If you’re a working stiff like me, you will have seen a printout of the moral alignment chart tacked up in the break room somewhere, assuming your co-workers have a base level of humor. The printouts feature characters from a fictional universe (I refuse to use the word “fandom”) and the characters’ perceived alignment. If … What Is God’s Moral Alignment?
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Some reviews didn’t like this installment because of aliens. Why aliens are so wildly out of the picture, while magic chalices, magic Hindu stones, and magic golden God boxes are just fine, isn’t really explained. Either way, I was glad to finally have some Communists get … Sci-fi and Fantasy Movie and Series Reviews, Part 5
A monstrous cumulonimbus storm cloud I took near my bus stop. I had to stop into the store for a bio break before heading home. If I had downed so much water on the ride home, I may have not seen this. The Lord provides.
There’s been more than one philosopher who have posed the hiddenness of God as an argument against His existence. If you’re a strict materialist, it makes sense that you would expect sense data, at the very least, of God to begin a framework of proof for God’s existence. Some skeptics argue that an ideal God … Someone Steal This Book Idea: The Obvious God
Men, arrayed on rays, vertex to vertex Reach across the plane with probisci Sleek and curious but blade-grass frail A lateral-diagonal intermingling God, as capstone, pours it downward Perpendicularity, liquid, and unpredicatable Few could apprehend from whence to where Most retract their probing lines, prophesying danger Only a few stay their hand to catch the … Story: Platonic Solid
“Always the same, and now all this. No more stones. No more spears. No more slings. No more swords. No more weapons! No more systems! No more superpowers. You can fire your arrows from the Tower of Babel, but you can never strike God!”
Jill asked me in a comment to describe my ideal state. I obliged: You know, I don’t think anyone has asked me that directly. I don’t know what the ideal state is, but it probably isn’t a state. I can’t really decide for other people under what rulership they should be living–deciding for other people … The Ideal State
Happy Easter! Please enjoy my favorite Easter song. If it’s not your first choice in music (understandable), at least read the lyrics, posted below the video. Crucifixion upon the cross Dying for sins, fulfilling prophecy Beaten for His faith Praying for enemies upon sacrifice Forsaken in the eyes of God Sins of man, to Him … Happy Easter, 2016
There’s a pilot ordered for a Nancy Drew series on CBS: Described as a contemporary take on the character from the iconic Nancy Drew book series, the CBS project will center around a diverse, 30-something title character. A more mature version than the classic story, Nancy is now detective for the NYPD where she investigates … At What Point Does Nancy Drew Become Not Nancy Drew?
If you didn’t hear, scientists discovered some unusual gravitational waves emanating from two black holes. It’s a big deal since it strongly bolsters Einstein’s space-time theories. Mike Duran quoted astrophysicist Hugh Ross on Facebook: “The existence of gravity waves is an important prediction of Einstein’s theory of general relativity. Einstein’s theory of general relativity is … God’s Nose Wiggles
Well, to provide a tl;dr answer to the question posed in the blog title, He might shoot a lot of B.C. Egyptians, particularly first born sons. He’d also maybe shoot Canaanites—all of them. Lots of the contextual “What would Jesus do in x situation? Let’s find out,” hypotheticals end up being an ad absurdum argument, … Who Would Jesus Shoot? AKA, Stop Putting Jesus in a Clown Suit
Perhaps you’ve read this article regarding the recent San Bernardino shooting, or at least seen an image of the cover with the bold quote. America—as the pinnacle of Western civ, with all its attendant belief systems—as a nation, has nothing to do with God, so I don’t see a reason why God should bother helping … Why Should God Fix Anything?
The Real Reason We Need to Stop Trying to Protect Everyone’s Feelings Sic et Non, Souls and Pre-existence – I’m in the middle of reading Plato’s Phaedo, and the soul’s pre-existence was forefront. Instead of bumbling through a post about it, JT’s writing is much better. A classic formula for pi has been discovered hidden … Links of Possible Relevance, Part 9
In the last part of John 1, Jesus recruits Philip, who then goes to tell Nathanael about Him. Nathanael is skeptical but does an about-face when he asks Jesus how He knew him. It’s implied that there is some divine foreknowledge on Jesus’ part when He said “I saw you” under the fig tree; presumably, … Quick Bible Study: John’s Nathanael Narrative
See here and here for reference. 1. Inference (2): “If (i) morally good acts are willed by God because they are morally good, then they are morally good independent of God’s will.” – Possibly true, but irrelevant, since there’s other things besides God’s will that morality could rest upon: i.e., God’s power or omniscience. 2. … The Euthyphro Dumb-lemma
Another drive-by post. There’s too many great bits of information on here to call one out, so I would just read the entire piece. In the context of this particular quote, I don’t find the debate about evolution vs. creation very relevant. Most of the debate originates between pushy scientists who really want to disprove … Natural vs Supernatural Concepts in Ancient Hebrew
This is a redo of my previous post, “The ‘Accumulative Past’ Argument Against God’s Existence”. After some discussion on Facebook I decided to change it up. I thought #1 was a weak premise, even for a skeptic, seeing as time as we know it is an abstraction by itself, and if it’s applied to a … The “Accumulative Existence” Argument Against God’s Existence
Most Christians are too scaredy-cat—skeptics, too dull-witted—to really step into the thinking process of someone different. I, on the other hand, can spend inordinate effort doing so. This argument is very weak because it’s just a framework. A more realer philosopher-guy needs to put some meat on the steps. Additionally, this can only work for … The “Accumulative Past” Argument Against God’s Existence
Intense online debates tend to go only one way. Some hapless dude makes a claim that is more or less self-evidently true, and a high-minded scientismist-debutante asks for “EVIDENCE??”. That’s really not the only way but many debates can follow this simple framework. The implication with this triple-syllabled rejoinder is that a failure to produce … Stop Asking For Evidence
Old page (a decade old!), but it does a good job of laying out some bare historical facts and estimates on the background of the “creeping death” plague from Exodus: As in many of the skeptical questions I get, the conclusion they end up with is often correct in some basic sense (i.e., ‘we should … Why God Killed All Those Egyptian Babies