What had happen' was.....

Saturday, November 30, 2013

Debate: Atheists vs Christians (Krauss + Shermer vs D'Souza + Hutchinson) - YouTube

The following video was a debate where I got to admit that Lawrence Krauss and Micheal Shermer won this debate. It does not make Atheism right, but it does show that some atheists can win debates. I think that the reason why the Christians in this debate lost it is because they didn't defend or explain the Bible. That is why they lost. They practically gave the debate away if you want to show that Science does not refute God.

Debate: Atheists vs Christians (Krauss + Shermer vs D'Souza + Hutchinson) - YouTube

Studies on Hosea | Dr. Claude Mariottini – Professor of Old Testament

Dr Calude Mariottini recently posted a summary post with links to his blog posts regarding the Book of Hosea.

Studies on Hosea | Dr. Claude Mariottini – Professor of Old Testament

Sunday, November 24, 2013

Can Physics Prove God and Christianity? Frank Tipler vs Lawrence Krauss - YouTube

Science, the universe & The God Question - Lawrence Krauss vs John Lennox - YouTube

Seven Days That Divide The World (John Lennox) - YouTube

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Fighting for the Faith: Interview With Joseph Atwill of Covert Messiah

Monday, November 4, 2013

Hundred Examples of Faulty Logic

I have heard of couple of attempts by Atheists to summarize proofs for the existence of God from Dr Victor Reppert. It's satirical but I don't think that it shows a complete misunderstanding of what the arguments. I think the graphic on the right summarizes the level of intelligence demonstrated on these pages.

Hundreds of Proofs of God's Existence.

Hundreds of Proofs of God's Non-Existence.

Saturday, November 2, 2013

God Answers Prayers

Look at the picture on the right. I found it on Tumblr. It is an attempt to argue that prayer is pointless and ineffectual. Someone added some commentary below it to show how Christians prayed in the past and how those prayers failed. There are several problems with this based on some bad assumptions. Let's first look at what the Bible says about prayer and then look to see how we can see what is wrong with the supposed prayers. One thing I would like to know is how does confrontingbabble-on know that people prayed prayers like this one? Problem is that people assume that God is obligated to answer your prayers the way you expect him to do. No where doe the Bible say that.

What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? ²You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. ³When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. - James 4:1-3

Instead

¹³I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. ¹⁴This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. ¹⁵And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him. - 1 John 5:13-15

Prayer is not about changing God and making God do what you want. It's about communicating with God and allowing Him to change you. Therefore if you pray for something that is not in God's plan or according to God's will, the answer is an automatic "No".

confrontingbabble-on:

What that prayer was asking god for…

1913 prayer: "Dear God, please stop the government’s plan to collect income taxes…and prevent women from getting the vote…as this will surely destroy this great nation…For thy glory, Thy will be done…Amen"

February 3 – The 16th Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, authorizing the Federal government to impose and collect income taxes.
March 3 – The Woman Suffrage Parade of 1913 takes place in Washington, D.C. led by Inez Milholland on horseback.

No where does the Bible tells us that Women should not vote nor have a voice in government. Even if someone did pray this why would anyone think that God would want women not to work or vote? They didn't get that idea from God. As for social security taxes, Jesus told us we must pay our taxes. I'm glad God said "No".

1940 prayer: "Dear Lord God, please stop women from showing their legs in public…as this will surely destroy this great nation…For thy glory, Thy will be done…Amen”

May 15 Women’s stockings made of nylon are first placed on sale across the U.S. Almost five million pairs are bought on this day

Now where does the Bible tell us that about Women. I'm glad God said "No."

1969 prayer: "Dear God, seriously, hear my prayer…please confound those so arrogant to presume to leave earth and go to the moon, as you confounded those who would build the mud brick ziggurat of Babel of around 6 floors high into the heavens…as this will surely destroy this great nation…For thy glory…Thy will be done…Amen”

July 24 – Apollo program: Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins return safely to Earth after the first landing on the Moon.

November 19 – Apollo program: Apollo 12 astronauts Pete Conrad and Alan Bean land at Oceanus Procellarum (“Ocean of Storms”), becoming the third and fourth humans to walk on the Moon.

November 24 – Apollo program: The Apollo 12 spacecraft splashes down safely in the Pacific Ocean, ending the second manned mission to the Moon.

God's will was done. No reason to assume that God didn't want people to go to the moon.

