Progress

[Jefe]

Just shows me that the "progress" alluded to in the original post is just that --- progress. All this exclusionary stuff just serves to render the Church even more irrelevant than it already is. It ain't the year 33 any more, brother...

Had to add one more thing — if today's church looked like the church in Acts, I think it would seem more relevant to you and many others. Imagine a group of people who share everything, completely selfless and non-materialistic... who strive to love each other and everyone else, even those who hate them... who spend their free time serving others, looking after the poor and orphans... who welcome anyone from any background or race to join them... that sounds pretty good. And a long way from irrelevant.

If you believe in Satan, you have to think his greatest victory has been to convince generations of people in a nation that's ostensibly "Christian" that walking down an aisle and saying a little prayer is all it takes to be a follower of Jesus. And then you can just live like everyone else.

[chancellor]

If you believe in Satan, you have to think his greatest victory has been to convince generations of people in a nation that's ostensibly "Christian" that walking down an aisle and saying a little prayer is all it takes to be a follower of Jesus. And then you can just live like everyone else.

Your last sentence is the key. The moment of faith is that; a moment of transformation. Never forget the brigand on the Cross.

[In the Corn]

Just seems to me that it should be more open and accepting of present day realities.

If the church were to do this, wouldn't it make what is stated in the Bible be even more open to interpretation? At what point do you draw the line in the sand and say, "This is as far as we accept the present day realities!"

There has to be a black and white line.

[nullnor]

Martin Rees won the Templeton prize this year (last week).

[SeaDogStat]

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/04/11/leading-atheist-publishes-secular-bible/?iref=NS1

The question arose early in British academic A.C. Grayling’s career: What if those ancient compilers who’d made Bibles, the collected religious texts that were translated, edited, arranged and published en masse, had focused instead on assembling the non-religious teachings of civilization’s greatest thinkers?

What if the book that billions have turned to for ethical guidance wasn’t tied to commandments from God or any one particular tradition but instead included the writings of Aristotle, the reflections of Confucius, the poetry of Baudelaire? What would that book look like, and what would it mean?

Decades after he started asking such questions, what Grayling calls “a lifetime’s work” has hit bookshelves. “The Good Book: A Humanist Bible,” subtitled “A Secular Bible” in the United Kingdom, was published this month. Grayling crafted it by using more than a thousand texts representing several hundred authors, collections and traditions.

The Bible would have been “a very different book and may have produced a very different history for mankind,” had it drawn on the work of philosophers and writers as opposed to prophets and apostles, says Grayling, a philosopher and professor at Birkbeck College, University of London, who is an atheist.

[Steve]

If you deported all the atheists in this country, you'd lose at least 72% of the US National Academy of Sciences but only 0.21% of the prison population.

I wonder how many RJ'ers we would lose?

[onejayhawk]

I wonder how many RJ'ers we would lose?

A couple of auction leagues.

J

[Kevin Seitzer]

A couple amusing things happened in Texas:

- A crowd in Waco, Texas booed Bill Nye "The Science Guy" for saying that our moon does not generate its own light. This statement is in apparent contradiction to the Bible, which states in Genesis 1.16 that "God made two great lights — the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars.” People booed and yelled at Nye and one woman yelled out "We believe in God!!!" as she stormed out of the building. (This happened in 2006 but re-gained attention after the Waco Tribune deleted the archive of the event briefly but reposted it after people noticed it missing.)

http://www.examiner.com/skepticism-in-national/reporter-of-bill-nye-moonbat-story-speaks

The reporter says no one booed. Apparently a few people left the event in a huff.

[Gregg]

A couple amusing things happened in Texas:

- A crowd in Waco, Texas booed Bill Nye "The Science Guy" for saying that our moon does not generate its own light. This statement is in apparent contradiction to the Bible, which states in Genesis 1.16 that "God made two great lights — the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars.” People booed and yelled at Nye and one woman yelled out "We believe in God!!!" as she stormed out of the building. (This happened in 2006 but re-gained attention after the Waco Tribune deleted the archive of the event briefly but reposted it after people noticed it missing.)

- Republican Texas legislators (notably State Rep. Leo Berman R-Tyler) moved to help create a Master's degree in Creationist Science. Yes, you read that right. You could get a master's degree in something that is contradictory in just two small words. (Note: this effort was defeated in the Texas legislature, much to the chagrin of, uh, some crazies I guess.)

Hmm...ever walk by the light of a full moon? No other lights except moon and stars. Does it light the way? Is it as bright as the sun? I would say it is a lesser light, but light none the less. I do not see where science and the Bible would disagree here. It would seem to me that this woman of 2006 might have had an agenda before she ever went.

[B-Fly]

Hmm...ever walk by the light of a full moon? No other lights except moon and stars.

Not that I can recall, no.

[Bob Kohm]

Hmm...ever walk by the light of a full moon? No other lights except moon and stars. Does it light the way? Is it as bright as the sun? I would say it is a lesser light, but light none the less.

I would say it's more like a mirror reflecting the sun's light off of its surface. Guess I'd get booed in Texas

[Gregg]

Not that I can recall, no.

Ever walk by the light of Toshiba Vision?

It is almost the same except more noise.

[Gregg]

I would say it's more like a mirror reflecting the sun's light off of its surface. Guess I'd get booed in Texas

You would get booed in Texas, but not for your opinion of the moon.

You have to admit it is kind of amazing how bright that moon can get. Tell me you have never tied off a lure using just moonlight.

[B-Fly]

I would say it's more like a mirror reflecting the sun's light off of its surface. Guess I'd get booed in Texas

Is reflected light not light? I'm actually with Gregg on this one that the Biblical text can, in this instance, be read in harmony with scientific knowledge.

[GwynnInTheHall]

Is reflected light not light? I'm actually with Gregg on this one that the Biblical text can, in this instance, be read in harmony with scientific knowledge.

Now that's Progress!