April 2012 Screwballs

[rogue06]

Wait till you find out about all that liquor he's making and selling illegally out of his garage

It isn't liquor... it's, um

Turkel Tonic Water

[Teluog]

Screwball to Facebook for giving me error messages everytime I try to go to edit my profile to change my status with my new girlfriend.

[Benson Shays]

I think it goes with the idea that you need to report "both sides" even when there is nothing to support one of those sides.

Placing Price and Feke on the same footing as Evans and Ehrman is lousy reporting.

[Rational Gaze]

The guy I was debating on the Talking About Jesus FB page was rather lacklustre. He didn't address any of the arguments I presented for the 'minimal facts' I was using, and didn't address a single argument against the rival/alternate hypotheses I presented. His entire argument boiled down to: "Dead people stay dead, resurrection is improbable."

[rogue06]

"Dead people stay dead, resurrection is improbable."

Barring a miracle I would agree. Oh wait.

[ApologiaPhoenix]

The guy I was debating on the Talking About Jesus FB page was rather lacklustre. He didn't address any of the arguments I presented for the 'minimal facts' I was using, and didn't address a single argument against the rival/alternate hypotheses I presented. His entire argument boiled down to: "Dead people stay dead, resurrection is improbable."

He also said that maybe Jesus just didn't die.

[Rational Gaze]

He also said that maybe Jesus just didn't die.

Indeed. Although he didn't really give any reasons why. He just asserted it was more probable.

[Raphael]

He is. Just happens to be a bit nutty. For example, he believes in Open Theism.

And somewhat racist and misogynistic (he's into all that Game crap Epo spouts on about).

There is a lot I disagree with him on, but generally am still happy to read his blog (although his attack on Piper left me somewhat aghast at his vitriol)

[Rayado]

I simply MUST give an anti-screwball to Simcha Fisher for this description of the work of the recently-deceased Thomas Kincade:

By showing light in the form of exaggerated highlights, fuzzy halos, and a hyperluminescent shine on everything, regardless of where they are in the composition, he isn’t revealing the true nature of—anything. It’s a bafflingly incoherent mish-mosh of light: an orange sunset here, a pearly mid-morning sheen there, a crystal-clear reflection in one spot, a hazy mist in the other—all impossibly coexisting in the same scene. This picture:


makes sense only as a depiction of an oncoming storm, with heavy smog in some spots and total visibility just inches away (blown by what wind, when the chimney smoke rises undisturbed?), several cordless Klieg lights, possibly a partial eclipse, and that most cheerful of pastoral daydreams: a robust house fire. This is a lovely fantasy in the same way as it makes lovely music when all of your favorite instruments play as loudly as they can at the same time. Listen, and go mad.

I was thinking "rapidly approaching forest fire."

[Rational Gaze]

although his attack on Piper left me somewhat aghast at his vitriol

Well, Piper does get an awful lot of theology wrong.

[Raphael]

Well, Piper does get an awful lot of theology wrong.

I know you have your disagreements with Calvinism RG (I'm praying you will see the light one day ).

But Vox called him nothing but a "grievously deceived Satan worshipper".

[Raphael]

nice! http://visualunit.files.wordpress.co...liability1.jpg
(Graphic depicting the Reliability of th eNew Testament compared to other ancient texts)

h/t James White

[Hamster]

nice! http://visualunit.files.wordpress.co...liability1.jpg
(Graphic depicting the Reliability of th eNew Testament compared to other ancient texts)

h/t James White

That's really cool. But does that circle include the whole canon or can it just be parts? e.g. "a scrap of Mark"

[Raphael]

That's really cool. But does that circle include the whole canon or can it just be parts? e.g. "a scrap of Mark"

I assume it includes things like "a scrap of Mark" rather than the entire canon.

[Raphael]

New Zealand Herald columnist Tapu Misa has a very good column titled: Unbelievers seek religion too

Some highlights:

NZ Herald

Know your enemy, ran the headline in a recent editorial of New Scientist: "To rule out God, first get to know him." God, New Scientist seems surprised to find, is still everywhere. Try as we might to reduce the Almighty to the small "god" promoted by secularists, we can't seem to rid ourselves of Him.

Perhaps, it suggests, we've been looking at "god" the wrong way. The new science of religion shows religious belief as more subtle and interesting than atheist prejudices have allowed. Belief seems to be ingrained in human beings - which is just as well, the magazine concedes, for "without it, we would still be living in the Stone Age".

"Religion is deeply etched in human nature, and cannot be dismissed as a product of ignorance, indoctrination or stupidity. Until secularists recognise that, they are fighting a losing battle."

Indeed, despite confident predictions of religion's imminent demise, "religion is much more likely to persist than science"
....
As Eagleton points out, De Botton's insipid brand of spiritual therapy "is not quite the gospel of a preacher who was tortured and executed for speaking up for justice, and who warned his comrades that if they followed his example they would meet with the same fate".

De Botton's atheistic religion looks rather uninspiring and small. It lacks a certain numinous something. God, perhaps.

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