2012 prayer: "Dear Jesus, please, please, please, I implore you…stop our leaders endorsing gay marriage…prevent those who would damage the fine work of the godly Boy Scouts…prevent that black Muslim being re-elected president…and stop weed being legalized…as all this will surely destroy this great nation…For thy glory, Thy will be done…Amen"

May 9 – Barack Obama becomes the first sitting U.S. President to announce support for gay marriage

October 18 - The Boy Scouts of America release documents containing over 15,000 pages relating to allegations of sexual abuse by over 1,200 scout leaders between 1965-1985

November 6 – 2012 elections - Barack Obama is reelected President of the United States, defeating Republican nominee Mitt Romney

Maine becomes the first state to legalize gay marriage via voter referendum. Maryland and Washington do the same. Minnesota also rejects a constitutional amendment which would have banned same-sex marriage.

Washington becomes the first state to legalize marijuana. Colorado does the same.

Why did God allow this? Especially because we know that God says in scripture that homosexuality is sin. Why would God allow it to become more and more accepted?

¹²In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, ¹³while evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. - 2 Timothy 3:12,13

God's will is indeed done.

Sunday, October 27, 2013

Ten Signs That You Don't Know What A Christian Is

I found the above image posted on Tumblr and I think its very illustrative of the fact that while many atheists and agnostics like to pretend the Christians believe the Bible and in God out of ignorance and we can be shamed and ridiculed into accepting their way of thinking, they really don't know what they are talking about. This particular graphic contradicts reality and has some real problems that fail to show that Christians are unthinking. This is so bad that I wonder if people who believe these 10 things actually think.

1. You know a lot less than Atheists and Agnostics do about the Bible, Christianity, and church history - and yet still call yourself a Christian.

I have to agree that there are many people who are Christians that do not think critically about what they say they believe or why. They don't think about history and theology as much as we should. Unfortunately, I have not found a single atheist nor agnostic who can consistently and correctly describe nor refute what Christian believe or teach. Therefore they don't know the Bible much better.

2. You defend the 0.01% as a "high success rate" when it comes to answered prayers. You consider that evidence that prayer works. And you think that the remaining 99.99% failure was simply the will of God.

Here is a case in point. The person who compiled this list makes many of the same mistakes people make about God. They don't know what prayer is or what it's for. Prayer is not convincing God to do something on your behalf. Prayer is communication with God. Prayer changes us not God. Other thing is the Bible teaches us to pray according to God's will. Another thing is that "No" is just as much an answer as "Yes". The only way you could get a "Yes" only 0.01% of the time, is that you only pray according to God's will 0.01% of the time. That is on you, not God.

3. While modern science, history, geology, biology, and physics have failed to convince you otherwise, some idiot rolling around on the floor "speaking in tongues" may be all the evidence you need.

I've heard many an atheist and agnostics make claims like this, but they never back it up with a single scientific or historical fact disproves the Bible. The majority of the people who make such objections are not capable of defending such a claim..and those who do try to produce such "evidence" can easily be refuted and ignored.

4. You believe that the entire population of this planet with the exception of those who share your beliefs - though excluding those in all rival sects - will spend eternity in an infinite hell of suffering. Yet you consider your religion the most "tolerant" and "loving".

This is another misconception that shows that the author of this list don;t know what Christians are saying. The Bible shows that every single person is sinner and deserves to spend an eternity in an infinite hell or suffering. It is through Jesus that we are saved. Grace and Mercy. God holds back what we deserve and instead gives us a gift - Himself! We deserve hell because we reject God and trespass against his commandments and character. To say nothing of the pain and suffering we inflict on one another. Why should you or I get away with that? Jesus took the punishment we deserve for those things so that we don't have to. When you reject Christ, you say to God, I can bear the weight of my own sin, I don't need help. God just let's you have things your way. Good luck with that.

5. You are willing to spend your life looking for little loopholes in the scientifically established age of the Earth (4.55 billion years), but you find nothing wrong with believing dates recorded by pre-historic tribesmen sitting in their tents and guessing that the Earth is a couple of generations old.

No loopholes are needed because no where does the Bible tell us that the earth is a couple of generations old. You can't get that from Young Earth creationism. Typically they argue that the earth is 6 thousand to 10 thousand years old. They get that from the way they interpret the Bible but this not a salvation issue and you can be a Christian and yet accept either position. The Bible does not give us any dates for the age of the earth. Makes me wonder if the one who made this list ever bothered actually read the Bible.

6. You laugh at Hindu beliefs that deify humans and Greek claims about gods sleeping with women, but have no problem believing that the Holy Spirit impregnated Mary, who then gave birth to a man-god who got killed, came back to life and then ascended into the sky.

