How to spark revival in your church
If your church is wanning in the Spirit and is in need of a rejuvenation, all your congregation may need is the blessing of a squirrel-lead revival.
Praise God!
(Enjoy.)
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(H/Tip to Dennis G Hurst, via Facebook.)… Continue reading ...
Top 10 thoughts for 2009
There’s something about the end of the calendar year that causes us to reflect on the year that has just casually slipped us by. Typically celebrated in a fluttering of fireworks (or dazzling summer lightening storms and resounding thunder – as was the case in Melbourne, Australia, this last New Year’s Eve) most people take the time to spend with family and friends, among who a great many of them still remember “last year’s New Year’s Eve” (or should that be “the year before last’s New Year’s Eve”?) as though it were yesterday.
Memories can be a curious thing. So it’s with similar curiosity that I’m posting a listing of my most viewed articles for 2009 on thoughts out !oud
School orders psychological assessment for 8yo who drew a crucifix in class
Here’s one for the No Shortage of Crazy basket: an 8 year old boy who, on having been instructed to draw something that reminded him of Christmas, drew a picture of a crucifix with a stick figure of Jesus. On showing the picture to his teacher he was sent to see the Principle who in turn sent him home with his parents, not to return until the boy’s mental health could be assessed.
Apparently, the drawing – shown below – was deemed ‘violent’, or portrayed ‘violent’ tendencies.
The report from Breitbart.com says the boy was ordered to undergo a psychological evaluation before being allowed to return to school:
The boy was cleared to return to school on… Continue reading ...
Senator X takes Church of Scientology to task
South Australian Independent Senator, Nick Xenophon, brought Scientology back to Australian political and public headlines last Tuesday (17th Nov), by accusing the Church of Scientology of being a deceptive, malicious commercial enterprise, masquerading as a religion for protection.
And … he’s right. In the very words of Scientology founder, Ron L Hubbard, the organisation exists to “Make money. Make more money. Make others produce so as to make money . . . However you get them in or why, just do it.”. There is no religious function at all, really. The practices of the organisation as a whole is nothing short of being just a spectacular rort.
Rather than Senator Xenophon’s address regarding the evils of Scientology being taken… Continue reading ...
John Howard speaks about the wrongs of an Australian Bill of Rights
Follow the link (John Howard on a bill of rights) to hear a short address regarding an Australia Bill of Rights that our ex-Prime Minister, Mr John Howard, delivered at the opening of Quadrant Magazine’s new offices in Balmain, NSW.
Mr Howard raises some of the key points as to why Australians should stand against a Bill of Rights and why a such a Bill is not only unnecessary but is fraught with danger. To paraphrase, Mr Howard states that a Bill of Rights (or Charter of Rights, same diff):
- carries with it the grossly incorrect notion that Australia, both legally and culturally, is devoid of adequate human rights measures. Proponents of the Bill frequently point to the Charters in other countries for examples of
One for your calendar: International Blasphemy Day, 30 Sept 2009
Wednesday, 30 September 2009 will mark the inaugural International Blasphemy Day, a day on which the people are called to, well, blaspheme anything religious through whatever show of irreverence they can conjure. Organised by the Center for Inquiry International, an organisation dedicated to fostering “a secular society based on science, reason, freedom of inquiry, and humanist values”, claims that the day has been set aside “to encourage free expression” the world over and are even running a contest to mark the date.
Says the Center for Inquiry: “How can we come to our own conclusions about religion if we can’t freely examine and discuss it?” Apparently, in order to do so, you need to have a t-shirt, which 5 lucky… Continue reading ...
Church attendee != a Christian
[This is a repost, word for word, of an earlier article. I've deleted the original because, over the last several weeks, it has consistently attracted several spam comments per day ... and I've had enough of clearing them from my auto-spam queue. Needless to say, going by the links the spammers want you to visit, there's a lot of sick puppies out there! Why they chose this one post and none others is beyond me. Hopefully, they don't start tagging other articles!]
In computer science the relational expression != is code for not equal to. So the meaning of the title of this post essentially reads: church attendee is not equal to being a Christian. In more layman’s language, just because you religiously attend church does not mean that… 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 ...
Gideons distribute bibles to local Texan school
Gideons International came under fire last month in Texas after parents learned that the Christian organisation was permitted by Frisco Independent Schools to distribute pocket bibles at public schools within its district. The move was viewed by some parents as a breach of trust by the school board and complaints were lodged shortly after it became apparent that the Gideons were allowed to setup a display table on school grounds. Bibles and other biblical materials were left on the tables, free for students to browse at their leisure – there was no canvassing by Gideon staff. The choice was always given the student, without harassment.
I had just started high school (age 12) when I first heard of the Gideons. I… 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 ...
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