Posted by: the warrioress | June 14, 2012

In Flux

spirituality

I’ve been working on a series about militant atheism for the last week or so and began reading various blogs elsewhere and noticed something interesting in the process. People don’t care for angry ranting and raving about much of anything, do they? They tend to recoil from this kind of irrational behavior. It really doesn’t matter whose doing the ranting either or what they believe in. There is rarely much spiritual about rude, angry, aggressive, bitter, hateful behavior. Lately, I’ve been noticing critical writings aimed at angry, over-the-top Christians and atheists. I realized then that we’re all just people probably doing the best we can in this moment, but many of us still have flaws of character and need a lot in the way of spiritual growth. It doesn’t matter what we believe or don’t believe in, all arguments of who is right and who is wrong aside. The key to ask is this….

Does what we currently believe in make us a better person? Is it bringing us insight? Are we “in flux” or are we stagnant? I think most people are in flux. Most of us are curious and open to new insight. We love to learn and thus we are growing leaps and bounds through that learning. What we look like today as people may be completely different a year from now. Perhaps if we could realize that we are all essentially in flux, we might have more patience and love for one another as Jesus Christ did for all of us. He could see the finished product within us, while we see only what is in front of us right now.

What is truly unfortunate and sad is the person who is not open to growth, who is halted and embittered; such a person begins to die spiritually, I think. They wither inside and since there is no new growth, there is no happiness, no hope, no possibilities for change inside or out. We’ve all seen these kinds of people and the only real response to them should probably be sorrow. Thankfully, most of us will change and grow, improving over time, sprouting new tender fruit and spiritual buds that will be attractive to all no matter what our faith.

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Posted by: the warrioress | June 10, 2012

Militant Atheism II – Atheist Critique

ze New Atheism

ze New Atheism (Photo credit: ~C4Chaos)

In Militant Atheism, I introduced this topic by sharing that moderate atheists don’t particularly care for the more militant version of themselves. There are a host of reasons why this is, and the reasons are genuinely valid.

If we have a look at views of renowned and well-respected atheist peers of the militant atheists we’re discussing, we may be a little surprised. I’ve selected only a few to share with you, the reader, but I think after you finish reading what these atheists think about atheists like Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens, Daniel Dennett, and others like them, you’ll probably feel as I do. 

Militant atheism is over the top. It has overshot its mark and become a raging, rude, ignorant way of looking at those who are different from ourselves. It’s as intolerant as one can get.  The atheist writers below are being very down to earth and in their honesty they offer lots of insight for the more militant among them to consider.  After all, when one’s own kind reject their approach and arguments, how can one not take notice and give the matter reasonable consideration?

Cover of "I Don't Believe in Atheists"

Cover of I Don’t Believe in Atheists

We begin with Chris Hedges, a broad secular humanist who wrote the book,  “I Don’t Believe in Atheists.”

Hedges argues that Harris, Dawkins, Hitchens, and Dennett have a lot in common with the religious fundamentalists whom they mock and attack. He actually calls their thought a form of fundamentalism and accuses them of holding an arrogant certitude, of being anti-intellectual in the sense of not really being interested in other ways of thinking, of holding that their own worldview is true and the only one that matters and therefore being dismissive of other worldviews, and of being utopian thinkers.

While (Chris) Hedges does not tip his own hand regarding his religious identity, in the book he comes across as a broad humanist, or even a humanist in the classical sense of the term.

In May of 2007, Chris Hedges debated Sam Harris in Los Angeles and Christopher Hitchens in San Francisco. I Don’t Believe in Atheists, which has also been released under the title When Atheism Becomes Religion, is his fierce refutation of the projects of Harris, Dawkins, et al.

http://revthom.blogspot.com/2010/03/book-review-i-dont-believe-in-atheists.html

Next is atheist, Dan Neil, who wrote an LA Times article about the books of the new militant atheists:

“I do appreciate the company, and the ammunition in these books, and the occasional exchanged glance of solidarity in the bookstore. But I’m just slightly alarmed. The new atheism is pretty hard-core, militantly insisting we challenge religiosity wherever we meet it, or else enable its darker extremist tendencies. In other words, the new atheism is on a quest for conversion. Having insisted on tolerance of our non-faith, Dawkins and Harris’ take-no-prisoners orthodoxy would have us be intolerant of others’ faith. Oh boy, just when I was beginning to enjoy being an atheist.”

http://articles.latimes.com/2006/dec/17/magazine/tm-neil51

Alistair McGrath, a former atheist now turned Christian, has a lot to say that is worthwhile:

Dr. Alister McGrath poses for a picture while ...

