tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-283007732012-01-30T19:31:35.228-08:00Author of Leaving the Fold: Testimonies of Former Fundamentalists. Also author of the chapter, "The Cosmology of the Bible" in The Christian Delusion.The Night Owlnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2541100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-50507896596505615282012-01-30T19:31:00.000-08:002012-01-30T19:31:35.260-08:00

The platypus "almost single-handedly (or, perhaps better, single-web-footedly) overturned the earlier creationist classification of animals that followed a Great-Chain-of-Being model. With its hodgepodge of physical traits and behaviors it offered 'an unexpected bridge between the categories of mammal/quadruped and reptiles and birds.' That bridge helped set evolutionary theory on a new course.

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-41825403787248567732012-01-29T00:10:00.000-08:002012-01-29T00:54:41.485-08:00

Creation took six days. Evolution took billions of years. Hence it takes a bit longer to explain the Big History of the cosmos and planet earth than it does to read the creation story in Genesis chapter one. Likewise it takes a bit longer to discuss the evidence for evolution than it does to say, "God Did It." Below is a typical "argument for creationism" that amounts to "Look a Living Fossil!"

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-20638326690638585432012-01-18T16:13:00.000-08:002012-01-18T19:10:06.812-08:00

Below are some quotations from The True Believer.Faith in a holy cause is to a considerable extent a substitute for the lost faith in ourselves. p.22[i.e., when faith in one's own autonomy is not allowed to develop, such a person may join a mass movement, either religious or political.--E.T.B.]The less justified a man is in claiming excellence for his own self, the more ready is he to claim all

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-42070701908741579382012-01-08T07:13:00.000-08:002012-01-09T21:31:44.480-08:00

[Click on the image to view it full size, you won't be disappointed, it's from the volcano in Iceland that erupted.] Christians are tireless debunkers of each others' interpretations of the Bible (perhaps because many of them still believe the stakes are infinitely high, and they fear one unorthodox interpretation can lead to another down a slippery slope toward damnation). Thanks to the

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-19229428174410733862011-12-19T22:08:00.000-08:002011-12-19T22:13:08.309-08:00

Has Michael R. Licona considered the raising of many saints story in Matthew in light of questions of Markan priority? (hat tip: Michael Patton, J. P. Holding) Which Gospel was written first, Mark or Matthew? Markan priority is currently more widely accepted and has grown in acceptance even among members of the Evangelical Theological Society--see Three Views on the Origins of the Synoptic

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-35562276404738312342011-12-15T21:51:00.001-08:002011-12-15T23:03:53.968-08:00

Hitchen's book tour for God is Not Great took a few miraculous turns, including receiving a P.R. boost from Jerry Falwell's demise, and ended with a chance encounter with the Archbishop of Canterbury, and discovering to everyone's surprise, support for Hitchen's attack on religion: It's been weeks on the road, and after a grueling swing through Canada I am finally home. I tell the wife and

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-27927360582437753572011-12-14T17:08:00.000-08:002011-12-14T18:17:39.172-08:00

C. S. Lewis needs no introduction. Josh McDowell is the author of Evidence That Demands a Verdict and other Evangelical Christian works of apologetics. Of all the "converted skeptics" whom McDowell mentioned in the first ed. of Evidence That Demands a Verdict none has had as wide and enduring an influence as C. S. Lewis. His "Christian novels" and works of "Christian apologetics" are sold in

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-25562057700997819232011-11-21T08:46:00.001-08:002011-11-22T22:46:20.344-08:00

This entry is on the ancient view of heaven's location and on the biblical creation story in general, compared with modern astronomy. See also my blog entries on the ancient view of hell's location, such as this entry. The ancient Hebrews pictured the Lord and His “holy heavens” lying somewhat nearer to the earth than we imagine today: He bowed the heavens and came down.—2nd Samuel 22:10 The

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-23553213957910412852011-11-13T02:39:00.001-08:002011-11-14T09:55:19.263-08:00

Thomas More's Execution William Tyndale's Execution An excellent paper concerning The Thomas More / William Tyndale Polemic is now online. This famous debate between a prominent Catholic and Protestant totaled 2000 pages and covered a host of issues on which Catholics and Protestants remain divided even today. An edited version of the introduction to the paper is below. One can see More and

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-50570555500412756762011-09-30T23:44:00.000-07:002011-10-03T17:57:38.670-07:00

TWEETS! from jmiz8 Jesus may be my co-pilot, but Satan is clearly my navigator. I have a Christian friend who is so devout he refuses to covet his own wife. Naked female scientist tries to tame belugas in the freezing Arctic Green Porno - Dolphins (what male and female dolphins won't do!) THE SIMPSONS, QUOTATIONS! Marge [praying before having sex]: Dear Lord, thank you for the physical

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-33931710183945069242011-09-19T02:13:00.000-07:002011-11-29T10:05:23.655-08:00

The word "objective" is overused when it comes to morality. In fact, "objective morality" seems to be one of the last bastions left to modern day defenders of classical theism. In ages past they could rely on more than just arguments for "objective morality," because they could point to the "objective fact" of the immobility of the earth whose foundations could not be moved except by Yahweh, or

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-82086005976198174332011-09-12T22:51:00.000-07:002011-09-12T22:51:31.533-07:00

"People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use." — Søren Kierkegaard "I begin with the principle that all men are bores. Surely no one will prove himself so great a bore as to contradict me in this" — Søren Kierkegaard "Since my earliest childhood a barb of sorrow has lodged in my heart. As long as it stays I am ironic — if it is pulled

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-61826150413325896402011-09-07T21:47:00.000-07:002011-09-07T21:47:05.083-07:00

