Numbers: 71 Billion Reasons to Tax Churches
LINK.
Satan as God's Management Executive
Recently, I released an ebook called The Problem with "God", which looks at the issues inherent with the nature of God seen in classical theism: omnibenevolent, -scient and -potent. There are a whole number of reasons why it is problematic. I have written a good deal on this topic over many years of blogging, so thought I would put this to good use and compile many of the posts, together with some original material, into one easily digestible anthology at a reasonable price. I also talk a little about Satan and hell, because these entities and ideas, if existent, must make sense in light of a God who could get rid of them with the omnipotent click of the fingers. Here is a short little hint of the issues apparent with this kind of God, and the idea of a nemesis.
What Would The Democratic Presidential Candidates Look Like If They Wore Their Sponsors On Their Sleeves?
Just follow the money (scroll down). The average contribution to the Bernie Sanders campaign is around $30. That's because this is a grassroots movement to revolutionize how politics is done. We aim to make government work for the people. The filthy rich have way too much power. Democracy is about sharing the power. Billionaires with lots of money should not be able to sidetrack the democratic ideals we love for their own self-interests. If we want a democratic America everyone must have equal representation as much as feasible. As it stands, billionaires try to control the election process and in so doing they can nullify hundreds of thousands of votes, and more, by what they do with their money. That's not equal representation. THIS MUST END NOW! If you are tired of the filthy rich manipulating us you must vote for Bernie Sanders.
How and When to Vote for Bernie Sanders
I signed up to help get Bernie Sanders on the ballot in Indiana. We need 500 signatures of registered voters from each district to do this. See if you can help your state achieve their ballot requirements. Keep in mind that if your state doesn't have open primaries, you may be unable to vote for Bernie Sanders unless you are registered as a Democrat. The big battle for the Presidency will take place in the primaries. Democrats will have no other choice but to vote for Sanders if he wins the Democratic nomination, since the Republicans are all nutcases. Register to vote and see how and when to vote right here. I would love to see a Donald Trump vs Bernie Sanders Presidential battle, a billionaire against an intellectual who is against that which Trump represents.
Seth MacFarlane Supports Bernie Sanders, Here's Why You Should Too
Family Guy creator and comedian Seth MacFarlane gave a great speech introducing Bernie Sanders. He tells us the moment Bernie Sanders won the debate.
Far from fringe: A historian explains why the democratic socialism of Bernie Sanders is an American idea
Bernie Sanders is a Democratic Socialist, so what? That's an American idea, so says Bernard Weisberger.
My New Intense Passion, I'm Getting Into Politics
I appreciate all of you, my many readers, very much! You come from different backgrounds and are interested in different kinds of discussions having to do with Christianity. I've tried to give you something to chew on every couple of days or so, and when I don't, other team members thankfully do so.
After every book of mine gets published I usually feel a strong urge to quit blogging, at least for a time. So I was thinking about taking another break, this time a long one. Having grown very tired of debunking Christianity and the ignorant Christan attempts at defending the indefensible, it has gotten boring for me to write on Christianity after almost ten years of making it my focus.
That was then. This is now.
I have a new passion. I'm going to change my focus. I'm getting political. Yep. That's correct. I'm getting into politics. If you are a regular reader of this blog you should understand my change of focus.
After every book of mine gets published I usually feel a strong urge to quit blogging, at least for a time. So I was thinking about taking another break, this time a long one. Having grown very tired of debunking Christianity and the ignorant Christan attempts at defending the indefensible, it has gotten boring for me to write on Christianity after almost ten years of making it my focus.
That was then. This is now.
I have a new passion. I'm going to change my focus. I'm getting political. Yep. That's correct. I'm getting into politics. If you are a regular reader of this blog you should understand my change of focus.
Evidence that Big Media does not want Bernie Sanders to win and what this means for his campaign
Polls show Bernie Sanders won the Democratic primary debate hands down. Big Media declared otherwise. If anything else Big Media is out of touch with the people. Now It's being argued that these people don't count, that they don't vote, or they are too young to know better. I'm just one person, an intellectual, and I say these polls express my impression of the debate, that Bernie Sanders kicked butt.
