Two Awesome Guys, Frank Zindler and Dustin Lawson

I had a delightful day with Frank Zindler and Dustin Lawson (Dustin is pictured in the middle). Frank is awesome. I know a little about a lot of things whereas he knows a lot about a lot of things, it seems to me. He is the past president of American Atheists and editor of the American Atheist Press. They drove 3 1/2 hours to visit little ole' me. What an honor it was! I counted it a rare pleasure to hear him dramatically read the last chapter of his new book, Bart Ehrman and the Quest of the Historical Jesus of Nazareth: An Evaluation of Ehrman's Did Jesus Exist?He is one of the few people I think bested William Lane Craig in a debate, which can be viewed right here. Dustin Lawson is awesome as well. He was Josh McDowell's protege. McDowell goes around to churches telling them to try to disprove Christianity. Well, Dustin listened to him and followed his advice! Guess what happened? ;-) Dustin is the author of Christian Agnostic: The Doubt Jesus Requires his Followers to Have.McDowell will probably never mention Dustin unless asked. So ask him. See what he says. Frank brought together two former proteges of the two most famous evangelical Christian apologists. I liked it.

Stephen Law's "Response to Randal Rauser’s Response to My Response to his Shoddy Review"

The money quote: But even if Rauser had clearly corrected the misrepresentation, that wouldn’t alter the fact that my complaint that Rauser’s review misrepresents my argument is entirely justified.

How Christians Use Faith: Pay No Attention to the Truth and Reality Behind That Curtain of Faith

The Biblical God on His Judgement Throne

I can’t help but laugh every time I see this clip from the Wizard of Oz.  This really sums up Christian apologetics as well as the life of denial Christians live under as in the rhetoric of Faith, Free Will and God is just testing us. 

   I think Hollywood had religion pegged back in 1939!

(I would love to be projected back in time and show the Wizard of Oz to the Judeo–Christian Biblical authors.  I would have instant believers being scared shitless.)

"There once was a man named Job who lived in the land of Uz."  (Job 1: 1)  Yes, and it looks like Job knew the Wizard Yahweh.

Meet Another Form of True Christianity: Tax Exempted and Protected By Law

Last week I received a Prayer Letter (likely one of millions massed mailed for the month of July) proclaiming that Jesus would “Bless someone in this home spiritually, physically and financially.” who followed its instructions. Hey, it even came complete with a  paper Church Prayer Rug which stated:

“This St. Matthew 18:19 Bible Prayer Rug is Soaked with the Power of Prayer for you. Use it immediately, then please return it with your Prayer Needs Checked on our letter to you.”  It must be mailed to a second home that needs a blessing after you used it.  Prayer works.  Expect God’s blessing.

But not so fast!  You'll also need the power of their Miracle Prayer Cross (which didn't come with the Prayer Letter), but (thank God) it can be ordered.

Life Support: Why Does Fundamentalist Christianity Need So Much Propping Up?

My years in a variety of fundamentalist Christian churches taught me something: despite all claims to the contrary, these Christians do not really believe that their faith would survive if you took it off of life support.

Believers claim to have the spirit of the all-powerful creator of the universe indwelling and empowering them as “new creations in Christ.” Purportedly, the Bible is the living, powerful word of God – “sharper than any two-edged sword.” The believer’s faith is said to be a shield, able to “quench all the fiery darts of the enemy.” And yet…

Two Graphics Worth a Thousands Words

Embracing Guerrilla Skepticism: Another Review of a Christian Book by Pseudo-Intellectuals

Susan Gerbic has spearheaded Guerrilla Skepticism on Wikipedia:

The mission of the Guerrilla Skepticism editing team is to improve skeptical content on Wikipedia. We do this by providing noteworthy citations, and removing unsourced claims from paranormal pages. It is also our mission to improve the pages of our skeptic spokespeople. Why? Because evidence is cool. We train – We mentor – Join us. LINK.

I love this and encourage others to join her. For my part I'm going to embrace the same thing when it comes to reviewing Christian books on Amazon, as time permits. Here is another review I wrote this morning of the book, "Holy War in the Bible: Christian Morality and an Old Testament Problem." Link. What I'm doing is evaluating the sources they use. I aim to hold them to a standard by which they must engage the best criticisms of their faith, or I will call them out on it. This time it has to do with ignoring both Hector Avalos's book, Fighting Words: The Origins Of Religious Violence, and David Eller's book, Cruel Creeds, Virtuous Violence: Religious Violence Across Culture and History. Upvotes would be appreciated.