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-34754527139716239152011-08-24T17:46:00.000-07:002011-09-30T21:07:01.547-07:00

Emil M. Cioran gets my goat, twists my gut and makes me chuckle with his dark humor. His own mother once said that if she'd known he would grow up to be so depressed she'd have aborted him. He suffered chronic insomnia and rode his bicycle relentlessly through the countryside at night to try and weary himself enough to sleep. He was born in Romania, in 1911, the son of a Greek Orthodox priest

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-54847750204940726802011-08-24T17:38:00.000-07:002011-08-24T17:42:49.896-07:00

Logan Pearsall Smith Self Analysis Aren't they odd, the thoughts that float through one's mind for no reason? But why not be frank? I suppose the best of us are shocked at times by the things we find ourselves thinking. Microbes But how is one to keep free from those mental microbes that worm-eat people's brains--those Theories and Diets and Enthusiasms and infectious Doctrines that we

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-92060048233975624412011-07-28T21:38:00.001-07:002011-07-29T02:38:05.022-07:00

God made it so easy to find the “one true faith” that your parents can pick it out for you even before you are born, and, in most places on earth, they do. It’s even easier to find a “true” Christian as opposed to a false one, or a “true” Moslem as opposed to a false one: The “true” believer--the one who understands what their religion "really" teaches, or what their holy book “really” says--

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-3969143875549432882011-07-08T12:04:00.000-07:002011-07-08T12:58:14.365-07:00

Decisions for a conscious being are based on a lot of variables, some random ones (circumstances of birth, language, culture, and questionable ideas one imbibes while young), but also include desires, wishes, goals, that arise naturally out of what we each find to be1) most interesting, intellectually stimulating and attractive in the special sense/feeling called "mental fulfillment" ("Oh wow, I

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-44223076408191339812011-07-07T18:41:00.001-07:002011-07-07T21:00:15.207-07:00

Johns Hopkins Hospital and University were the product of a great change in the direction of North American philanthropy. Throughout the nineteenth century, most giving by the wealthy had been religiously directed-to churches, seminaries, and other church-based charities. In 1867, however, the Baltimore merchant and financier Johns Hopkins-for reasons not totally known but certainly related to

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-71905096487755282712011-07-07T18:04:00.000-07:002011-07-07T18:37:27.937-07:00

The burning of Anabaptist Christians, the 16th CenturyIt is startling how much the first half of the 16th century calls to mind the 20th and 21st centuries. Islamic jihad threatens the West, even laying siege to great cities like Vienna (in 1529). Central Europe--the Holy Roman Empire--is divided into warring and bloodthirsty factions. There is widespread racial and religious distrust, often

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-27348593794096686342011-07-07T17:16:00.000-07:002011-07-07T17:55:19.921-07:00

INDIANS 0, CHRISTIANS 1They came with a Bible and their religion--stole our land, crushed our spirit, and now tell us we should be thankful to the “Lord” for being saved.Chief Pontiac, American Indian Chieftain, died 1769 [See Missionary Conquest: The Gospel and Native American Cultural Genocide by George Tinker; A Violent Evangelism: The Political and Religious Conquest of the Americas by Luis N

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-24669479896752367792011-06-08T16:42:00.000-07:002011-07-07T21:11:26.338-07:00

, Burning of Arian books at Nicaea (illustration from a compendium of canon law, ca. 825, MS. in the Capitular Library, Vercelli)Churches were cleft by rivalry and schism in the days of Paul, as well as in the days of Roman persecution. Only after a Christian became Emperor did the Roman government cease persecuting Christians. But this wasn’t good enough because Christians soon beseeched the

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-68609114808899180052011-05-04T22:25:00.000-07:002011-05-04T22:32:07.232-07:00

The Joy of Secularism includes an essay by one of my favorite writers, Frans de Waal, author of Our Inner Ape: A Leading Primatologist Explains Why We Are Who We Are; and, Primates and Philosophers: How Morality Evolved (Princeton Science Library). The story in the former of de Waal taking his baby with him to the zoo to see the bonobo chimpanzees, one of whom also was raising a baby of her own,

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-20718867671832400622011-05-04T17:05:00.000-07:002011-06-08T17:06:49.246-07:00

Coin of Constantine I, making a benediction gesture, with his sons, enthroned.There is little room for the myth that Christians [in the Roman Empire] were a perpetually hounded minority, literally driven underground by unremitting persecution. . . . Even at the height of the Great Persecution, martyrdom was not an everyday occurrence for Christians. But martyrdom did not have to be frequent for

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-26734285177169294112011-04-26T19:38:00.000-07:002011-04-26T20:01:35.622-07:00

To understand how Christian apologetics erroneously interprets stories and passages in the very book it is attempting to absolve from error click here and here.

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-20324749372255913512011-03-03T19:58:00.000-08:002011-03-03T20:01:46.986-08:00

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-61718616036567814872011-02-14T14:08:00.000-08:002011-03-01T12:23:26.851-08:00

The map (above) displays how Columbus and some other fifteenth century Italians imagined the earth's geography looked, click here for more info. Columbus died, still thinking he had reached islands near India. We will discuss Columbus (along with Medieval maps and the influence theology had on map making) again at the end of this blog entry but for now it's enough to note that Columbus was no

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-11479181131172603942011-02-02T19:22:00.000-08:002011-02-05T00:17:20.534-08:00

According to the Gospels Jesus was anointed with (or received) perfume numerous times in his life. Are all the tales true? Are any of them symbolic, legendary? At his birth Jesus allegedly received a visit from an unknown number of wealthy star gazers (was it two? three? more than three? Matthew does not say) who traveled far to deliver gifts of "frankincense and myrrh" (not to mention an unknown

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-38899162620659279932011-01-21T17:46:00.000-08:002011-08-24T17:38:39.110-07:00

I find the argument from reason (hereafter known as the AFR) by C. S. Lewis & elaborated further by Victor Reppert to be unconvincing and inconclusive. Philosophic assertions and counter assertions consist of drawing lines where each philosopher thinks they ought to be drawn, based on a variety of factors, but neither philosopher focuses on the same factors, nor finds them equally relevant.