Dr. Alister McGrath poses for a picture while autographing his book after a lecture at the University of Iceland. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“The dogmatism of the work has attracted wide criticism from the secularist community. Many who might be expected to support Dawkins are trying to distance themselves from what they see as an embarrassment. Aware of the moral obligation of a critic of religion to deal with this phenomenon at its best and most persuasive, many atheists have been disturbed by Dawkins’s crude stereotypes and seemingly pathological hostility towards religion. In fact, The God Delusion might turn out to be a monumental own goal – persuading people that atheism is just as intolerant as the worst that religion can offer.”

Alister McGrath is professor of theology at Oxford University. His new book The Dawkins Delusion?, co-authored by Joanna Collicutt McGrath, is published by SPCK at £7.99.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-433628/Do-stop-behaving-God-Professor-Dawkins.html

What follows here is an intriguing introduction to Paul C. Vitz, a former atheist and now a prof of psychology at New York University. He has some interesting opinions on militant new atheism which may shed some light for us on this newest arm of fundamentalism:

The former atheist, Paul C. Vitz, a professor of psychology at New York University, advances the position that militant atheists need to look closely at themselves. Vitz asserts: “In short the theory that God is a projection of our own needs is a familiar modern position and is, for example, presented in countless university courses. But the psychological concepts used so effectively to interpret religion by those who reject God are double edged swords that can also, indeed easily, be used to explain their unbelief.” For years, militant atheists thought they had the monopoly on truth and therefore virtue. As such, they persisted in mocking monotheists by portraying them as neurotics. This point can’t be stressed enough.

Faith of the Fatherless: The Psychology of AtheismYet, Vitz looks behind the accusations and convincingly argues that a good many (not all) secular fundamentalists hate God because of their own troubled upbringings. In fact, the psychological source of their militancy stems from the absence of a loving father in the home. When one looks at famous atheists and their families, a grim picture emerges. Vitz looks at what he calls the “dead father” syndrome. Friedrich “God is Dead” Nietzsche, for example, lost his father at a very young age. Sadly, so too did many evangelical atheists. David Hume, Bertrand Russell, Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus and Arthur Schopenhaeur could be added to that list. The biographical evidence is frightening. Is this just a mere coincidence?

Obviously, there were prominent atheist thinkers who didn’t loose their fathers at an early age. Thomas Hobbs, Jean Meslier, Voltaire, Jean d’Alembert, Baron d’Holbach, Ludwig Feuerbach, Samuel Butler, Sigmund Freud and H.G. Wells all spring to the author’s mind. Still, when one takes a closer look at the biographical evidence, as Vitz does, we find more disturbing patterns.

All of these renowned secularists came from homes with weak or abusive fathers. Again, is this just purely coincidental? As the reader ploughs through the defective father hypothesis, one wonders how famous Jewish and Christian intellectuals were raised. Do they have any family secrets? Surprise, surprise: we find that 21 of the prominent theistic thinkers came from relatively healthy backgrounds!

History tells us that political atheism tends to be extremely dangerous. Both Hitler and Stalin hated Judeo-Christian values with a vengeance. And it should come as no surprise that both leaders were severely beaten by their fathers. Curiously, a good many of their fawning disciples came from fatherless backgrounds too. Consider for one moment the many ways in which pathetic German men worshipped Hitler. How many of them saw him as a substitute role model after having lost their own fathers in WWI?

Rabbi Daniel Lapin states that: “In only the twentieth-century, atheism in both its forms of facism and communism, has been responsible for killing far more humans than all the religious wars of the first nineteen centuries.” Alas, an intellectual arrogance surrounds militant atheists. Books like Faith of the Fatherless – The Psychology of Atheism, however, serve as an important counterweight to the many pro-atheist arguments preached by some evangelical secularists on campuses across the West.

http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=3419

Atheist author, Frank Schaeffer, and his take on New Atheism.

