Sadly, Archie Comics use to be seen as so wholesome that the company was entrusted with the task of determining if all the issues put out by other companies lived up to the comics code.
Since this is now deemed acceptable, why not have Archie convert to the Warren Jeffes branch of Fundamentalist Mormonism with the famed redhead wedding both Veronica AND Betty.
Better yet, maybe the three of them can form a polyamorous triad.
It can be revealed that Jossey & The Pussycats are really lesbian furries.
And in one issue, Sabrina the Teenage Witch can be seen going "skyclad" (that's when Wiccans pounce around nude at their ceremonies) or getting it on with her demonic familiar, Salem the Cat
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Shaking Assumptions Regarding Natural Disasters
Though the event displays the wonder of God and His creation, no minister can hand down an edict one way or the other whether a particular earthquake other than the ones foretold in prophetic passages of Scripture such as the Book of Revelation was an act of retribution and judgment.
Countless congregations no doubt heard from the hyperpious among their number how they were disappointed the quake didn't result in total destruction and that any not so eager for it all to end aren't even worthy of the chewing gum stuck under the pew.
In response to the earthquake, it has been admonished that it id God and not government that saves you. But should you need to be pulled from the rubble, is it the direct hand of God doing so or, in the vast majority of instances, is it more likely to be a policeman, firefighter, members of the National Guard or a group of average concerned citizens? Taking this mindset to its natural conclusion, is it therefore wrong to express gratitude toward parents if they do something good for you? Is it wrong to verbalize one's love to one's spouse if language can only be used in such an exclusivist and univocal manner? Furthermore, if we are to wait on the direct divine intervention of God to determine what happens to us in such calamitous upheavals, does that mean we should not seek medical attention during times of sickness or to even prepare a meal to stave off hunger?
If earthquakes are to be viewed as God’s judgment, is one sinning if one takes steps to save one’s life during such an event? Would hyper legalists such as Christian Reconstructionists and Dominionists advocating the perspective that natural disasters are to be understood as divine retribution insist that criminal charges be filed against those their elaborate spy network discover took steps to protect themselves?
Just because your family and spouse mean less to you than promoting your image as an uberChristian is not sufficient grounds for insinuating a lack of faith on the part of those that left work after the quake to check on loved ones and property.
A number of talk radio hosts and hyperpioitted to take.
It's easy, as in the case of these various radio personalities such as Rush Limbaugh, to sneer down your nose at those that may have overreacted at the prospect of losing their homes when you no doubt own several fortified compounds scattered across the United States. Are those outraged over the nation's alleged lack of courage themselves willing to die to prove that Americans are not wimps?
Do those losing their lives and property think the calls for emergency preparation were overkill? Are these individuals any less dead because predictions regarding the intensity of Irene didn't pan out?
Do talk show hosts encased in padded studios out of the elements and the hyper pious criticizing "excessive" hurricane preparation intend to pay the expenses incurred in the next disaster by those persuaded by such orators that living up to some arbitrary affectation of machismo is more important than survival? Of course, some of the ostentatiously pious probably salivate at the prospect of a high casualty count in order to validate their rants regarding judgment and such.
Assorted foreigners are accusing Americans of self-absorption for paying attention to the coverage of Hurricane Irene rather than the uprising in Libya. Isn’t it an even greater act of self-absorption to fly into a homicidal rampage when someone pokes fun at your religion?
A number of posts on the Washington Post website are lamenting the fact that consumers have stockpiled their pantries with "too much" food following Hurricane Irene. For starters, who are they to determine how much food is too much for your pantry? Can't the victuals just as well sit in your cupboard as on the store shelf? What these elitists really oppose is the notion that a food supply of your own makes you less dependent on whatever agenda they may be attempting to implement.
Technically, isn't it a form of borderline Humanism to assume that the earthquake and hurricane were primarily a response to mankind's behavior. God may have simply been focusing on natural processes, phenomena, and cycles with humans just being in the area when these events occur as a result of where we ourselves have decided to live.
It is interesting how those arguing that the Book of Revelation is not to be taken literally are among the most insistent that the hurricane and earthquake were God's judgment when He has not handed down any specific decree as to why these particular events took place. At least those crazed Dispensationalists can point to a text that definitively tells them which earthquakes in history are to be viewed as retributive in nature.
God sets the weather into motion. He's bright enough to realize why you might not have been in church last week. Church authorities might have the say so whether or not there will be services. However, you are the one that has the final veto as to what transpires from your house to the church. No need to harang a congregation if most thought it more prudent to remain home following a significant storm.
I don't see how it logically follows that if you did not go to church last week because you did not know what the conditions were from your house to the church that you somehow don't care about learning about God. Church will still be there the following week. I thought the strength of Protestantism was suppose to be the individual following one's own conscience in regards to unsettled matters.
If I will be declared a heretic for thinking that the quake was not necessarily God's judgment, so be it. They can add it as another charge at my Inquisitional hearing.
by Frederick Meekins
Countless congregations no doubt heard from the hyperpious among their number how they were disappointed the quake didn't result in total destruction and that any not so eager for it all to end aren't even worthy of the chewing gum stuck under the pew.
