CADRE Comments

Biblical archaeology has always fascinated me -- especially the way that archaeologists in this area discount the Bible. After all, in virtually any area of archaeology, if archaeologists have a written text that describes people, places or activities then that written text is used to inform the research. Naturally, there is always skepticism due to bias or story-telling that may be involved in ancient writings, but the written source is almost always seen as providing an additional source of information. In the case of the Bible, however, the Biblical account is treated as less than helpful. It appears to be assumed to be wrong or treated as though it has no worth whatsoever. And yet, over and over history keeps coming up with other sources of information that either directly confirms the Biblical accounts or leads the accounts to be more possible. Such is the case with a recent discov...

Over at the thought-provoking Dangerous Idea , Victor Reppert, author of C.S. Lewis' Dangerous Idea , put forth a syllogism relating to atheism and homosexuality that I found interesting. The underlying thought I had heard before, but Dr. Reppert was the first person I had seen put the argument into a syllogism. It goes like this:  Premise 1: If God does not exist, then something like Blind Watchmaker Neo-Darwinian Evolution (hereafter just “evolution”) is a fact.   Premise 2: If evolution is a fact, then, objectively, my only purpose in life is to survive, reproduce, and spread my genes to the maximal extent (this premise is taken, essentially, from the mouth of Richard Dawkins).   Premise 3: Homosexuality makes it impossible to reproduce and pass on our genes.   Premise 4: Therefore homosexuality prevents us from achieving my only purpose in life.   Premise 5: Therefore homosexuality is wrong, and should be discouraged. Of course, this syll...

The Federalist has published a fun little article entitled The Eight Biggest Myths about the Bible . They are, in order: Myth 1: Money is the root of all evil. Myth 2: Thou Shalt Not Kill Myth 3: The Bible Makes Wives Subservient Myth 4: Judge Not Lest Ye Be Judged Myth 5: The Bible Condones Slavery Myth 6: The Bible Condones Rape Myth 7: If You Oppose Gay Marriage Yet Eat Shellfish, You are a Hypocrite Myth 8: Isn't the God of the Old Testament an Angry Tribal Deity? I'm not sure that these are the biggest myths, but I do think that these are pretty fundamental myths that people use to try to hammer Christians. The answers given appear to be quite sound. Some are obvious, e.g., the Bible doesn't teach that money is the root of all evil, but rather that the love of money is the root of all evil. Some are a little more subtle, e.g., Judge not lest ye be judged is not a Biblical mandate against judging but against hypocrisy. Some deserve a great deal more detailed argument, ...

"Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas into the Praetorium, and it was early; and they themselves did not enter into the Praetorium so that they would not be defiled, but might eat the Passover." ~ John 18:28  The Gospel of John reflects that Jesus was taken before Pilate at the Praetorium. Now, Praetorium isn't a word that we use regularly in the 21st Century, so it is a word that needs to be defined. The International Bible Encyclopedia defines Praetorium as follows:  Praetorium: pre-to'-ri-um praitorion, Mt 27:27 (the King James Version "common hall"); Mr 15:16; Joh 18:28,33; 19:9 (in all margins "palace," and in the last three the King James Version "judgment hall"); Ac 23:35, (Herod's) "palace," margin "Praetorium," the King James Version "judgment hall"; Php 1:13, "praetorian guard" (margin "Greek ‘in the whole Pretorium,' " the King James Version "palace," marg...