So, it seems to come down to this, I’ve had these experiences, experiences that I was shocked to read about in my first year religion course at Loyola Marymount in a book by Rudolf Otto called The Idea of the Holy. The Latin phrase was mysterium tremendum et fascinans, and I completely understood what the …
Dawkins wrote in The God Delusionthat all experiences of “Faith” are delusions, that there is no god out there “talking” to you. He wrote that anyone with an ounce of intelligence recognizes that there is no “man behind the curtain,” and that the stories in the Bible, for example, should have been given up when …
A few months ago I saw this comment on my Twitter feed: “RT @vavroom: Sometimes, small minded Christianity really saddens me. (via @kubke @snowded @annemcx @euan )” – Christine Morris (@CMoz). And attached was a link to a story from the Telegraph in the UK about how a film about Charles Darwin was having difficulty …
I was amazed to hear the interview of Franky Schaeffer on NPR because his story was so revealing about the dangers of when sincere faith is influenced by political power and marketing. I was introduced to his writings in the early 1980s after his father had been promoted as an “intellectual Christian” and Franky continued …
As a college freshman at Loyola Marymount University I recognized that there had to be at least some psychological aspect to things like Speaking in Tongues (Glossolalia) and didn’t feel that that diminished the “God” part of the behavior at all. In Bad Faith, Part 2: Born this Way? or This is Your Brain on …
When the rapper begins screaming, “Are you ready to party?!” the crowd goes wild. Apparently there’s a lot of pent up energy here. Then for the life of me I couldn’t figure out if this was straight or parody. I think it’s both… This video is totally def with an “A”… ack. Sources: youtube video: …
Over several months I’ve begun this entry at least half a dozen times, but failed to get past a few lines and embedded videos. That’s usually a pretty bad sign. In this case, however, it was more about the importance of these thoughts, compounded by my inability to successfully find the narrative. But, given my …
While I continue to wander about in my head about my relationship with God, I continue to have encounters with individuals on similar courses, though, perhaps heading in a different direction. For example, last night at a local watering hole, while enjoying the evening’s Monday Night Football game, a gentleman ordered up his bucket of …
Emdt student Kevin Hayes created this video with the catch phrase: “If what you learn doesn’t change what you do, then why you learnin’ it?” Kevin is a very committed believer and has shared the connection he feels between his beliefs and his actions. There’s something amazingly simple and powerful in this. And in his …
Is there a fundamental conflict for someone to be an intellectual and a believer in conservative religion? The recent Bill Maher film, Religulous, would have one believe that most people surrender their minds when they surrender their hearts to religion. Having attended four private Christian universities my impression has been that there are very smart …