[EDITOR'S NOTE: After one last scan of the article, it occurs to me the title needs some explanation. This isn't the actual goal of Mr. Doopy--he's trying to convince the other party in their debate that STL actually has a soul that can be crushed. No one was physically harmed in this battle of wits, if that's what this should be called.] Personally, I've begun to shy away from engaging with liberals or atheists in debate on the Internet because it's a tremendous time-suck, I'm not getting any younger, and my books unfortunately won't write themselves. It's just not a very productive use of my time, in my opinion, because the typical online debate adversary tends to assume several things that are inevitably untrue: these include the supposition opposing arguments cannot be supported by evidence, that arguments believed by consensus must be accepted as true, and that modern religious beliefs are only held by uneducated fools. Most often, this anonymous Internet opponent proves to be immune to all logic and reason, and devoid of any common sense. The effort usually strikes me as a colossal waste of valuable time so gradually, I've removed myself from groups where the trolls lurk, never seeming to have anything better to do than try to annoy me with ridiculous, ill-conceived arguments that usually degenerate into nothing more than childish insults or ad hominem. Nobody is ever going to admit, "You're right. I concede that my argument is inferior to yours."--no matter what transpires in the course of the debate, it has been my experience that the opponent never admits … [Read more...]
A Universe From Nothing
Pillars of creation photo: NASA, Jeff Hester, and Paul Scowen (Arizona State University) I keep telling myself that I've said all I needed to say in my first two nonfiction books (Divine Evolution and Counterargument for God) but then I realize that the issue still hasn't been resolved and so the debate isn't over. It's never going to be over, but that doesn't mean I'll be writing nonfiction books and articles rehashing the same points, over and over. When the spirit moves me (literally) I can't let it go. I think there's a third book in the works that will be titled God or Good Luck? Whether or not you understand that fact, those are really your only two choices. Nobel Laureate Werner Heisenberg famously made the most honest and truthful statement about atheism I've ever read: "The first gulp from the glass of natural sciences will turn you into an atheist, but God is waiting for you at the bottom of the glass." What does that mean? It's actually pretty simple. I can speak from experience, because it happened to me. I had graduated from a "Christian" high school that provided a quality education that was careful not to conflict with any biblical teachings. As a result, the first time I ever heard the term "The Big Bang" to describe the origin of the universe was in college. I had not been taught that science believed humans and apes shared a common primate ancestor and had "evolved" from more primitive species as an indisputable fact...it was merely what some biologists believed. I had been taught from the perspective of Young Earth Creationism, and so college … [Read more...]
The price of a soul
What is the intrinsic value of a human soul? Perhaps the better question is, what is your own soul worth to you? Do you even believe you have one? Some people (like me, for example) believe that their soul is their most valuable possession and that it is priceless, meaning it is not available for sale, no matter how much wealth is offered in exchange. Notice that I said wealth, not money. I may not be the smartest person on earth but I'm not stupid, either. A lot of people don't grasp the true concept of what money really is -- a colored piece of paper that only has value if everyone else agrees. If you don't believe me, the next time you're going to the grocery store just reach into your Monopoly game and grab a few hundred dollars, and see how much you can buy with it. Hint: you won't leave the store empty handed. The store manager might allow you to leave with the "currency" you brought with you if he/she believed the ruse was just a prank, but you also could also end up sporting a pair of shiny silver bracelets provided by law enforcement and arrested for counterfeiting and fraud if the management has no sense of humor. But one thing is certain--you can't even buy a bottle of water with money printed by Milton Bradley. So what, you say? So history--after World War I in the Weimar Republic, hyperinflation caused the Papiermark to become worthless. People literally needed a wheelbarrow full of useless currency to buy a loaf of bread. The British probably would have won the Revolutionary War if their plot to destroy the value of the Continental dollar hadn't … [Read more...]
Greatest sports songs of all time
[AUTHOR'S NOTE: none of the songs on this list will be specific to a certain team. So there will be no "Glory, Glory to Old Georgia", "Hunker Down Hairy Dawgs", or "Georgia On My Mind" songs on this list just because I personally like them because then the list would get unmanageable and require acknowledgment of songs such as "Sandstorm" which I can't stand. The only omission that was a difficult choice was "Rocky Top" because I love the disturbing lyrics, but for the sake of consistency, it won't be here, either.] It's almost Christmas, which means it's also almost bowl season for college football. I don't want to antagonize the atheists in my audience by their personal religious beliefs (or lack thereof) during the holiday season and politics isn't exactly in the spirit of the holiday, so I've decided to do something a little more fun and different, and that is to make up a list of the best, most appropriate songs that could be during any game in any sport. So without further ado, let's start at the bottom of this short list and work our way up to the top, shall we? The song on this list that lyrically makes the least sense is Gary Glitter's somewhat catchy tune officially known as "Rock n Roll part 2", but usually referred to as the "Hey" song for obvious reasons. All you have to do is shout "Hey!" on the right beat, so it is something of a crowd pleaser. Drinking heavily before or during the game does increase the degree of difficulty in getting the timing down, though. And timing is everything, especially in sports. After all, you don't want your team to … [Read more...]
The problem of evil
A headline at The Drudge Report made an absurd claim: "Mankind's belief in evil 'caused by disease'." The headline of the actual article in the UK Daily Star was slightly more ridiculous--it prefaced the unbelievable claim with "Scientists discover..." Both headlines are nothing more than click-bait; the substance of the article doesn't come remotely close to justifying the claims of that sensational headline. In fact. if you actually bother to read the article found at the Daily Star claiming that "Scientists discover mankind's belief in evil caused by disease" what you, the reader, will discover is that scientists haven't said they have discovered any such thing. The only thing Brock Bastian and his team of researchers from the University of Melbourne have actually said is that there seems to be some sort of correlation between geographic locations where diseases were known to be more common and a cultural belief in the existence of demons and evil spirits. Once you get into the real "substance" of the article, you'll find the bold declarations have been considerably watered down by the use of all sorts of conditional words...the backpedaling begins with the article's subtitle that says "A potentially-massive breakthrough in our understanding of evil may have been found." Well, which is it? Has this amazing breakthrough been found, or hasn't it? You won't know for sure unless you read beyond the headline. The headline itself is nothing more than a hook to lure readers into learning about what amounts to simply a secular version of a false cause fallacy based on a … [Read more...]
