Just a quick note about the billboard contest I announced at the beginning of the month. Only two people submitted any actual artwork, and one of those was ineligible due to licensing issues, so I’ve decided to cancel the contest. Some of you might enjoy browsing the entries submitted by Sam D., though, so I’ve included the link below.
https://picasaweb.google.com/108174202895295790196/AtheistBillboards
I like the “Atheists Exist” one myself. Thanks, Sam!
Over at Evangelical Realism we’re starting our analysis of Pastor Stephen Feinstein’s second post in his debate with Russell Glasser on the subject of presuppositional apologetics, and this week’s topics deal largely with the subject of the intelligibility of the universe, and the prerequisites for that intelligibility. Thanks again to Russell for setting up this whole debate, and for doing such a good job holding up his end of it. To get Pastor Feinstein’s actual assessment of how well Russell did, let me quote two snippets from Pastor Feinstein’s second post. The first is from the top:
When Russell and I agree that the debate is done, the comments will be enabled thus allowing people to comment on it.
And the second snippet, from the bottom:
No comments:
New comments are not allowed.
That about sums it up.
This week at Evangelical Realism I give away the plot behind William Lane Craig’s argument for Christian exclusivism, and begin to look at the argument he uses to try and explain why an all-powerful God has no power to save most of His own children from Hell. Craig packs so much fail into such a small space that this one’s going to be a two-parter. Check it out if you’re interested.
Now here’s an interesting quote.
[Presidential candidate Rick] Santorum told the audience that “what’s taught in our school system as a result of liberal academia, is evolution is an incontrovertible fact. There is no suspicion of it. It is decided science that cannot be questioned. There cannot be any doubts about it. If you have any questions or doubts, it’s trying to inject religion into the science classroom. So it is above reproach.”
Santorum was speaking at a forum entitled “The Press & People of Faith in Politics,” hosted by the Oxford Center for Religion and Public Life. How much can you spot that Santorum gets wrong in those six short sentences?
Back in my evangelical Christian days, I took an interest in what my fellow believers and I called “the cults”—chiefly Mormonism, Christian Science, the Jehovah’s Witnesses, Hare Krishnas, Moonies, and so on. My favorite radio show was “The Bible Answer Man,” with Walter Martin, and I devoured his book, The Kingdom of the Cults. But even then I was a big fan of gathering my own information and not just taking someone else’s word for it. So I decided to contact the Mormons and find out for myself who they were, what they believed, and why they believed it.
My pastor was against the idea, not the least because of my youth. I assured him, however, that I was not at risk (and as it turns out, I wasn’t the one in danger). I started attending a local Mormon church, and was somewhat surprised to find how little difference there was between Sunday morning at the Mormons, and Sunday morning at my usual church. There was a bit more emphasis on doing good works, and a bit less emphasis on just trusting in God to save you, but other than that I felt right at home. Hmmm.
What, it’s the end of the world already? I was so busy I didn’t even notice.
Time to give Donors Choose another plug. This week I’d like to recommend a project I like: Mrs. Johnson, a teacher in Conway, SC, would like to get her class a Wacom tablet to introduce them to interactive media on the computer. It’s fairly inexpensive as such things go, and it’s a great way to introduce kids to what computer art is like when you can hold a natural-feeling stylus instead of trying to “paint with a hockey puck.”
Thanks.