More ignorance on display. Mary was not impregnated sexually. Had she been impregnated sexually, she would not have been a virgin any longer. The Greek claims of gods having sex with women was sexual intercourse as we understand it today. Making a claim of Jesus' conception being similar only further highlights how much is not understood. A thinking Christian would want to now why Jesus laid down his life. Of course the same one who spoke reality into existence out of nothing would be able to resurrect the dead. Jesus was not a man-god or demigod like Hercules or Perseus. To claim this about Jesus means you don't know nothing about the Trinity.

7. Your face turns purple when you hear of the "atrocities" attributed to Allah, but you don't even flinch when hearing about how God Jehovah slaughtered all the babies of Egypt in "Exodus" and ordered the elimination of entire ethnic groups in "Joshua" - including women, children, and animals!

God did not slaughter all the Babies of Egypt. Only the first born of each family died. It was not just the Babies - but even grown humans and even the animals. I don't flinch because I see that God gave Pharoah the opportunity to avoid this but he didn't listen. All lives belong to God and he can do things as he pleases. As for the comment about Allah, I think that the author of this list knows even less about Islam than he/she knows about Christianity. I see more a problem with what Muhammad and his followers did than what the Quran says Allah has done. And for the claim of "ethnic cleansing" you have to go back to Genesis 15 to truly understand what happened in Joshua. God had told Abraham that He was going to wait to destroy the Ammorites because of their sin - which included child sacrifice which has been proven by archaeology.

¹⁶In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.” - Genesis 15:16

8. You laugh at polytheists, but you have no problem believing in a Trinity god.

One more time - tritheism is not trinitarianism. WE do not believe in three gods. God is one being. Three persons. We are monotheistic. One God. God is not like us in that we are each one being and one person. "Being" and "person" are not the same thing. If you are going to reject Christianity at least get the teachings correct.

9. You feel insulted and "dehumanized" when scientists say that people evolved from lesser life forms but you have no problem with the Biblical claim that we were created from dirt.

Prove it. Prove that an amoeba and a tardigrade have a common ancestor. You have to prove that all living things on earth have a common ancestor to show that people evolved from lesser life forms and I have not seen anyone do that. We can demonstrate animals and plants mutating and adapting but not from one species to another. Dogs stay dogs. Fruit flies stay fruit flies.

10. You vigorously deny the existence of thousands of gods claimed by other religions but feel outraged when someone denies the existence of your god.

That's because the God of the Bible is the one and only God and we don't like people going to hell in ignorance. You should at least know why you are going.

Grant Morrison Quote

Here is a very interesting quote by the author Grant Morrison. I think he's right. However very few people seem to realize that the Bible also tells us how special and unique each one of us are. The Bible also tells us why God did this:

²⁴“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. ²⁵And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. ²⁶From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. ²⁷God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. ²⁸‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’^[b] As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’^[c]
²⁹“Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill. ³⁰In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. ³¹For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.” - Romans 17:24-31

Thursday, October 24, 2013

The First Trailer For Captain America: The Winter Soldier Is Here!

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

A Skewed History of Religion

I have been studying this really stupid argument for a few years. It’s a “go-to” argument for many people against Christianity. It does not hold. And I have compiled a list of videos and articles that can help get real clarity here!

http://mmcelhaney.blogspot.com/search/label/Jesus%20Parallels

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Jim Bob Duggar Compares Abortion to the Holocaust

Jim Bob Duggar recently restated his position that abortion is like Holocaust perpetrated by Nazi Germany. Of course this thought causes all kinds of controversy and strong emotions. In one such article, a woman makes dismisses the Duggars for being ignorant and uninformed. I think it's partly because he and his wife have decided to have so many children of their own in a society where people think that that is backwards. She attempts to explain the difference between abortion and the Holocaust as follows.

Several million human beings died in The Holocaust because a homicidal sociopath decided that they didn’t deserve to live based solely on their religion or sexual orientation or mental abilities. Even though these people did not in any way affect Hitler or the way he chose to live his life, he had them systemically enslaved and murdered. In contrast, several million fetuses are aborted every year because the women carrying them decided that it wasn’t in the fetus and/or the woman’s best interest to bring the fetus to term.

I think she misses the following point that Duggar and people like him see in the similarities. You have someone in power determining that it is not in the best interest for a human being to live. Set aside for a moment the idea that a woman should have the right to determine what is right for her body and compare it to the right that we would give any other human being to live. In effect when a baby is aborted, the same choice is made against a human being as when the Nazis decided that those millions of people did not deserve to live. This thought comes from the idea that I don't see how any of us has the right or authority to determine who should live and who should die.

Hitler did think that the people he murdered were affecting his interest negatively. They were in his way. They were inconvenient to him reaching agendas and goals - same reason some choose abortion.

Jim Bob Duggar Compares Abortion to the Holocaust