Religion

On Jesus’ Death, part 2 of 4: Beatings and Flogging

Posted by on April 2, 2015 at 10:26 pm

Physical Exhaustion & Trauma Anguish in the Olive Grove: To examine the physical exhaustion and trauma that Jesus experienced during His final hours, we must begin in Gethsemane. It was there that He knelt in fervent prayer, knowing that His imminent suffering and death were fast approaching. The Bible says that He was distressed and […]

On Jesus’ Death, part 1 of 4: Imposter Theory and Secular Evidence

Posted by on March 29, 2015 at 9:56 pm

It’s getting close to Easter (aka “Resurrection Day”) again and, as usual, I wanted to come up with something relevant for my readers. I was casting about for something with a theological/apologetical flavor and eventually remembered an old manuscript I was working on back in 2003 & 2004, which I decided to, um, resurrect. So, […]

Why People Believe and Why People Kill: Countering Dennett and Harris

Posted by on March 22, 2015 at 8:35 pm

A few weeks ago, I said I would be sharing a few more passages from Dr. David Bentley Hart’s book Atheist Delusions. In this citation from early in the book, Hart is in the midst of pointing out some of the bad arguments, poor understanding of both religion and history, and sanctimony in the anti-religious […]

On Ethical Monotheism and Friedrich Nietzsche

Posted by on February 22, 2015 at 9:40 pm

“That which does not kill us makes us stronger.”  — Friedrich Nietzsche, influential 19th-century philosopher and cultural critic Late last year, I posted excerpts from the Introduction to Dr. David Bentley Hart’s book, Atheist Delusions. I finally starting reading the rest of the book — slowly, now and then — and am really appreciating Hart’s […]

Ants vs. Global Warming

Posted by on February 15, 2015 at 7:55 pm

FUN FACT: Ants make up 15-25% of the total mass of living animal tissue on the continents! We’ll get back to the ants in a minute. But, first… The Sun is a nuclear furnace. Hydrogen, the lightest element and most abundant chemical substance in the universe, is constantly being fused within it into helium. Over […]

A Local Flood Interpretation of Genesis 7

Posted by on February 9, 2015 at 1:51 am

“[I]f the report is a phenomenological depiction, permitting the possibility of a local flood, the meaning is not substantially altered: all that Noah and his generation know is swallowed up by the waters so that none survives.”  — Dr. Kenneth A. Mathews, The New American Commentary, Vol. 1A In my Facebook travels, not long ago […]

Defining Islam

Posted by on January 18, 2015 at 9:46 pm

Last week’s post included an excerpt from Nabeel Qureshi’s book Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus: A Devout Muslim Encounters Christianity (2014), and I would like to include another one here. It is particularly relevant today, with the jihadists being called “radical” and other Muslims being called “moderate” and all of them saying their interpretation and practice […]

Insight into Eastern vs. Western Thinking

Posted by on January 11, 2015 at 9:05 pm

Lately, I’ve been reading a book called Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus: A Devout Muslim Encounters Christianity (2014) by Nabeel Qureshi. As you might guess from the title, it’s an autobiographical story about a devout young Muslim man who investigated the claims of both Islam and Christianity and eventually converted to the latter. It is an engaging […]

Top 10: The Sequel

Posted by on December 28, 2014 at 9:00 pm

In October 19, 2014’s post celebrating this blog’s 5-year anniversary, I included links and introductory text to ten of my personal favorite posts. I got a little extra traffic to those posts (and maybe an extra subscriber or two), so I was happy. But, there were several other posts that I am especially pleased with, […]

What Was the Star of Bethlehem?

Posted by on December 21, 2014 at 9:41 pm

The Visit of the Magi (from Matthew 2 (NASB)): 1 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, 2 “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and […]