Regardless of who won, there are a lot of people who disagreed with Big Media on this. What do you think most of these people will conclude when they see Big Media declare something they consider absurd, that Clinton won the debate? It will be considered strong evidence of what Bernie Sanders is saying. So what do you think many of these people will do after that kind of overwhelming evidence? They will be motivated. Big Media just handed Sanders what his campaign needed. Of course, Sanders put Big Media between a rock and a hard place. If they had declared Sanders the winner, his campaign would be kicked into high gear. So either way they responded it would help his campaign.
Regardless of who won, there are a lot of people who disagreed with Big Media on this. What do you think most of these people will conclude when they see Big Media declare something they consider absurd, that Clinton won the debate? It will be considered strong evidence of what Bernie Sanders is saying. So what do you think many of these people will do after that kind of overwhelming evidence? They will be motivated. Big Media just handed Sanders what his campaign needed. Of course, Sanders put Big Media between a rock and a hard place. If they had declared Sanders the winner, his campaign would be kicked into high gear. So either way they responded it would help his campaign.
Negotiating Book Titles With My Publisher
In case you don't already know, authors/editors don't get to unilaterally choose the titles to their books. They are negotiated with their publishers. So which title for my forthcoming anthology do you think is better of the following two:
Christianity in the Light of Science: Critically Examining the World’s Largest Religion
VS
Christianity Under the Microscope: Scientifically Testing the World’s Largest Religion
Go Bernie Sanders!
So I was sitting here wondering where I should watch the Democratic presidential debate. Then it hit me. I'll betcha there are like-minded fans of Bernie Sanders who are getting together to watch it. So I ran a search, found a home and invited myself over. Little did I know but that Bernie mentioned people like me who were getting together to watch the debate.
Bernie won, hands down. While Hilliary and the others didn't do poorly and would all make good presidents, Bernie has lit a fire of hope in many of us. He's asking for a political revolution. Nothing less than that will get us moving again and meeting the needs of the American people. Go Bernie!
Bernie won, hands down. While Hilliary and the others didn't do poorly and would all make good presidents, Bernie has lit a fire of hope in many of us. He's asking for a political revolution. Nothing less than that will get us moving again and meeting the needs of the American people. Go Bernie!
The Stages of Losing Christian Faith and Discovering Reality
1. Denial - In this stage the believer is confronted with facts that attacks both the credibility of the so-called “truths of the Bible" and the Christian faith. Here the believer often counters with apologetically programmed or canned responses.
My Book Is # 1 in Religious Philosophy Books
There is a Religious Philosophy category of books, and as of today mine is ranked #1.
That's not too shabby I suppose. What interests me are the top 100 books in this category. Scroll down through them. Looks like some good books are in the pipeline, and others of interest. Here are four of them having to do with suffering: If Theism Is Dead, What Then? James Lindsay Responds.
Recently I wrote a blurb for James Lindsay's new book, Everybody Is Wrong About God.
I said:
I said:Lindsay correctly argues in this book that theism (or “God”) is dead, even though most people don’t realize it yet, echoing the words of Nietzsche’s madman. Lindsay surprisingly goes on to argue that if theism is dead then so is atheism. For without theism we shouldn’t be atheists either, just human beings living in a post-theistic secular society where the relevancy of theism for our lives is beneath serious consideration. Lindsay calls us to completely rethink both theism and atheism, and he informs us what this means and how we should proceed into the future. This is a very thought provoking book, sure to be controversial. I love it!Privately though, I emailed him some concerns:
Richard C. Miller's Book On the Resurrection Is Original and Significant
M. David Litwa recently reviewed the book Resurrection and Reception in Early Christianity, by Richard C. Miller, calling it both original and significant.
Description: 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. Full review here.
