Young-Earth creationism involves more phlebotinum than any science fiction or fantasy epic ever written. And it functions exactly the same. It is a magical talisman made of Handwavium, a bit of techno-babble and mumbo jumbo tossed forth to induce the audience to continue suspending disbelief so that they can continue to enjoy an impossible story. Read more
Look, for example, at that really bright star ... no, not that one. That's not a star, that's Venus. The other really bright one -- look, see the big bow tie? OK, see those three stars in a row across the middle of the bowtie? Draw a line through those and keep going down and to the left to that really bright star. That one, yes, good. That's Sirius, and that bluish light you're looking at is 8.6 years old. You're looking back in time. You're seeing what Sirius looked like back when Countrywide was still a hot stock. Read more
We’re sad because we don’t want Jaime to be in Hell. He was a good guy. Every portrayal of him in this story was positive. He was loyal, faithful, reliable and brave. Those are good qualities and it seems wrong that someone who displayed such good qualities should be punished — punished absolutely with the same absolute punishment that awaits Nicolae and Stonagal and Fortunato and every other despicable villain in this story. Read more
Somehow, though, the Apostle Paul didn't rebuke Philip and his daughters for violating all those clobber texts that insist that women must keep silent in the church. Instead, while enjoying his time there in Philip's house, Paul himself seems to have cheerfully and enthusiastically ignored all those clobber texts. That's kind of interesting, considering that Paul himself supposedly wrote them. I guess that just goes to show what a bad influence Philip could be, and why it's dangerous to allow people like him to remain in the church. Read more
"Truly I tell you, the tax-collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you." Read more
No matter what outrageous things these men say, and no matter how often those outrageous statements are repeated and endorsed by all those institutions, none of that will ever bring a shadow of "controversy" within the white evangelical tribe. They're right-wing extremists, and the white evangelical tribe has no right wing boundary. Read more
The word "Christian" ought to mean something at least vaguely Christ-ish. The word "Christian" ought to have more to do with Fr. Nary's radical hospitality than with the brutality of the anti-Balaka. The word "Christian" ought to have more to do with World Vision's gospel-driven service to the poorest than with the sanctimonious contempt of the white evangelical bullies. But when the armies of hate are on the march, insisting that "We are Christians and we do this because we are Christians and because this is what Christians do," then we have to recognize that the word is changing for the worse, whether we like it or not. Read more
"Yeah, sure," Graham says, smirk-grinning. His response isn't an attempt to convince the interviewer that this "recruitment" slur is true, or even to convince the interviewer that he really believes what he is saying. It is, rather, an appeal to the interviewers' sophistication. The sense is, Yeah, I went there -- I'll go as far as I need to go to win. He's proud of that. Read more
This, I think, conveys one part of what I was getting at in this post yesterday and this one this morning. Don't mess with our family. Read more
The bullies had to prove that they could control World Vision, because controlling World Vision helps them pretend that they can control the Bible. It's just like why they're compelled to control women. Controlling women is another way of pretending that they can control the Bible. And as long as they can pretend that they can control the Bible, they can pretend that they control God. Read more
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