Via my sister on Facebook. Read more
Via my sister on Facebook. Read more
We’ve been talking about the Book of Job and more generally about the problem of evil in my freshman course on Faith, Doubt and Reason. It struck me that one can make a point relevant to academic assignment writing from the Book of Job (although I wonder how appropriate it is to do so). One of the main reasons that Job’s friends are criticized at the end of the book is presumably that they simply defended their existing belief, without... Read more
The upcoming episode of Doctor Who, “The Wedding of River Song,” will be the season finale. The biggest question that people are asking is “Who will she marry?” and “Will it be the Doctor?” Someone on Reddit noticed some similarities between a scene in “The Impossible Astronaut” and a wedding: Invitations were sent out, and the Doctor and River Song, dressed in white, stand on a beach while their friends look on, and her “veil” is lifted back… Of course,... Read more
Several posts related to the bogus claims of proponents of young earth creationism and intelligent design have appeared in the blogosphere over the past 24 hours or so… Karl Giberson asked why Evangelicals prefer to get their information from the discredited Ken Ham rather than an actual Evangelical scientist like Francis Collins. Darrell Falk responded to Ken Ham’s video. Questioning Answers in Genesis addressed faith-science conflicts. Dennis Vennema offered insight into human speciation. The British Center for Science Education shared... Read more
HT Chris Brady (original source unknown) Read more
The Torchwood episode “Small Worlds” focuses on “fairies” – which are viewed not as alien entities but as ones that are native to our world and have been around for as long as or longer than humans have. Indeed, they once were human children, but have been transformed into immortal beings who can flit in and out of and backwards and forwards in time. Some think of them as lovely and benevolent, but a close look reveals that they are... Read more
This is surely a spoof, but that doesn’t in any way negate Matthew Paul Turner’s description of this as “the greatest worst Jesus doll ever.” I expect that a lot of people will react to something like this with horror and perhaps even regard it as blasphemy. I wonder how many of them, however, will consider whether they as Christians are connected through their voting, their taxes, or even more directly through their political and moral stances, with the launching... Read more
It was interesting watching the Torchwood episode “Cyberwoman” in close proximity to the Doctor Who episode “Closing Time.” Both feature a character who is subjected to the process of “upgrading” to a cyberperson, and in both their cases the process is stopped before it is completed. That may be where the similarities end. While Ianto’s girlfriend Lisa was perhaps halfway converted, Craig seemed to have been even further along in the process. Yet the latter managed to free himself, while... Read more
The third episode of the first season of Torchwood is “Ghost Machine,” which focuses on an alien device that allows a person to experience the powerful emotions connected with a particular place and what people have experienced there. I had been meaning to blog about the episode for several days, and felt compelled to finally do so today because something similar appeared in Google Reader, not in connection with Torchwood or some other sci-fi show, but claims of real life... Read more
Via William Hamblin, I learned of the 360 degree panoramic virtual visits to Israel and many other places that are available online. You can visit the Church of the Holy Sepulcher or experience a narrow shopping street in Old Jerusalem. I highly recommend it! It may put you in the mood to check out the digital Dead Sea Scrolls that many bloggers have been pointing out are now available online. Read more
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