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-31285215221839713662011-01-13T00:10:00.000-08:002011-01-14T14:07:12.383-08:00

On Jan. 9 2011 Dr. Tim McGrew delivered a sermon titled, "The Ring of Truth" at First Baptist, Keener, Lousiana. You may listen to it here. It was delivered in a heartfelt fashion and meant to confound those who do not know Christ by presenting evidence of "the undesigned coincidences in Scripture," based on an "old book" that McGrew had been reading recently. I listened to the sermon because it

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-58960646151207943122011-01-02T01:06:00.000-08:002011-04-05T20:46:51.204-07:00

Before introducing questions raised by John Calvin (the Protestant Reformer) concerning the Catholic relic known as the "Shroud of Turin," let's examine the images below:Below is an image of the full shroud (the burn marks on the sides of the cloth were from a church fire in 1532): Close-up of the face on the shroud: Same face, but seen as a Photographic Negative: 3-D Plot of the face on the

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-36885091832281723752010-12-08T11:19:00.000-08:002010-12-10T22:59:38.818-08:00

Pictured below are rough outlines of how ancient people viewed the cosmos, as based on their own ancient writings and any images they left behind that scholars could examine. The general uniformity of such ancient views has been pointed out by scholars for some time, most recently by Paul Seely here, here, and here.In 2009 I composed a paper on the topic of "The Cosmology of the Bible" for

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-61178091002879599082010-12-07T21:52:00.000-08:002010-12-08T15:29:06.866-08:00

Dear rjs, you concluded in your review of Denis L.'s book on Evolutionary Creation that you wished he still left room for God to intervene in the evolutionary process via miracles of some sort. But such a view of God as a micro-manager raises other kinds of questions. Below are my questions: YOU WANT TO KEEP GOD IN THE EVOLUTIONARY LOOP AND SAY THAT GOD DID SOMETHING, POSSIBLY INTERVENING IN

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-13884489973993771212010-12-01T21:14:00.000-08:002010-12-01T21:18:09.865-08:00

Buddha and Jesus, Together in the Tokyo SuburbsJesus & Mo

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-82890829590993056172010-12-01T20:56:00.000-08:002010-12-01T21:14:49.465-08:00

FROM THIS MONTH'S BIBLICAL STUDIES CARNIVALCharles Halton (Awilum), Claude Mariottini and Daniel O. McClellan examine a number of examples where NIV 2011 makes forced and spurious translations which appear to be favored for no other good reason than the fact that these “translations” harmonize various errors and contradictions in the Bible.Such features continue to ensure that the NIV remains a

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-37306013242755278902010-12-01T16:28:00.000-08:002010-12-01T17:43:05.769-08:00

From Loren Rossen: Context Group member Douglas Oakman pointed out that the Context Group originated in no small part in order to make sense of the real-life experiences of its members who spent time living in honor-shame-based cultures rather than guilt-based ones. Dick Rohrbaugh lived on the West Bank for many years, and other members have evidently lived abroad too. To people who have lived

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-14632049272526209292010-11-18T21:40:00.000-08:002010-11-23T14:09:39.031-08:00

Christian theologian Peter Enns recently wrote an interesting article on Genesis, Creation, and Ancient Interpreters: A Crafty SerpentIt's a fascinating read, along with the comments section, to which I'd like to add: 1) Genesis says God created the serpent ("the wisest beast of the field that the Lord God had made") and cursed the serpent (not Satan) "to go on its belly and eat dust all the days

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-60890945792505749282010-11-01T21:57:00.000-07:002010-11-02T14:11:58.862-07:00

This week a new conservative Christian blog, titled Tekton Tickler, features a post by Nick Peters in which he reviews John Walton's book, The Lost World of Genesis One. Nick appreciates the new vistas that Walton's research has opened up, as if Walton has flung open the door to a new united creationist front, a "mere creationism" in which both young-earth creationists and old-earth creationists

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-86370999686580559412010-10-16T01:48:00.000-07:002010-12-09T17:24:59.536-08:00

ISRAEL'S THEOLOGICAL WORLDVIEWRELIGIO-HISTORICAL APPROACHES: MONOTHEISM, METHOD, AND MORTALITYTHE RISE OF MONOTHEISM IN ANCIENT ISRAEL - BIBLICAL AND EPIGRAPHIC EVIDENCEPOLYTHEISM AND HUMAN SACRIFICE IN EARLY ISRAELITE RELIGION [Thom Stark sums up the above scholarly discussions in his new book, The Human Faces of God, and even more concisely in this recent interview]Deus intra machinam [

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-66927847900703669752010-10-12T19:30:00.000-07:002010-10-16T05:17:52.817-07:00

Previously in this series: Evidence of Belief in a Three-Tier Cosmos, Or Purely Metaphorical "Burial Language?" and, Does the Bible "Teach" Geocentrism?Discussion of the location of hell is not a hot topic these days. Most educated Christians have abandoned offering even the slightest defense of hell's classic locale (beneath the earth) even though the truth of such a belief appears to have been

