A month at The Aristophrenium
I haven’t made it overly clear – apart from the occasional hint here and there during January and February – but I am now producing content for another blog as well here at thoughts out !oud. Late last year I developed a partnership with two other fine Christian bloggers – David and Duane; between the three of us, we relaunched David’s existing blog into a new masterpiece to which the three of us now regularly co-author. This new venture is called The Aristophrenium.
If you’ve enjoyed some of my writings here, I’ve no doubt you’ll enjoy the wider variety and depth of writings over at The Aristophrenium. Between David, Duane and myself, we’re able to provide more content… Continue reading ...
How dare those pro-lifers get in the way of free speech!
After jumping through all obstacles with Canadian McGill University officials and the campus Student Union, event organisers were able to schedule, advertise to students and hold on campus a presentation addressing the issue of abortion. However, the event shortly went pear-shaped when, no sooner had the host introduced the guest speaker, and barely had the speaker an opportunity to complete his opening sentence, that a group of rowdy pro-life protesters disrupted the presentation.
Though small in number, these pro-lifers swore at the guest speaker and proceeded to hijack the event, gathering in voice and breaking into renditions of children’s songs for almost two hours until such a time as University officials closed the event down as the building required to locked for the evening. In the lead up to… Continue reading ...
How you can reasonably believe that the sky is green (and why Christianity is reasonable)
The objections to belief in God in general, and to Christianity and its God in particular, are many and varied. It’s important to note, however, that the quantity and variety of objections have no bearing on the truth claims that Christianity makes – you really only need one solid objection that can withstand scrutiny and refutation to pull Christianity down. So quality, not quantity is what is required here.
Recently I found a forum thread* that was seeking responses from non-Christians about the “dealbreakers” that prevent them from believing in/exploring Christianity. That is, what are the lynch-pin reasons that prevent them from taking Christianity seriously. This query, put forward on an otherwise very liberally-minded, left-leaning technology site, has flung up some tired-old objections that seasoned Christians… Continue reading ...
Quote: God doesn’t promise Christians an end to their troubles
When a man turns to Christ and seems to be getting on pretty well … he often feels that it would now be natural if things went fairly smoothly. When troubles come along – illness, money troubles, new kinds of temptations – he is disappointed. These things, he feels, might have been necessary to rouse him and make him repent in his bad old days; but why now? Because God is forcing him on, or up, to a higher level: putting him into situations where he will have to be very much braver, or more patient, or more loving, than he ever dreamed of being before. It seems to us all unnecessary but that is because we have not yet had the slightest notion of the tremendous thing [God] means… Continue reading ...
Responses to 50 reasons why religion sucks, pt.5 of 5
“50 reasons why religion sucks” – Day 5 of 5!
This is the final installment lot of 10 so-called “reasons” as to why religion sucks. This follows the previous part four post of Responses to 50 reasons why religion sucks.
- Part 1 – Responses 1 through to 10
- Part 2 – Responses 11 through to 20
- Part 3 – Responses 21 through to 30
- Part 4 – Responses 31 through to 40
- Part 5 – Responses 41 through to 50
Following are responses to “objections” 41 through to 50.
41) No “miracles” have been documented
Let me see … there’s this compilation of books that seems to refute this claim. I’m having trouble thinking of the name… Continue reading ...
Responses to 50 reasons why religion sucks, pt.4 of 5
“50 reasons why religion sucks” – Day 4 of 5!
This is the fourth installment lot of 10 so-called “reasons” as to why religion sucks. This follows the previous part three post of Responses to 50 reasons why religion sucks.
- Part 1 – Responses 1 through to 10
- Part 2 – Responses 11 through to 20
- Part 3 – Responses 21 through to 30
- Part 4 – Responses 31 through to 40
- Part 5 – Responses 41 through to 50
Following are responses to “objections” 31 through to 40.
31) Discriminates against free thinkers
Who are the “free thinkers”? Those that side with your view and your view only? Do you not consider or are you not… Continue reading ...
Responses to 50 reasons why religion sucks, pt.3 of 5
“50 reasons why religion sucks” – Day 3 of 5!
This is the third installment lot of 10 so-called “reasons” as to why religion sucks. This follows the previous part two post of Responses to 50 reasons why religion sucks.
- Part 1 – Responses 1 through to 10
- Part 2 – Responses 11 through to 20
- Part 3 – Responses 21 through to 30
- Part 4 – Responses 31 through to 40
- Part 5 – Responses 41 through to 50
Following are responses to “objections” 21 through to 30.