In response to the earthquake, it has been admonished that it id God and not government that saves you. But should you need to be pulled from the rubble, is it the direct hand of God doing so or, in the vast majority of instances, is it more likely to be a policeman, firefighter, members of the National Guard or a group of average concerned citizens? Taking this mindset to its natural conclusion, is it therefore wrong to express gratitude toward parents if they do something good for you? Is it wrong to verbalize one's love to one's spouse if language can only be used in such an exclusivist and univocal manner? Furthermore, if we are to wait on the direct divine intervention of God to determine what happens to us in such calamitous upheavals, does that mean we should not seek medical attention during times of sickness or to even prepare a meal to stave off hunger?
If earthquakes are to be viewed as God’s judgment, is one sinning if one takes steps to save one’s life during such an event? Would hyper legalists such as Christian Reconstructionists and Dominionists advocating the perspective that natural disasters are to be understood as divine retribution insist that criminal charges be filed against those their elaborate spy network discover took steps to protect themselves?
Just because your family and spouse mean less to you than promoting your image as an uberChristian is not sufficient grounds for insinuating a lack of faith on the part of those that left work after the quake to check on loved ones and property.
A number of talk radio hosts and hyperpioitted to take.
It's easy, as in the case of these various radio personalities such as Rush Limbaugh, to sneer down your nose at those that may have overreacted at the prospect of losing their homes when you no doubt own several fortified compounds scattered across the United States. Are those outraged over the nation's alleged lack of courage themselves willing to die to prove that Americans are not wimps?
Do those losing their lives and property think the calls for emergency preparation were overkill? Are these individuals any less dead because predictions regarding the intensity of Irene didn't pan out?
Do talk show hosts encased in padded studios out of the elements and the hyper pious criticizing "excessive" hurricane preparation intend to pay the expenses incurred in the next disaster by those persuaded by such orators that living up to some arbitrary affectation of machismo is more important than survival? Of course, some of the ostentatiously pious probably salivate at the prospect of a high casualty count in order to validate their rants regarding judgment and such.
Assorted foreigners are accusing Americans of self-absorption for paying attention to the coverage of Hurricane Irene rather than the uprising in Libya. Isn’t it an even greater act of self-absorption to fly into a homicidal rampage when someone pokes fun at your religion?
A number of posts on the Washington Post website are lamenting the fact that consumers have stockpiled their pantries with "too much" food following Hurricane Irene. For starters, who are they to determine how much food is too much for your pantry? Can't the victuals just as well sit in your cupboard as on the store shelf? What these elitists really oppose is the notion that a food supply of your own makes you less dependent on whatever agenda they may be attempting to implement.
Technically, isn't it a form of borderline Humanism to assume that the earthquake and hurricane were primarily a response to mankind's behavior. God may have simply been focusing on natural processes, phenomena, and cycles with humans just being in the area when these events occur as a result of where we ourselves have decided to live.
It is interesting how those arguing that the Book of Revelation is not to be taken literally are among the most insistent that the hurricane and earthquake were God's judgment when He has not handed down any specific decree as to why these particular events took place. At least those crazed Dispensationalists can point to a text that definitively tells them which earthquakes in history are to be viewed as retributive in nature.
God sets the weather into motion. He's bright enough to realize why you might not have been in church last week. Church authorities might have the say so whether or not there will be services. However, you are the one that has the final veto as to what transpires from your house to the church. No need to harang a congregation if most thought it more prudent to remain home following a significant storm.
I don't see how it logically follows that if you did not go to church last week because you did not know what the conditions were from your house to the church that you somehow don't care about learning about God. Church will still be there the following week. I thought the strength of Protestantism was suppose to be the individual following one's own conscience in regards to unsettled matters.
If I will be declared a heretic for thinking that the quake was not necessarily God's judgment, so be it. They can add it as another charge at my Inquisitional hearing.
by Frederick Meekins
Monday, September 12, 2011
On the 9/9/11 edition of Generations Radio, host Kevin Swanson complains contemporary church relationships don't go deep enough. So does that mean, if the leadership disapproves of women wear pants, it is not enough to simply hear the message from the pulpit but that ecclesiastical authorities have the right to raid your closet?
Hooters Vampire Attempts To Consume Cripple
With the exception of actually being eaten, I assume one usually has to pay extra to playout a scenario like that or at least have to get the wife something extra nice at Christmas.
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Wednesday, September 07, 2011
Nutritional Assistance Leaves Bad Taste In Taxpayer Mouths
Social activists are outraged over a proposal in Michigan that would limit welfare benefits to four years in a lifetime.
Perhaps that limit might be a bit harsh given the state of the economy where often people find themselves unemployed for extended periods of time through no fault of their own.
However, given America's pending financial ruination, these very same agitators should be as outraged about the growing trend of permitting aide recipients to apply their benefit payments to restaurant tabs.
Since many of those on public assistance are unemployed, are you going to tell me that such individuals don't have to time to prepare victuals within their own domiciles?
Or, rather is such an inability yet another symptom of lazy burro syndrome?
If ramen noodles and frozen fish sticks or chicken nuggets are good enough for those working to provide nutritional assistance, why aren't these foods sufficient enough for those receiving public benefits?
The government might have a minimal public health concern in seeing that citizens do not starve to death.
However, the argument cannot be made that there is a compelling state interest in going to extraordinary means to see that your taste buds are titillated in a culinary fashion.
by Frederick Meekins
Perhaps that limit might be a bit harsh given the state of the economy where often people find themselves unemployed for extended periods of time through no fault of their own.
