CADRE Comments

Does "Tebowing" Violate Matthew 6:6?

2012-01-27T18:34:00.000-08:00

Recently, in response to criticism of Denver Bronco Quarterback Tim Tebow's outspoken belief in God, I authored a blog entry entitled Bill Maher's Twitter and the Fear of God in which I supported Tebow's practice of kneeling on the field in thankful prayer to God. One of my favorite commenters, Alejandro, wrote: "As a former Christian, I have to point out Matthew 6:6, which seems missing in the

What is Sin and How Can I Explain It?

2012-01-17T20:44:00.000-08:00

Most merciful God, we confess that we are by nature sinful and unclean. We have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. ~ Lutheran Service Book, Divine Service, Setting OneSin is a basic concept of Christianity. Christians speak about how we have sinned and how we need forgiveness from sin. Yet, Christians are inordinately bad at

Science is a Cultural Construct: Supernatural is a Fact

2012-01-17T03:40:00.000-08:00

Last time I wrote an article about the atheist IQ scam, round II, the latest go round with Nybrog and friends. We have not heard the last of the IQ issue, I still plan to write part 2. Yet there is an aspect of that last post that I want to go into while I'm writing part 2. One aspect of that bear further reflection, that's what Brown said about the Flynn effect. The Flynn effect is the notion

Latest Round of Atheist IQ Scam Based upon Racism and False Assumptions

2012-01-15T03:58:00.000-08:00

Einstein believed in God.On Atheistwatch I've written about the new attempts of atheists to prove that they have higher IQ's than religious people: Atheism's Psychology Today Scam, and The Atheist IQ Scam (part 1) (see part 2). Today I found an article by Andrew Brown in the American Guardian (Andrew Brown's Blog) where he demonstates the racist background of the atheist assumptions. He also

Is Everyone an Agnostic about Other Religions?

2012-01-09T20:17:00.000-08:00

In reading through news stories today, I noted that a number of stories concerned agnosticism. The always less-than-thoughtful Huffington Post has an article entitled "Debates About Agnosticism Are as Old as the Concept Itself", and second entitled "Agnosticism in the UK: It's Time to Listen to the Faithless Majority." (I wonder why the Huffington Post is obsessed with agnosticism.) Following up

A Simple Illustration of the Trinity

2012-01-04T20:44:00.000-08:00

Too often I have sat in churches where teachers have tried to illustrate the Biblical concept of the Trinity. The problem is that almost without exception, these illustrations are wrong, wrong, wrong! (Please note, that my repeating wrong three times is not the simple illustration of the Trinity -- just emphasis.) Common but Bad IllustrationsI remember one pastor using the example of a man being

Bill Maher's Twitter and the Fear of God

2011-12-30T19:15:00.000-08:00

Bill Maher, the irreverant (and increasingly irrelevant) host of some poorly watched show on HBO called "Real Time with Bill Maher", is, according to Sue Naegel of HBO, "a fearless, funny and totally original observer of the modern world." In fact, his show is so interesting that for the latest rating period I could find (October 24, 2011), his show was beaten in the 10:00 pm time slot by such

Defeating the “Problem of Evil”

2011-12-12T08:59:00.000-08:00

The problem – intellectual and emotional – of why what we call 'evil' exists is age-old, and an issue that every human being, whether atheist or Christian, ultimately is confronted with. Philosophically and intellectually, it seems to be fairly easily overcome (as I will hopefully try to explain below) in a Christian worldview, but pastorally and emotionally, it is terrible and devastating upon

Is Jesus Never Called "The" God...? Addendum on Heb 1:8

2011-12-08T08:30:00.000-08:00

Remember how long the articles in this miniseries were? (Starting here?) Did you ever wish I could have just trimmed some discussion out and moved along?Well... I did. Specifically on Hebrews 1:8, which I ranked at the top of the list of examples where Jesus is called {ho theos} in the New Testament. There's a mind-scrummingly dull textual transmission issue there which I tried to spare my

Is Jesus Never Called "The God" In The New Testament? (Part 7 of 7)

2011-12-04T06:30:00.000-08:00

Ho, weary readers! The end of this series is here!This will be a handy summary page for my results. But I'll link to prior articles when speaking of each example, so that the argument can be seen in detail.When meandering around religious (or anti-religious) internet sites, or thumbing through religious (or anti-religious) books, you will sometimes hear the claim made that Jesus is only called "a

Is Jesus Never Called "The God" In The New Testament? (Part 6 of 7)

2011-12-03T07:30:00.000-08:00

We're running out of groups of New Testament texts where Jesus isn't on rare occasion called {ho theos}! (Or {ton theon} or {tou theo} or some grammatic equivalent that still would translate to "the God" in English.)Several times in the Johannine texts; at least once (maybe twice) in the Petrines; at least once (maybe two times) in Hebrews; at least once in the Pauline Pastorals (Titus); most

Is Jesus Never Called "The God" In The New Testament? (Part 5 of 7)

2011-12-02T07:30:00.000-08:00

Yes, Jesus is called {ho theos} on occasion across the Johannine texts. And at least once (maybe twice) in the Petrine texts. And at least once (maybe two times) in the Epistle to the Hebrews.At this point, someone denying Jesus is ever called the God in the New Testament is in serious trouble.But fortunately for such a person, Paul of Tarsus, the one NT author no one can get around (as C. S.

