Filling the Gap: How Students Pay for College [infographic]
Monday, October 3, 2011
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Debunking Christianity: Militant Atheist?
John Loftus posted the following image:
I think the point of image is to point out that Militant Christians and Muslims are violent while Atheists are not. Let's examine the term "militant".
Debunking Christianity: Militant Atheist?
I think the point of image is to point out that Militant Christians and Muslims are violent while Atheists are not. Let's examine the term "militant".
mil·i·tant
[mil-i-tuhnt]
Show IPA
adjective
1. vigorously active and aggressive, especially in support of a cause: militant reformers.
2. engaged in warfare; fighting. link
So does this make sense the way the word is being applied. Let's grant that for a moment and ask the question "Is the picture of the 'militant atheist' the only picture that would suffice? Why not one of these?"
Now, let's ask about the so-called "Militant Christian"? Anyone who would pray for or take joy in the death of anyone can't be a consistent Christian. They ain't following God!
21 “But if a wicked person turns away from all the sins they have committed and keeps all my decrees and does what is just and right, that person will surely live; they will not die. 22 None of the offenses they have committed will be remembered against them. Because of the righteous things they have done, they will live. 23 Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign LORD. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?
24 “But if a righteous person turns from their righteousness and commits sin and does the same detestable things the wicked person does, will they live? None of the righteous things that person has done will be remembered. Because of the unfaithfulness they are guilty of and because of the sins they have committed, they will die.- Ezekiel 18:21-24
The picture doesn't work.
Debunking Christianity: Militant Atheist?
Most Americans Don't Believe Nation Is Economically Divided - Politics - GOOD
But while the so-called 99 Percenters take it to the streets, a new study from the Pew Research Institute says most Americans are not on their side. Despite the fact that all signs suggest rich people in the United States are getting vastly wealthier than everyone else, a majority still doesn't believe there's an economic divide between "haves" and "have-nots."
I sure hope people wake up and make changes before desperate people begin to do desperate things.
Most Americans Don't Believe Nation Is Economically Divided - Politics - GOOD
Ruuuuuuuuunnnnnnn!!!!!! BigDog Now Has a Big Brother!
The AlphaDog Proto is a lab prototype for the Legged Squad Support System, a robot being developed by Boston Dynamics with funding from DARPA and the US Marine Corps. When fully developed the system will carry 400 lbs of payload on 20-mile missions in rough terrain. The first version of the complete robot will be completed in 2012. This video shows early results from the control development process. In this video the robot is powered remotely. AlphaDog is designed to be over 10x quieter than BigDog.
Ruuuuuuuuunnnnnnn!!!!!! BigDog Now Has a Big Brother!
Saturday, October 1, 2011
FacePalm of th Day #129 - Debunking Christianity: Is this the Best Possible World and does God have Free Will?
JohnnyP has post the following article on Debunking Christianity and there are several...problems....with it. I've annotated his post in red.
Let us assume the triple properties of the classical approach to God: that he is omniscient, omnipotent and omnibenevolent. In terms of the classic Problem of Evil argument, if there is too much evil in the world, God knows what to do about it, is powerful enough to do it, and is loving enough to want to do something about it. This argument has been around since the days of Epicurus and still remains one of the most hotly debated theological issues in modern times, causing many believers to leave the fold due to its evidential power.
This line of argumentation has never impressed me because who says that we can determine when God should deal with evil. The argument also fails to take account that if God destroyed all evil now, we would all be destroyed. If God had destroyed all evil at any time in the past, we would never exist. Instead God has a plan in mind and everything is in place to bring that plan to fruition - even evil.
19 For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that[h] the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.
22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. - Romans 8:19-25
However, logically, the theist can still defend their belief in God and the accusation that either God does not exist, or God does not possess one, two or any of those properties. They do this, more often than not, by employing the ubiquitous ‘God moves in mysterious ways’ or ‘You cannot know the mind of God’. What this equates to, is the a priori claim that God does have those three characteristics, and that, therefore, all the pain and suffering in the world is not gratuitous but part of the grander plan and vision of an all-loving, all-knowing and all-powerful Superbeing.
