oddXian: Challenge the Consensus

Ashleymadison is a company whose billboard states "Life is short, have an affair" Their spokesman's rationale: This is just reality, no need in hiding it. It happens to be where some people end up. We want to be there for them when they find themselves there. In other words, not only try to excuse sin & disregard it's shame, but promote it, support it, and defend it. Does this rationale sound familiar? Only blindness and corrupt orientation can explain the world's failure to see and acknowledge the error in their arguments and the wrong in their ways. "... they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them." (Rom 1:32)

In the Fox News story entitled "Democratic Candidates Say They're OK With Second-Grade Teacher Reading Gay Prince Fairy Tale", one candidate states the following: "I don’t want to make that decision on behalf of my children,” he said. “I want my children to be able to make that decision on behalf of themselves, and I want them to be exposed to all the information, even in — did you say second grade? Second grade might be a little tough, but even in second grade to be exposed to all those possibilities , because I don’t want to impose my view. Nobody made me God.” 2 Questions: 1. When it comes to OTHER issues of morality such as honoring authority, killing, stealing, lieing, coveting, etc., should we not instruct our children there either? Why is it that when it comes to issues of sexuality, particularly homosexuality, there's a difference? 2. What kind of parents and legislators (regardless of their political party) are they who surrender judgment on issues of ...

" We live in a strange time, in which religious belief seems to be flourishing, church attendance is high, evangelical preachers are household names and traditionalist congregations are more populous than ever. And yet one has only to turn on the television, go to a movie theater, look at a newsstand or read about, say, sex- education courses in the public schools to feel that our society is almost militantly at odds with revealed religion and biblical teaching. Meanwhile, tracts on atheism ride the best-seller lists -- alongside books of soft spiritual uplift from mega-church pastors. What age are we living in, exactly? A secular one... " Here is the full article. A very interesting assertion: The Protestant Reformation plays the central role in Mr. Taylor's narrative. By denying the sacramental, by identifying all "magic" with "black magic," by giving rise to a "work ethic" that has deep links to commercialism, the Reformation helped to pav...

A TREND worth watching. (You may need to pay attention ... QUICK!!!) Were you aware that THE PLANET IS IN PERIL! ? CNN is hosting a two part special report entitled "PLANET in PERIL" . Issues covered by the report include "global warming, species loss, habitat loss, and overpopulation". The website for the special conducts a poll to see if participants think the world is ALREADY OVERPOPULATED . A special "education" section suggests after classroom presentations related to the report, teachers should "instruct each group to brainstorm all the ways that its environmental issue is connected to the others. Next, have representatives from each group stand in a large circle with signs denoting their environmental issues. Give one representative a large ball of string. Have him or her hold on to one end of the string and toss the ball to another representative while explaining a connection between their issues. Have all the representatives repeat the same s...

In an article entitled "Over-Promise, Under Deliver" over at Debunking Christianity, an argument is made that the Scriptural truth and promise made in Philippians 4:19 ("And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus") along with other biblical promises made in Scripture cannot be trusted. To this end, besides recounting his own practice and experience in a church, Joe, the author, tries to substantiate his claim by stating "Occasionally, my comfortable theological bubble was punctured by instances of sincere believers being inflicted with pointless suffering" after which he goes on to tell the experience of a young Christian wife whose cheating husband left her and her life in shambles and to add to it all she experienced cancer during the divorce. The question is: Did God's promise fail her? First, one must not confuse provision of one's needs with freedom from all suffering. Surely Joe understands that by th...

“And the LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as we are this day. And it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to do all this commandment before the LORD our God, as he has commanded us.'” ( Deuteronomy 6:24-25 ) “Without absolutes revealed from without by God Himself, we are left rudderless in a sea of conflicting ideas about manners, justice and right and wrong, issuing from a multitude of self-opinionated thinkers.” - John Owen A few months back, I examined the effort by non-believers to justify sexual perversion by appealing to the moral authority of the bonobo chimp. (See Of Apes and Men ). The atheist’s vain search for moral standards has taken a strange twist, one which, if taken to its logical conclusion, proves that ethical standards don’t exist. Writing in “Science” section of the September 18, 2007 New York Times , Nicholas Wade asks, “Where do moral rules come from? From r...

