Why does a blood sacrifice pay for sins? When one opens their Bible to Hebrews 9:22 and reads
Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.
the natural inclination is to think about how different this is from our own personal experience and ask, “Hey, what’s with this blood business? WHY does blood pay for sins?”
Well… For that matter why does $4 pay for a bratwurst?
The media tried to do damage control for the AMAZING failure of Lightyear at the box office. This giant, beautiful, very expensive and tremendously hyped movie hit theaters, and families all over America said, “Mmmm. Nah.”
And the media started asking WHY AREN’T PEOPLE GOING TO SEE LIGHTYEAR?!??!
Don’t they know that Pixar put lesbians in it? I mean, Pixar has had lesbians in their movies before on at least three other occasions, but BUT… those lesbians never KISSED On screen before! And in Lightyear…
GAY KISSING! Pixar has finally added what American families have been practically DEMANDING in their children’s movies: Girl on girl ACTION! Female kissing female in a SEXUAL way! Like, not some mom kissing her daughter, because there’s nothing sexual about that. We’re talking ADULT FEMALES IN A SEXUAL RELATIONSHIP KISSING EACH OTHER ON SCREEN! That’s what parents want for their kids’ entertainment, isn’t it? WELL? ISN’T IT?!?!?
But American audiences said, “No thanks.” And instead we went to see Minions: The Rise of Gru. I’ve seen it twice already. It’s really funny.
The Leftists couldn’t understand what happened. I mean… the Lesbians were kissing ON SCREEN. And families weren’t taking their kids to see that? How can that be?!?? Didn’t they hear about the Lesbian kissing? It’s almost all anyone was talking about! They MUST have heard! But they STILL weren’t bringing their kids to see this movie? Why?
Ok, but it gets WORSE. (And there will be SPOILERS for both movies coming here)
Continue readingOne of my many fans wrote in on this article to offer the following comment, Edited slightly for brevity:
Begging the Question is a logical fallacy that involves already assuming the thing you’re trying to prove to be true, in the lead up to the conclusion of your argument. By labelling God as a “neccessary being” you are putting God’s existence into the definition of God – saying he has to exist. Therefore, you are begging the question. I could do the same with anything. For example, lets say I make a claim about a Wolf King, and the definition of the Wolf King is that he created all wolves. Well, wolves couldn’t have existed if he didn’t, so he is a necessary being, and he must exist. Furthermore, it is never stated why infinite regression is impossible. To clarify, I do not claim to know where the universe came from, but you do. You claim this start point to be God, in other words you claim that the start point is both sentient and aware. You also claim, I assume, that this start point is your specific religion’s start point. To recap, you asserted that infinite regression is impossible, and beyond that you are begging the question by claiming God as a necessary being. Thank you, and I look forward to a response.
And I was delighted to offer the following response.
Sup, Yup?
I am not begging the question, but I understand why it sounds like that. On the surface, it does look like we are saying, “We define God as a being that MUST exist, so obviously a being which MUST exist must exist. Thus, God exists.”
But the reason we define God as a being which MUST exist is not arbitrary, the way authors have tended to define elves as creatures with pointy ears. The necessity of God’s existence is derived, first from his self descriptions. The Bible tells us that God always has been and always will be. We are not forcing into Christianity something which the Bible does not already teach. The only other religion which claims an eternal God outside the Bible is Islam, and I’m not entirely sure about Islam (though it is clear they borrowed much of their ideas of God from the Bible, and the Koran even says so).
Next we can argue back toward that by way of the universe- the universe is time, space, matter, and energy. Nothing can be eternal in the past by ways of consecutive days, and the laws of physics tell us the universe must have had a beginning, and so we know the universe must have come into being.
Continue readingShould men who declare themselves to be women be given the freedom to use the women’s restroom? Before you answer, consider the following.
If the flood was local, instead of global like the Bible says, Noah was an idiot.
When God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham’s nephew, Lot, was living there with his family. God didn’t have Lot build a shelter to hide in. He didn’t have Lot collect two of every kind of animal in the area to preserve them. God just told Lot to gather his family and run away. So, Lot and family run away, and God nukes Sodom and Gomorrah from space.
In short, God sends angels to Lot and they say, “God’s going to torch this place. You better get out of here.” And Lot gets out of there.
So if the flood was a local event, like the destruction of Sodom, and one for which Noah had lots of advanced warning and many years to prepare, what sense does it make to tell him to build an ark and fill it with animals when he and the animals could simply move to Higher Ground and avoid the flood entirely? A flood would be easier to outrun than a rain of fire from the heavens. God should have told Noah, “I’m going to flood this place out. You better get out of here.” And Noah would have grabbed his wife and kids and gotten out of there.
Instead, we’re supposed to believe that God shows up and says, “Hey, I’m flooding your whole neighborhood, from 7th avenue to 31st. All of that is going to be under water, over the highest mountain. Well, the highest mountain in your neighborhood.”
