Our New Home

We have a new home, come join us at WeAreSMRT (We Are Skeptical Minds & Rational Thinkers)

The Forum

Friday, November 28, 2008

Reason for the Season

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27955316

I hope they said "Merry Christmas", not that Happy Holidays and Season's Greetings culture war crap.

And it's a good thing that woman didn't choose to have an abortion and piss off God.

19 comments:

  1. Well, I keep hearing how people get trampled at those "Ramadan" celebrations or something...

    And in the holiday spirit, I'll post here what I posted at Ray's...a link to this news article.


    Though at Ray's you have to modify it so it's not an actual "link".

    ReplyDelete
  2. Years ago I read a short essay about how films like 'Dawn of the Dead' were intended as metaphors about intelligence deterioration in consumerism. I thought that thesis was a bit overstretched - until I read this article.
    I cannot understand how people can switch their brains off so completely, just to follow the herd mentality or in this case to gain an insignificant advantage over perceived competitors. This is arguably a result of the cheaper-faster-more culture we get hammered with daily, along with the purported necessity of infinite unchecked economic growth. I wouldn't consider myself a socialist, but how can that work? The more the economy grows, making more products available to more people, the cheaper the products must become to stay competitive. The cheaper they become, the more must be produced and consumed to keep the growth. In order to create a greater need with higher frequency, quality gets reduced and short-term benefits get emphasized and advertised more. The result are huge economic bubbles and mountains of garbage that deplete our resources faster and faster, along with reduced safety for workers and consumers and higher pollution. It's insane.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Everybody should read 'Adbusters'

    This story just put a dent in my faith in humanity.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hey- there Raytractors
    Happy Holidays.
    I would also like to point you guys to this series
    Christian Origins and the Question of God
    Its based a lot on NT Wright's book series of the same name.
    He covers naturalism,a priori biases, Humean objections and New testament scholarship on Historical Jesus and the resurrection.
    In short,it pwns.

    ReplyDelete
  5. MFT,

    I wasted 7 minutes of my life sitting through the 'Miracles and method' video. Summation:

    Kid with poor public speaking skills sits in his bedroom and creates videos with poor audio quality where he talks WAY too fast, appears to be reading from the screen the whole time, and generally just says 'Oh I believe what so and so says about...'


    And this is worthy of watching why?

    Personally, I have never claimed that a deity absolutely does not exist, or that miracles absolutely do not happen; only that there are logical explanations for miracles that do not need to even mention a deity. The same could be said for miracles.

    The supposed resurrection of Christ has been beaten to death(pardon the pun). There are, as I stated above, perfectly logical explanations for what people believe was a resurrection, and none of them need to assume anything supernatural.

    So, yeah, if people want to watch a kid with a webcam regurgitate the opinions and writings of others through spotty audio, then I'm sure it's a fantastic series.

    I suggest that if one wants to know what NT Wright has to say that they skip the crap videos and go read NT Wright.


    Personally, if I were going to read something religious I would read John Shelby Spong any day of the week over Wright. At least Spong doesn't go on and on about this hell and heaven silliness/mythology.

    Also, I've never gotten into watching the musings of YouTube users as they battle it out with one another over religion. There was that one guy ...Venom somebody or other...and sitting though one of his videos was like having my toenails pulled out through my anus. Then someone would make a video that says the opposite and a little drama breaks out over the whole thing. Not my bag. I'd much rather read /watch the pros having formal debates than the YouTube kids.

    Oh, yeah, and I hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving, MFT.

    ReplyDelete
  6. @nonmagic
    Jake was arguing against those skeptics who would use Humean arguments and arguments from common experience against the resurrection of Jesus.
    If you'd like to present an alternate naturalistic theory I'd be glad to critique it for you.(Jake does deal with a lot of the naturalistic theories, including the one about a spiritual resurrection a posted named SilentDave used to adhere to)

    NT Wright's concept of hell isn't the traditional one btw.

    ReplyDelete
  7. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iU74QV6UDYg&feature=PlayList&p=95751FADF5C132C8&index=17

    Here he pwns naturalistic theories

    ReplyDelete
  8. Nonmagic,

    MF'er = Confirmation Bias personified.

    ReplyDelete
  9. MFT,

    'Jake' should make better videos so that people do not have to go behind him and try to explain what the hell he was trying to say in the first place.

    Oh yes, I can not wait to have something critiqued by someone who uses 'pwnd' as if it were correct English and consistently shows that they can not put an argument together that makes any sense whatsoever.

    Child, please grow up.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Did you see any of the videos Froggie?

    ReplyDelete
  11. MFT,

    Without actual evidence for hell, it truly makes no difference what anyone thinks of it...not Wright, Spong, not me, not you, not Dawkins...without any evidence it is all speculation.

    ReplyDelete
  12. NM,

    To be fair to MFT, here's a commentary by the same guy that is pretty thought-provoking. While I disagee, it's worth listening to.

    Commentary

    ReplyDelete
  13. Come on. Jake is well-informed apologist who has read tonnes of books on science, Christian philosophy and New testament history. He know how to present strong arguments in defense of the Christian worldview .His speaking skills may not be that good but I've been a fan of his videos for a long time.
    You should see some of his debates with the youtube atheists (massacre)

    ReplyDelete
  14. Geoff,

    Maybe later, too busy to look at it right now.


    MFT,

    As I've already stated, I don't enjoy watching amateurs on YouTube sit around and debate other amateurs on Youtube. It usually turns into this:

    YouTube user 1: "God exists!

    YouTube user 2: "Nu-uh!"

    YouTube user 1: "You blocked my response!"

    YouTube user 2 "oH YeAH, weLL EaTs SoMe CoCks, LOOSER!!"


    If I want formal debate, I'll go to the pros. And I doubt your buddy Jake is gonna pull something out of his ass that one of the pros hasn't come up with and/or addressed.

    But, when I have time, maybe Sunday, I'll go watch the one Geoff recommended. Geoff has presented well though out, reasoned responses here for quite some time, so I trust his recommendation. And he's never said 'pwnd' or any derivative thereof. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  15. I know there are a lot of amateurs but there are a lot of intelligent people there too.
    And Jakes arguments are not his own. He quotes studies from eminent New testament scholars like NT Wright, Dan Wallace and Richard Baukam and philosophers like Alvin Plantiga and Antony Flew.
    I guess I get his stuff better because I've read a lot of Habermas' and part of Wrigght's book.
    What's wrong with "pwn"? I use that word every day.

    lol@ Geoff's video

    ReplyDelete
  16. What's wrong with "pwn"? I use that word every day.

    It makes you sound like a 12 yr old who only took a break from playing video games long enough to go watch poorly made YouTube videos.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Geoff,

    I think that is MFT. It's what he does when he's not making bad arguments for the existence of his deity.

    ReplyDelete
  18. "Pwns."

    How would one pronounce that word?

    ReplyDelete
  19. Froggie,

    Like 'owns' only with a p instead of an o.

    ReplyDelete

Unlike Ray we don't censor our comments, so as long as it's on topic and not spam, fire away.

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.