I watched LOST tonight with a bit of a delay, as my TV is on the fritz. Fortunately I was able to record it and then watch it on the computer screen. If you haven’t watched the episode yet, this post contains spoilers. The episode “Jughead” has so much that makes LOST great in it, including moments of human joy (for instance, the birth of Desmond and Penny’s son Charlie) as well as answers to mysteries (we now know that... Read more

“Just as science entered upon a new stage in its development when it replaced the deductive method with the inductive, so can religion parallel the progress of science by subjecting its own assumptions and processes to analysis.” — Mordecai M. Kaplan, Judaism as a Civilization (New York: Macmillan, 1935) p. 309. Read more

Since there are at least as many readers of this blog interested in antiquity as in LOST, I had to share the following clip that has been made available from the upcoming LOST episode “Jughead”. It features Others speaking Latin! HT IO9 There’s also a nice post from someone who doesn’t resent being tricked into enjoying this sci-fi series, as long as the time-travel part stays relatively unparadoxical. I don’t think anything could ruin the series for patient fans than... Read more

This sign needs to be widely circulated. I presume it comes from a church that was concerned tourists and guides would speak in the church, disturbing worshippers. But there are so many other ways it could be contrued, not to mention its potential for use in a powerpoint about 1 Corinthians 14:35… (HT Theophrastus and E-Kvetcher) Read more

“Lately, I’ve come to see faith and doubt as complimentary ingredients in our cocktail of thought. When was the last time you enjoyed a glass of lemon juice or a spoon full of sugar? We may disagree about the perfect recipe for lemonade and some of us may opt for more experimentation over more traditional mixtures, but most of us will agree that the bitter-sweet sum of these ingredients is much better than its parts.” — Mike Leaptrott, “Faithful Doubt“ Read more

The discussion of the “mythical Jesus” viewpoint that has at times been present here (I can hardly say it “began” here) has spread to AIG Busted, in the form of a post that also touches on creationism, cosmology, and (in the comments) even Japanese Role Playing Games, Justin Martyr and sons of Jupiter. so there’s something there for just about everyone, no matter what your interests! Read more

In some cases, we have built devices to detect such things as radioactivity, or infrared light. In other cases, we have built devices to pick up and decode signals that we as human beings have produced. The air all around you and I is filled with music, but it may take a radio receiver to experience it. Without a radio, and without knowledge of radios, you might well be skeptical of such a claim to pervasive music. We perceive beauty... Read more

This past Sunday we rounded up a discussion of Christology in the Sunday school class I teach. In response to the suggestion that belief in the “divinity” of Jesus might be essential to Christianity, I took a different tack than I usually might. Usually I would have pointed out that most or all of the earliest Christians might not have been “Christian” by this standard (on this subject I recommend the podcast on the radio show Unbelievable featuring a discussion... Read more

Those who have seen tonight’s episodes of LOST will probably get the pun in the title. Those who haven’t ought not to read this post yet. Knowing about the future doesn’t do most of us any good. Spoilers will follow. You’ve been warned. After waiting so long for the new season of LOST, it is great to see it come back full steam ahead, providing answers to our questions. It is nice to have the science-fiction aspect of the series... Read more