Shorter Andrew Sullivan: I’ve been taught that evil is part of god’s good plan, therefore evil doesn’t perturb my faith.
It’s all very circular and very silly. Jerry’s right: theodicy is one of those confusing issues that simply disappears cleanly if you get rid of the god-junk that clutters up the discussion.
It’s tragic — the psychopathic teddy bear from the web comic died last week, but apparently he’s getting a new gig as a sub for the deity.
Yep, nobody will notice any difference down here.
Just watch a little of this video of Pat Robertson and Ray Comfort — it’s stupid squared!
Comfort has the same old schtick he always uses: the first dog that evolved wouldn’t have a mate! Everything (except God) has to have a creator! Everyone sins, so you need to believe in a savior, Mohammed Jesus! If you choose to watch it, be sure to have a bucket handy.
Too much garbage is coming down the pipeline, so I’m going to have to throttle it. I’m flipping the switch to require registration in order to comment, just for a while. If it locks out too many good people, I’ll flip it off again…but I really need to do this to limit some of the spam.
My former plan for a prosperous retirement plan involved suddenly finding Jesus and winning a Templeton Prize, but it always left an unpleasant taste in mouth. Sure, I’d be rich, but to do it I’d have to stand up in front of the whole world and pretend to be an addled moron. It was going to take a lot of drinks-in-coconuts-with-umbrellas to wash that indignity into unawareness, you know.
But now I have a new plan that leaves my dignity mostly uncompromised! Well, somewhat compromised. Here’s the idea:
Go to England.
Chat up a few vicars.
Become horribly offended that they are not atheists.
Sue the whole delusional lot of them for rejecting my unbelief.
I’ll be following the case of the Muslim woman who had a conversation about religion with her Christian hotel hosts with some anticipation — it could set a very useful precedent for me. Oh, and if that isn’t enough, Melanie Phillips and Andrew Brown have already said some horribly unkind things about us atheists. Perhaps I can hang the whole British journalistic establishment upside down and shake them for the pennies in their pockets.
Other strategies involve hunting down Simon Cowell and singing in front of him. I’m positive that whatever he says will be actionable. People can’t go around having different opinions and even expressing them, you know!
Everyone: start partying. You don’t have much time left. THE WORLD ENDS TOMORROW.
You might be tempted to go read the evidence on that page, but trust me, there is no time to waste — you really need to get frolicking now, because so little time is left. Besides, if you look at the colors and funny fonts and ugly layout of that page, your eyes will start bleeding and you might experience cerebral hemorrhaging…and do you really want to spend the last day of your life in the emergency room?
OK, you’re all skeptics. You need data. Here it is: proof positive that the Rapture will occur on 21 September 2009.
I tell you, how can you deny that? Math doesn’t lie!
Go! You don’t have much time left.
Oh, no. I just realized — the liquor store in Morris is closed on Sunday! And there’s no porn for sale anywhere in town! And I don’t smoke, and don’t have a clue where to get drugs!
By the way, we really need to check that web page again on 22 September. Remind me.
I have learned something new today: you can get a Ph.D. in converting the heathen!
DEVELOPING A CHURCH PLANTING MOVEMENT IN INDIA
By DANE WINSTEAD FOWLKES
submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
in the subject
MISSIOLOGY
at the UNIVERSITY OF THE FREE STATE
SUPERVISOR: PROFESSOR PIETER VERSTER
November 2004
Here’s the abstract, if you’ve got a hankerin’ to head on over to India and undermine the Hindu religion, it might be useful.
This dissertation acknowledges the need for Church Planting
Movements among the unreached peoples of India. Of particular concern to
this study is the application of Church Planting Movement strategy to
forward caste Hindus of India.It traces the historical development of group or people movement
strategy and then compares that strategy with traditional missionary
approaches in India. It shows that evangelizing households is the primary
strategy of the New Testament and the most appropriate strategy for
initiating Church Planting Movements. The thesis carefully examines
salvation understanding in the Hindu context and its relationship to the caste
system. All of this lays a foundation for a proper approach to evangelization
of forward caste Hindus in light of the fact that there have been no
documented Church Planting Movements among forward caste Hindus in all
of India.The paper concludes that the best approach to facilitating a Church
Planting Movement among forward caste Hindus is by not planting
churches. As contradictory as this sounds, the paper shows that Christian
disciples remaining within Hindu culture and familial systems holds the
potential for the most indigenous approach to establishing multiplying
churches among forward caste Hindus.
Now I’m wondering…are there equivalent documents in India that describe how to peel American Christians away from their churches? It would be useful information to have.
Would someone call security and please escort Kanye off my blog?