I really wish that when people raise this objection would really argue without the arrogance of assuming that we know just how much suffering there should be in order to get the "best possible world". We don't. We don't know know that "Best possible world is". That's like telling an engineer that the car he's designed is a failure and not knowing what the specs are! We wouldn't do judge a design (at least sane people wouldn't) and not know what the design specs and goals are. Why would we expect the universe and reality to be different?
Although it is very difficult to logically disprove this defence, it does have some rather serious ramifications for the Christian theist. Because God is claimed as being all-loving it means that any decision that God makes, any actualisation of events and matter and so forth, must be the most loving that can be. It means that every decision made must be the most caring or loving decision that could possibly be made in terms of some criteria, or some outcome.
Again, we don't know what the criteria or outcome is so how do you judge that God is not making the most loving decision possible? Do we even know what "love" is? How would you explain what "love" is to a five year-old. My Daughter is five and she just asked me that question about half-a-week ago. How would you answer? Without God the question can't be objectively answered in any meaningful way.
Since God is omniscient, and given the possibility of Middle Knowledge or any other mechanism for divine foreknowledge, God knows every possible outcome for every actualisation of every possible world. And God, evidently, chose this one.
I reject "Middle Knowledge" because I can find no Biblical nor scientific evidence that convinces me that is how God handles time and space. I would not say that God picks a possible reality to exist. He "knows the end from the beginning" because He has determined it. I agree he knows all other possibilities but he's not bound by our will or what we will or will not do. I've posted a lot about Middle Knowledge on this blog and can read them by following this link.
First of all, the ramifications are fairly clear for God’s own free will. Since he must do what is maximally loving at all times, he cannot do otherwise. One could argue, then, that God does not have free will himself. Without the ability to act contrary to his omnibenevolence, he has only one course of action that he can possibly take, or courses of action that contain equal quantities of ‘lovingness’ (for want of a better term). A theist could argue that God could do otherwise but chooses not to.
Doing the maximally loving thing at all times is hardly limitation if you don't want to do anything otherwise. Can square want to be round? I agree that God cannot do otherwise because to do otherwise is to choose to be imperfect - equals sin. It's against God's nature and character not a limitation and is not a denial of God's free will.
This is akin to the taxman analogy. This goes as follows. A taxman assesses your business. He says you have a tax bill for $25,000. He gives you the choice of paying it or not paying it. The free choice is yours. However, by not paying it, you will go to prison (or to make the analogy more powerful, you will be sentenced to death). Thus you have a free choice where you can exercise your free will, but one choice will result in your imminent imprisonment or death. What will it be? You can argue, perhaps, that you have free will, but you can also argue that this is an effective denial of free will.
It's a bad analogy. It's more like having already been born in prison and not being able to raise bail. You are sentenced to death. The only way to be free and live is to let Jesus no just pay the price for your release but take your punishment of death as well. The problem is you are so engrossed and blind in your imprisonment you can't see how bad off you really are without being told or the truth revealed to you.
I think this is an important point:
In the same way, God could choose in a way that was not maximally loving, but he never would because it is against his all-loving nature. This is a grey area of free will. There is a debate here as to whether God does not have omnipotence, or whether omnipotence can be a potentiality. If it is a potentiality that can never be made real and existent, then does this equate to it not existing?
There is another option: God always chooses that which is maximally loving because of who and what God is. The problem is that we don't know that the maximally loving options are or even what "love" really is in all situations. We have an idea, but we don't really know exhaustively.
However, the main point to be made here is as follows. It seems, then, that if God is to keep his omnibenevolent characteristic, then this world must be the maximally perfect and loving world that there can be. If God is perfect, then this must be his most perfect creation. A perfect God could not create something that fell short of perfection, and an all-loving God could not create something that did not fulfill the criterion of being the most-loving creation.
Johnny P neglects one major thing: Sin. You can deny sin, sure. But you can't argue against Christian theism using what we believe in order to show that it doesn't make sense and ignore sin. The Creation did not fall short of perfection before the fall. God doesn't perpetuate evil in this reality, we do. It's our rebellion that is what is wrong with the world. You cannot have love without mercy and it is this that keeps God from destroying all of us and making us wait until all those who will believe to hear the Gospel and turn to God to be revealed.