However, given America's pending financial ruination, these very same agitators should be as outraged about the growing trend of permitting aide recipients to apply their benefit payments to restaurant tabs.
Since many of those on public assistance are unemployed, are you going to tell me that such individuals don't have to time to prepare victuals within their own domiciles?
Or, rather is such an inability yet another symptom of lazy burro syndrome?
If ramen noodles and frozen fish sticks or chicken nuggets are good enough for those working to provide nutritional assistance, why aren't these foods sufficient enough for those receiving public benefits?
The government might have a minimal public health concern in seeing that citizens do not starve to death.
However, the argument cannot be made that there is a compelling state interest in going to extraordinary means to see that your taste buds are titillated in a culinary fashion.
by Frederick Meekins
Tuesday, September 06, 2011
Theocratic Israel was a unique historical phenomena. Many of the assumptions and gurantees surrounding its operation do not apply in the current dispensation. Want to label me a heretic for using that word, go right ahead. You just better not be chomping down on pork rines or wearing a cotton/polyster blend garment while doing it.
Monday, September 05, 2011
Thursday, September 01, 2011
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Ragheads Rampage Over Headrags
If they think they have it bad here, at least we have amusement parks. Their beloved Taliban even forbade the flying of kites and even the slaughter of songbirds (made by their precious God one might note) for no other reason than that such things brought joy into life.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Monday, August 29, 2011
Friday, August 26, 2011
Insinuations Candidate Slate Not Sufficiently Religious
Those that express a Christian Reconstructionist or Dominionist perspective are in an uproar that it is imperative that Christians only vote for other Christians.
Some holding to this perspective even contend that only confirmed Christians should be allowed to run for public office and if you vote for someone that isn’t, even if none are running, your soul could very well be in danger of eternal damnation.
Yet there isn't a single Republican candidate that hasn't assented to at least a belief in God.
What is not often deliberately spelled out is that, if a candidate does not agree with this particular subset of the broader Evangelical spectrum nearly 100% on what in Christian thought are categorized as secondary issues, one is not considered to be a Christian at all in the eyes of this perspective’s adherents.
For example, it is not enough for a conservative presidential hopeful to pledge to stand against gay marriage.
Rather, to these fanatics, one is branded an apostate if one believes Old Testament injunctions to put homosexuals to death only applied within the context of ancient Israel and were set aside by Christ Himself when the Lord intervened at the stoning of the adulterous woman.
It must be asked, though it is doubtful they will even answer and even more likely to threaten to report you to Facebook administrators when you raise concerns about these kinds of omissions in their professed ideology, just who in a Rushdoonyian regime will decide whose belief is sincere and pure enough to be granted permission to seek elected office?
The Founding Fathers intended religion in general and Christianity in particular to exert a profound influence over American culture.
However, when the faith’s institutionalized forms end up determining who may enjoy the rights and benefits of citizenship, it has become a very pillar of the kind of tyranny that it was hoped such devotion and piety would serve as a bulwark against in the first place.
by Frederick Meekins
Some holding to this perspective even contend that only confirmed Christians should be allowed to run for public office and if you vote for someone that isn’t, even if none are running, your soul could very well be in danger of eternal damnation.
Yet there isn't a single Republican candidate that hasn't assented to at least a belief in God.
What is not often deliberately spelled out is that, if a candidate does not agree with this particular subset of the broader Evangelical spectrum nearly 100% on what in Christian thought are categorized as secondary issues, one is not considered to be a Christian at all in the eyes of this perspective’s adherents.
For example, it is not enough for a conservative presidential hopeful to pledge to stand against gay marriage.
Rather, to these fanatics, one is branded an apostate if one believes Old Testament injunctions to put homosexuals to death only applied within the context of ancient Israel and were set aside by Christ Himself when the Lord intervened at the stoning of the adulterous woman.
It must be asked, though it is doubtful they will even answer and even more likely to threaten to report you to Facebook administrators when you raise concerns about these kinds of omissions in their professed ideology, just who in a Rushdoonyian regime will decide whose belief is sincere and pure enough to be granted permission to seek elected office?
The Founding Fathers intended religion in general and Christianity in particular to exert a profound influence over American culture.
However, when the faith’s institutionalized forms end up determining who may enjoy the rights and benefits of citizenship, it has become a very pillar of the kind of tyranny that it was hoped such devotion and piety would serve as a bulwark against in the first place.
by Frederick Meekins
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Vermin Lovers Excuse Rats From Black Death
More afoot here than a desire for accurate history.
Any other time, Leftists assure us that at best accuracy in antiquarian pursuits isn't all that important and at worst an imposition of Whites upon the world's more backwards cultures.
This is rather planting the seeds to downplay efforts to curtail rats, which PETA assure us are just as important of human children.
One can see this in regards as to how certain policies such as the prohibition of specific pesticides have rejuvenated the bed beg menace.
Eventually, one will not be allowed to refer to this episode of history as Black since one cannot retain any sinister connotations to that particular hue and cannot look at this tragedy negatively since to elites, so long as they do ranked among the victims, such mass curtailments of the excess population are to actually be seen as a positive thing.
Any other time, Leftists assure us that at best accuracy in antiquarian pursuits isn't all that important and at worst an imposition of Whites upon the world's more backwards cultures.
