "water."
And how does that men that there is no such thing as a human spirit? Here's a hint: It doesn't.
Air was often seen as supreme and the ultimate nature which was like god. It was invisible but could move things and be felt. It went in and out of man. When it left you were dead!
Given that we are all more that material, they were smart enough to understand that while many people today try to run from that. We should know that we are more than material because there is more than just brain, body, and DNA that makes you who and what you are.
"Spirit" comes from the Latin "spiritus" "to breath." Are you starting to see a pattern? It is interesting that we still have millions of primitives all around us that believe in such things as spirits but have no idea where their beliefs really originate
Here is the truly facepalm worthy comment. Just because the word "spirit" has roots in Latin and Greek and Hebrew regarding air, breath, and wind does not mean that this is where the concept of "Spirit" came from. Just because they decided to use the imagery does not mean that there is no "Spirit"..
Debunking Christianity: Why the Idea of a Spirit is Full of Hot Air
Infographic: How Outsourcing Government Work Fattens the Federal Budget - Business - GOOD
Infographic: How Outsourcing Government Work Fattens the Federal Budget - Business - GOOD
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Quote of the Week: A. J. Hoover | Reflections
When a man undergoes persecution, contempt, beatings, prison, and death for a message, he has a good motive for reviewing carefully the grounds of his convictions. It is extremely unlikely that the original disciples of Jesus would have persisted in affirming the truths they affirmed if Jesus hadn’t actually risen.–A. J. Hoover, The Case for Christian Theism (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1976), 234.
Quote of the Week: A. J. Hoover | Reflections
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Online Academy of Apologetics 2011-12 - Apologetics 315
Online Academy of Apologetics 2011-12 - Apologetics 315
Apologist Interview: Anthony Horvath
Faithful Thinkers: Article: Junk DNA: An Outdated Concept- Part 1
Faithful Thinkers: Article: Junk DNA: An Outdated Concept- Part 1
Fistbump Quote of the Day - THEOparadox - The Biblical Paradox Blog: Calvinism, Systematic Theology and Scripture
Accepting Biblical paradox does not harm Systematic Theology; it enhances it. A well-developed Systematic Theology is essential and useful, but Biblical and Exegetical Theology are supreme. You can't have an accurate Systematic Theology if you don't have an in-depth knowledge of the texts themselves. To the extent that any system rejects even one tiny drop of the Bible, it reduces its own validity as a Christian system and partially cripples itself. Let's rather have a system that is hard to explain - yet Biblical to the core - than a system that explains itself by reducing the Word of God to man-made concepts.
THEOparadox - The Biblical Paradox Blog: Calvinism, Systematic Theology and Scripture
Nearly Half of College Grads Come From Three Countries - Education - GOOD
I think that the article I have linked to this post is real important. It's about the importance of education to the prosperity of the nation and the world. The article's author said:
To stay economically competitive on a global scale, President Obama says the United States needs 8 million more college graduates by 2020. That may sound ominous, but according to Education at a Glance 2011, the annual international report on the state of education released Tuesday by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the nation is still the world leader in churning out college grads. In fact, OECD data reveals that almost half of the world's university graduates hail from three countries—the United States, China and Japan.
the article goes on to explain that the United States actually does have more college graduates today, but I think President Obama's point was missed. He was saying that if we want to maintain our lead we will need 8 million more college graduates by 2020 because other nations are doing it. I think China and Japan are not only capable of closing the gap but surpassing us if we don't pick it up.
Nearly Half of College Grads Come From Three Countries - Education - GOOD
Intermission: Listening to Jackie Kennedy - Politics - GOOD
Intermission: Listening to Jackie Kennedy - Politics - GOOD
Parting Shot: The Full-Figured Amanda Waller Now Skinny in DC Comics Relaunch - ComicsAlliance | Comic book culture, news, humor, commentary, and reviews
Parting Shot: The Full-Figured Amanda Waller Now Skinny in DC Comics Relaunch WTF - ComicsAlliance | Comic book culture, news, humor, commentary, and reviews
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
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