A couple of years ago, I faced the rather formidable challenge of engaging in public debate against Ed Buckner, former president of American Atheists. Ed was very experienced in that sort of thing; it was my first and remains as of today, the only formal debate I've ever had in my life. Therefore, my work was certainly cut out for me. Fortunately for me, video existed on You Tube showing Ed present his best arguments while debating a Muslim scholar in the U.K. named Hamza Andreas Tzortzis. So I took copious notes, seizing upon the opportunity to anticipate Ed's best shots. In fairness, Ed also should have been able to anticipate my best shots coming, if he'd bothered to read some of my work as the Atlanta Creationism Examiner. In my opening remarks, I enumerated the seven points that Ed made that were the foundation his best arguments for atheism and then eviscerated them, point-by-point. I sort of expected that once the logical flaws in Ed's argument were systematically exposed and shredded before he'd ever opened his mouth, we would then be able to spend the remainder of our time arguing about points about the science that has now officially become the crux of my Counterargument for God. Because I knew Ed to be quite an intelligent man, I will now confess that I was expecting the alleged "freethinker" would be a little bit more open-minded. I foolishly assumed that Ed would be able to defend his own beliefs, rather than simply attacking what he supposed to be mine with every opportunity.Sadly, Ed disappointed me. Also in my opening … [Read more...]
Runaway Rusty
We decided to add just a couple of stories to my book Always a Next One. We replaced the preview chapter of Coastal Empire at the back of the book with a little more content while we were adding pictures of the dogs to the e-book version. These two additional stories are dedicated to Jennie Attaway, for inspiring me to write them. This one is called Runaway Rusty... Usually, we humans decide to adopt a dog. But sometimes, it works the other way around. Rusty had experienced a rough life before he came to our house for rescue and rehabilitation. After spending several weeks camped at my wife’s feet, he picked up on what life was like for the rest of our pack. When it came time for his adoption, Rusty had obviously developed his own ideas about where his perfect forever home might be. “Rusty was returned again,” Lisa said. “What did he do this time?” I asked, not terribly surprised. “The woman who adopted him complained that he kept running away,” Lisa said. “She said every time she walked out the front door, he’d make a run for it. She’s tired of chasing him all over her neighborhood.” “Rusty?” I asked incredulously. That didn’t sound like him at all. “When will you bring him back here?” “When I go to the shelter on Thursday.” And so it was settled. It wasn’t Rusty’s first time through our revolving door. The older but beautiful black-and-tan collie had fostered with us more than once since his original owner surrendered him back the shelter. The woman who had adopted Rusty from the shelter as a puppy returned him after six years with … [Read more...]