This is rather planting the seeds to downplay efforts to curtail rats, which PETA assure us are just as important of human children.
One can see this in regards as to how certain policies such as the prohibition of specific pesticides have rejuvenated the bed beg menace.
Eventually, one will not be allowed to refer to this episode of history as Black since one cannot retain any sinister connotations to that particular hue and cannot look at this tragedy negatively since to elites, so long as they do ranked among the victims, such mass curtailments of the excess population are to actually be seen as a positive thing.
Monday, August 22, 2011
Is Stan Lee A Greedy Old Man?
Interesting how on his scifi channel reality show years ago he kicked off on the first episode a contestant wanting to make a fortune from superheroes. Lee claimed that was not what speculative fantasy was about. I guess such idealistic restrictions are suppose to apply to everybody's bank account but his own
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Lessons In Apologetics #8: Atheism
If the Christian has no assurance that God will triumph from the way the world appears to be going, one would be better off hedging one’s bets by siding with the Devil or sitting the whole thing out all together. There are those that attempt to do just that.
Atheism is the worldview that believes that God does not exist. Those embracing this perspective tend to do so over both objective and existential reasons.
Those claiming to embrace Atheism for objective reasons often concentrate their attacks on the more scientific approaches to the existence of God such as the cosmological argument. The cosmological argument for the existence of God holds that all contingent things must have a cause and that this cause is at the minimum Aristotle’s Uncaused Cause and preferably the God of the Christian faith as expounded by Aquinas when he adapted these propositions for Christian usage. Atheists raise their hands and say hold on a moment to what they see as presumptuous conclusions.
From the Christian perspective, since God exists beyond what we perceive as time, He is sufficient or necessary to jumpstart the universe and get the temporal ball rolling. However, the Atheist has no metaphysical problem with an infinite chain of causality. Yet the laws of thermodynamics might dictate otherwise as these fundamental principles of physics hold that there is only a finite amount of energy available within a closed system.
So even though the Atheist may not have an intellectual objection to a material universe that is infinitely old, such an assumption smashes eventually against the hard wall of reality. However, seldom has that ever stopped anyone adamant about adhering to their favored delusions no matter what the evidence might say.
The next set of arguments for Atheism against belief in God center around a set of moral objections. All must confess these have crossed our minds at low points in each of our lives.
The most objective of these centers around the nature of goodness and God's relationship to it. This argument was developed by Bertrand Russell (218).
The moral disproof for God states that good must result because either God decrees it or He does not. If good is good simply because God says it is and no one can argue against Him since He is the biggest guy on the cosmic block, good is not really good since God has willed it so arbitrarily. However, if God declares something good because of its own inherent nature or compliance with a standard beyond Himself, doesn't that mean that the standard rather than God is ultimate? Thus, at best, God ends up being demoted to the status of Plato's less than omnipotent demiurge.
Geisler counters, though, that this is really putting the ethical cart before the theistic horse. Geisler writes, "Rather than flowing from God's arbitrary will, the moral law may be seen as rooted in God's unchangeably good and loving nature, then the apparent dilemma is resolved (226).” Thus, good is something God is rather than something God decides or does. This brings to mind verses such as John 8:58 where God proclaims “Before Abraham was, I am.”
Other moral objections to the existence of God are a bit less ethereal and considerably more visceral and marked by the pain those leveling them have experienced or witnessed living here in an obviously fallen world. One such objection raised by Albert Camus in The Plague uses the backdrop of an epidemic to make the point that theism is inherently anti-humanitarian. The story posits the dichotomy that, if one assists the suffering, one is siding against God by interfering with the work of His judgment, and if one wants to be in His will and not stand in His way, one is therefore opposed to human well being (221).
Other related objections to God over the problem of evil dismiss His existence all together. A number of Atheists deny the existence of God on the grounds that, because people often suffer disproportionately to what they have done wrong, an all powerful and all good God does not exist. It is argued a God possessing these attributes would not allow evil. But because evil is rampant, that is proof that either God is not all powerful and cannot do anything about evil or that He is all powerful but does not do anything about the evil in the world because He is not good enough to care.
Though it is not always a comfort to someone that has befallen an overwhelming tragedy such as the murder of a loved one, the existence of evil does not by default disprove the existence of God. It does, however, toss the apologetic ball into the theist's court to provide a plausible reason as to why an all-powerful and all-good God would allow suffering to exist.
Known as "theodicy", these explanations attempt to reconcile the simultaneous existence of both God and evil. It is at this point that the theist must counter claim that the evil in the world is solvable or redeemable. The Christian especially can point out that God has indeed done something about the evil by sending His only begotten Son into the world to do something about this tragedy in the most personable of ways.
If the Atheist presses this objection too vigorously, the wily apologist ought to turn the argument back on his unbelieving compatriot. To even make the claim that God does not exist, because the world is not as good as we think it would be if He really did, is actually an indirect argument that He really does.
For to argue that things are not good enough is to assume some kind of standard exists beyond the earthly fray we find ourselves in. If this material universe was all there ever was, the highest good we could ever know is what we see around us and we’d be unable to criticize anything as the “is” automatically becomes the “ought” in such a context.
Yet there is a deep dissatisfaction that compels most human souls onward towards a better world. Romans 2:14-15 says, “...when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves even though they do not have the law, since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts..."