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-17510399663673077582010-10-12T19:29:00.000-07:002010-10-13T17:34:40.202-07:00

Using conclusions drawn from the Baylor Religion Survey first published in 2006, two Baylor University professors theorize that Americans' view of God can be characterized as one of four basic types: Authoritative (different from Authoritarian?)BenevolentCriticalDistant By knowing which of the four types of God an American believes in, these scholars can predict that person's views on many of the

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-25016562579056712142010-10-12T18:58:00.000-07:002010-10-12T21:47:30.963-07:00

QUOTATIONS FROM THE BOOK . . ."DIVINE ABSENCE" WAS NOT UNIQUE TO ISRAELIn the pages of the Hebrew Bible. the notion of divine absence comes to expression in a variety of forms. . . . Samuel Terrien published a monograph three decades ago titled, The Elusive Presence. . . . Terrien argued that the absence or elusiveness of Israel's God was unique in the ancient world and that it set apart the

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-75545213492561389612010-10-08T19:51:00.000-07:002010-10-11T19:11:38.180-07:00

Geocentrism remains a minority opinion but a lively one among some creationist Christians. See poster below advertising one of their conferences, a joint affair, featuring both Catholic and Protestant speakers:Geocentrists remain hopeful even in this heliocentric age because as Gerardus Bouw (Ph.D. in astronomy, president of the Association for Biblical Astronomy and the country’s leading

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-55072919680514048072010-10-06T10:06:00.000-07:002010-10-06T18:22:00.152-07:00

Christian and Professor of Sociology, Bradley R. E. Wright (pictured on left) was interviewed in Christianity Today concerning his book (pictured at right), and had this to say: My goal was to follow the data, not so much to disprove anyone. [There's a lot of good news out there concerning the state of Christianity. But] If you're wondering what I was hoping would be good news but wasn't, it's

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-50332830720999536822010-10-05T19:53:00.000-07:002011-11-21T15:27:24.933-08:00

Paul wrote of beings existing "under the earth." Paul's Hellenistic and Jewish readers were familiar with underworlds in which beings lived, i.e., the Greek Hades, the Roman Tartarus (both terms appearing in the Gospels themselves) and the shadowy Sheol of the Hebrew Bible: The departed spirits tremble under the waters and their inhabitants. Naked is Sheol before Him [Yahweh]. Job 26:5-6 A

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-89151575284352112962010-10-02T03:47:00.000-07:002011-09-30T20:43:23.863-07:00

Chuck Norris jokes often involve extreme exaggeration or hyperbole--which is the topic of this post--so let's begin with a few laughs: Chuck Norris is the reason why Bigfoot is always hiding. Chuck Norris beat the sh*t out of his shadow because it was following too close. It now stands a safe 30 feet behind him. Some kids p*ss their name in the snow. Chuck Norris can p*ss his name into

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-25449550460774199942010-09-19T03:51:00.000-07:002010-09-19T05:24:10.792-07:00

Victor Reppert: Let the conversions and deconversions fall where they may.Ed's Response: We know where the conversions fall, statistically speaking, which tells us that the continuance of Evangelical Christianity depends heavily on adolescents who "accept Christ" before they reach the age of 18. And adolescents do not know much about the Bible, history, science, psychology or religion; they are

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-57480941656166191472010-09-19T00:05:00.000-07:002010-09-19T00:54:02.661-07:00

"The Golden Rule was original to Christ and is unprecedented and unparalleled in the history of ethics."--Peter May, Testing the Golden Rule"Almighty God and Christianity and the Bible professes 'DO unto others,' not, 'do NOT do unto others."--An Evangelical Christian explaining why he thinks Christianity alone is positive while all other teachings appear negativeNot a few evangelical Christian

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-31079323282261545962010-09-14T22:07:00.000-07:002010-09-15T00:03:54.069-07:00

Dr. Timothy McGrew is Professor of Philosophy at Western Michigan University. He also is directing the development of an online Library of Historical Apologetics, and has a number of Christian apologetic publications to his credit including a recent article titled The Argument from Miracles: A Cumulative Case for the Resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, composed with Lydia McGrew that appeared in

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-21299672872515376442010-09-05T20:44:00.000-07:002011-01-14T11:20:59.605-08:00

Dialogues need not start with "God's existence," because if you are dialoging with a member of a revealed religion with a particular Holy Book, it's really "their God" that they are discussing whenever they mention "God," and "their holy revelation of that God" as revealed in their particular holy book. But how do we know such books are holy? And why only those books? What questions do such books

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-56345567838360235772010-08-27T18:18:00.000-07:002010-08-27T19:00:12.161-07:00

Dating Acts (Excellent list of points relevant to the question)__________Do the Pastorals reflect Paul’s concerns near the end of his life to establish qualified leadership in his churches that would faithfully pass on received traditions, or do they reflect a secondary stage of development in proto-orthodox circles in the second century in the concern for a hierarchical church structure

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-41116422529341642992010-08-03T15:08:00.000-07:002010-08-03T16:52:03.647-07:00

Just as water can be in three forms, liquid, steam, ice, so the Trinity can be one, yet in three forms.A Christian in the film Religulous explaining to Bill Maher how the idea of a Triune God can make rational sense. (Click here if you wish to purchase a sweatshirt like the one on the right.) One shortcoming of the above analogy that even some Christian apologists recognize (like C. Michael

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-9444783515956953852010-06-23T15:46:00.000-07:002010-06-23T15:52:28.944-07:00

