Socialist Jesus vs. Libertarian Jesus

Last updated on: May 30, 2014 at 10:36 am By James F. McGrath

James Knight, on his blog The Philosophical Muser, posted the above image, with comments to the effect that individual generosity is better than collective generosity. His post reflects the false antithesis that, if a society works together for change, somehow that means individuals are not generous. But can it not rather show (1) that generous people know that working together as a society is more effective than individual efforts, and (2) experience shows that one cannot effectively deal with issues... Read more

Word for Word Translation

Last updated on: May 30, 2014 at 9:01 am By James F. McGrath

This meme image was inspired by a comment left on this blog by Tim, in response to the webpage for a new Bible claiming it is a “word-for-word” translation, in which he wrote, “Trying to read the English translation directly in an interlinear would confuse Yoda.” Read more

Bible Against Climate Change

Last updated on: May 30, 2014 at 7:52 am By James F. McGrath

The video above features politicians reprehensibly appealing to the Bible as though it can be used to discount the evidence for climate change, or the likelihood that its long-term impact with be catastrophic. It would make more sense to argue from the fact that there never was a worldwide flood, that non-coastal regions will probably survive, than to argue from the mythical story of the flood that flooding can never happen again. But that argument won’t carry weight with conservative... Read more

Warp Speed Jesus (Ascension Day Limerick)

Last updated on: May 29, 2014 at 4:15 pm By James F. McGrath

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Jeff Carter wrote the following limerick, inspired by my post “Ascension Deficit Disorder”: It is a part of our Christian creed that our Jesus ascended, indeed, but he ‘aint, to this day, escaped the Milky Way, unless, that is, he’s attained warp speed. Read more

Pics Or It Didn’t Happen

Last updated on: May 29, 2014 at 4:07 pm By James F. McGrath

I saw someone use the phrase “pics or it didn’t happen” on Facebook recently. It seems to me that, in our era of Photoshop, simply asking for pictures or other such evidence is not enough. One has to be able to discern the truth in a manner that takes into account the fact that photographs and even our own eyes may deceive us. The Speed Bump comic above seems to me to accompany the point nicely. Read more

Jesus was Not a New Yorker

Last updated on: May 29, 2014 at 1:42 pm By James F. McGrath

Ascension Deficit Disorder

Last updated on: May 29, 2014 at 11:00 am By James F. McGrath

Today is Ascension Day. The cartoon above is one that I have shared before. In my opinion, all Christians ought to have “ascension deficit” and it should not be considered a “disorder.” The author of Acts had no notion of light years, of outer space, of the things that are part of our understanding of the cosmos. As someone I know once put it, “The ascension is harder to believe in than the resurrection.” And so each year at this... Read more

The Meh Version

Last updated on: May 29, 2014 at 10:53 am By James F. McGrath

A couple of people on Facebook mentioned an article about a new English language Bible translation, the Modern English Version (MEV for short). The website for the translation, quoted in the article, says the following: Every effort is made to ensure that no political, ideological, social, cultural, or theological agenda is allowed to distort the translation. The Scriptures are accurately translated without loss, change, compromise, embellishments or distortions of the meaning of the original text. The claims are nonsensical in... Read more

Doctor Who: The Time Warrior

Last updated on: May 29, 2014 at 10:04 am By James F. McGrath

If the last episode saw the departure of Jo Grant, the episode The Time Warrior witnesses new opening credits (some elements of which carried over into the more famous Tom Baker credits) and the arrival of a new companion who would remain one of the most popular of all time, Sarah Jane Smith, eventually reappearing on the new series in addition to K9 and Company and her own spin-off series, The Sarah Jane Adventures. It also introduced the Sontarans, who... Read more

Notice

Last updated on: May 29, 2014 at 9:04 am By James F. McGrath