Secondly, Atheists claiming disbelief in God because, in their view, He has not done enough to stop or prevent suffering in the world often want to have things both ways. These theophobes not only deny God over the imperfections they see in the world but then hypothesize that, if God existed, man would not be free because human freedom would be, as Geisler puts it, "circumscribed by his divine determination (231)."
However, it is because God loves us so much and respects us as individuals that in the vast majority of instances He does not directly interfere with most actions but rather permits their outcome to propel the world onward to His ultimate plan for all of His creation. Geisler writes, "If love is persuasive but never coercive, then allowing men to freely determine their own destiny would seem to be the loving way to make them (231)."
Unfortunately, some are in such a state of rebellion against God that they take this animus out on others. Foremost among such deeds would no doubt rank murder.
Some would respond that, if God really loved the innocent, He would intervene to prevent this crime. However, as C.S. Lewis hypothesizes in The Problem Of Pain, for our own benefit God has created a world that operates in the vast majority of instances by a series of repeatable and verifiable principles.
For example, according to this moral "steady-state theory", I am able to pick up a knife to either slice a steak or slit my neighbor's throat for the purposes of providing man with a rational world where we will not go mad. Faced with such, the Christian must embrace Romans 8:28 as a comfort in a world that often does not seem fair to our finite minds.
By Frederick Meekins
Atheism is the worldview that believes that God does not exist. Those embracing this perspective tend to do so over both objective and existential reasons.
Those claiming to embrace Atheism for objective reasons often concentrate their attacks on the more scientific approaches to the existence of God such as the cosmological argument. The cosmological argument for the existence of God holds that all contingent things must have a cause and that this cause is at the minimum Aristotle’s Uncaused Cause and preferably the God of the Christian faith as expounded by Aquinas when he adapted these propositions for Christian usage. Atheists raise their hands and say hold on a moment to what they see as presumptuous conclusions.
From the Christian perspective, since God exists beyond what we perceive as time, He is sufficient or necessary to jumpstart the universe and get the temporal ball rolling. However, the Atheist has no metaphysical problem with an infinite chain of causality. Yet the laws of thermodynamics might dictate otherwise as these fundamental principles of physics hold that there is only a finite amount of energy available within a closed system.
So even though the Atheist may not have an intellectual objection to a material universe that is infinitely old, such an assumption smashes eventually against the hard wall of reality. However, seldom has that ever stopped anyone adamant about adhering to their favored delusions no matter what the evidence might say.
The next set of arguments for Atheism against belief in God center around a set of moral objections. All must confess these have crossed our minds at low points in each of our lives.
The most objective of these centers around the nature of goodness and God's relationship to it. This argument was developed by Bertrand Russell (218).
The moral disproof for God states that good must result because either God decrees it or He does not. If good is good simply because God says it is and no one can argue against Him since He is the biggest guy on the cosmic block, good is not really good since God has willed it so arbitrarily. However, if God declares something good because of its own inherent nature or compliance with a standard beyond Himself, doesn't that mean that the standard rather than God is ultimate? Thus, at best, God ends up being demoted to the status of Plato's less than omnipotent demiurge.
Geisler counters, though, that this is really putting the ethical cart before the theistic horse. Geisler writes, "Rather than flowing from God's arbitrary will, the moral law may be seen as rooted in God's unchangeably good and loving nature, then the apparent dilemma is resolved (226).” Thus, good is something God is rather than something God decides or does. This brings to mind verses such as John 8:58 where God proclaims “Before Abraham was, I am.”
Other moral objections to the existence of God are a bit less ethereal and considerably more visceral and marked by the pain those leveling them have experienced or witnessed living here in an obviously fallen world. One such objection raised by Albert Camus in The Plague uses the backdrop of an epidemic to make the point that theism is inherently anti-humanitarian. The story posits the dichotomy that, if one assists the suffering, one is siding against God by interfering with the work of His judgment, and if one wants to be in His will and not stand in His way, one is therefore opposed to human well being (221).
Other related objections to God over the problem of evil dismiss His existence all together. A number of Atheists deny the existence of God on the grounds that, because people often suffer disproportionately to what they have done wrong, an all powerful and all good God does not exist. It is argued a God possessing these attributes would not allow evil. But because evil is rampant, that is proof that either God is not all powerful and cannot do anything about evil or that He is all powerful but does not do anything about the evil in the world because He is not good enough to care.
Though it is not always a comfort to someone that has befallen an overwhelming tragedy such as the murder of a loved one, the existence of evil does not by default disprove the existence of God. It does, however, toss the apologetic ball into the theist's court to provide a plausible reason as to why an all-powerful and all-good God would allow suffering to exist.
Known as "theodicy", these explanations attempt to reconcile the simultaneous existence of both God and evil. It is at this point that the theist must counter claim that the evil in the world is solvable or redeemable. The Christian especially can point out that God has indeed done something about the evil by sending His only begotten Son into the world to do something about this tragedy in the most personable of ways.
If the Atheist presses this objection too vigorously, the wily apologist ought to turn the argument back on his unbelieving compatriot. To even make the claim that God does not exist, because the world is not as good as we think it would be if He really did, is actually an indirect argument that He really does.
