The same, only different

"All sin is sin!"  This truism is frequently employed to make people think that God sees no difference in the seriousness of the sins that people commit, and some times that very sentiment is expressed - "God doesn't differentiate between sins.  The only problem with this view is...it's wrong!

You couldn't make it up

I was speaking to someone last week who mentioned that there were books that the early Christians threw out of the Bible.  It is a common charge - the Christians cherry picked and edited the books that suited their agenda and threw out the rest.  It's a common charge but that doesn't make it a good one...

That's not bad!

The standard atheist way of defining morality is what advances human flourishing.  This is their starting point, and they have no grounding for it; this is their standard but they have no place from which to hang it.  It is simply the way it is - if something contributes to human flourishing, it's good; if it doesn't then it's bad.

Who does He think He is?

I was having a conversation with a woman who told me she was an atheist.  As we discussed God's existence it emerged that she didn't have any good reasons to believe He didn't exist, and had nothing to say to the evidence I gave for His existence.  The reason she said she was an atheist was because she didn't like God.

More on baptism

I indicated quite a while ago in a previous post that I would do a follow up post on the subject of baptism, and this has been brought to mind by some correspondence with someone who believes that baptism is essential for salvation.

Peter Atkins - the ultimate science-stopper!

Peter Atkins is a curious fellow - obviously extremely smart, but very angry, and given to saying some daft things when it comes to the matter of God's existence.

It's in the genes???

I just read a transcript of a radio debate between Greg Koukl (a Christian who heads up Stand to Reason) and Michael Shermer (an atheist and Founding Publisher of Skeptic magazine).