Cigarette-Driven Monkeys and God’s Existence

Last updated on: January 6, 2013 at 3:32 pm By Scot McKnight

Cigarette-Driven Monkeys Composing Hamlet Prove God’s Existence (Jeff Cook) Train a hundred monkeys in a room to randomly strike a keyboard, provide them all the bananas and cigarettes they want, and given enough time one of them will eventually compose Hamlet. In fact, give the room of monkeys an infinite amount of time and they will each compose Hamlet an infinite number of times. How do we explain the apparent design of the universe without a God? A common answer is, “Give matter... Read more

The Death Penalty in California

Last updated on: January 9, 2013 at 8:18 am By Scot McKnight

Learn about infographics software. Read more

Heaven on Earth

Last updated on: January 9, 2013 at 8:13 pm By Scot McKnight

The Beatitudes of Jesus, found in Matthew 5:3-12, have had an enormous role in the history of the church’s thinking both about Jesus and about Christian ethics and virtues. For many the Beatitudes are to be memorized as virtues toward which we strive, and as virtues that remind each of us what God expects for those who name the name of Jesus. There are, of course, alternative readings of the Beatitudes, including seeing them not so much as a list... Read more

Thanks Shane

Last updated on: January 2, 2013 at 7:35 pm By Scot McKnight

From Shane Claiborne: So let’s imagine. What would Jesus say to our nation, where these are things are true: 10,000 people die from gun-related homicides each year, that’s one Sandy Hook massacre a day, every day there are nearly 90 guns for every 100 people there are over 51,000 licensed gunshops (and 30,000 supermarkets) guns that can shoot 100 rounds a minute, and are only designed to kill, are still legal other than auto accidents, gun violence is the leading... Read more

What Did Jesus Teach (about hell)?

Last updated on: August 1, 2017 at 5:50 pm By Scot McKnight

The traditional view of hell rests on four pillars: that the OT says nothing; that the Jewish view at the time of Jesus was one of eternal conscious punishment; that Jesus’ view was thoroughly Jewish; and that the NT authors follow Jesus. Edward Fudge, in Hell: A Final Word , subjects each of these to examination in a readable, accessible format. The first pillar is wobbly; the OT does speak about the “end” of the wicked and the idea is one... Read more

Origins and Models

Last updated on: January 6, 2013 at 3:37 pm By Scot McKnight

Mapping how a variety of scholars, scientists and theorists understand the universe’s and our origins is needed, so I am happy to recommend Gerald Rau’s Mapping the Origins Debate: Six Models of the Beginning of Everything as a good place to get the big picture. Rau’s aim here is not to sketch all the nuances; instead, his approach is to provide six models. Conceptual models provide idealized types in an effort to provide explanations. Where are you? I will today provide a big-idea... Read more

The Gym-Cult?

Last updated on: January 1, 2013 at 12:48 pm By Scot McKnight

From The Economist: To anthropologists of the future, however, the gym boom may look as much like a sinister cult as a commercial triumph. Gym-going, after all, has all the basic lineaments of a religion. Its adherents are motivated by feelings of guilt, and the urge to atone for fleshly sins. Many visit their places of worship with a fanatical regularity: a third of LA Fitness members, for instance, go virtually every day. Once there, believers are led by sacerdotal instructors, who... Read more

Paradoxes for Women

Last updated on: January 5, 2013 at 8:54 am By Scot McKnight

I read this piece — work ahead! Easing into the New Year, one big hope we have for 2013 is that women continue to bridge the gender gap in terms of pay equality and access to leadership positions. So much of the news was good last year: women were better educated than ever, we continued to claim coveted CEO roles at companies such as IBM and Yahoo, and one study even reported that women were the primary breadwinners in a... Read more

God’s Role in the Cosmos (RJS)

Last updated on: January 8, 2013 at 5:51 am By RJS

We’ve taken a bit of a break from the series on the book of Job – but today we return and begin to dig into the debate between Job and his friends. The new commentaries by John Walton (Job (The NIV Application Commentary)) and Tremper Longman III (Job (Baker Commentary on the Old Testament Wisdom and Psalms)), both their agreements and their differences, help us explore the ways that the book of Job challenges our comfortable presuppositions. There are a... Read more

Divine Weapons

Last updated on: January 6, 2013 at 10:46 am By Scot McKnight

Exorcisms were not part of what we considered the norm of church life when I was coming of age. I didn’t hear a word about exorcism until in college a group of ministers-to-be got to talking (we weren’t using “sharing” yet) about how one of them had participated and, to ready himself, fasted for a day and then prayed most of the night before the exorcism. It struck me as bizarre though I knew the Bible well enough to know... Read more