Tag Archives: Jesus

Genesis vs. Evolution–with Edward Feser to Religion’s Rescue!

Posted on July 19, 2015 by

The cake God bakes. In Genesis, to get a community with souls, God has a simple recipe. He: spends six days making heaven and earth takes inorganic matter–dust–from the newly created ground forms the dust into a man and places … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 24 Comments

The “Little Missionary”: A Child Healer in Brazil

Posted on June 11, 2015 by

Six years old. She’s called the “Little Missionary,” and the money is rolling in. Religion exploiting children. Is this a bug or a feature? Brazil’s evangelical revolution sees miracle healers take centre stage Poverty and technology contribute to boom of … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Holy Shit! The Atheists Really Are Coming!

Posted on May 12, 2015 by

From 16% to 23% of the American population. That’s how fast the religiously unaffiliated have risen in America over the past eight years. Stunning. The Republican Party and the Internet have ruined Christianity in America. Republicans have politicized religion, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Is God Just? And Where is Jesus?

Posted on December 18, 2014 by

In Summa Contra Gentiles, Book IV, ch. 52, here’s what Thomas Aquinas says is the sufficient reason for God withdrawing and withholding his protection from the descendants of Adam and Eve, leaving them exposed to dissolution (coming apart), degeneration, death, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Jesus, Original Sin, the Sufficient Reason for Suffering, and Thomas Aquinas

Posted on December 7, 2014 by

Jesus came and was crucified two thousand years ago. Wasn’t that supposed to quell God’s wrath against humanity? Jesus was supposed to have gone up to heaven in a cloud with the intention of being back quickly. He’s still not … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | 24 Comments

Arguing about Gay Marriage with Thomists: Love vs. Reproduction

Posted on November 30, 2014 by

The premises underlying Thomistic arguments against gay marriage are four: sex’s goal should be directed ultimately to reproduction; marriage is for the rearing of children and the union of man and woman; marriage is naturally a social institution for promoting … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

The Aztec Sun God and Jesus the Son of God Bled for You. Feel Guilty? Ready to Sacrifice Your Life to Them? Then the Stories Worked!

Posted on November 28, 2014 by

The Aztec worship of their sun god was rather barbaric because humans were sacrificed to the god. The rationale for this sacrifice had to do with Aztec myth, which held that the sun god sacrificed his very own blood to … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The Stockholm Syndrome and Religion

Posted on August 9, 2014 by

The Stockholm Syndrome is where love and threat are coming from the same source; it’s a form of hostage taking, and it’s what religions do emotionally with people when they make God the source of love and acceptance if you … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 16 Comments

Un-Fricken-Believable

Posted on July 2, 2014 by

Seriously. __________ Okay, I have to comment. First, before you can even get this sort of logic going, Adam and Eve would need to have actually existed in a garden in Mesopotamia 10,000 years ago. They never did. Second, you’ve … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Jesus and Ayn Rand

Posted on June 29, 2014 by

What sort of conservatism blends Jesus with Ayn Rand? Oh, that would be contemporary Tea Party conservatism. But why isn’t it more widely noticed that “Christian libertarian” is an oxymoron? I would argue that this has to do with the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Four Hundred Fifty Antisemitic Verses In The Gospels And Book of Acts

Posted on May 7, 2014 by

Acclaimed Holocaust historian, Daniel Goldhagen, in his most recent book, The Devil That Never Dies: The Rise and Threat of Global Antisemitism (Little, Brown & Co. 2013), claims the following about the New Testament: The Christian bible contains four hundred … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | 26 Comments

Bart Ehrman: The Upton Sinclair of Jesus Studies

Posted on April 29, 2014 by

Look at the title of Bart Erhman’s new book in contrast with the title of its “flea” (the apologetic book that piggybacks on it): http://www.amazon.com/How-Jesus-Became-God-Exaltation/dp/0061778184/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1398779740&sr=8-1&keywords=bart+ehrman _________ http://www.amazon.com/How-God-Became-Jesus-Nature—-ebook/dp/B00I2P2OVS/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1398748855&sr=1-2&keywords=how+jesus+became+god+ehrman __________ Notice that Ehrman’s book title invites the reader to explore something available … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Does the Truth Matter or Not?

Posted on April 24, 2014 by

Catholic Andrew Sullivan, in the context of reading the biblical scholar Bart Erhman’s new book, How Jesus Became God (Harper 2014), makes a crisp and refreshingly direct statement to his fellow biblical religionists who ignore expert consensus and the general … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 11 Comments

Is God a Person or The Ground of Being?

Posted on April 20, 2014 by

As an agnostic, I find the argument between intellectual Christians over whether God is a person or the Ground of Being interesting. On one side are Protestants like Alvin Plantinga and Richard Swinburne (God is a person, not merely some … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 14 Comments

The Easter Zombie Passage in Matthew Casts Doubt on the Resurrection of Jesus

Posted on April 1, 2014 by

Matthew 27:51-53. Have you ever read it? Immediately following Jesus’s death, Matthew says that there was an earthquake that exposed numerous graves on the outskirts of Jerusalem, and “many bodies of the saints which slept arose.” Not only did many among … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Creationists Win Another Pyrrhic Victory Over Evolution

Posted on March 30, 2014 by

When I learned that, in South Carolina, two Republican young earth creationists recently blocked the adoption of the woolly mammoth as the state’s official fossil (all but seven states have one) because they don’t want people reminded of evolution, I thought … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Who Is Your Neighbor?

Posted on March 13, 2014 by

Sharing with a stranger–one of the better angels of our nature–is on display in this YouTube: __________ The video is moving, but why is it moving? Why don’t we have similar responses, say, to adult alcoholics who are homeless, cold, … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

John Stuart Mill on the “Omnipotent Author of Hell” (God)

Posted on March 5, 2014 by

For John Stuart Mill (1806-1873), a good reason to reject Christianity and Islam is hell belief, and in his Autobiography he recalls his father’s strong views on the matter: [H]is aversion to religion, in the sense usually attached to the term, … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Great Question of Religion: Who’s on First?

Posted on February 27, 2014 by

No, I’m not joking. True religion boils down to this one question. But before I demonstrate this, I’d like to point to something the literary critic Adam Kirsch recently wrote. He has been reading one page a day from the Talmud, … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Quick Thought: Why Do We Make of Faith a Virtue?

Posted on January 30, 2014 by

We all need hope and optimism, but this world provides very little actual evidence or good reasons for thinking hopeful and optimistic thoughts (such as that we survive the body after death, that God exists, or that our political leaders … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 14 Comments