“SATAN,” ACCORDING TO HARPER’S BIBLE DICTIONARY(In Job 1-2 and Zechariah 3:1-2) Satan is depicted as a member of God’s court whose basic duty it was to “accuse” human beings before God. He is clearly not at this point an enemy of God and the leader of the demonic forces of evil, as he becomes later... It should be noted that ‘the serpent’ of Genesis 3 is never in the O[ld] T[estament] identified

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-981433886689024122010-06-23T14:45:00.000-07:002010-06-23T15:45:00.683-07:00

DEMON BLASTING (SHOUT IT OUT?)In March 1994, according to news accounts, police responded to Word of Faith World Outreach Center to quell a disturbance caused by a walkout of congregation members. At issue was televangelist Rev. Robert Tilton’s relationship with leaders of a North Carolina charismatic sect that practices a form of shouted prayer known as “demon blasting.” (Demon blasting involves

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-15405964978511461742010-05-27T10:14:00.000-07:002010-05-27T10:17:14.650-07:00

If you didn't like the end of Lost, what makes you so certain that you're going to love all the attempted resolutions at the end of this world's final season? You think a single lifetime, less than a micro-micro-micro-blink in time, decides what happens to people for all of eternity? That this life is where the most vital action for all eternity takes place? In this life we are surrounded by

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-7527127096076743672010-05-25T16:30:00.000-07:002010-05-25T16:49:35.950-07:00

I was lucky enough to live within an hour from where he used to live in N.C., and got to meet him, and even borrow books from him (some G.K. Chesterton plays). He showed me some magic tricks and I played him a song on the guitar. Gardner was raised in Oklahoma, Oral Roberts country, and a conservative Christian in his youth. He wrote about leaving the fold in a novel titled The Flight of Peter

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-32725396781017214662010-05-24T14:33:00.001-07:002010-05-24T23:18:55.086-07:00

Heliocentrism before Copernicus & Galileo?Nicholas of Cusa does not appear to have propounded a new system of the cosmos so much as speculated on metaphysical paradoxes of rest and motion in relation to God. His musings brought him to a point of docta ignorantia [learned ignorance] such that he argued in favor of the earth "moving," but added that "the world and its motion and shape cannot be

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-92214102668382464912010-05-12T14:49:00.000-07:002011-12-05T18:12:32.514-08:00

De Laicis is the title of Saint Robert Bellarmine’s Treatise on Civil Government, and features the same general conclusion found in Luther and Calvin's writings, namely that it was the duty of the state to punish blasphemers and heretics. The final chapters, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 should be required reading for Christians today, lest they forget what role the Bible and church tradition played in

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-80357686660369600742010-04-30T10:51:00.000-07:002010-04-30T10:58:41.873-07:00

No ark, it's another lie:http://michaelsheiser.com/PaleoBabble/2010/04/noahs-ark-paleobabble-updatehttp://blog.bibleplaces.com/2010/04/responses-to-latest-noahs-ark-claim.htmlIt will always be a lie too, Mt. Ararat was never under water, never at all: http://www.edwardtbabinski.us/geocentrism/mt_ararat.htmlBut creationists keep supporting "searches for the ark" in order to lie in favor of a

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-5173260485842626582010-03-26T20:29:00.000-07:002011-03-01T21:50:32.569-08:00

There are very few if any words of the resurrected Jesus in the earliest New Testament writings. Reports of the number of words attributed to the resurrected Jesus appear to have grown over time.1) Even conservative scholars agree that the first letter by Paul to the Corinthians was composed earlier than the Gospels. That letter only informs us that "Jesus appeared," without further description

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-41233599725361702852010-03-15T20:02:00.000-07:002010-03-16T15:42:01.274-07:00

Karl Heinrich Leopold Deschner (born on May 23, 1924, in Bamberg, Germany), is a German researcher and writer who has achieved public attention in Europe for his thorough and critical treatment of Christianity (and Catholicism in particular) as expressed in articles and books (that have appeared thus far in Spanish, Italian, Polish and his native German), culminating in his magum opus The

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-75500158477250576752010-03-12T23:34:00.000-08:002010-03-12T23:38:20.820-08:00

"I envy you not having to think any more about Christian apologetics. My correspondents force the subject on me again and again. It is very wearing, and not v. good for one's own faith. A Christian doctrine never seems less real to me than when I have just (even if successfully) been defending it. It is particularly tormenting when those who were converted by my books begin to relapse and raise

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-14299209962877414562010-02-25T09:36:00.001-08:002010-02-25T09:49:47.784-08:00

FIVE QUESTIONS FOR CHRISTIANS1) What keeps people in heaven from committing evil, or making someone else suffer in some way? Anything preventing people in heaven from doing that? Or can Christians in heaven later commit evils, create suffering, maybe even wind up damned? 2) Does God have free will? If so, then can God choose to do evil? If not, why not? A related question, is the free will of

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-41876560012124416032010-01-29T17:19:00.000-08:002010-01-29T17:26:48.948-08:00

How does one reconcile ALL of the biblical instructions that I list below? Jesus judged and even cursed people, aiming most of them at the Pharisees (Gospel of Matthew) and at "the Jews" (Gospel of John) saying "ye know whose children ye are" [Satan's]). While Paul said, "may their knife slip" when speaking of "the circumcisers." Paul also cursed certain people and declared them "anathema." BUT

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-59596675260014266102009-11-01T01:16:00.000-07:002009-11-01T05:03:12.927-08:00

Evangelical Christian publishers admit Christianity's "image problem," "postmodern turn," differing rival "views" within the Evangelical fold, and speak about "hopeful skepticism" and "questions" rather than dogmatic truths: Baker AcademicOutsider Interviews, The: A New Generation Speaks Out on Christianity Statistics tell us that Christianity has an image problem. The authors of this book hosted