The Biblical Lies of God and Jesus

While the Bible is used so swear oaths on from the court room to political office and is often heard in the popular statement, “I’ll swear on a whole stack of Bibles.” evidently few people who use the Bible as a moral and ethical guide have ever really considered the true character of its two deities!

A Thought for Today Dedicate to God and His Tree of Knowledge

I'd rather be a "sinner" intelligent and free than a pampered moron held in a small garden called Eden!

Meet the Creator of All Evil: The God of the Bible

One of God's Creations Hard at Work

Last week I dump over a bucket that had collected rainwater which had become the nesting pond for hundreds of mosquito larvae. As I sent these immature parasites to their deaths, I couldn't help having a feeling of pride that I was destroying part of what my former God had created making my world a better and safer place to live.

Embracing Guerrilla Skepticism on Amazon

Susan Gerbic has spearheaded Guerrilla Skepticism on Wikipedia:

The mission of the Guerrilla Skepticism editing team is to improve skeptical content on Wikipedia. We do this by providing noteworthy citations, and removing unsourced claims from paranormal pages. It is also our mission to improve the pages of our skeptic spokespeople. Why? Because evidence is cool. We train – We mentor – Join us. LINK.

I love this and encourage others to join her. For my part I'm going to embrace the same thing when it comes to reviewing Christian books on Amazon, as time permits. Here are two books I recently reviewed: Four Views on the Role of Works at the Final Judgment, and In Defense of the Bible: A Comprehensive Apologetic for the Authority of Scripture. Notice the down-votes? Of course they don't like it. Join me by up-voting my reviews, please.

Ed Suominen's Review of My Book, The Outsider Test for Faith

LINK. Ed is the co-author (with Robert Price) and publisher of the book "Evolving out of Eden: Christian Responses to Evolution," which I recommend very highly.

Stephen Law Responds to Randal Rauser

LINK.

Skeptic Ink Meet-Up at TAM.

The Skeptic Ink contingent is pretty strong here at The Amazing Meeting. It's valuable just to meet up and share our experiences and views. Here’s a whole gang of us at the Del Mar Lounge: yours truly, Russell Blackford, Ed Clint, Jacques Rousseau, Caleb Lack, and Damion Reinhardt:

LINK

Are Christian Apologists Like William Lane Craig Dishonest?

Ed Clint posted a video of Jamy Ian Swiss's talk, "What Does a Villain See in the Mirror?" Jamy's focus is on psychics, and it's really good if you want to know how they can knowingly defraud people and still look in the mirror. Hint: they can, and they do. At the one minute mark he says: "If you're a spoon bender, for example, you know you're doing sleight of hand...and it's plainly impossible to deceive yourself into not knowing that you're doing such things. But...once you eliminate the element of physical manipulation...there remains a broad spectrum of behavior and thinking that makes it difficult to be certain about the inner workings of another person's mind, no matter what we may think of their behavior." I think what he says is relevant to whether Christian apologists like William Lane Craig are dishonest. You see, Craig and other apologists are not bending spoons. There is no obvious trickery going on. That makes a huge difference in my opinion. Nonetheless, even with outright frauds who know what they're doing, Jamy says (at 6:58): "Cognitive dissonance is hard-wired into us, a magic trick of sorts our brains play on us in order to make us feel right, or at least to prevent us from feeling too bad about being wrong, and even doing wrong." If this is such a powerful force in the minds of outright frauds then how much more is it when there is no obvious trickery going on? Take a look below:

Silly Sayings of Jesus: Tearing Out Eyes and Cutting Off Hands.

If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell. Matthew 5:29-30 ESV

Really Jesus, you managed to pack so much silliness in these few sentences that it’s hard to know where to start! In fact, it goes well beyond silliness – perhaps ridiculously irresponsible would be a better description. Surely if you were God – all-knowing and wise – it might have occurred to you that encouraging people to pluck out their eyes and cut off their hands (even if you intended it metaphorically) might not be the best idea? Didn’t you realize that mentally unstable people might act on your words? Not very prudent of you to put those ideas so carelessly out there, now was it?

