Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Duh.

We live in an age of intensely high levels of wondrous intellectuality.

It took a study to show this.

Monday, February 26, 2007

One more pebble hits the wall.

TIME Magazine put out an article over the weekend which purports to prove that Jesus is still dead. Normally this kind of stuff I would just ignore, but then I started thinking - about how ironic it is that Christians are accused of intellectual suicide and grabbing at straws of "faith" (apparently faith meaning belief in the non-existent). The intellectual unfairness that takes place in such "findings" gives me the same feeling as having a root canal.

But because a celebrity is taking up this cause, it's going to be more mainstream than it would have been and have more intellectual clout (ironically) than it would have had. A movie review site I read said this about the whole thing-
"It’ll be interesting to see what he’s come up with, but it’ll be just as interesting to see the Christian response. Here’s the thing about the faithful: no matter how much proof you show them, they won’t believe what they don’t want to believe. We’re supposed to respect that sort of inane inflexibility."

How do you respond to statements like that? I don't think we really need to. Compare it to consiracy theories: That man never went into space or landed on the moon (google it, there's plenty of such sites) or that the holocaust never happened. And "proof" is supplied. At the heart of it is incredulity. How do you respond to such ideas? Normal people don't usually waste their time on researching a response.

Conspiracy theorists probably have similar words about their detractors as "inane inflexibility".

It is of note that the issue at stake is foundational: The resurrection of Jesus Christ, of which Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:17-19:
And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.

He said it not from a standpoint of fear, like the world assumes, but of confidence. Where was his confidence? In his blind "faith"? Not likely. See what he says just prior to the verses above:
1 Cor 15:3-8
"For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. "

Why do we believe that James Cameron has no case? Well, because he's trying to rewrite the facts. That pebble is going to drop to the ground.

Edit: Cameron's Problems Begin
Edit: For Further Reference

Saturday, February 24, 2007

Lost in Space

Spaceships with paying customers touring the far reaches of space... Space entrepreneurs... $20,000 to go on a spaceflight. I'm kind of a sci-fi fan and at first glance these ideas sounds like cheesy middle-of-the-road science fiction.

Except it's coming to a space station near you, say in another 15 years.

I'm not kidding

"Fifteen years from now, every kid will know he can go to orbit in his lifetime."


Cool. I was scared about the potential expenses of sending my kids to college. Now this.

Book your ticket here.