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-87944328349232335512009-11-01T01:09:00.000-07:002009-11-01T01:15:17.491-08:00

If it was the exact word of God it would be real clear and easy to understand. God’s got a way with words, being the creator of language and all.Bill Hicks (comedian)____________________________HELP STAMP OUT AND ABOLISH REDUNDANCYGod said to Moses, “Take off your shoes from off your feet” in his redundant way. (Ex. 3:5, KJV)David Steinberg____________________________In what place soever ye enter

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-63395734639066234242009-08-25T14:58:00.000-07:002009-08-25T18:30:27.322-07:00

Data from NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer has revealed that more "little stars" (many the same size as ours) are out there whose existence had been masked by the light of massive, brighter stars. So in some regions there are four times more stars than astronomers had previously estimated. Galaxies demand a stellar recount A look into the hellish cradles of suns and solar systemsSpace telescopes

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-58462206402685613002009-08-24T22:34:00.000-07:002010-09-19T00:05:11.230-07:00

"The Golden Rule was original to Christ and is unprecedented and unparalleled in the history of ethics."--Peter May, Testing the Golden Rule"Almighty God and Christianity and the Bible professes 'DO unto others,' not, 'do NOT do unto others."--An Evangelical Christian explaining why he thinks Christianity alone is positive while all other teachings appear negativeNot a few evangelical Christian

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-71777332482351432072009-08-16T04:40:00.000-07:002009-08-16T04:44:45.021-07:00

A smorgasbord of annotated weblinks.Google the word "carnival" and you'll retrieve over 44 million "hits," but the #1 top-ranked "hit" (as of today) was this one: Biblical Studies Carnival. A "carnival" in the blogging world refers to a "best of" collection of links to recent entries at different blogs. I recommend the Biblical Studies Carnival since the entries are from the blogs of biblical

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-23248274664524206832009-02-09T13:21:00.000-08:002009-08-09T07:02:06.145-07:00

To get a little off topic of the normal content posted by Mr. Babinski, I'm taking the liberty to post a little bit of information that's been compiled regarding the "spiritual beliefs" of Jim Jones, leader of the mass suicidal, People's Temple cult from Jonestown (1978).Jim Jones and Jonestown Sing Soviet AnthemNew audio of Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple singing the National Anthem of the

The Night Owlnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-70863768653998999032008-09-05T22:20:00.000-07:002008-09-05T22:59:44.389-07:00

"Now - let me add this. We're not going to have all the answers. There will be some things like the issue of light from the farthest star in a young universe... we don't have all the answers." --Ken Ham, Answers in Genesis iTunes Podcast "Sermon: Six Days & The Eisegesis Problem", time into program: 1:09:12"Ken Ham's answer is consistent with his response on this question from his 'Answers' book.

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-73940268591662678512008-09-05T22:18:00.001-07:002008-09-05T22:18:45.894-07:00

Creationists like Todd Wood of Bryan College have admitted that viewing humans and chimps as completely different "kinds" is a "problem" because humans and chimps are nearer to one another genetically than species that creationists view as a single "kind," like "cats" for instance. Wood's technical paper discusses a number of specific "problems" for creationism. Below are edited portions, along

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-16885630040313390252008-06-23T20:29:00.000-07:002008-06-30T14:54:46.566-07:00

Transcript of Rev. Billy Graham's conversation with Rev. Schuller on "The Hour of Power" TV program: Schuller: "Tell me, what is the future of Christianity?" Billy Graham: "Well, Christianity and being a true believer, you know, I think there's the body of Christ which comes from all the Christian groups around the world, or outside the Christian groups. I think that everybody that loves Christ

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-81172070897141938312008-06-22T04:07:00.000-07:002008-06-22T04:09:22.946-07:00

Christine Wicker has a blog one may subscribe to via RSS or Google Reader that keeps abreast of the book's latest reviews and reader's comments. Meanwhile, Steve Locks, at Leaving Christianity has done us the favor of reading her book and summing up its contents...The author is a Christian of sorts, an ex-Southern Baptist and ex-evangelical, but still a mild believer (she has a mini-testimony at

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-54095256319910786422008-06-19T20:31:00.000-07:002008-06-19T21:02:24.635-07:00

For centuries, Christians believed that the heavenly few would see and even rejoice at the sufferings of hell’s multitude. As Paul Johnson [himself a defender of Christianity] admitted in A History of Christianity, “This displeasing notion was advanced and defended with great tenacity over several centuries, and was one of the points Catholics and orthodox Calvinists had in common.” The idea is

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-47250686972401157072008-06-18T22:57:00.000-07:002008-06-18T23:00:01.666-07:00

Below are a pair of letters exchanged between the philosopher Baruch Spinoza and a young friend who had converted to an evangelical form of Catholicism (so evangelical that the young man almost sounds like a modern day Evangelical Christian, especially at the end of one paragraph in which he tells Spinoza, "Give in, turn away from your errors and your sins; put on humility and be born again," or

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-7689688407568272932008-06-02T23:58:00.000-07:002008-06-02T23:59:50.065-07:00

Amazing info about incredible holy relics from Christianity's great age of faith.According to Austin Cline at about.com: The power and popularity of relics in Medieval Europe was dependent upon the saintliness of the original “owner.” The ultimate source of relics, of course, was Jesus himself. But there was just one problem: it is clear in the New Testament that after his resurrection, Jesus was

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-82329403048332571752008-05-31T02:43:00.000-07:002008-05-31T02:45:01.628-07:00