21) Does not explain life before life
Does it need to? If so, why? Does your life suck because you have no conscious recollection of what it was… Continue reading ...
Responses to 50 reasons why religion sucks, pt.2 of 5
“50 reasons why religion sucks” – Day 2 of 5!
This is the second installment lot of 10 so-called “reasons” as to why religion sucks. This follows the previous part one post of Responses to 50 reasons why religion sucks.
By now, you should have the idea that this is not really about giving answers, but more about dismantling the actual objections in order to show them for the farcical, thoughtless, empty arguments that they are.
- Part 1 – Responses 1 through to 10
- Part 2 – Responses 11 through to 20
- Part 3 – Responses 21 through to 30
- Part 4 – Responses 31 through to 40
- Part 5 – Responses 41 through to 50
Following… Continue reading ...
Responses to 50 reasons why religion sucks, pt.1 of 5
Thoughts out !oud tends to get a fair bit of Google search traffic for the term “religion sucks”. This seems to be in response to a blog post I published a few months back titled: Why Religion Sucks (and will destroy your soul). As a result, I thought I would address one of the search result items that I found when I punched in the same search term: 50 Reasons Why Relgion Sucks. It occurred to me that many people are likely parroting some of these very “reasons” as to why religion sucks, so let’s challenge them a little.
The format is a simple objection / response format. As there are 50 of them, I’ve decided to split up the responses into five separate posts – just to… Continue reading ...
Quote: The greatest evil
The greatest evil has not come from people zealous for God. It has resulted when people are convinced there is no God to answer to.
- Greg Koukl, from his book Tactics: A Game Plan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions
The three ‘R’s: reincarnation / recycling / ridiculousness
Last week I was taken aback by a curious question that a colleague had raised at the office. I was taken aback mainly because the workplace is typically the last place where people feel comfortable enough to openly ask such questions. Sure, you might have the odd comment dropped here or there and then conversation moves on and you think no more of it. But this colleague of mine was asking quite specifically and quite directly, which I guess is what really piqued my interest. Oh, that and the fact that the topic being questioned was about the afterlife and reincarnation. (Ok – this last part is really all that’s needed to grab my interest, I’ll admit it.)
She asked: “Do you believe in an afterlife?”
I replied… Continue reading ...
“If religion was proved a sham, what would you do?”
Good spirited, self-confessed atheists. I like them. In a recent online discussion, in which some comments were being made about Westboro Baptist Church (a vile christian sect if ever there was one – these are the guys who picket against homosexuals, abortion clinics and the like with very un-Christlike slogans as ‘God hates fags’, etc.), there were a couple of us Christians who were quick to denounce this group’s actions. Shortly after, one contributor offered her thoughts on the trend for us Christians to quickly define what ‘type’ of Christianity we ascribe to (and unfortunately, we do need to make the distinction nowadays). It would seem that, by her thoughts, that there is no point in Christians making such distinctions because all of religion is the same.
Anyway, I… Continue reading ...
Blood on the boil: homosexuals see red over discrimination
You would be hard pressed to find someone who would not agree that the donating of blood is a most worthy cause. Many thousands of Australians each year cheerfully bear an arm to give blood once every ninety days. There a many more Australians willing to do the same, it seems – yet they won’t because they believe that they can’t and that they are unduly discriminated against simply because they are gay. I would encourage them to look a little more closely as I can’t see any discrimination that is based on sexual preference whatsoever.
The facility to donate blood is an important facility within any country – no differently here Down Under: each week, more than 21,000 units of blood are required in order to meet demand… Continue reading ...
Lazy Myth: Christians believe because they are told to
This Myth has at its core one main assumption: Christians blindly accept what they are told – they are brainwashed. The follow-on for this myth is that children who grow up in Christian households simply adopt – without question – the beliefs of their parents. Seriously, are there any people out there today who still hold to this myth? I know the ardent Reverend (sorry, evolutionist) Richard Dawkins has gone on record as saying that your religion is dependant on where you are born in the world. For instance, if you’re born into a Muslim household, you’ll grow up as a Muslim; if a Christian household, you’ll grow up as a Christian.
With sentiments like that, I do wonder why Mr Dawkins never had aspirations to become a Rocket… Continue reading ...
Quote: The morality of conscience
Conscience is what enables man to rise above being a prisoner of his inclinations … Conscience enables us to go beyond what feels good and to do what is right
Dinesh D’Souza, What’s So Great About Christianity
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