Posted on February 8, 2011 by Michael
Here are some basic facts:
- Micah predicts the Messiah to be born in Bethlehem.
- Knowing this, Matthew places Joseph and Mary there all along.
- Also knowing this but showing far less common sense, Luke concocts a census that caused Joseph and Mary to travel 100 miles to Bethlehem. First, we know the census never happened at that time (and certainly not on that scale). Second, if it did happen, Mary would not have needed to go with Joseph. Third, even if Mary did need to go with Joseph, she would have had a miscarriage. (I love when I can bend-over-backwards with Christian arguments, granting point after point, and what they say still isn’t true.)
- In John, people were saying Jesus must be the Messiah, but then others question why he was not from Bethlehem if that was the case.
- Archeological evidence says Bethlehem of Judaea probably didn’t even exist at the time.
- Bethlehem of Galilee, on the other hand, does have archeological evidence that shows early Christians believed it was where Jesus was born. This actual evidence contradicts Matthew and Luke.
Take note: The only pieces of the puzzle that are at all resolved or resolvable are the ones that use scientific or historical methods. The Bible, on the other hand, offers no methods for internal resolution.
Filed under: Misc | Tagged: Birth of Jesus, Thought of the day | 2 Comments »
Posted on February 7, 2011 by Michael
On the Super Bowl:
The Game: I had no horse in this race, but I’m glad the Packers won over the Steelers. And no, it’s not because I’m one of those sports fans who loves to indict players like Roethlisberger for non-sports related activities. I just think sports fans from Pennsylvania are crappy – even when they aren’t from Philadelphia.
The Halftime Show: Terrible, just terrible. I mean. Terrible.
The Commercials: I thought they were supposed to be entertaining. And while I recognize that the commercials around the halftime show weren’t the super expensive fancy ones, I still found it hilarious that there was a Toyota commercial which apparently used clip art.
Filed under: Misc | Tagged: Super Bowl, Thought of the day | 1 Comment »
Posted on February 5, 2011 by Michael
I’m really not a fan of the myth of Reagan. He most certainly was not a great president: increasing the income gap, taking undue credit for the collapse of the Soviet Union, contributing to a massive increase in drug use, imprisoning poor, mostly black people for excessive periods (Obama recently helped fix some of this problem), and creating a bloated military. These ought to be the pillars of Reagan’s legacy, not some sanitized revisionism.
Oh, and that whole thing with trading hostages for arms with Iran. There was that, too.
Filed under: Misc | Tagged: Ronald Reagan, Thought of the day | 4 Comments »
Posted on February 3, 2011 by Michael
Now that there’s a growing consensus that Sarah Palin does indeed suck, can we all finally admit that her big intro speech to the nation in 2008 sucked just as much? People were fawning over the whole thing, but c’mon. It was terrible. The context around it – an attractive conservative white woman no one knew – created an atmosphere of excitement, but the speech itself? It was rendered poorly. Let’s just admit it.
Filed under: Misc | Tagged: Sarah Palin, Thought of the day | 1 Comment »
Posted on February 2, 2011 by Michael
Any serious reader ought to be pleased with Christopher Hitchens. His logic, his intelligence, his persuasion – it’s all superior to the average person, and certainly to the vast majority of believers – but those things are not my point. My point is that his literary style is almost overwhelming excellent. He knows how to write well and he isn’t afraid to show us.
Filed under: Misc | Tagged: Christopher Hitchens, Thought of the day | 2 Comments »
Posted on January 31, 2011 by Michael
Thank you, President Obama, for nearly tripling my federal tax return with education credits and the like.
P.S. TurboTax gave me nearly double what TaxSlayer would have given me for my federal return. However, for my state return, TaxSlayer improved my refund by 50% over TurboTax (plus it costs less).
Filed under: Misc | Tagged: Tax return, Thought of the day | 4 Comments »
Posted on January 28, 2011 by Michael
If in the course of discussing science you hear someone say, “Well, science used to think the Milky Way was the whole Universe!”, as if to say that because science changes its conclusions based upon changing evidence that it is therefore unreliable now, you likely are having a discussion with a person who is hostile to the whole enterprise. Back away and move on to more a more intelligent and/or unbiased and/or informed individual.
Filed under: Misc | Tagged: Science, Thought of the day | 7 Comments »
Posted on January 25, 2011 by Michael
It amazes me when the Christian majority claims some sort of systematic persecution in the U.S. (or most other countries). Have they even bothered to look around?
Filed under: Misc | Tagged: Christians, Thought of the day | 2 Comments »
Posted on January 24, 2011 by Michael
We all knew the Jets weren’t good enough to be this far anyway.
Good riddance.
Filed under: Misc | Tagged: Jets, Thought of the day | 2 Comments »
Posted on January 20, 2011 by Michael
Deuteronomy 18:20
But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, is to be put to death.”
This wasn’t hard to find. Of course, I could have just used a search engine for nasty biblical passages, but I figured going to Biblegateway.com and searching Deuteronomy or Leviticus at random would yield the desired result. I was right.
Anyway. Remember all these nasty things God told people to do? And recall how people today excuse their particular, cultural sky fairy by saying that certain parts of the Old Testament only reflect the culture at the time? Yeah. God still told people to do awful things. So unless believers want to start arguing for moral relativism – and that’s exactly what they’re doing, whether they admit it/like it or not – then I would suggest they stop with the implicit claims that immoral acts of the past are excusable because they were carried out in a different cultural.
Filed under: Misc | Tagged: God's immorality, Thought of the day | 3 Comments »
For the Sake of Science 