Ron Wyatt’s photo of a “gilded chariot wheel” allegedly from the Egyptian army that chased the Hebrews as they fled during the Exodus.An email has begun proliferating this year titled, “The Red Sea Crossing,” or, “Parting of the Red Sea,” or, “Chariot Wheels Found in Red Sea,” and it is being passed around so much with so little investigation that Snopes.com has begun a page on the email and its

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-7805078895016767332008-05-24T19:52:00.001-07:002008-05-24T19:57:59.201-07:00

Elephants caring for a crippled herd member seem to show empathy. A funeral ritual performed by magpies suggests grief. Then there's the excited dance chimps perform when faced with a waterfall – it looks distinctly awe-inspired. In June 2006, Jane Goodall and I visited the Mona Chimpanzee Sanctuary near Girona in Spain. There we met Marco, a rescued chimp, who dances during thunderstorms with

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-39781694667183232902008-05-24T19:10:00.000-07:002008-05-24T19:28:02.514-07:00

ABSTRACTEverything You Wanted To Know About Nude, Virginal, Castrated Men in the Bible, and Men "Undefiled by Women." And Moses's command not to "come at your wives" before meeting God. (Though I don't know if that applies to Southern Baptists heading for their annual convention.) Includes mention of the Adamites and the Skoptzie, along with Augustine's answer to the question, "What if all men

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-41170616876012309622008-05-21T18:56:00.001-07:002008-05-21T18:59:32.778-07:00

N.T. Wright on page 290 of The Resurrection of Jesus Christ seems to be admitting the obviousness of a biblical contradiction that many biblical inerrantists (like J.P. Holding for instance) seem loathe to admit. Before reading the passage from N.T. Wright one needs to know which verses he is referring to. They are from a Pauline letter and one of the earliest New Testament discussions concerning

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-54462654427901951862008-05-16T20:13:00.000-07:002008-05-16T20:14:27.742-07:00

The less people know about some things the more they argue over them. And what do Victor Reppert (of the blog Dangerous Idea) and Paul Manata (of the blog Triablogue) actually "know" about the things they are discussing -- things that constitute some of the most heavily discussed and unresolved debates throughout centuries of Christian theology and philosophy? In this case Paul (the Calvinist)

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-1450602606187029582008-04-21T16:08:00.000-07:002008-04-21T16:13:49.504-07:00

April 21, 2008, the headlines read: Orthodox groups clash in Church of the Holy Sepulchre,Christians fist fight at Jerusalem's Holy Sepulchre, Police breaks off clash at Church of Holy Sepulchre, Priests exchange blows over religious rights, And about 180 other headlines...[just visit google news and enter "church of the holy sepulchre"] For stories about previous brawls at that "holy site" keep

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-9677333475109958222008-04-10T09:30:00.000-07:002008-04-10T09:32:27.880-07:00

Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, opens with Ben Stein addressing a packed audience of adoring students at Pepperdine University. The biology professors at Pepperdine assure me that their mostly Christian students fully accept the theory of evolution. So who were these people embracing Stein's screed against science? Extras. According to Lee Kats, associate provost for research and chair of

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-57324665350095279282007-12-05T16:21:00.000-08:002007-12-05T16:38:17.310-08:00

Three objections that I've heard concerning Pullman's "Golden Compass" (the movie), and "His Dark Materials" trilogy: OBJECTION #1: Catholics object to the author's use of the phrase, "The Magisterium" OBJECTION #2: Protestants object to the way John Calvin is portrayed in the novels as being connected with "children" being "killed." OBJECTION #3: Protestants and Catholics both object to the way

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-54362364383492080142007-11-14T13:19:00.000-08:002007-11-30T05:15:13.900-08:00

One atheist became enraged and blathering "why" Ed Babinski would allow THE TRUTH to be published on his website and blog?Because Ed Babinski is not supportive of censorship or an outright liar, and holocaust denier like certain A-Theist colleagues."Holocaust Denier"? Last I checked, the Atheists are very busy DENYING their 110,000,000 mega-genocide against God's faithful.Atheists are psychopath

The Night Owlnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-82641923962528680972007-07-30T00:28:00.000-07:002007-07-30T00:33:10.732-07:00

The True Meaning of Democracy, has came home.http://www.edwardtbabinski.us/liberty.htmlThe Law Governing the United States"...endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--"That is what is meant by "created equal". It is clear on its meaning. Self-evident. Nobody wants to be a slave, no person enjoys a tyrant in power.

The Night Owlnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-16830076229508070972007-07-17T20:37:00.000-07:002007-07-17T21:04:33.151-07:00

Philosophers without Gods: Meditations on Atheism and the Secular Life by Louise M. Antony (Oxford University Press, 2007) Book Description [from the publisher]Atheists are frequently demonized as arrogant intellectuals, antagonistic to religion, devoid of moral sentiments, advocates of an "anything goes" lifestyle. Now, in this revealing volume, nineteen leading philosophers open a window on the

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-32108180206850691362007-07-17T09:14:00.001-07:002007-07-17T20:13:02.040-07:00

Leaving Fundamentalism will be published Dec. 2007 by Laurier University Press. It's editor, professor G. Elijah Dann, is not only a former fundamentalist but also had as his thesis advisor, Gabriel Vahanian. (At Princeton in 1961 Professor Vahanian wrote the ground-breaking book, The Death of God.) After Professor Dann's studies in France, he was awarded a predoctoral fellowship from the Center

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-62722793915864487462007-07-03T15:09:00.000-07:002007-07-03T19:43:06.419-07:00

The Evolution of Behe's Views: Francis S. Collins, the head of the Human genome project (who is both a Christian and an evolutionist), critiqued Behe's earlier hypothesis (that Behe has since dropped), namely of a "super cell" in the beginning that's frontloaded with excess DNA to be put into use much later as the world evolves. Collins pointed out such a hypothesis did not make sense because if