Response to Christianity is Delusional Video The IRONY of this video is that the maker whose greatest appeal is to reason commits so many logical fallacies. Here's a selection of the fallacies: 1. Argumentum ad nauseam (argument to the point of disgust; i.e., by repitition). Simply repeating to ad nauseam the inference that "Christianity is delusional" does not make it so, no more than by repeating that the sky is falling makes it true. Not only this, but the apparent suppressed tone of the speaker along with the statement he is not trying to criticize the religious beliefs of Christians but to bring about their healing from delusion while seeking to come across as non-judgmental actually does the opposite and worse. It's one thing if a person were simply wrong, it's another to be smugly classified as delusional by the self-asserting intelligent person who seeks to offer you help. 2. Complex Question Stating that the delusion of Christianity hurts our species is t...

vs I just found this article that was an excellent response to an earlier Scientific American article . A great rebuttal to the evolution faith dogmas.

I just spent the last couple of days trying to inject a bit of Christian Skepticism into the comments at the popular video site VideoSift (***WARNING*** - some mature, I'd call it immature, content) - I initially posted comments on several videos (particularly the popular Dawkins - What if you're wrong?" clip) challenging the content and worldview either implicitly or explicitly displayed with a link back to the CS site to engender an opportunity for readers/viewers to step outside the secular/profane/atheistic worldview that seems to saturate the place. Needless to say, it did not go over well...I got banned. Moreover, my comments were deleted. Surprise, surprise. Romans 8:7 a the sinful mind is hostile to God.

Richard Dawkins responds to the question “ What if you’re wrong ?” The errors and weaknesses of his response are found in the following: 1. Dawkin’s Ontological Suggestion Dawkin’s argument that “anybody could be wrong, we could all be wrong…” combines and/or is related to several fallacies: arguing from ignorance (absence of proof is proof of absence”), ad hominem tu quoque (trying to escape from an accusation by directing the same accusation right back), and avoiding the question (while pretending to answer a question, really talking about something else.) Dawkin’s suggestion does not deny the Christian ontological presupposition that if there is a God who chooses to be reveal himself and be known that he can be known. 2. Dawkin’s Revelational Strawmen Dawkin’s argument that we could all be wrong about the “flying spaghetti monster or the pink unicorn or the flying teapot” seeks to deny arguments based on evidence by referring to the absurd. While there is evidence which can logicall...

On of my favorite short series has been posted on-line; James Burke - Connections. As a committed believer that nothing happens outside of God's sovereign control - this series acts as a proof! Things happen for a reason, not out of blind fluke! Here is the first one:

I was just reading a report on new legislation intended to advance homosexuality in the workplace and I was reminded... Wasn't it not too long ago that it was these same individuals whose cry was "You can't legislate morality!" who are now trying to use the law books and courts to do the same thing they formerly accused the religious of doing? Funny, how when things don't go your way, people cry unfair. But, when you think it might work to your own advantage, there's nothing wrong with it! Here we find not only hypocrisy, but affirmation that believers were right all along in that while the law cannot produce morality, it does on one level express and protect the values held by a particular body and both limit and penalize what is deemed immoral.

Just wondering... If Christopher Hitchens has it all figured out, why is he found so often in pictures holding a cigarette ? Wouldn't most educated people say smoking is not good for a person? Suppose Hitchens hasn't figured this out yet, or could he still be in bondage to something as small as a cigarette? ... Just wondering.

Good news from the side of Secular Humanists. I just read the following on the Center for Inquiry's promotion for their 2007 Conference on "The Secular Society and Its Enemies": "Yet religious fervor in the United States and abroad remains at an all-time high. Science education suffers from the constant onslaught of creationist activists. Democratic politicians have joined Republicans in pandering to religious prejudices. The American courts are stacked with judges who openly denigrate the nation’s vital and historic separation of church and state. Islamic radicalism is on the rise in Europe as well as in the Middle East. In many ways, societies the world over face the ominous threat of de-secularization. " [Bold, my emphasis] It's good that others see the church is not giving up, nor will it!

