Religious

Archive for Religious

What Can We Do?

I’ve been traveling on Sundays lately and so have been lax in my posts. Well in my Bible study we’re covering the Beatitudes (and more), so I think the least I can do is relay Jesus’ wisdom: The Beatitudes 20And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said: “Blessed are you who are […]

The Garden of Eden and Original Sin

Here are two standard critiques of Christianity: Why does a good God allow evil? The doctrine of “original sin” is monstrous–how can the actions of Adam and Eve possibly affect the “nature” of their descendants? The other day an idea popped into my head (I would say God gave it to me but I realize […]

Thoughts on Christianity

I am sure I’ve said something like this on the blog before, but here’s what I posted on Facebook today…

A Testimony on Becoming Christian

I don’t think I already shared this? Anyway, BraveTheWorld has shared her experience of going from intellectual atheist to Christian. It interests me because I had a similar journey. I am curious about which (if any) of her points resonate with people, because at some point I’ll devote a podcast episode to this topic (in […]

Jesus Trying to Help Those in the Process of Murdering Him

At my Bible study tonight we read this section from John 18: 33 So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” 34 Jesus answered, “Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?” 35 Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own […]

This Is Setting Off My BS-Pattern Detector

This is a really smart guy; my son and I read (a lot of) his book Our Mathematical Universe. But around 14:15 when he starts asking questions, instead of saying, “Nothing,” I can think of a different one-word answer that’s far more accurate. I think the most obviously wrong step he takes, is to say […]

A Different Way to Understand Salvation Through Faith

One of the trickiest aspects of Protestantism is the notion of “salvation through faith alone,” as opposed to works. This is obviously a huge area of theological controversy, with many nuances in each denomination’s position. (This Wikipedia article gives an idea of the issues involved.) For our purposes here, the reason this doctrine seems so […]

God Is Good

At the tail end of my discussion of The Three Lads and the Lizard King, I alluded to the familiar problem of evil, and how the orthodox Christian answer is a bit scandalous. Specifically, God allows evil to happen. In the book of Job, the Devil literally gets permission from God to do horrible things. Yet the Bible also shows that […]