When It Comes to Christianity, A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words!
Both are "Slain in the Spirit"
One Point Where Both Atheists and Believers are in Honest Agreement |
One Point Where Both Atheists and Believers are in Honest Agreement |
Hi John. I'm headed to a conference in Phoenix this week called Christianity21. I'll be presenting on you & Peter Boghossian and the growing tide of antitheism as evidenced by the growing sales of your books and the interest in Street Epistemology. Hopefully you'll both see a slight uptick in book sales and web traffic Friday & Saturday.Dr. Hector Avalos tells me that in his forthcoming book, The Bad Jesus, he speaks of a Second Wave of New Atheism, which he defines as atheist advocates "who have more formal training in philosophy, biblical studies and theology." I would like to have some kind of fuller list as to who might be representative of this Second Wave. I know Dr. Avalos would be in it for sure.
The crux of my presentation is that the America Church is in the midst of a second Copernican Revolution and that the increasingly aggressive proselytizing by antitheists such as you and Pete represents the next wave of atheism after the Four Horsemen. The juxtaposition of these events will usher in a new, stripped down Christianity that will return to majoring on the major themes of orthodoxy while allowing, an even encouraging, more liberty in the non-essentials as was true in the early days of the Church. I want to continue to push church leaders to read as many of your books and those you recommend as possible.
Sat 17 Jan 2015, By Antony Bushfield
A popular book about a Christian boy describing his time in heaven after he fell into a coma has been pulled from the shelves. Alex Malarkey has admitted he made up the story inside The Boy Who Came Back From Heaven for attention. He had claimed to have went to heaven and even met Jesus Christ whilst in a coma after a car crash in 2004. But he has now said it was a lie and he made up the story in the 2010 book. In a blog post he said:
"I did not die. I did not go to heaven. People have profited from lies, and continue to. They should read the Bible, which is enough."
The publisher, Tyndale House, has said it will stop selling the book but has not made any further comment. LINK.
30% Church leaders who access porn on the Internet more than once a month
42% Christian men who say they have a 'porn addiction'
90% Christians who believe the Church does not adequately support porn users
75% Christian men who view pornography on a monthly or less regular basis
10% Christian men who say they have paid for sex LINK
The number of American children raised without religion has grown significantly since the 1950s, when fewer than 4% of Americans reported growing up in a nonreligious household, according to several recent national studies. That figure entered the double digits when a 2012 study showed that 11% of people born after 1970 said they had been raised in secular homes. This may help explain why 23% of adults in the U.S. claim to have no religion, and more than 30% of Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 say the same.
So how does the raising of upstanding, moral children work without prayers at mealtimes and morality lessons at Sunday school? Quite well, it seems...
My own ongoing research among secular Americans — as well as that of a handful of other social scientists who have only recently turned their gaze on secular culture — confirms that nonreligious family life is replete with its own sustaining moral values and enriching ethical precepts. Chief among those: rational problem solving, personal autonomy, independence of thought, avoidance of corporal punishment, a spirit of “questioning everything” and, far above all, empathy.
For secular people, morality is predicated on one simple principle: empathetic reciprocity, widely known as the Golden Rule. Treating other people as you would like to be treated. It is an ancient, universal ethical imperative. And it requires no supernatural beliefs. LINK.
This book offers an original interpretation of the origin and early reception of the most fundamental claim of Christianity: Jesus’ resurrection. Richard Miller contends that the earliest Christians would not have considered the New Testament accounts of Jesus’ resurrection to be literal or historical, but instead would have recognized this narrative as an instance of the trope of divine translation, common within the Hellenistic and Roman mythic traditions. Given this framework, Miller argues, early Christians would have understood the resurrection story as fictitious rather than historical in nature. By drawing connections between the Gospels and ancient Greek and Roman literature, Miller makes the case that the narratives of the resurrection and ascension of Christ applied extensive and unmistakable structural and symbolic language common to Mediterranean "translation fables," stock story patterns derived particularly from the archetypal myths of Heracles and Romulus. In the course of his argument, the author applies a critical lens to the referential and mimetic nature of the Gospel stories, and suggests that adapting the "translation fable" trope to accounts of Jesus’ resurrection functioned to exalt him to the level of the heroes, demigods, and emperors of the Hellenistic and Roman world. Miller’s contentions have significant implications for New Testament scholarship and will provoke discussion among scholars of early Christianity and Classical studies.Richard C. Miller, Resurrection and Reception in Early Christianity, 2015.
We are facing a crisis in America. Skepticism is rising. Too many young people are leaving the faith. Few Christians are able to effectively share Jesus with others. At many churches, reaching spiritually lost people falls to the bottom of their priorities.Strobel joins Josh McDowell in being alarmed at the rise of skepticism in our day. So also are John S. Dickerson and others. Dickenson wrote: "In the next decades we will see a massive decrease in evangelical influence politically, economically, culturally, and financially" in The Great Evangelical Recession (p. 26). "260,000 evangelical young people walk away from Christianity each year. Of that number 35% will find their way back, and 65% do not find their way back. Why are they leaving? They don't believe anymore." [Dickerson, pp. 98-102]. "This is not a blip. This is a trend. And the trend is one of decline," said Ed Stetzer [as quoted in Dickerson, p. 32].
This is a crisis we need to confront — urgently!
He explained these de-churched were among the most dedicated and active people in their congregations. To an increasing degree, the church is losing its best.
For the church, this phenomenon sets up a growing danger. The very people on whom a church relies for lay leadership, service and financial support are going away. And the problem is compounded by the fact that younger people in the next generation, the Millennials, are not lining up to refill the emptying pews.
Why are the Dones done? Packard describes several factors in his upcoming book Church Refugees: Sociologists Reveal Why the Dechurched Left and What They're Hoping to Find.Among the reasons: After sitting through countless sermons and Bible studies, they feel they’ve heard it all. One of Packard’s interviewees said, “I’m tired of being lectured to. I’m just done with having some guy tell me what to do.”
The Dones are fatigued with the Sunday routine of plop, pray and pay. They want to play. They want to participate. But they feel spurned at every turn.
Will the Dones return? Not likely, according to the research. They’re done. LINK.
Labels: "Poll"
In a letter addressed to French President François Hollande, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany offered condolences. “This horrible act is not only an attack on the lives of French citizens and the domestic security of France, it also stands as an attack on the freedom of expression and the press, a core element of our free, democratic culture that can in no way be justified.”Notice the last part? Such an act against freedom, and a free press, cannot be justified since freedom is a core value of democratic societies.
Labels: Liars for Jesus
Once something is added to your collection of beliefs, you protect it from harm. You do this instinctively and unconsciously when confronted with attitude-inconsistent information. Just as confirmation bias shields you when you actively seek information, the backfire effect defends you when the information seeks you, when it blindsides you. Coming or going, you stick to your beliefs instead of questioning them. When someone tries to correct you, tries to dilute your misconceptions, it backfires and strengthens those misconceptions instead. Over time, the backfire effect makes you less skeptical of those things that allow you to continue seeing your beliefs and attitudes as true and proper.From the book You Are Now Less Dumb: How to Conquer Mob Mentality, How to Buy Happiness, and All the Other Ways to Outsmart Yourself, by David McRaney. I've added this book to the list of others describing the same phenomena. LINK.