For to argue that things are not good enough is to assume some kind of standard exists beyond the earthly fray we find ourselves in. If this material universe was all there ever was, the highest good we could ever know is what we see around us and we’d be unable to criticize anything as the “is” automatically becomes the “ought” in such a context.
Yet there is a deep dissatisfaction that compels most human souls onward towards a better world. Romans 2:14-15 says, “...when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves even though they do not have the law, since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts..."
Secondly, Atheists claiming disbelief in God because, in their view, He has not done enough to stop or prevent suffering in the world often want to have things both ways. These theophobes not only deny God over the imperfections they see in the world but then hypothesize that, if God existed, man would not be free because human freedom would be, as Geisler puts it, "circumscribed by his divine determination (231)."
However, it is because God loves us so much and respects us as individuals that in the vast majority of instances He does not directly interfere with most actions but rather permits their outcome to propel the world onward to His ultimate plan for all of His creation. Geisler writes, "If love is persuasive but never coercive, then allowing men to freely determine their own destiny would seem to be the loving way to make them (231)."
Unfortunately, some are in such a state of rebellion against God that they take this animus out on others. Foremost among such deeds would no doubt rank murder.
Some would respond that, if God really loved the innocent, He would intervene to prevent this crime. However, as C.S. Lewis hypothesizes in The Problem Of Pain, for our own benefit God has created a world that operates in the vast majority of instances by a series of repeatable and verifiable principles.
For example, according to this moral "steady-state theory", I am able to pick up a knife to either slice a steak or slit my neighbor's throat for the purposes of providing man with a rational world where we will not go mad. Faced with such, the Christian must embrace Romans 8:28 as a comfort in a world that often does not seem fair to our finite minds.
By Frederick Meekins
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Obama Denounces Blogs, Calls For Centralized Media
What the President really means when he laments Americans don't listen to one another anymore is that insufficient numbers have failed to pledge unwavoring loyalty to him as the Psuedomessiah.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Monday, August 15, 2011
Krugman Insinuates Staged Extraterrestrial Invasion Could End Economic Slump
Must also ask how many innocents would be "eliminated" to pull off this ruse and what other civil liberties would be curtailed in the process.
Also, notice how, when this "respected" public intellectual suggests this, he is applauded as a first rate mind.
But if Jesse Ventura or Alex Jones brought this up, they would be denounced as laughingstocks.
Also, notice how, when this "respected" public intellectual suggests this, he is applauded as a first rate mind.
But if Jesse Ventura or Alex Jones brought this up, they would be denounced as laughingstocks.
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Thursday, August 11, 2011
If the Tea Party is at fault for the financial downgrade for calling attention to the debt crisis, does that mean NOW or even the women reporting the crimes to police are at fault for domestic violence in America? So should the real villains of history be those that expose infamous atrocities rather than commit them? If the preservation of the status quo is the highest good, shouldn't we instead have Bull Connor Day in the middle of January or herald the bus driver that told Rosa Parks to get to the back of the bus?
According to home school activist Kevin Swanson, what is particularly offensive about True Grit was that the protagonist did not run like a mindless zombie to have her every decision given the OK by her pastor and that in the end scene she never got married. In the eyes radical homeschoolers, one's Christianity is not as valid if you do not marry and reproduce like a rabbit stoned on Viagra.
Tuesday, August 09, 2011
Fox Infodame Not So Free-Market After All
Megyn Kelly thinks other advanced Western countries are so wonderful in terms of expansive maternity benefits, perhaps she should immigrate to one of these social democracies where the Muslims have about taken over and enacted laws to punish journalists like her that expose practices such as so-called "honor killings".
Unless they are the father of the baby, why should employers be required to pick up the tab beyond standard sick leave if you decide to procreate?
If Megyn Kelly really made her baby a top priority as she insists in claiming that a quarter of a year is supposedly essential to facilitate bonding between mother and child, perhaps she should resign her correspondent position aIl together in order to be a stay-at-home mom.
It's not like she's the type to have married a low-paid working slob whose crack hangs out when he bends over and couldn't afford to pursue a calling as a domestic engineer.
Though he backed down when confronted, Mike Gallagher is to be commended for suggesting that such long term maternity leave might be a racket.
Most are too afraid that they won't be getting sex anymore or labeled with domestic assault allegations for even daring to speak critically on the matter.
by Frederick Meekins
Unless they are the father of the baby, why should employers be required to pick up the tab beyond standard sick leave if you decide to procreate?
If Megyn Kelly really made her baby a top priority as she insists in claiming that a quarter of a year is supposedly essential to facilitate bonding between mother and child, perhaps she should resign her correspondent position aIl together in order to be a stay-at-home mom.
It's not like she's the type to have married a low-paid working slob whose crack hangs out when he bends over and couldn't afford to pursue a calling as a domestic engineer.
Though he backed down when confronted, Mike Gallagher is to be commended for suggesting that such long term maternity leave might be a racket.
Most are too afraid that they won't be getting sex anymore or labeled with domestic assault allegations for even daring to speak critically on the matter.
by Frederick Meekins
Monday, August 08, 2011
Friday, August 05, 2011
Wednesday, August 03, 2011
The Friendly Neighborhood Mulatto Man
Turning Spider-Man into a half-Black and half-Hispanic individual is being justified on the grounds of opening up whole new narrative possibilities.
In other words, the plight of a studious White lad trying to look after his widowed Aunt just isn't as exciting as it use to be.