“The New Atheists have been so shrill in their attempts to put what they regard as religious Dims in their place that even some other atheists find them abrasive. These critics of the New Atheists might be called New New Atheists. They too have come forward to proclaim atheism, yet to denounce the New Atheists in a way that to me is reminiscent of the church splits that my evangelical/Calvinist missionary parents (Francis and Edith Schaeffer who founded the ministry of L’Abri in Switzerland) went through.

We became members of ever “purer” churches through one “separation” after[FS_1.jpg] another, until the “True Church” more or less boiled down to just our family! In The Little Book of Atheist Spirituality, French philosopher André Comte-Sponville tries to present a “humanitarian foundation” for the life of unbelief. Comte-Sponville says that his “way of being an atheist,” was influenced by the Catholicism of his youth. He acknowledges the positive aspects of faith.

And then there is Ronald Aronson, a philosopher teaching at Wayne State University and contributor to Religion Dispatches, who first laid out a critique of the New Atheists in a review of their books in the Nation published in June 2007.

“Where does the work of the New Atheists leave us?” he asked. “Living without God means turning toward something.” Then in his book Living Without God, Aronson fleshed out his critique. He writes, “Religion is not really the issue, but rather the incompleteness or tentativeness, the thinness or emptiness, of today’s atheism, agnosticism, and secularism. Living without God means turning toward something.” It might also mean that we should look for a less drastic alternative to fundamentalist faith in God than a fundamentalist faith in no God.

The New Atheists and the religious fundamentalists have been looking through the wrong end of the same worn-out telescope. It strikes me that the idea–dare I say the fundamental truth — of paradox has been left out of the current atheist vs. religion debate.

At its best faith in God is about thanksgiving, shared suffering, loss, pain, generosity, and love. The best religious people and the best secular people learn to ignore our chosen (or inherited) religions’ nastier teachings (be those found in the Bible or in the “science” of eugenics and white racial superiority) in order to preserve the spirit of our faiths, be it a faith in secular humanism, science, God or in all of the above.

It’s the tediously consistent fundamentalists, religious or atheist, who become monsters. They are so sure that they have the truth that they dare claim that only those members of “my” religion will be saved. This is the path to madness and, if history is any guide, to violence. Certainty kills.

This essay first appeared on Religion Dispatches. Frank Schaeffer is the author of Crazy for God: How I Grew Up as One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right, and Lived to Take All (or Almost All) of It Back and the forthcoming Patience With God: Faith For People Who Don’t Like Religion (Or Atheism)

When asked about new atheists, atheist author, Julian Baggini, shared some of the following snippets: 

“In any case, my opinions are not so much about these books as the general tone and direction the new atheism they represent has adopted. This is not a function of what exactly these books say, but of how they are perceived, and the kind of comments the four horsemen make in newspaper articles and interviews. All this, I think, has been unhelpful in many ways. In short, the new atheism gets atheism wrong, gets religion wrong, and is counterproductive.”

“The new atheism, however, is characterised by its attacks on religion. In any case, my opinions are not so much about these books as the general tone and direction the new atheism they represent has adopted.”

“This anti-theism is for me a backwards step. It reinforces what I believe is a myth, that an atheist without a bishop to bash is like a fish without water. Worse, it raises the possibility that as a matter of fact, for many atheists, they do indeed need an enemy to give them their identity.”

“For these reasons, I am not happy about the public rhetoric of the new atheism, which has the most powerful effect on how people perceive people like me. Anyone committed to the proper use of reason and evidence should use both to see that this rhetoric matters, whether they like it or not, and modify their approach accordingly.”

http://fritanke.no/index.php?page=vis_nyhet&NyhetID=8484

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Posted by: the warrioress | June 9, 2012

Militant Atheism

Sign of the Freedom from Religion Foundation, ...

Sign of the Freedom from Religion Foundation, in Denver, Colorado. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

There is type of atheism that is growing and spreading that I’ll call “militant atheism.” This isn’t something that always was, as some might try to have us believe; this isn’t a silent, now suddenly very vocal minority. Militant atheism is something that has developed within the last decade that is extreme, fundamentalist, and frankly, dangerous.