Is Jesus Never Called "The God" In The New Testament? (Part 4 of 7)

2011-12-01T07:30:00.000-08:00

Soooo, okay, maybe Jesus is (occasionally) called "the God" ({ho theos} and grammatic variants thereof) in the Johannine texts (Part 1 and Part 2), and in the Petrine texts (Part 3).But what about the Pauline texts, huh?! None of them ever call Jesus "the God"!--right?!!Your week, my reader, is about to get longer...The Epistle to the Hebrews, as even hypersceptical scholars are usually willing

Is Jesus Never Called "The God" In The New Testament? (Part 3 of 7)

2011-11-30T05:30:00.000-08:00

In summary so far: yes, Jesus is called "the God", {ho theos} or {tou theou} or {ton theon}, in the New Testament. It doesn't happen often, but it does happen.(Part 1 introduces the topic and discusses John 1:1. Part 2 continues through other Johannine text examples.)An implied {ho theos} is the best explanation for the textual transmission oddities, and the best fit of stably transmitted

Is Jesus Never Called "The God" In The New Testament? (Part 2 of 7)

2011-11-29T07:30:00.000-08:00

In Part 1, I went over in detail the example of "the Word was (very emphatically) the God" from John 1:1, arguing that the grammar actually points toward Jesus (as "the Word") being called "the" God there, with a direct article intended by the writer, even though due to another grammatic rule the author had to omit the article--ironically, for the purpose of even more strongly emphasizing that

Is Jesus Never Called "The God" In The New Testament? (Part 1 of 7)

2011-11-28T07:30:00.000-08:00

I have been working up a new series for a while, where I will be following sets of canonical texts through their claims about God Most High and His relation to Jesus Christ (the Son) and/or the Holy Spirit. It's a followup to the huge (800+ pages!) metaphysical argument I spent a few years posting here on the Cadre a while back. (Anyone who wants to discover what it feels like for their eyes to

Saying Grace (2011)

2011-11-23T09:34:00.000-08:00

No updates this year to my Cadre Thanksgiving Sermon, so I'll just link back to last year's version.For any readers hoping for yet another massive series between now and Easter: there's one on the way, God willing!But not until Monday, probably. For which other Cadre readers may gladly give thanks. {g}

Atheist IQ Scam: the New Turn

2011-11-04T06:32:00.000-07:00

Since atheist have low self esteem they are constraint trying to reassure themselves by maintaining the myth that they are more intelligent than religious people. The stduies linking atheists to low self esteem I have posted on this blog before. They are mainly by Leslie Francis but there are others that link negative God image with negative self esteem. I have contacted a theory that atheists

More Scientists Beleieve In God Than Atheists Want to Think

2011-10-30T11:39:00.000-07:00

pie charts from Pew studyIn the late 90s atheists began making the argument that less than a majority of scientists believe in God. In addition to this they argued that National Academy of Sciences had only about 5% members who believed in God. All of this was due to the publication of a 1998 an article "Leading Scientists Still reject God." In that article got hold of a survey done in 1914 by a

Revolutionary Jesus

2011-10-25T03:58:00.001-07:00

Mural by Jose Clemente Orozco "Christ Destroyinghis Cross," 1943This post comes under the heading of "what I want to tell atheists positively about Jesus." I started it back when I posted that one about Jesus and Dylan. It's based upon my outrage or dismay (I should say) over learning that so many atheists don't admire or respect Jesus as a historical figure. I re-posting it because after reading

Courtier's Reply

2011-10-17T16:32:00.000-07:00

Atheists are always coming up with little gimmicks. Anytime you trump them with real knowledge they get up set and find a gimmick. The Jesus myth theory was such a gimmick. Jesus was such a compelling figure and there is some decent evidence he rose from the dead, so to counter that they just pretend he never existed, and give it a little name and make up some pseudo intelligent sounding

"Center for Inquiry" Poll of religion is Atheist Propaganda.

