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In Bad Faith, Part 7: Entitlement

If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? (Matthew 7:11 ASV) It shouldn’t be too surprising that in an era and place of unbridled abundance and wealth (that is the US …

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In Bad Faith, Part 6: Is Your God a Tribal Strawman?

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 …

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In Bad Faith, Part 5: What’s Missing?

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 …

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In Bad Faith, Part 4: The Evil Media

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 …

The Love in Your Day

Last week I wrote this thought on my white board in my office: What is it that you most love in life, and how do you express it in your day to day routine? Thinking about the aunts and uncles who’ll be at this year’s Christmas gathering, and realizing that the list is getting shorter. …

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In Bad Faith, Part 1: It’s the Accent, Isn’t It?

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 …

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Intelligently Confused about God

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 …