The slightly worrying outcome this is that a world where 250,000 people and millions of animals are killed in a tsunami, where anywhere between 20% and 75% of foetuses are naturally aborted (depending on the source), where cancer and malaria are rife, where a global flood killed all the population of earth bar 8 (and all the animals bar some), where forest fires kill baby deer, is a world where these events that are perhaps even necessary for it to be the most loving world.
Again do you or anyone of know what the whole plan is? Do we know what the best for us in the world is? I don't. If you think you do, then you are really dishonest. If you don't know what maximally good and perfect are, how do you know that there is no purpose for the suffering we witness? You don't.
Moreover, the Westboro Baptist Church may have some kind of twisted logic in celebrating the death of every soldier, in celebrating the outcome of pretty much anything as being the righteous judgement of an all-loving God. They realise that this judgement by God to actualise this particular world must be supremely wise and must result in the most loving world. This includes every piece of suffering and death experienced by every animal and plant in the history of the world.
Westboro Baptist Church is far from the best example of how to think logically about these issue. Is all of this due to God's judgement? Some of it? However God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked, why should we?
Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, people of Israel?’ - Ezekiel 33:11
If this is where logic takes a Christian, then they can keep their God in all his maximal perfection. And while they’re at it, they can package up all the pain and suffering and send it return post to the pearly gates. Not needed here, thanks.
So Johnny P's reasons for rejecting God has to do with erroneous presuppositions about what good is and what love is and what the nature of God is. Obviously, most people would prefer to attack a strawman version of God instead of what the Bible actually say.s IF you want to throw out the God of Middle knowledge and say that he does not exist, more power to you! That God does not exist. Instead, how about reading the Bible and meeting the God who exists and sustains God's self with God's self.
Debunking Christianity: Is this the Best Possible World and does God have Free Will?
The Way it Was and The Way it Will Be [Comics]
I think I've actually said the line about "video games" to my own children!
The Way it Was and The Way it Will Be [Comics]
Further Responses to "Christian" Scholar Laurence Brown by Dr James White
Dr Brown is arguing that Jesus is not God and that there is no Trinity. He's wrong. You can hear the first part of the response here and the second part over here. Here is the third part of the response at this link.
Tuesday on the Dividing Line: Further Responses to "Christian" Scholar Laurence Brown
Fistbump of the Day: Faithful Thinkers: Evidence For vs. Proof Of
Not too long ago, the distinction between proof and evidence was offered to me. Evidence being a series of arguments that, if sound, point towards the truth of Christianity. Evidence has an objective sense about it. Arguments that are sound do provide evidence of their conclusion. However, a lot of the time, the conclusion offered is not exclusive.
Proof is the more subjective cousin of evidence. Proof may consist of evidence, it may not. Proof is what convinces people of the truth of a claim. Many people are convinced of the truth of things without any evidence, while others have lots of evidence. Either way, the truth of that something has been proven to them.
When a person claims that an argument "doesn't prove anything," they are typically saying that that particular argument is not persuasive to them. Unfortunately, we tend to interpret that same statement as the person saying that there is no evidence for the conclusion. I discovered this mistake when I attempted to show the logical path to the conclusion. The person wasn't looking for evidence, they were looking for something to convince them specifically.
Read the full article at the following link!
Faithful Thinkers: Evidence For vs. Proof Of
Friday, September 30, 2011
FacePalm of the Day #128: Debunking Christianity: On Making A Rational Choice About Religion
Let's say you were shopping for the best car made. Your father brought you up as a die-hard Chevy lover but now you want to seriously find which car is the best one out there. How would you go about doing it? What are the criteria for what is to be considered the best car? There would be objective criteria but there would also be subjective person-related criteria. Are there any similarities here with choosing the best religion? Dissimilarities? Is choosing the best car analogous to how people search for the one true religion? In what ways? Which religions and sects within them would you seriously consider? Why not consider them all?