As leftist as Marvel Comics is becoming, in their mind it would probably be considered speciesist now for humanity to deny Galactus the opportunity to consume the Earth the next time he gets hungry.
Those opposed to the change in Spider-Man's ethnic background will be denounced as racist.
However, aren't those making the change the one's wallowing in ethnicity since they are the ones saying that a White wall-crawler isn't good enough in light of supposed advances in diversity though it is probably a safe bet to assume that the famed Marvel Bullpen is still predominately non-minority in terms of those weaving these illustrated adventures.
Would the very same tolerancemongers excited regarding the creative possibilities that a non-White Spider-Man opens up be as enthusiastic regarding a non-Black Fat Albert?
by Frederick Meekins
In other words, the plight of a studious White lad trying to look after his widowed Aunt just isn't as exciting as it use to be.
As leftist as Marvel Comics is becoming, in their mind it would probably be considered speciesist now for humanity to deny Galactus the opportunity to consume the Earth the next time he gets hungry.
Those opposed to the change in Spider-Man's ethnic background will be denounced as racist.
However, aren't those making the change the one's wallowing in ethnicity since they are the ones saying that a White wall-crawler isn't good enough in light of supposed advances in diversity though it is probably a safe bet to assume that the famed Marvel Bullpen is still predominately non-minority in terms of those weaving these illustrated adventures.
Would the very same tolerancemongers excited regarding the creative possibilities that a non-White Spider-Man opens up be as enthusiastic regarding a non-Black Fat Albert?
by Frederick Meekins
Tuesday, August 02, 2011
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
If MacDonald's intends to decrease the serving of fries and increase the serving of fruit or vegetables in Happy Meals, are they really happy meals anymore? This ought to be borderline false advertising. It is claimed this adjustment to the menu has been made in response to the demands of parents. Or is this change more out of fear of the termagant Frau Obama? If parents are really behind it, it is likely those annoying liberal ones that stuffed their faces with whatever they pleased as youngsters but demand of their own progeny a level of asceticism similar to that of a desert hermit.
Monday, July 25, 2011
The act of violence must remain the primary focus regarding the Oslo shooting tragedy. But isn’t it creepy that a political party is running a youth camp? Are the same tolerancemongers opposed to Promisekeepers rallies and the Answers In Genesis creation science museum going to speak out against such closed recreational associations and environments?
If wrong 4 women 2 take measures 2 lessen labor pain cuz of the curse imposed in Gen 3 upon women, then is it sinful 4 a man 2 b employed in any occupations other than physical labor in general & agriculture in specific according 2 that very same passage? Or as often occurs in many Fundamentalist churches do we emphasize those verses making the life of women more toilsome & gloss over those inconviencing the men.
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Shining The Light On Laser Pointer Penalties
The Federal Aviation Administration has announced plans to impose fines as high as $11,000 upon those caught shining laser pointers into airplane cockpits.
Exposure to the beam emitted by such a device can result in temporary blindness, thus theoretically resulting in a major air catastrophe if a flight crew were unexpectedly incapacitated.
In a sense, such a regulation is all good and called for.
However, one can't but help ask the question how the perpetrators of such malfeasance can be identified at such a distance.
One account categorized the proposed penalty as civil rather than criminal in nature.
As such, it should be pointed out that the threshold to impose such are often lower and occasionally do not afford those they are leveled against with the traditional procedural protections of the judicial system.
In light of the way certain regulations regarding drug possession are implemented, these enforcement operations could end up being as much about raising revenue and seizing desired property as it is about making the skies a friendlier place to fly.
For example, under certain instances of civil penalties and forfeiture, those ultimately cleared of any criminal wrong doing in regards to the drug offenses leveled against them do not necessarily have their property returned to them despite never having been convicted as a part of due process.
Often assorted agencies end up retaining the seized objects and parcels or require those such possessions should rightly revert back to to go through additional bureaucratic procedures that consume both time and resources. This for the purpose of pressuring the individual to relent to the seizure of their property and to further enrich the lawyers for whom the regulatory behemoth was ultimately designed to benefit.
The reasoning is that such property could potentially be used in a future crime. And in the case of an automobile seized from the owner despite the fact that it was being driven by someone else at the time of a contraband interdiction, the standard reply goes something like, "Well, you should have been more careful as to whom you let borrow your car so we are going to auction it off now anyway ."
Thus, will fines for the shining of laser pointers into jetliner cockpits be issued against the person actually aiming the device or rather the title holder of the land from which the beam originated?
Eventually, if an area has a disproportionate number of laser pointer incidents or even the potential for a disproportionate number of laser pointer incidents, the government will step in to preemptively snatch the property in question. What they then decide to do with the disputed parcel may have nothing whatsoever to do with enhancing air travel safety but more about rewarding contributors in real estate development.
Vigilance against the terrorist menace out to destroy the American way of life is essential. However, perhaps even more imperative is keeping an eye on those that would use this threat to undermine life, liberty, and property.
By Frederick Meekins
Exposure to the beam emitted by such a device can result in temporary blindness, thus theoretically resulting in a major air catastrophe if a flight crew were unexpectedly incapacitated.
In a sense, such a regulation is all good and called for.
However, one can't but help ask the question how the perpetrators of such malfeasance can be identified at such a distance.