Some New Evangelical Books Coming Out. *Sigh*

Don't they know they're being dishonest? ;-) I've added them to my amazon wish list if anyone is interested in buying one for me. I'm particularly interested in the first one, "In Defense of the Bible," since it just came out. They are now willing to entertain the question of Adam's existence, and with it, they'll have to revisit the issue of inerrancy. Baby Steps. Baby Steps. Come a little closer children.

Zondervan's Book: Four Views on the Role of Works at the Final Judgment

I hope Zondervan keeps putting these types of books out. The newest one is Four Views on the Role of Works at the Final Judgment.Theologians cannot get it straight because the NT contains conflicting messages from a supposed divine mind, even though he should've known (or guessed) that 8 million Christians would slaughter each other in the wars following the Protestant Reformation over issues like this one. These issues were a matter of life and death to them. Be on the "wrong" side and you would be bludgeoned to death, along with your entire family. After four more centuries theologians still cannot get it straight. The only plus is that they're not killing each other over it. I'm here to remind them that they did. So Christian, sit in your comfy chair on your beachfront house porch and read it knowing these facts. Then decide which view best represents yours, or a combination of them, with the understanding that your life could be in danger from other Christians (heretics) if you got it wrong. Think also about the wisdom of that deity you worship.

Is Atheism a Religion? By Bill Maher.

In this hilarious video Bill Maher tells us why atheism is not a religion.

Dr. Guillermo Gonzalez Hired at Ball State University

Dr. Guillermo Gonzalez, the creationist astronomer who has been the topic of a few posts on DC, has been hired by Ball State University. I gave a few comments to Inside Higher Ed about this hire. Read the full story.

For a previous DC post on Gonzalez, see: The Gonzalez case at Iowa State University.

See You At The Amazing Meeting 2013!

Some of us from SIN Network will be dong a workshop on "Skeptical Blogging" Thursday morning at 8 AM. Here's the program link. Now for the video:



This is gonna be good!

Several More Examples How Biblical Authors Stole Literary Ideas from Ancient Pagans

The wholesale plagiarizing of ancient Near Eastern literary themes didn't end with the Old Testament 's   reworking of much older cuneiform stories in Sumerian (4,000  – 2,000 BCE) and Akkadian (2,500 BCE – 100 CE) which recorded The Creation Epic (Enuma Elis), The Flood (Sumerian), The Story of Gilgamesh, The Decent of  Inanna / Ishtar to the Neither World (Jewish Sheol and Christian Hell) and The Legend of Sargon (the basis for Moses' birth story).
  

However, many people are not aware that the plagiarizing of established pagan myths can be found in the Bible from Genesis to Revelation.      

As Yahweh Was Endowed With More Major Divine Attributes, So Did Both His Global Responsibilities and Theological Problems

I have noted many times in posts here at DC that the Jewish God (Yahweh) was a simple local West Semitic deity textually employed after 250 BCE to give a historical foundation for the descendants of the poor Canaanites from the hill country near Ugarit later known as Jews.

The New Theist: How William Lane Craig Became Christian Philosophy's Boldest Apostle

When, during a conversation in a swank hotel lobby in Manhattan, I mentioned to Richard Dawkins that I was working on a story about William Lane Craig, the muscles in his face clenched.

"Why are you publicizing him?" Dawkins demanded, twice. The best-selling "New Atheist" professor went on to assure me that I shouldn't bother, that he'd met Craig in Mexico—they opposed each other in a prime-time, three-on-three debate staged in a boxing ring—and found him "very unimpressive." "I mean, whose side are you on?" Dawkins said. "Are you religious?" LINK.

A Solid Theological Contradiction: An All-Knowing God Must Test People

No temptation (testing) has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted (tested) beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted (tested), he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.     
(1 Corinthians 10: 13)

Typical Tube Tester

When I first setup an electronic repair shop back in the late 1960’s (before the universal use of the transistor), one of the first pieces of equipment I bought was a tube tester to check receiving tubes in radios and televisions. Unless the tube was completely burnt-out or had turned white inside do to air entering the sealed vacuum enclosure, there was no way to find out if the tube was either good or bad without a tube tester which usually had a three level meter scale.  When the “TEST” button was pushed (after the tube warmed up) it was rated   as GOOD, “?” or BAD (and you hoped it didn't tested “?”!). So, unless a tube was visually bad, it was humanly impossible to know how the tube would function without testing it (due to the fact that a resistor or capacitor could be making the tube malfunction while in the circuit).