I agree that it's important to consider them all that you can. You should have reasons why you are not Baptist, or Catholic or Muslim or Mormon or what have you. That is not enough. You should know why you have embraced the worldview you have embraced. I don't know why Loftus thinks that only Atheists thinks about such things. Grant it considering such issues does not mean that you will come up with correct answers. Loftus is a good example of that. No one can do it on their own. It takes God.
Then consider whether everyone could agree on which car is the best car made. Of course they couldn't, even with some agreed upon objective criteria. But let's say everyone who makes the wrong car choice will be cast into hell for an eternity? ;-) Sound unfair? Sure it does. Then why isn't it unfair when it comes to choosing the best religion? Have fun with this.
There is a big difference to choosing the best car and choosing to serve and follow the right God. The analogy really breaks down here. A better analogy is choosing a Spouse. The stakes are way higher than choosing a car and it deals with relationship. You can't have a relationship with a car like a person. If the Christianity you experienced was just a relationship and you treated like a car you test drove and kicked the tires, you did it wrong. It's not what you do or what you know, it's about who you know - Jesus Christ.
Debunking Christianity: On Making A Rational Choice About Religion
Truthbomb Apologetics: One Minute Apologist Interviews with Dr. William Lane Craig
Truthbomb Apologetics: One Minute Apologist Interviews with Dr. William Lane Craig
Herman Cain Tries To Win Over Black People By Insulting Their Intelligence - The Snob Blog - Danielle Belton's The Black Snob
You know? I'll never get this tactic that is, in my opinion, overused by black conservatives to get their fellow Negroes to cross over to the GOP side. I call it the "All black people are stupid but me" tactic. Which is, by far, the worst tactic to use. Herman Cain, presidential wannabe and Godfather pizza man, recently went on CNN and said the Democrats have "brainwashed" black people into not seeing conservatism and the Republican Party as viable political options. Which ... OMG? Really? That old lie that pretends like the 1960s and 70s never happened? But then, maybe Cain wasn't trying to win over any black people to the GOP with that statement. Maybe that was really about making white conservatives feel better since the GOP is routinely accused of harboring, defending and protecting bigots within their own party, rather than running them out of town.Cain has definitely not won me over.
Herman Cain Tries To Win Over Black People By Insulting Their Intelligence - The Snob Blog - Danielle Belton's The Black Snob
Check out Rippa's article also over at Herman Cain: African Americans are “Brainwashed.” And “Not Open-Minded”
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Amazon Kindle Fire impressions (video) -- Engadget
a. There are few hardware I/O ports.
b. Only has Android 2.1 when I really would have liked to see at least Android 3.0 in a new Tablet.
Amazon Kindle Fire impressions (video) -- Engadget
Comics Alliance has a great article about how DC Comics has entered a deal to exclusively deliver collections to the device. They even released a list:
All Star Superman
All Star Batman & Robin, The Boy Wonder, Vol. 1
American Vampire Vol. 1
Batman and Robin, Vol. 1: Batman Reborn
Batman and Robin, Vol. 2: Batman vs. Robin
Batman and Robin, Vol. 3: Batman Must Die!
Batman and Son
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Batman: Arkham City
Batman: Hush
Batman: R.I.P.