One account categorized the proposed penalty as civil rather than criminal in nature.
As such, it should be pointed out that the threshold to impose such are often lower and occasionally do not afford those they are leveled against with the traditional procedural protections of the judicial system.
In light of the way certain regulations regarding drug possession are implemented, these enforcement operations could end up being as much about raising revenue and seizing desired property as it is about making the skies a friendlier place to fly.
For example, under certain instances of civil penalties and forfeiture, those ultimately cleared of any criminal wrong doing in regards to the drug offenses leveled against them do not necessarily have their property returned to them despite never having been convicted as a part of due process.
Often assorted agencies end up retaining the seized objects and parcels or require those such possessions should rightly revert back to to go through additional bureaucratic procedures that consume both time and resources. This for the purpose of pressuring the individual to relent to the seizure of their property and to further enrich the lawyers for whom the regulatory behemoth was ultimately designed to benefit.
The reasoning is that such property could potentially be used in a future crime. And in the case of an automobile seized from the owner despite the fact that it was being driven by someone else at the time of a contraband interdiction, the standard reply goes something like, "Well, you should have been more careful as to whom you let borrow your car so we are going to auction it off now anyway ."
Thus, will fines for the shining of laser pointers into jetliner cockpits be issued against the person actually aiming the device or rather the title holder of the land from which the beam originated?
Eventually, if an area has a disproportionate number of laser pointer incidents or even the potential for a disproportionate number of laser pointer incidents, the government will step in to preemptively snatch the property in question. What they then decide to do with the disputed parcel may have nothing whatsoever to do with enhancing air travel safety but more about rewarding contributors in real estate development.
Vigilance against the terrorist menace out to destroy the American way of life is essential. However, perhaps even more imperative is keeping an eye on those that would use this threat to undermine life, liberty, and property.
By Frederick Meekins
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
The Communist sympathizers at Sojourners magazine in an act of capitalism are selling a "Friend Of An Immigrant" t-shirts. How about a "Friend Of America" shirt specifically intended for foreigners to let people know that the United States is their highest national loyalty and that they aren't here for the public to pick up the tab for them?
Monday, July 18, 2011
You Haven't Seen The Last Of Wiener
With a pending financial collapse, you might have to spend your declining years selling pencils on a street corner.
It will likely help you feel a bit warmer though, that we haven't heard of the last of wiener in connection to the federal government.
The Traditional Value Coalition has uncovered tax money going to a study determining how penis size in gays influences whether they played the part of the pencil or that of the sharpener, if you get my meaning.
It will likely help you feel a bit warmer though, that we haven't heard of the last of wiener in connection to the federal government.
The Traditional Value Coalition has uncovered tax money going to a study determining how penis size in gays influences whether they played the part of the pencil or that of the sharpener, if you get my meaning.
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Chris Plante of WMAL made an astute observation. If pension payments for the assorted elderly of varied occupation status and wages for regular government employees are to be halted should the debt limit not be raised in time, will the delay in the transfer of payments also be applied to the Obama advisors making six figure salaries?
Friday, July 15, 2011
Leftists Plot Materialistic Afterlife
Futurist Ray Kurzweil, Former Vice President Al Gore, and Bill Maher are scheduled to take part in an all-star panel discussion titled "Transcendent Man” broadcast to select theaters across America.
The forum will in part discuss the merging of man and machine for the purposes of indefinitely extending the human lifespan.
No doubt listening to Al Gore drone on and on will definitely make it feel like an eternity has elapsed.
Apparently, overcrowding isn't the pending calamity he often makes it out to be. That is unless of course, his friends in the New World Order are planning a culling of the human herd.
Other than a profound hatred of God and a contempt for those that believe in an omnipotent creator, what qualifications does Bill Maher posses to speak as an authority figure on such an ethically complex subject?
The fool has said in his heart that there is no God.
How else does it explain that an individual can belittle the prospect of Heaven in one breath and then grasp at straws in the hopes of delaying the inevitable by either hooking oneself up to a ghastly array of machines or somehow electrochemically uploading the memories we have accumulated our few brief years upon the earth as some kind of accumulated database that might eventually animate some android duplicate of our own visage?
G.K. Chesterton is said to have quipped that the danger when we no longer believe in God is not that we won’t believe in anything but rather that we will end up believing in anything.
by Frederick Meekins
The forum will in part discuss the merging of man and machine for the purposes of indefinitely extending the human lifespan.
No doubt listening to Al Gore drone on and on will definitely make it feel like an eternity has elapsed.
Apparently, overcrowding isn't the pending calamity he often makes it out to be. That is unless of course, his friends in the New World Order are planning a culling of the human herd.
Other than a profound hatred of God and a contempt for those that believe in an omnipotent creator, what qualifications does Bill Maher posses to speak as an authority figure on such an ethically complex subject?
The fool has said in his heart that there is no God.
How else does it explain that an individual can belittle the prospect of Heaven in one breath and then grasp at straws in the hopes of delaying the inevitable by either hooking oneself up to a ghastly array of machines or somehow electrochemically uploading the memories we have accumulated our few brief years upon the earth as some kind of accumulated database that might eventually animate some android duplicate of our own visage?
G.K. Chesterton is said to have quipped that the danger when we no longer believe in God is not that we won’t believe in anything but rather that we will end up believing in anything.
by Frederick Meekins
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