http://punctum-saliens.org Leaping Point: Take a flying leap and see where you land Fri, 05 Sep 2008 21:11:59 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Nah! ... well, maybe. This is brilliant!! (via Lee) http://punctum-saliens.org/2008/09/05/sexism-in-american-politics/ Why d- p--pl- wr-t- G-d -nst-d -f God? F-r -ngl-sh sp--k-ng p--pl-, th- n-m- -f G-d -s n-t h-ly -r s-cr-d. -t's -n -v-ryd-y w-rd. W- -s- th- t-tl- -f g-d f-r m-ny p--pl- -nd th-ngs. - j-st d-n't g-t -t. http://punctum-saliens.org/2008/09/01/d-nt-g-t-t/ I think that many, if not most, mainstream Christians would say that experience alone cannot tell us anything about God. We need to filter our experience through the Bible for it to be reliable and "true." So, the Bible is the authoritative word on how we experience God and what ... http://punctum-saliens.org/2008/08/29/circular-or-iterative-reasoning/ Bird at The Thinklings asks "Why?". Why did God condoned such violence in the O.T? And some of the comments are making me shake my head and ask "What?" As in "What's you talkin' 'bout Willis?" and the less eloquent "What the f*** are people thinking?" Some commenters say that God's ... http://punctum-saliens.org/2008/08/29/not-only-why-but-also-what-the-f/ We were in Charlotte a few weeks ago and in the hotel was this beautiful water display. The water flowed from the back to the front, over smooth stones, and fell in a tiny waterfall at the front edge. It was beautiful and tranquil and calming. I was fascinated by ... http://punctum-saliens.org/2008/08/28/what-lies-beneath/ I'm very excited to read about this new series just begun by Richard Beck at Experimental Theology. I read Peanuts (Beck's previous series) growing up but read C&H while in grad school (apparently, I was not as busy as Beck). In fact, I mention Bill Watterson in the dedication of ... http://punctum-saliens.org/2008/08/28/the-theology-of-calvin-and-hobbes-at-experimental-theology/ One can be a person of faith without being an idiot. "Faith and Science" by Mystical Seeker on Find and Ye Shall Seek http://punctum-saliens.org/2008/08/27/quote-of-the-year/ It is a notorious fact that the morality of society as a whole is in inverse ratio to its size; for the greater the aggregation of individuals, the more the individual factors are blotted out, and with them morality, which rests entirely on the moral sense of the individual and ... http://punctum-saliens.org/2008/07/21/the-immoral-society/ While mulling over two recent posts from Notes From Off Center about abortion (Abortion Is a Symptom of Social Illness and Making Pro-Life Plausible) and one from A Thinking Reed about animal cruelty (The Victorian PETA) I was struck by a similarity which I had never noticed before. This similarity ... http://punctum-saliens.org/2008/07/19/re-foie-gras-and-abortion/ ticks, lice, tapeworms, fleas, hookworms, E. coli, Giardia, mites, chiggers, bed bugs, mosquitoes Are you freakin' kidding me? http://punctum-saliens.org/2008/07/18/and-god-saw-that-it-was-good/ Does anyone still use "the watchmaker" argument? It goes something like: the complex inner workings of a watch require an intelligent designer so the complex inner workings of the universe also require an intelligent designer --- let's call that intelligent designer ... oh, I don't know ... how about ... ... http://punctum-saliens.org/2008/07/15/if-the-watch-keeps-fuzzy-time-does-it-still-require-a-watchmaker/ at the reaction by Signs of the Times to the (self-named) Dyke March in Boston. Maddex basically says that this small group of homosexuals in Boston is a representative sample of homosexuals everywhere and every gay and lesbian acts the same way all the time. Maddex says: If gays are the same ... http://punctum-saliens.org/2008/07/07/im-still-shaking-my-head-in-disbelief/ I thought I knew the creation story in the Bible. Now, I couldn't tell you what was created on what day but I knew the basic order and knew when man and woman were created. It's been a LONG time since I've read it but I thought I knew it. Not ... http://punctum-saliens.org/2008/07/04/and-god-saw-that-it-was-good-but/ [ This is in response to a comment by Mark on my recent post: "The problem with the problem of evil" ] I couldn't sleep last night and picked up Volume 9ii of the Collected Works of Carl Jung. Scanning the chapter on Christ, A Symbol of the Self I came ... http://punctum-saliens.org/2008/05/16/carl-jung-and-the-problem-of-evil/ "God will make all things right." I'm not exactly sure where in the Bible this is said but it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. This seems to be another instance of trying to placate those who suffer now with the promise of something better in the future. How, ... http://punctum-saliens.org/2008/05/15/the-problem-with-the-problem-of-the-existence-of-evil/ Reading this post, from Inspirations and Creative Thoughts, about Islamic reaction to the doctrine of the Trinity got me thinking. What are the downsides of thinking about God in anthropomorphic ways? Along the lines of this post from Exploring Our Matrix, I was also thinking about how the OT God is ... http://punctum-saliens.org/2008/05/11/the-downside-of-anthropomorphism/ On my way to Philly and stuck in Chicago due to weather in Philly. We've been here over 3 hours now. The last announcement was a couple hours ago and they said we'd leave at 3:45. It's now 3:49 and we are not on the plane. I realize delays are unavoidable ... http://punctum-saliens.org/2008/05/09/just-tell-us-something-please/ A deep calm settled inside him. His heart filled with trust and joy. Wrapped in the boy's arms, Dog felt himself grow lighter and lighter. And he never came back again. Samsara Dog by Helen Manos, illustrated by Julie Vivas What’s your favorite sentence(s) from a children’s book? http://punctum-saliens.org/2008/05/08/favorite-sentences-from-children%e2%80%99s-books-iv/ I've been reading about Vedanta lately and thinking about it in terms of the Christian doctrine of total depravity and the (what I would call extreme) position of "no morality apart from God." According to my Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, the word for "sin" in the N.T. is derived ... http://punctum-saliens.org/2008/05/08/pure-evil/ Now, what SHOULD we do? Well . . . What would YOU do If your mother asked YOU? Dr. Seuss, The Cat in the Hat What’s your favorite sentence from a children’s book? http://punctum-saliens.org/2008/05/07/favorite-sentences-from-children%e2%80%99s-books-iii/