Batman: The Black Glove
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
Batman: The Long Halloween
Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne
Batman: Year One
Blackest Night
Blackest Night: Black Lantern Corps Vol. 1
Blackest Night: Black Lantern Corps Vol. 2
Blackest Night: Rise of the Black Lanterns
Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps
Brightest Day, Vol. 1
Brightest Day, Vol. 2
Brightest Day, Vol. 3
Daytripper
Fables Vol. 1: Legends in Exile
Fables Vol. 2: Animal Farm
Fables Vol. 3: Storybook Love
Fables Vol. 4: March of the Wooden Soldiers
Fables Vol. 5: The Mean Seasons
Fables Vol. 6: Homeland
Fables Vol. 7: Arabian Nights (and Days)
Fables Vol. 8: Wolves
Fables Vol. 10: The Good Prince
Fables Vol. 11: War and Pieces
Fables Vol. 12: The Dark Ages
Fables Vol. 13: The Great Fables Crossover
Fables Vol. 14: Witches
Fables Vol. 15: Rose Red
Green Lantern Vol. 3: Wanted Hal Jordan
Green Lantern: Agent Orange
Green Lantern: Blackest Night
Green Lantern: Rage of the Red Lanterns
Green Lantern: Rebirth
Green Lantern: Secret Origin
Green Lantern: The Sinestro Corps War
How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less
Identity Crisis
Kingdom Come
MAD About Oscars
MAD About Superheroes
MAD About Superheroes
MAD About the 50′s
MAD About the 60′s
Marzi
Planetary Vol. 1: All Over the World and Other Stories
Planetary Vol. 2: The Fourth Man
Planetary Vol. 3: Leaving the 20th Century
Planetary Vol. 4: Spacetime Archaeology
Superman for All Seasons
Superman: Earth One
The Dark Knight Strikes Again
The Flash: Rebirth
The Joker
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (Vol. 1)*
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (Vol. 2 )*
The Sandman Vol. 1: Preludes & Nocturnes
The Sandman Vol. 2: The Doll's House
The Sandman Vol. 3: Dream Country
The Sandman Vol. 4: Season of Mists
The Sandman Vol. 5: A Game of You
The Sandman Vol. 6: Fables and Reflections
The Sandman Vol. 7: Brief Lives
The Sandman Vol. 8: World's End
The Sandman Vol. 9: The Kindly Ones
The Sandman Vol. 10: The Wake
The Sandman: Dream Hunters
The Sandman: Dream Hunters (P. Craig Russell)
The Sandman: Endless Nights
The Unwritten Vol. 1: Tommy Taylor and the Bogus Identity
The Unwritten Vol. 2: Inside Man
V for Vendetta
Watchmen
We3
Y: The Last Man, Vol. 1: Unmanned
Y: The Last Man, Vol. 10: Whys and Wherefores
Y: The Last Man, Vol. 2: Cycles
Y: The Last Man, Vol. 3: One Small Step
Y: The Last Man, Vol. 4: Safeword
Y: The Last Man, Vol. 5: Ring of Truth
Y: The Last Man, Vol. 6: Girl on Girl
Y: The Last Man, Vol. 7: Paper Dolls
Y: The Last Man, Vol. 8: Kimono Dragons
Y: The Last Man, Vol. 9: Motherland
Read More: http://www.comicsalliance.com/2011/09/29/dc-amazon-kindle-fire-graphic-novels-exclusive/#ixzz1ZP3fmFxf
Left-handedness in the Hebrew Bible | Dr. Claude Mariottini – Professor of Old Testament
Left-handedness in the Hebrew Bible | Dr. Claude Mariottini – Professor of Old Testament
Interactive Infographic: Trends in Higher Education - Education - GOOD
Interactive Infographic: Trends in Higher Education - Education - GOOD
And Man Created God | Dr. Claude Mariottini – Professor of Old Testament
People need God, but only the true God will satisfy the basic needs of humanity. The prophets of the Old Testament recognized that man-made gods have no power to transform the life of an individual. Jeremiah said those who went after worthless things became worthless themselves (Jeremiah 2:5).
Secular people and those who have created their own gods need to learn that the worship of man-made gods leads to “loss of sanity and humanity.”
And Man Created God | Dr. Claude Mariottini – Professor of Old Testament
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Viddler.com - Don Draper Presents Facebook Timeline - Uploaded by eleist
Image via CrunchBaseThis is one of the slickest marketing videos I have ever seen. It's a scene from the Television show Mad Men about advertiser executives in the 1960s and one of the characters makes an impassioned speech on behalf of his product and profession. The scenes are replaced with video of Facebook's new Timeline feature. It's amazing. I admit I like Timeline having tried it out early. People, Facebook is not dead yet.
And here is a more official video explaining the service
Viddler.com - Don Draper Presents Facebook Timeline - Uploaded by eleist
18 Things You Should Know about Genetics [Video]
Article: Junk DNA: An Outdated Concept- Part 1
Article: Junk DNA: An Outdated Concept- Part 2
Article: Junk DNA: An Outdated Concept- Part 3
18 Things You Should Know about Genetics [Video]
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