I’ve done several posts on this phenomenon before, citing material where even their own, (other atheists), are rejecting these individuals. It’s interesting to note that even within the belief system of atheism, there are aggressive, angry extremes akin to the Westboro Baptist Church. This is the other side of the fundamentalist coin to that.

English: Front and back of the atheist sign at...

English: Front and back of the atheist sign at the Wisconsin State Capitol. Released with a GNU license by the Freedom From Religion Foundation to represent the sign in promotion. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

When you have other atheists cringing and desirous of separating themselves from these anti-theist, anti-religious people who want to completely do away with religion, you need to pay close attention why.

How can you recognize a “militant atheist?” There are many examples and ways of identifying their writings. Some are angry but still rational and reasonable. The primary thing these folk have in common though, are that they are determined to stamp out religion through ridiculing it from existence; thus they will insult, and normally be quite hostile to any and everything religious that has to do with Christianity the bible, faith, or even other types of religion like Islam.

Despite the thoroughly bloody history of atheism, (Communist atheism, state atheism), atheists insist that their hands are spotless, that they have never spilled blood during world history. We can look at countries embracing atheism in the past and see that disbelieving hands have more blood on them than believing hands ever did; nevertheless, the peddling of their non-belief and propagandizing that militant atheists have a higher morality, and  a better way of viewing reality and the world around us, are pervasive.

Freedom From Religion Foundation

Freedom From Religion Foundation (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

These atheists are actually evangelical. They are attempting to evangelize the world populace and are especially focused upon America. These are the folks from the Freedom From Religion Foundation and the Godless Americans. These are “in your face” atheist soldiers. They are insistent that you recognize God as “the invisible man” or the “flying spagetti monster” and turn from your faith. These people will spread a hostile message and if you do not agree, you will find yourself condescended to, told off, and lectured on the evils of religion.

Conservapedia tells us:

Militant atheism is a term applied to atheism which is hostile towards religion.[2][3][4][5][6][7] Militant atheists have a desire to propagate the doctrine,[3][8] and differ from moderate atheists because they hold religion to be harmful.[4][3][2] Militant atheism was an integral part of the materialism of Marxism-Leninism,[9][10] and significant in the French Revolution,[11] atheist states such as the Soviet Union,[12][13] and Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution.[14] The term has also been applied to political thinkers.[15] Recently the term militant atheist has been used to describe the New Atheism movement,[16] which is characterized by the belief that religion “should not simply be tolerated but should be countered, criticized and exposed by rational argument wherever its influence arises.”[17][18][19]

www.conservapedia.com/Militant_atheism

The following quote by Julian Baggini, a committed atheist author, summarizes militant atheism eloquently.

“Although …atheism Is not necessarily hostile to religion, there are, of course some atheists who are hostile to religion, and not just fundamentalist religions….Atheism which is actively hostile to religion I would call militant. To be hostile in this sense requires more than just strong disagreement with religion—it requires something verging on hatred and is characterized by a desire to wipe out all forms of religious beliefs. Militant atheists tend to make one or both of two claims that atheists do not. The first is that religion is demonstrably false or nonsense, and the second is that it is usually or always harmful. (1)

     Thus, militant atheism is driven by a hatred and hostility toward “any kind” of religion — without distinction. This high level of hostility blinds them to the good religion has done, or is doing, and fails to acknowledge that there is a wide variety of religion expressions ranging from extremist groups, on one side of the belief continuum, to very sincere, loving and service-oriented groups on the other side. Unfortunately, it is this kind of rage that has led to extreme forms of militant atheism in the past that led to the persecution of religions and the killing of a great many, as it has occurred in Communist countries.

     This site is concerned about their determination and growth and takes a stand against them by spotlighting their extremism, their lies and their agenda.”

___________________

(1) Baggini, Julian, Atheism a Very Short Introduction. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003), 101.

http://atheismexposed.tripod.com/what_is_militant_atheism.htm

Atheism

Atheism (Photo credit: atheism)

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Posted by: the warrioress | June 6, 2012

Keep Your Child Alive & Homeschool

One of our own, Ron Kemp, at RonKempMusic, writes a very inspiring, powerful post about the death of thirteen year old boy, Paul Hauan, due to bullying. I wanted to follow up on his post by sharing my thoughts on this increasing problem in our public school system and what we can do about it.