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-87079432291747979322007-06-01T17:19:00.000-07:002007-06-01T18:08:42.508-07:00

Dear Vic (Victor Reppert for the sake of blog search engines *smile*), I enjoyed reading your discussion at your blog on moral objectivity, along with comments left by others. Is it me, or are you asking more philosophical questions concerning moral objectivity than you have in the past? Asking questions and analyzing the answers (interminably so, especially when such questions are large

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-28406604118297342022007-05-27T00:56:00.000-07:002007-05-27T01:17:08.373-07:00

Steve Hays of Triablogue is a young-earth creationist with whom I've been having a bit of a discussion since I too used to be a young-earth creationist. In his blog entry, "Babel, Babble, & Babinski," he told me that he read John Walton's NIV APPLICATION COMMENTARY ON GENESIS (2002) in which Walton pointed out that "Moses used architectural metaphors [in the creation story of Genesis, chapter 1]

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-36039018055091830282007-05-04T17:57:00.000-07:002011-01-07T16:31:53.299-08:00

1. CHRISTIANS WHO PRAISE C. S. LEWIS'S WRITINGS 2. CHRISTIANS (LYING TO THE RIGHT OF LEWIS'S VIEWS) WHO CRITICIZE LEWIS'S PRESENTATION OF CHRISTIANITY AND LIBERAL IDEAS3. ADMIRING READERS OF C. S. LEWIS WHO LATER LEFT CHRISTIANITY 4. CRITIQUES OF C. S. LEWIS'S ARGUMENTS5. C. S. LEWIS: PROVOCATIVE, POIGNANT & PROFOUND WORDS [click here to go immediately to 5.] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~1. CHRISTIANS WHO

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-69769506515397318002007-03-29T17:33:00.000-07:002007-03-29T20:33:14.956-07:00

Here's an excerpt from an article on artificial intelligence, and includes dolphin intelligence in comparison with human.Is Artificial Intelligence Possible?By Tommy ConnollyBy many of the physical methods of comparing intelligence, such as measuring the brain size to body size ratio, cetacean surpass non-human primates and even rival human beings. For example “dolphins have a cerebral cortex

The Night Owlnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-72632585616389494172007-03-21T17:17:00.000-07:002007-03-21T17:20:22.868-07:00

Am I taking the “Blasphemy Challenge?” (google the phrase, see what you get). I strongly suspect it’s not necessary, because, “Blasphemy Challenges” aside, isn’t it a major Protestant view that people are simply damned if they reach the age of accountability and don’t convert? No need to do anything, the damnation of everybody simply “is,” unless they convert and say they believe, and believe it

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-86312125757195848972007-03-16T17:28:00.000-07:002007-03-19T19:37:29.602-07:00

WE GOT LEGS!I saw the release of NEOUCOM's cool new football merchandise and just had to order some for myself and some friends. Here's my kid and her friend sporting their new shirts.Wear the Whale!Get your T-shirts here.For anyone who's still in the dark ages, Dr. Thewissen (NEOUCOM) discovered the first saltwater cetacean fossil, Ambulocetus Natans the first officially documented "walking,

The Night Owlnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-50027647405455388472007-03-15T18:03:00.000-07:002007-03-15T18:21:53.533-07:00

Ed Babinski is the Agnostic here. I'm the deist.. De-ist... DEIST...when I see people fighting over religion, I roll my eyes, and always have to throw my +2 cents in.I like to get off the internet, and mingle with real people out in the real world who don't discuss religion too much. it's boring. period.today, I was driving home, and saw flashing lights approaching on the road/ it was an

The Night Owlnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-8958190943702196252007-03-07T19:12:00.000-08:002007-03-08T05:08:26.797-08:00

In the last several years, the intelligent design movement has attempted to move against science education standards in several American states, most famously in Kansas and Ohio (Holden 1999; Gura 2002). The principal claim made by adherents of this view is that they can detect the presence of "intelligent design" in complex biological systems. As evidence, they cite a number of specific examples

The Night Owlnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-84805289284929372132007-02-23T21:09:00.000-08:002007-02-23T21:13:14.320-08:00

Dear Christian Friend,Thank you for your invitation [reproduced at the end of this email] to see the movie releasing this weekend, titled, "Amazing Grace," about the part played by a Christian in the abolition of slavery in Great Britain. Like you I hope such a film will inspire others to become more socially and politically active. (Of course there are many stories round the world of people’s

Edward T. Babinskihttps://profiles.google.com/111830531772258533632noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-28910371228230215342007-02-10T11:06:00.000-08:002007-02-16T15:31:09.161-08:00

The Porn MythIn the end, porn doesn’t whet men’s appetites—it turns them off the real thing.By Naomi Wolf At a benefit the other night, I saw Andrea Dworkin, the anti-porn activist most famous in the eighties for her conviction that opening the floodgates of pornography would lead men to see real women in sexually debased ways. If we did not limit pornography, she argued—before Internet

The Night Owlnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28300773.post-49102697075797522172007-02-01T21:12:00.000-08:002007-02-01T23:15:04.245-08:00

As a follow-up to the previous article "Warm Blooded" Dinosaurs with FeathersWaterfowl fossils fill in a big missing link110 million-year-old birds bridge gap between age of dinosaurs and todayWASHINGTON - Dozens of fossils of an ancient loonlike creature that some say is the missing link in bird evolution have been discovered in northwest China.The remains of 40 of the nearly modern amphibious

The Night Owlnoreply@blogger.com3