The World WILL NOT end on October 7
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| Camping's followers live on |
According to an essay by Chris McCann, a promoter of this end date, he can substitute a measure of time for a meaure of physical dimension in Revelation 14:20 because of what is said in Psalm 39:4-5 (King James Version). Note his reasoning:
“If their blood is flowing out of the winepress for the space of '1,600 furlongs,' we wonder if it is possible that God is indicating that the life of the wicked will go on for a period of time of 1,600 days. Is that possible? Can we understand 'furlongs' to represent ‘days’? So we take that question to the Bible, like we took all the other questions and we search the Bible to see if we can make that kind of spiritual substitution. When God is speaking of a 'space' of furlongs, can we understand it as 'days'? There are actually several verses that provide Biblical justification for making that kind of substitution. For instance, it says in Psalm 39:4-5:
JEHOVAH, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am. Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah.”
However, making such a "spiritual" analogy between Psalm 39:4-5 and Revelation 14:20 only highlights how poorly and arbitrarily McCann chooses which numbers to use.
First, the biblical author is speaking of HIS days (“my days”), and not those of anything else in Psalm 39:4-5.
Second, McCann fails to tell us why he chose the number of Revelation 14:20 to signify the number of days after May 21, 2011, when there are many other numbers in Revelation that one could choose (e.g., 5 months of torture in Revelation 9:5).
Third, McCann fails to understand the nature of Hebrew poetic parallelism, wherein a line can simply restate or go beyond a previous line. In this case, “nothing before me” seems to be a further description of a “handbreath.”
That is to say, a “handbreath” seems to be a further description for a small or even zero amount (“as nothing before me”).
If so, one can just as well argue that there will be a ZERO amount of days (not 1,600 days) between May 21, 2011 and the end of the world.
One should not let these apocalyptic interpreters forget that it is atheists who have been 100% correct in predicting that those end dates will fail, while it is believers who have been 100% incorrect. In other words, atheists (and other skeptics) have been the best "prophets" when it comes to these end dates.
Christian Chiakulas On "What Must I Believe to Be a Christian?"
I am a Christian, and I don't believe that Jesus was God. I don't believe Mary was a virgin, or that God exists as a "trinity." I certainly do not believe Jesus died for my sins or those of anybody else, and perhaps most shocking, I do not believe Jesus rose from the dead. LINK.I take everyone at their word when calling themselves Christians. If that's what they call themselves then that's what they are. Who am I to decide between them anyway? That's for Christians themselves to decide, not me. Good luck! Argue among yourselves and come back when there is a consensus. Then I'll debunk it. ;-)
What is So Bad About Christianity?
This site is an interesting one, asking What is so Bad about Christianity? There's a book associated with it titled, Beyond Belief: Two thousand years of bad faith in the Christian Church, written by James McDonald.
Looks similar to my anthology, Christianity Is Not Great: How Faith Fails.
Read through them both!
Looks similar to my anthology, Christianity Is Not Great: How Faith Fails.Read through them both!590 Reasons Why Christianity is False
This is an interesting site sharing 590 reasons why Christianity is false, maintained by Michael Runyan. The last time I checked it only listed 299 reasons!? Hey, that's a lot of reasons, some much better than others but the sheer number of reasons is er, unimpressive! ;-) When it comes to reason #2 I'm quoted. LINK.
This is F*cking Insane
My heart aches for people in Syria who want peace and prosperity. Who Is Fighting Whom in Syria? Wow! No wonder so many people are fleeing the area. But few countries care to harbor very many of these refugees, some for fear they'll bring a religion of violence with them. This is f*cking insane. Wow!
Ten Reasons Why Women Should Question Christianity
Karen Garst The Faithless Feminist, wrote this essay below:
For a Brief Moment In Time
My book was the # 1 new release in Christian apologetics books for a brief moment in time.
19 Things Other Cultures Practice That You’ll Never Believe
Okay, the headline is not mine. It does get your attention though, and it should. You should see how others practice their religious rituals. Extremely eyeopening!
Brenna Smith of Rant.Inc., wrote this as an introduction:
Brenna Smith of Rant.Inc., wrote this as an introduction:
Before I became a writer, I got my degree in Anthropology, the study of humans, their culture, their biology, their history and their evolution (I suppose I should say “our,” but you get the idea). One of the most important aspects of studying Cultural Anthropology is understanding the concept of cultural relativism, “the principle that an individual human’s beliefs and activities should be understood by others in terms of that individual’s own culture.”I have no doubt these other cultures would be as shocked with our religious rituals as we are with theirs. Ahhhh, but the Christian rituals are correct rituals while theirs are incorrect ones, right? Right? Nothing so destroys the so-called virtue of religious faith but seeing a different group of people who hail the virtue of a different faith. For then their own religious rituals are seen for what they truly are, as cultural, based on nothing more than ancient superstitious beliefs. It takes a brilliant mind to defend one's own religious rituals of life stemming from ancient superstitious people, but then faith makes otherwise brilliant people look, well, dumb, as we all know too well.
