This political cartoon is old, but it came to my attention recently and it clearly has not lost its relevance. We can debate whether Christians are “under attack” in any meaningful sense anywhere in the English speaking world – being disagreed with is not an attack, and while there are instances of harassment, discrimination, and other kinds of attacks against Christians, it has to be noted that (1) these pale in comparison to the types of persecution Christians have faced at other... Read more
Yuriy Stasyuk made the meme above, to highlight the apparent paradox in Genesis 3. If eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge makes you aware of good and evil, then how could Eve or Adam have been expected to realize that they were being asked to do something bad when they had not yet eaten it? What do readers of this blog think? Has Stasyuk identified a genuine problem, a paradox in the logic of Genesis 3 as story? Read more
The “brain in a vat” scenario is a famous philosophical thought experiment, as well as a recurrent feature in science fiction. Given its title, it may be no surprise that The Brain of Morbius features that scenario. Morbius describes his situation, having been given voice and hearing but otherwise no sensory inputs, and thus he describes himself as in torment, hell, agony, and as envying a vegetable. Fans who know only the recent series will want to know that this is the... Read more
The Android Invasion is another Doctor Who version of a widespread science fiction trope, this time the replacement of people in a sleepy village with robot replicas. In this case, however, it turns out that not only the people but the entire village has been replicated. The symbolism as the Doctor notices a calendar in the village is made explicit by his comment. As he sees that the calendar only has July 6th, he says, “A village without a future.” As one... Read more
22 Words had a collection of technically correct but amusing and in some cases profound student answers to test questions. I had seen a lot of them before. I was particularly struck by the one I shared above. There is a sense in which “love” is bound to be the wrong answer to any question on a science exam. Nevertheless, there is a nice illustration here of the way that something can be a powerful and effective force without being the... Read more
Arnold Bax is a neglected composer over all, but his works for choir are even more neglected than some of the rest of his compositions. Read more
Stanley Porter, in lectures which are available for free via iTunes, points out that Jesus and Paul were contemporaries, and makes the case that there is a good chance that Paul met Jesus at some point. Of the four lectures he gives on this topic, the third focuses on passages which Porter believes might indicate that this in fact happened. HT Deane Galbraith. Do you think Paul probably at the very least saw Jesus from a distance at some point (not including visions... Read more
Pyramids of Mars is one of the great classic examples of the ancient aliens trope on Doctor Who. The episode focuses on a British explorer who, in exploring an Egyptian tomb, is taken over by the Egyptian god Sutekh, better known as Seth. The self-described servant of Sutekh, Ibrahim Namin, speaks of gods, unbelievers, and a temple. The Doctor, however, talks about a war among the Osirans, aliens who entered human mythology. They imprisoned Sutekh rather than killing him because it... Read more
The above quote is from a blog post by Chuck Queen. True religion is not about believing doctrines. It’s about falling in love with God and learning how to love everyone and everything the way God loves everyone and everything… It is much easier to believe doctrines, perform rituals, and enforce policies than actually live in union with God and allow God’s love to fill and overflow in our lives. Living in union with God means letting go of our... Read more
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