2011-10-14T08:16:00.000-07:00

Today an estimated sixteen percent of Americans—or about 49 million American men, women, and children—live without religious affiliation.* As a group, religiously unaffiliated Americans are more numerous than any single religious denomination except Roman Catholics. They are more numerous than Hispanic Americans or African Americans ... more numerous than the estimated gay and lesbian

Pew Study Does Not Say Atheists Know the Bible Better Than Theists

2011-10-12T09:00:00.001-07:00

My Actual Score(that block thing at the rightis my score, it's off scale) I've seen it two ways, Know the Bible better or know "religion" better; both are misleading.example: tpix "Atheists Know the Bible Better than Christians?"How much do you know about religion? In a recent survey by the PEW Forum on Religion and Public Life, most Americans scored 50 percent or less on a quiz measuring

Atheist Leader Calls for "Eradication" of Fundementalist Christianity

2011-10-04T17:35:00.000-07:00

This was originally posted atheistwatch. also I linked to it on carm. The carm guys never read it. They read the first line then said "he expalined that hd didn't mean it." The article is not saying that the guy really wants to kill anyone. My point is lot more subtle than that. Read the whole thing please. Its' so typical of Dawkies not to read the article then insist they know all about it.This

Self Selected Truths: the Atheist Ideology of the "Fortress of Facts"

2011-10-02T16:38:00.000-07:00

So here's an argument based upon arguments atheists make a lot.(1) Empirical science has produced knowledge, technology, medicine, etc., etc. It's awesome.(2) Abstract philosophy has produced nothing at all; it appears to be mere navel gazing.(3) Therefore, we should base all of our beliefs on empirical science, not abstract philosophy.(4) The arguments for God are abstract philosophy of exactly

Jesus Traditions and Popular Mythology in the Roman Empire

2011-09-25T11:38:00.000-07:00

The Jesus Project was started in 2007 as a forum for skeptical biblical scholars, both professional and amateur, to conduct a 'scientific' investigation of the historicity of the Jesus traditions in the New Testament. Their sessions resulted in an edited volume, Sources of the Jesus Tradition, published last year. In this post I want to take a closer look at an essay by classicist Justin Meggitt

Which Part of Evolution is Explained?

2011-09-22T17:11:00.000-07:00

I know that some Bible-believing Christians who read this blog are strong believers in evolution. When I have spoken with these individuals they explain that they believe that God created the universe, but they are willing to accept what science teaches on the Theory of Evolution. The way they make these two views work together is to adopt a type of Theistic Evolution, i.e., theistic creation via

Is Everything that Scientists say about the Unborn Scientific?

2011-09-20T21:15:00.000-07:00

This past week, I received my e-mail edition of World Science. I enjoy reading this popularizer of science stories, and if you could go back and search my blog entries you would find that many of my posts about science arose from something that I found on this website. But as a popularizer of science, I find that the website falls victim to the same problem other science popularizers such as Carl

Newsflash: Atheists are not Monsters!

2011-09-15T07:05:00.000-07:00

Reading through my notifications, I came across an article from the Morning Sun (Serving Central Michigan) that caught my attention by the outrageous title. It was Atheists are not monsters by Eric Baerren. After commencing his piece by admitting he is an atheist (much to what I am sure must have been the stunned shock and surprise of many), he reports:There will soon be a billboard in the Grand

Cognitive Impairment and Belief

2011-09-07T21:10:00.000-07:00

I just finished reading a...well, puzzling OpEd over at OpEdNews by Jack Flash entitled Cognitive Impairment and Belief. Ordinarily, I don't comment on material like this because I don't want to unnecessarily denigrate the author, but I think that he inadvertently raises an interesting point. Let me attempt to fairly summarize the rambling opinion piece. Mr. Flash begins by seeking to evoke

So BK you don't like Global Warming, how do you feel about eternal warming?

2011-09-03T07:31:00.000-07:00

The thing to do with Global warming is not to argue agaisnt it. Use it. Atheists are almost bound to believe in it (I believe in it--not the point). Rather than argue against it as an example of bad lock, it's more useful as an example of good logic. This is so because the logic of Global warming is the same logic used in Pascals wager. I have two observations to make before getting into

Still Another Unfair Argument

2011-09-01T12:03:00.000-07:00

As a Christian apologist, I am constantly exposed to bad reasoning. Sometimes, the bad arguments are found in arguments in favor of Christianity. Most often, the bad arguments are found in arguments against Christianity (this site regularly raises and challenges -- often defeating -- those bad arguments). But bad arguments are not confined to the discussions about the truth of Christianity.

What Should We Make of Ritualistic Murder?

2011-08-30T20:57:00.000-07:00

In recent months, Christian apologists have been forced to respond to claims that because Anders Behring Breivik, the Norwegian terrorist who killed 91 people in Norway last month, claimed to be a Christian on his facebook page that he somehow represented some seedy underbelly of the Christian belief. It was nonsense, of course, since it is apparent to anyone with even the most sketchy knowledge

Back to the Classics: ECREP! Golden Oldie of apologetics

2011-08-26T04:04:00.000-07:00

Carl Sagan I have a page dealing with this concept on Doxa, but it's not very good. This is a better version. I will combine the two eventually. The New Version is on my New Sight: The Religious A priori Carl Sagan made this statement popular in its current form, it was originally used by Hume, Laplace and other early theorists, but atheists have sense taken it as a major slogan for their

Depth of Being and Tillich's Implied Ontological Argument

2011-08-23T08:20:00.000-07:00