That essentially means put yourself in their shoes. In anthropology, we don’t demonize or criticize other culture’s practices, but instead try to understand why they do what they do within the context of their culture. No matter how strange, weird or plain horrific these cultural practices may seem to us within the context of our culture.
Keeping cultural relativism in mind, here are 19 cultural practices from around the world that you won’t believe exist (within the confines of your culture), along with some context to help you understand why they do what they do. LINK.
My Interview With The Legion of Reason
LINK. The interview with me begins at the 30:15 mark. My friend Nathan Phelps was one of the people doing this interview. The first part is an interview with Chris Matheson who wrote the book The Story of God.
My New Book Is In The House!
My new book is in the house! Now that I have my copies it shouldn't be long until everyone else will get theirs too.
Click this link to get it:
How to Defend the Christian Faith: Advice from an Atheist.
Annual Islamic Hajj Pilgrimage Leaves at Least 719 People Dead and 863 Injured: God Is Great!
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| The Dead Line the Street at Mina |
"Saudi Arabia's crown prince has ordered an investigation after a stampede at the annual Hajj pilgrimage left at least 719 people dead and 863 injured, according to state media." Story Here
George Will on Torture, Solitary Confinement, and Hell
Most Christians who reject an everlasting punishment in a literal hell, with fire and brimstone, embrace a softer view of hell. Rather than embrace a literal interpretation of most NT passages they choose instead a metaphorical view based on a small minority of them. To do this they gerrymander the biblical texts around in order to find the real canon inside the biblical canon.
The metaphorical view of hell is that sinners are merely banished from God's presence forever. Hell is pictured something like a solitary confinement in a jail cell, where sinners are given what they desire, to be left alone. Since nothing is as harsh as eternally conscious suffering in flames of fire, it's believed the metaphorical view softens the horrific tortures of hell.
While this is true, consider how painful solitary confinement would be for an eternity. George Will, whom I generally detest, wrote about the pain of solitary confinement in "The torture of solitary confinement" for The Washington Post (Feb 2013). He wrote:
Try again.
The metaphorical view of hell is that sinners are merely banished from God's presence forever. Hell is pictured something like a solitary confinement in a jail cell, where sinners are given what they desire, to be left alone. Since nothing is as harsh as eternally conscious suffering in flames of fire, it's believed the metaphorical view softens the horrific tortures of hell.
While this is true, consider how painful solitary confinement would be for an eternity. George Will, whom I generally detest, wrote about the pain of solitary confinement in "The torture of solitary confinement" for The Washington Post (Feb 2013). He wrote:
Supermax prisons isolate inmates from social contact. Often prisoners are in their cells, sometimes smaller than 8 by 12 feet, 23 hours a day, released only for a shower or exercise in a small fenced-in outdoor space. Isolation changes the way the brain works, often making individuals more impulsive, less able to control themselves. The mental pain of solitary confinement is crippling: Brain studies reveal durable impairments and abnormalities in individuals denied social interaction. Plainly put, prisoners often lose their minds. LINK.This still depicts tortures beyond what human beings could endure, especially if consciously suffering them forever. So we still have a barbaric God that no one should trust in, much less worship. The punishment would still not fit the crimes committed in this life.
Try again.
My Interview for The Humanist Hour
In this episode of the Humanist Hour we talk about my upcoming book, How to Defend the Christian Faith: Advice from an Atheist.LINK.
