One of my Bible Study group members mentioned that she’d seen The Story of Everything film at a friend’s house recently. I asked her what she (as a non-scientist) thought of it, as I’m planning a possible showing under the auspices of our church.
Continue readingOne of the most useful learning experiences for any Christian is to gain an overview of the Bible, showing its different kinds of literature and how to read them, the background history, the reasons the books are in the order that are (in the Hebrew or English versions, or both), and most importantly, the overarching themes that make the 66 books one plan of salvation.
Continue readingA few years ago my musician brother lent me a DVD of Steve Reich’s 2002 “film opera” Three Tales. I found it a profound experience, and since it appears to be on YouTube in full now, I’ll link it below for those who appreciate (or can come to appreciate) Reich’s minimalist music and the astonishing associated videography by Beryl Korot.
Continue readingI was listening to a discussion on Karl Marx, in the context of contemporary politics and culture. It seems likely that his famous dictum that “Religion is the opiate of the people” arose, at least in part, from Friedrich Engels’s reports from England, whilst Marx was still in Germany.
Continue readingApparently, a recent survey of some 1,700 physicists (who knew there were so many?) asked them their preferred explanation for cosmological fine-tuning. I’m sure all my readers are well aware of the absurdly tight limits of various cosmological constants and boundary conditions of the early universe that seem, to so many ordinary people, to point to a divine Creator.
Continue readingContinue reading“Am I only a God nearby,”
declares the Lord,
“and not a God far away?
Who can hide in secret places
so that I cannot see them?”
declares the Lord.
“Do not I fill heaven and earth?”
declares the Lord. (Jeremiah 23:23-4).
How do you complete a close study of the Book of Acts, and conclude that it teaches that miracles are to be expected routinely (though they “sometimes” don’t occur) without noticing that the book specifically attributes miracles only to “the apostles,” and overwhelmingly to Peter and Paul?
Continue readingI’ve had some further thoughts prompted by my use, in my last post, of Charles Dickens as the quasi-deity creating the world of Oliver Twist. One of the weaknesses of Dickens as a writer, especially in his earlier books, is his use of unlikely coincidence, or deus ex machina, in resolving his plots. It’s not uncommon for his characters to be rescued from difficult situations by bumping into people who happen to have been friends in far-off places and times.
Continue readingOne of the problems atheists have with theism is the doctrine of double causation. This is usually demonstrated by their belief that finding efficient causes in nature excludes the need for God. Whilst they may find pause for reflection in the Big Bang, every other reference to God in the world is taken to be “the God of the Gaps.”
Continue readingI’m reading Steve Meyer’s Return of the God Hypothesis as part of a self-imposed refresher course on science-faith matters. My reading follows directly on from another fairly lengthy book on cosmological fine-tuning, A Fortunate Universe, by Lewis and Barnes.
Continue reading