Archive for December, 2007
Creating a Universe of Certainty, or, If You Remove Reason, You Remove Doubt
Here is a visual tour of the Answers in Genesis’ Creation Museum in Kentucky. I went with my dear friends Tom and Mike in August 2007. I’ll walk you through our experience exhibit by exhibit with my commentary.
Arrival
We reached the Museum in a caravan of three vehicles. Mike and I were heading on to St. [...]
All the Hub-Bub over the Golden Compass
A little while ago a friend of mine asked me why Christians are always attempting to rally against films and other media that threaten their worldview. He said that he just did not understand what the hub-bub was all about; i) Christians are by far the majority in the US, ii)these pieces of media [...]
The Death of Calvinism is a Logical Conundrum
What I find interesting in the following logical syllogism is that the Calvinist, in order to avoid being a universalist (5), has to to deny premise 1 or redefine God’s love - which is to deny premise 2. If Calvinists were honest about this, Calvinism would die out fairly quickly in churches because the denial [...]
Choices Suck or do they?
What do we do when two of God’s absolute laws conflict with each other?
The Basis for Belief: Part 1
A while ago, I was asked why exactly I believe. I have been pondering this the last few days and I think I can give a semi-intelligible answer. If you had asked me this a few years ago, I would have given my best modernist response. You all know how it goes, [...]
12 things to remember this Christmas
December 25th is not Jesus’ birthday
January 6th is also not Jesus’ birthday
The Bible doesn’t tell us how many magi/wisemen visited Jesus
Christmas was created to cancel out the pagan holiday - Saturnilia
125 AD, is the first recorded mention of a celebration of Jesus’ birth and it comes from a note from, Telesphorus, the 2nd bishop [...]
Christian Discourse and Subverting the Rhetoric of the Empire
When I first began reading feminist theology, Schusseler-Fiorenza and Welch drew my attention to how language, particularly patriarchal language, shapes not only abstract theological concepts, but also the everyday, practical matters of the Christian life. Among other things, we assume male dominance in the masculine pronouns we use for God, even though we classically maintain [...]
A Hitchens made of Straw
A little while ago, I posted a short bit about Hitchens’ reply to a speech that Romney, a presidential candidate who happens to be Mormon, had given. Wuzzdem had made a nice little parody of Hitchens’ reply that tickled me a bit. During the course of writing that post, I claimed that Hitchens’ [...]
Christians and the Other
Question of the day (this time with an answer):
How do we, as Christians, conceptualize the Other?
How should we treat these people, both to their face and within our communities while they are not present? They think that they know how to best relate to that which is “wholly Other” - [...]
Link of the Day: Deconstruct your Faith
Came across this excellent link today via while reading novus lumen :: The Redemption of “I Am Legend”, that listed 10 ways to “deconstruct” your faith. I know some of them are excellent ways to refresh or re-examine the way you orient yourself towards God and fellow humans. I can’t vouch for the [...]
Question of the Day: How To Construct Satan
Given the shift in the way the Bible portrays Satan from a member of God’s royal court in Job to leader of the rebellion against the Kingdom of God with Paul, how do we, as Christians, construct our concept of Satan?
I think this is a great question on two levels, i) what the heck is [...]
An Installment on the Interaction of Intercourse and Economics
One of the more disconcerting passages in all the Bible is the rape of Tamar, David’s daughter, by her half-brother Amnon (2 Samuel 13). As the narrative goes, Tamar is “loved” by her brother because he was tormented by her beauty. He feigns an illness to be alone with Tamar. When she brings him [...]
Thursday’s Must Read
Today’s link of the day comes from iamjoshbrown.com ::The Consumptive Church: Appeasing The White Man’s Guilt. I wish I could quote the whole thing for you, but here is a bit to whet your appetite.
In hindsight, choosing to buy nothing like I did, had less to do with my critique of consumption [...]
Hitchens in ur Kitchens
The sometimes funny WuzzaDem looks at Hitchens’ reply to Romney’s Mormon speech: Shocker: Christopher Hitchens Bashes Mitt Romney Speech.
According to the admittedly very contradictory scriptures of the New Testament, Jesus of Nazareth warned his disciples and followers that they should expect to be ridiculed and mocked for their faith. After all, how likely was it [...]
An Exchange with Some Mormon Missionaries pt 2
Here is the second email I received from the Mormon Missionaries last year.