Watch “Religion as ritual – 60 Second Adventures in Religion (2/4)” on YouTube

Posted on October 21, 2012 by PaulVK
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Watch “Religion as social control – 60 Second Adventures in Religion (1/4)” on YouTube

Posted on October 21, 2012 by PaulVK
Posted in Daily Links and Notes | Leave a comment

How loose our grasp on reality

Posted on October 20, 2012 by PaulVK

Been doing a lot of pondering about what we can know lately. I’m convinced of a few things:

  1. there is a real world out there
  2. our grasp on perceiving it, understanding it, and articulating it is tenuous at best.

Brain Science

I’ve been reading a lot of brain science books over the last couple of years. The role interpretation plays in perception is almost controlling.

As I read these brain books, as well as some of what that those who wish to promote pervasive skepticism as an application of this learning, I wonder if they’re fully appreciating their own findings. Skepticism has a nasty habit of eating itself. Certainty regarding skepticism is unfounded by definition.  Continue reading →

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“I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.”

Posted on October 19, 2012 by PaulVK

Muhammed had the practice of periodically retreating to a cave in the mountains surrounding Mecca for prayer and exclusion. He claims that at the age of 40 (around the year 610) he received his first revelation from God. Three years later he began preaching “God is one” and told people to completely surrender to him. He believed himself to be in the line of the other Islamic prophets. 

In the early 1820s Joseph Smith of upstate New York began having visions. At age 24 he published “The Book of Mormon” based on the translation of some golden plates he was directed to by the angel Moroni.

On a trip to Damascus to round up followers of “The Way” Paul of Tarsus received a vision. In that vision Jesus of Nazareth, the object of worship of the followers of “The Way” said to him “Saul Saul, why are you persecuting me? It hurts you to kick against the goads.”

This vision changed Paul’s life from a zealous Pharisee, seeking the destruction of the followers of Jesus to being one of their chief advocates. Our longest record of his ministry is found in the book of Acts written by his friend Luke and many of his letters to churches comprise the New Testament of the Christian Bible. Continue reading →

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The Story of Ajith Fernando in CT

Posted on October 18, 2012 by PaulVK

Link. Got this from Tim Stafford’s blog.

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Miracle Stories

Posted on October 18, 2012 by PaulVK
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Relational Generosity

Posted on October 18, 2012 by PaulVK

Tim Keller’s sermon Generosity and Relationships was on forgiveness and he mentioned Tippi Hedren whose rebuff of Alfred Hitchkock is now made famous by a new HBO movie “The Girl”. Keller notes her capacity to forgive and avoid bitterness. Here is the NY Times interview that he cited. 

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Watch “Tim Keller answers Oxford’s Questions” on YouTube

Posted on October 16, 2012 by PaulVK
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Christianity Dying Piece on Huffpo

Posted on October 15, 2012 by PaulVK

Link

A few thoughts in response.

1. There’s no question in my mind that there is a cultural disillusionment with Christianity currently underway. Popular culture and Christianity are in some significant areas (morality, worldview) moving in different directions. We also shouldn’t dismiss that for many the short-term therapeutic is motivating many to look for comfort, consolation, and “a better life” in places other than traditional Christianity. Continue reading →

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Meaning for the Frustrated, Paul Exposes the Pretense of the Empire

Posted on October 12, 2012 by PaulVK

So what was the truth of last night’s debate between Biden and Ryan? If you scan Facebook you’ll see people posting cartoons that tend to express what thy imagined they would see before they saw it. Republicans would see Biden as a clown. Democrats would see Ryan is naive, duped or deceiving. There is a real world out there, but can we see past ourselves to see it?

How do we usually respond to this reality? We crowd-source the choosers and tally the total to hopefully discern the truth. The day after the debates the papers try to figure out “who won the debate” by seeing how many people thought one way and how many people thought the other.

At the same time we know that crowd-sourcing can be an unreliable measure as well. Many questions do have concrete answers for which there is accessible truth about them. Continue reading →

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