Providentially, Bob Kauflin has a good post on vocal solos in the church . Well balanced and thoughtful..

This is a very thought provoking video - the 10th Dimension... - one can see how this series of "imaginings" can create substantiation for the unlimited probabilities necessary to make the improbable probable - for a Christian skeptic's viewpoint of this type of "imagining" see: Evolution is Easy: It Just Takes An Infinite Number of You ... 2 Corinthians 4:4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

Secular Humanism's Utopia - Things that STAND IN THE WAY: MAN'S SINFUL NATURE (& Ways) Man's natural orientation and propensity toward evil and sin Man's continuing and insatiable desire for power, possessions, pleasure, prestige Man's insatiable desire for more Man's inability to ultimately avoid all consequences to his actions Man's failure to value the life and good of others compared to his own Man's continuing advancement in methods of killing Man's fear concerning his desire for survival Man's fear concerning the unknown Man's lack of patience, perseverance and compatibility to endure until utopia (even if it was possible) Man's competing philosophies Man's pollution Man's poverty in wisdom, knowledge, resources, and control Man's limitations to live up to his own standards Man's guilt GOD'S CURSE THROUGH (/AND UPON) NATURE Nature (/Creation) no longer provides man (apart from God) the return, satisfaction, a...

Regarding the future of the earth and mankind... 1. On the one hand, there are those who live in FEAR: carried along even by the research of those who report that " on it's current path, human society has a shrinking window of time to alter its path ", etc. (Note I'm not addressing the merit or use of the research here, but just one group's response to it). 2. On the other hand, there are those who live in DENIAL: who fail to take science as well as personal responsibilities seriously, and simply "eat, drink, and try to be merry" regardless of the consequences. 3. Then there are those who REST in God's word: which says "As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease." This rest involves neither neglect of wisdom nor responsibility, but results in peace even as man exercises responsibility and looks to wisdom, but trusts in the promise of God!

Endangered & Extinct Species - Have you ever wondered what the big deal is from an evolutionist perspective? Suppose that either man came from the monkey or that man and monkey came from a common ancestor, what's the big deal from the evolutionist perspective if a species becomes extinct? Wouldn't that just prove they were not the fittest? And why would a more fit species be concerned about the endangerment or extinction of a less fit species since survival belongs only to the more fit anyway? Can man apart from absolute truth principles even determine whether the preservation or extinction of a species either hinders or advances life and/or experience? Is it not the instinctive knowledge given to us by the creator that man should care for creation that ultimate drives and guides us?

Derek Thomas gives us some good food for thought . Administator's note - this link is dead - try this for similar content.

I thought this was pretty good - cheers to Triablogue! - entire article here I. The Theological Options 1. Calvinism i) God foreknows and foreordains the future; indeed, that God foreknows the future because he foreordained the future. ii) Calvinism affirms that God is immutable and infallible. iii) Traditionally, Calvinism affirms that God is impassible. He isn't affected by external events, and he isn't subject to the same range of emotions that we are. 2 iv) Traditionally, Calvinism recognizes that some Scriptural depictions of God are anthropomorphic. Indeed, Scripture itself draws this distinction (e.g. Num 23:19; 1 Sam 15:19). 2. Arminianism i) God foreknows the future, but he doesn't foreordain the future. It also affirms conditional election, contingent on foreseen faith. In Arminianism, God cannot foreordain the future because his predestination would nullify libertarian freewill, and Arminian theology prioritizes libertarian freewill. 3. Socinianism i) Socinianism...

While the current presidential debates in the U.S. reflect "some" diversity of thinking within the country regarding fundamental issues of the faith, it's also true that in some cases and on some issues presidental candidates are now speaking out stronger and more unashamedly on the side of faith than has been done in the past. As politician's remarks often give some indication of where the populace is, it's a good sign to see how forthrightly and unashamedly many candidates are standing not only on the side of faith, but on the side of "the faith." Perhaps a positive response to those taking such stands will result in greater courage and faithfulness across the board in areas where there appears more pressure to compromise. Be encouraged, O church, for even the differences are resulting in the truth being proclaimed more definitively at some points at the highest levels of government and society, to the praise of God, who uses all things in bringing abo...