Continue readingReplying to THIS ARTICLE my new friend Amanda had this to say:
It definitely requires some sort of serious religious or spiritual fanaticism to reject even the possibility of evolution.
And yes, this was the entirety of her comment. It does boggle the mind. I replied:
Greetings Amanda!
Actually, rejecting evolution only requires a clear understanding of what Darwin proposed and an understanding of the mechanisms which are put forth as mechanisms of evolution. (For a complete look at this, get my free e-book, Thursday Night Nachos HERE!) In short, if you can understand that you cannot add by subtracting, then you understand enough to reject Darwinism. It requires no religious beliefs at all- merely an understanding of Darwinism and basic logic.
But you probably gained your understanding of evolution from the title of your 5th grade science textbook. Don’t feel too bad. People all the time be making absurd comments like yours about subjects they don’t understand in the comments section of LOTS of places on the internet. May I suggest that you spend more time asking questions instead of vomiting up a bumpersticker’s worth of anti-Christian hatespeach and bigotry next time? I think you will find that you learn more that way.
Thanks for stopping by!
She returned to offer a reasoned defense of her position.
While this is a little off of my usual topics, and I know this is bound to be controversial, I am making a case for a needed social change. Over the past several decades, the drinking of Absinthe in the United States has gone from something considered dirty and even immoral, to becoming hip and trendy, with many people who self identify as non-drinkers and even the children of teetotaler families feeling pressured to try it in college.
I am going to make the case that this particular choice, while perhaps not solved with legislation, does need to be exposed as the danger it is so that socially we can encourage people away from self destruction and toward better, healthy choices. Absinthe has great marketing, and opponents of it are painted broad brush as Puritanical, or simply as uncool. Its time for a careful consideration of the facts and an honest discussion.
Absinthe is an alcoholic drink comprised of Wormwood which is identifiable for its green coloration. Because of its color it came to be known as The Green Fairy, and was popularized in the mid 1800s in Europe. However, because of the association it came to have with not only health concerns but also the behaviors associated with its consumption, Absinthe was eventually banned by multiple countries for the good of its people.
Continue readingI went to a disappointing Easter service this year. I’ve been to a few. This one was in a little church where the teaching pastor is some kind of real estate agent with the worst speaking cadence I’ve ever heard. He sounds like he is CONSTANTLY trying to remember what he was going to say next, and he pauses so much that I begin to fall asleep despite my barely legal addiction to coffee. He’s the kind of pastor who spends the election cycle reminding us that Jesus was not a Republican, and so we shouldn’t be divisive and tell other Christians that they shouldn’t vote for the party of racism, baby murder, sexual perversion, communism and porn in grade schools. Because… uh, reasons. He strongly condemned the personal belief that you are RIGHT, calling it arrogant. I don’t know what he thought about claiming to be right if in fact what you believe is true. I guess he didn’t consider it a possibility.
But I thought, HEY, even THIS GUY can’t screw up Easter, right? I mean, it’s the single most important holiday in Christian history, because it celebrates the single most important fact of human history- Jesus rising from the dead after his crucifixion. Like, just hop up there, shout HE IS RISEN! And we celebrate. EASY.
And yet, this guy managed to chip away another little piece of my faith in humanity.
This was written to one, but it applies to MANY.
Dear Atheist Roach Clowns in the comment’s section…
I’m not trying to be mean here, but you seem to need an honest critique of your communication skills far more than you need a reply to any of your comments.
I’ve figured out why other bloggers get sick of conversing with you. You constantly toss in these little digs like you’re just trying to see HOW rude you can be before people get sick of you. It’s like you want to see how many times you can fart in my car before I stop and let you out.
And I’m stopping. Get out.
I hope you’re not going to whine about it as if I have something wrong with ME to not want to drive around in a cloud of stank. You can walk home. Go ahead, play the victim if you can stomach it. I intend to breathe air, and not this metaphysical toots.
KKK members Ed and Billy were slumped over their picnic table at a recent Klan Picnic, soiled paper plates and used napkins sprawled all over the table and ground beneath them. Ed was reading a copy of an upcoming speech he was to give and Billy was holding a copy of the speech in one hand and his most recent beer in the other, doing his best to follow along.
“Let’s respond to the Black Lives Matter movement,” Billy orated, reading with as much gusto as he could after three helpings of fried chicken and coleslaw. “The name alone is nothing more than propaganda. Black LIVES. Well, according to basic scientific definitions, sure black folks may be alive, as is crabgrass and mushrooms, but when all is said and done, a black folk is nothin more than a clump of cells. It’s just a mass of tissue! What we contend is that, while one may want to argue that it is human, genetically speaking, we reject the notion that it is a person! Whatever the laws are or have been, the termination of a “Black Lives” is not murder because it is not the killing of an innocent human PERSON. It is merely the removal of a mass of cells and tissue from the city streets.”
Billy chuckled and cracked open a new beer to follow along.
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A Bit of Orange 