Weekly roundup

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Videos on how to perform magic tricks
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Give me an F!  NARAL Pro-Choice America gives grades to each state based on their abortion policies.   I’m happy to say Texas received an F. 
As you might expect, their site is rife with euphemisms like “anti-choice” and “opposes a woman’s right to choose,” but of course they never finish [...]

Exploring Christianity – Part 8 – God’s rules

Here’s the latest installment of my friend Nicholas’ interview with me about Christianity.
Nicholas wrote: In response to a post on my blog, you once stated that “whether you like God’s plan or not, He gets to set the rules.” This in mind, are there any aspects of “God’s rules” which you reluctantly follow or wish [...]

Guilt by Association

One of the things I’ve enjoyed about blogging is learning more about reasoning and how to avoid logical fallacies (flawed patterns of reasoning).  Most of us are guilty of using them at times, but with effort they can be avoided.  The results are better arguments and a more winsome approach. 
When people use these fallacies, deliberately or [...]

Ezekiel and the sin of silence

God gave the prophet Ezekiel a strong message to take to the Israelites.  Ezekiel was not accountable if they rejected the message, but he was accountable if he didn’t deliver the message. 
Ezekiel 33:6-9 But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people and the sword comes and [...]

The Secret is not a secret

The best selling book The Secret is not a secret – it’s the same old “man is god” nonsense.  
According to this review, one of the keys to The Secret is the law of attraction, which demands only this:

Know what you want and ask the universe for it.
Feel and behave as if the object of your [...]

Put on your (stolen?) yarmulke

The mystery of the lost stolen yarmulke has been solved (A yarmulke is a skullcap sometimes worn by Jewish males.  The pronunciation sounds like “yamaka.”). 
As part of my oldest daughter’s confirmation class we went to a Jewish synagogue service.  They happened to be having a Bar Mitzvah as part of the service.  I went to a couple [...]

Real men don’t . . .

When counseling guys who would come into CareNet Pregnancy Center with their wives / girlfriends, around 20% would come across as abortion-minded.  After talking with them I would find an interesting distinction, though.
One group was very hard-hearted.  This pregnancy was in the way and had to be ended, and the sooner the better.  If you [...]

Twelve tests of love

Too many people mistake infatuation for love and suffer life-long consequences.  But how can you tell the difference?
I highly encourage singles to consider these Twelve tests of love to help determine if you are in love or if it is just infatuation. 
Chip Ingram was the author.  He did several shows on Family Life Today last month. 
If [...]

Exploring Christianity – previous installments

This is the list of a series of posts I did with a friend. 
Introduction
Part 1 – The Bible
Part 2 – Credibility of the Author(s) - A
Part 3 – Credibility of the Author(s) - B
Part 4 - Hell and More on Hell
Part 5 – Interpreting the Bible or abusing it? – A
Part 6 – Interpreting the Bible or abusing it? – B
Part 7 [...]

Everyone is welcome! Sort of!

A United church of Christ pastor and recent seminary graduate bragged about how inclusive his church was.  He didn’t like the fact that I thought church membership (not visitation) should require that bit about repenting and believing in Jesus.  I’m so exclusive!
He said that their official position was:
“No matter who you are or where you [...]

Mid-weekly roundup

You can subscribe to the Stand to Reason weekly Podcast with this feed –  http://str.org/podcast/weekly/rss.xml   This is my favorite Podcast.  I usually listen to it in the car, but what is nice about this format is that it has an index of questions and the times they begin.
This ministry has a treasure trove of excellent [...]

Spamalot!

We saw the long-awaited Spamalot musical on Sunday.  Best Father’s Day ever!
My dad got to join us.  He and my mom were supposed to go with their church group a couple weeks earlier but he wasn’t feeling well that day.  I bought him a ticket at the last minute and got lucky – it was in [...]

Exploring Christianity – Part 7 – Prayer

See below to see the latest installment of my friend Nicholas’ interview with me about Christianity or click here for the whole thing.  
Nicholas wrote: In my experience, most prayers fall into one of two general categories – prayers of thanks and prayers of request. I understand the first quite well, and I understand that prayers of [...]

Weekly roundup

Public Service Announcement: Your Mom told you not to sit too close to the TV!
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Reality changes minds: Ohio State Representative changes positions on gun control after being confronted by a gun-wielding criminal.  Note: Changing your mind just because it now benefits you isn’t necessarily good; changing it because you are exposed to new facts you [...]

Reverse missionaries

Typical evangelism for any religion involves someone going out at some degree of expense and risk to share what one believes to be true.  It is a pretty simple and logical concept: If you think you know the true path to forgiveness, joy, peace and eternal life and you care about others, then of course [...]

Jesus is still the only way

The Rev. Chuck Currie wrote a piece called, “John 14:6 – Is Jesus the only path to God?“  He is a pastor with the highly theologically liberal United Church of Christ denomination.  Here’s most of the post with some of my comments.
Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No [...]