LINK.Coming Soon: Dr. James Lindsay's Book "Everybody is Wrong About God"
On his blog Lindsay shares the Preface and Contents to this book. In his words:
Everybody Is Wrong About God is, frankly, an ambitious project of mine in which I aim to completely pull the rug out from under theism and theology. With them, therefore, atheism has to go too. My goal, then, is nothing less than turning the first page in a new chapter, one that points us toward a new post-theistic phase in human history--one that leaves God behind, for good (and I mean that both ways).I wrote a blurb for it:
Lindsay correctly argues in this book that theism (or “God”) is dead, even though most people don’t realize it yet, echoing the words of Nietzsche’s madman. Lindsay surprisingly goes on to argue that if theism is dead then so is atheism. For without theism we shouldn’t be atheists either, just human beings living in a post-theistic secular society where the relevancy of theism for our lives is beneath serious consideration. Lindsay calls us to completely rethink both theism and atheism, and he informs us what this means and how we should proceed into the future. This is a very thought provoking book, sure to be controversial. I love it!
Dr. Jim Beilby: "In the face of evils like the holocaust, silence is appropriate."
On Facebook I shared the following poster:
Afterward I had a brief exchange with a Christian simpleton. He was not impressed to say the least, describing the poster with a "LMAO" or "laugh my ass off." I called him a simpleton, saying he needs to be informed that this is a serious problem for his faith by someone on his side. So along came Dr. James K. Beilby who did just that. Beilby is the author and editor of a growing number of books seen here on Amazon. He's a Professor of Biblical and Theological Studies at Bethel University (Minnesota). His areas of expertise are systematic and philosophical theology, apologetics, and ethics. He has criticized two of Alvin Plantinga's views in the philosophy of religion: 1) his epistemology, and 2) his Evolutionary Argument Against Evolution, as Ex-Apologist notes.
It's good there are people on both sides of our debates who are consistently willing to honestly set the record straight, people who are not so ideologically driven that they lose sight of the primary goal of being honest seekers of the truth. Here is what Jim wrote:
Afterward I had a brief exchange with a Christian simpleton. He was not impressed to say the least, describing the poster with a "LMAO" or "laugh my ass off." I called him a simpleton, saying he needs to be informed that this is a serious problem for his faith by someone on his side. So along came Dr. James K. Beilby who did just that. Beilby is the author and editor of a growing number of books seen here on Amazon. He's a Professor of Biblical and Theological Studies at Bethel University (Minnesota). His areas of expertise are systematic and philosophical theology, apologetics, and ethics. He has criticized two of Alvin Plantinga's views in the philosophy of religion: 1) his epistemology, and 2) his Evolutionary Argument Against Evolution, as Ex-Apologist notes.
It's good there are people on both sides of our debates who are consistently willing to honestly set the record straight, people who are not so ideologically driven that they lose sight of the primary goal of being honest seekers of the truth. Here is what Jim wrote:
Professor Keith Parsons On Darwin the Philosopher
Dr. Parsons recently argued that Darwin engaged in philosophical questions. Given the title to his post, the point is that Darwin was also a philosopher. What does Parsons say is the criteria for when someone is engaging in philosophy, as opposed to science? He says this:
In cases ... where the evidence will not settle the dispute, scientists must employ philosophical arguments. And they do. Therefore, the suggestion that science can simply replace philosophy is wrong for the reason that, as [Thomas] Kuhn observed, scientific debates often embed—or are embedded within—philosophical debates. These philosophical differences often cannot be settled by straightforward empirical means, but must be addressed with philosophical argument. Science cannot replace philosophy because philosophy is an essential part of the scientific enterprise. Kuhn was wrong about many things, but on this point he was absolutely right.I had commented previously on what makes for philosophy right here. And I have no bone to pick with philosophy per se. But this is an interesting question. I think we can agree that mere reasoning is not equivalent to philosophy, so scientific reasoning is not necessarily doing philosophy. We should also agree that we don't need to wait until everyone agrees that a particular dispute has been settled by science, before we can say scientists are no longer doing philosophy when reasoning about the evidence. This was the case in Darwin's day, but the dispute over evolution has been settled in our day. I think the implications about evolution are settled too. What Parsons needs to do is show why anyone should wait until evolution deniers agree that this dispute has been settled, before saying evolutionists are not doing philosophy. So I see no reason to accept that criteria with regard to his specific example.
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