Young-earth creationists don’t like astronomy. That’s understandable, since when we look across the vastness of space we’re also looking across the vastness of time. With the Hubble telescope and the other cool toys we’re using to look farther than ever before, we can see that the universe is really, really old. We have the pictures to prove it. Astronomy lets us take such pictures — photographs that show the age of the universe and that show how it has evolved... Read more
1 John 3:11-18 For this is the message you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. We must not be like Cain who was from the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous. Do not be astonished, brothers and sisters, that the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life because we love one another. Whoever... Read more
“We are who God says we are.” “My southern ears hear Franklin Graham’s words clearly. … I hear the dog whistle, Franklin. Put it away.” “It is a living argument from the living gospels, and rooted in the traditions and history within which Cone grew up in Fordyce, Ark., and if that makes people who didn’t grow up in Fordyce, Ark., under Jim Crow quiver a bit in their Christian complacence, well, that’s just the way it is.” “We are... Read more
Here’s a screen-grab from Left Behind II: Tribulation Force that needs to be highlighted on its own: What we have here is a failure to translate. Or even to transliterate. As Jeff W. and Makabit noted in comments to the previous Left Behind post, the filmmakers didn’t translate the English into Hebrew for this sign, they roughly tried to reproduce the English in the Hebrew alphabet. Backwards. I have to think this is related to the movie’s portrayal of Tsion... Read more
“No woman deserves to be disrespected in this manner. This language is an attack on all women, and has been used throughout history to silence our voices.” “She was respectful, sincere, and spoke with conviction. She provided a model of civil discourse. … And yet, some of those who disagreed with her position – including Rush Limbaugh and commentators throughout the blogosphere and in various other media channels – responded with behavior that can only be described as misogynistic, vitriolic,... Read more
Charles Colson is lying. Again. Still. It’s what he does. Colson is a very strange man. His habitual lying isn’t strange. Nor is the fact that he’s using these lies to boost his fundraising. Lying for money isn’t strange at all, unfortunately. But the particular lie Colson is repeating, over and over, is a strange lie: Secretary of State Clinton … and other officials repeatedly use the term “freedom of worship” (a private act) versus “freedom of religion,” (which the... Read more
Left Behind II: Tribulation Force, Part 8 Donald W. Thompson gave me nightmares. I grew up in the American evangelical Christian subculture in the 1970s and 1980s, so it’s impossible for me to watch a movie like Left Behind II: Tribulation Force without thinking of Thompson’s earlier End Times movies. Those movies scared the Hell out of me, which is exactly the effect Thompson wanted. If you’ve ever seen A Thief in the Night or its sequels, then you know... Read more
So, OK, this post will be about a story from the Bible, but it’s not really about religion or theology or biblical studies. It’s about stories. There’s a really good story in 1 Kings 22. Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up. Ahab, the wicked king of Israel, wants to go to war against the Arameans, so he tries to enlist the help of Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah. Jehoshaphat, not being a wicked king,... Read more
Father Marcel Guarnizo is kind of a jerk. And Guarnizo’s jerkitude is compounded by the example and the instruction of the bishops whose lead he is following. When someone who’s prone to being a jerk is commissioned to serve as a local pastor and takes his orders from a band of bishops who have made pompous culture-war grandstanding their primary concern, then bad things are bound to happen. A bad thing happened. Taking his cue from the battling bishops and... Read more
Libby Anne: “Who Are the Real Babies? House-Proofing and Modesty“ When you’re raised in the movement, even the smallest children are taught to have self control and to not touch what is right in front of their eyes. In fact, it’s considered quite the accomplishment to be able to leave an expensive vase or dish of candy on a coffee table and know that even the child just learning to pull herself to standing won’t touch them. It’s a way... Read more
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