English: Bullying on IRFE in March 5, 2007, th...

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Many parents are struggling financially now and cannot afford to send their children to a private school, as the public school system is no longer necessarily a viable option. We’ve seen increasing problems with violent bullying and child suicide due to the bullying. School shootings are becoming more and more common place, making public school anything but a safe place to learn.

What can today’s parents do now to address these problems when the school system won’t? Having a thirteen year old daughter, whom I love more than anything but God Himself, I’ve had to think on this matter in depth. I’ve come to a conclusion on this thing that has finally allowed me to be at peace.

My child has come home from school too many times upset, stressed out, and bitterly unhappy due to cruel peers who pick on her for a variety of ridiculous reasons. I’ve counseled her and we’ve handled it up to now, in that it has not become what I would call a severe problem thus far, yet. I say “yet” because I recognize that there may come a time when it will become a serious issue. 

homeschooling afternoon

homeschooling afternoon (Photo credit: hbakkh)

Thankfully, I’ve done the research and have discovered that there is a “homeschooling” option that allows any parent to homeschool their children on the computer at their leisure and no one can do anything about it, should they disapprove. As long as one is legitimately schooling their child through a home schooling program via the computer, textbooks, hand-outs, etc., no one can legally take away this option from us.

Of course, there are those who would love to see parents forced to stop home schooling their children. I think these perspectives lie on the more liberal side of the political aisle, unfortunately, but they are not making much headway in doing away with our homeschooling options so far, and I thank God for that. I think it’s the more anti-theist, anti-religious points of view that pushe this notion because in the past it has often been Christian parents who opt to home school; there are those who dislike Christians exposing their children to their faith. Strangely enough though, because of the violence and bullying going on in so many public schools, even secularist parents are beginning to consider the home school option and well they should!

Homeschooling - Gustoff family in Des Moines 020

(Photo credit: IowaPolitics.com)

If your child is seriously stressed to the breaking point due to the public school curriculum, serious bullying and mistreatment, or the threat of another school shooting, don’t wait until something terrible happens. Don’t wait for the child to kill himself or become another school shooting statistic. Take him out of the public school system, and educate him and prepare him for college at home via the computer or one of the many good home school programs available.

I know I’m going to do this very thing if things don’t improve for my child in our public school system. I am not going to wait until my child has killed herself or someone has assaulted her before I act in her best interest. There is nothing more important than my child’s life, well-being, and happiness. Parents today have to recognize the reality of the violent, radical world we now live in.

We can’t wait until state or federal law changes and something happens to change what’s going on out here in our public schools. We have to have other options open to us now and homeschooling is sincerely a good one, in my opinion.

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Posted by: the warrioress | June 6, 2012

Spiritual Growth

For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. – Philippians 1:6

I saw honest to goodness change in myself tonight…
 
I was reading on the internet and came upon something that in the past would have stirred me into an irate frenzy. I would have felt the need to jump in and involve myself in a lot of foolishness that really has no point to it. In the past, this was almost a foregone conclusion.
 
Tonight as I read, it was as if I was emotionally disconnected and could see the situation for what it was; something not to waste precious energy even acknowledging — I’m just so beyond it. It’s not something God wants me to be part of anymore.  
 
I instinctively sensed this and didn’t even feel a pull toward questionable action, as I have in the past. Then the words of the above verse went through my mind and I knew it was God speaking to my heart.
 
It’s just so exciting when God is working and changing precise aspects of us that will hinder our ministry and service to Him! I celebrate this promise from Him in the above scripture in Philippians. God will not leave us hanging. We really are born again in Him and slowly we become a new creature. The Lord is making me worthy in areas where I am weak and need His help. 
 
Father, you are so good to me. I thank you.
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Posted by: the warrioress | June 5, 2012

Nothing Compares

 

This video needs little comment.
It speaks for itself.

Mobile viewers click HERE 

 

God rays

God rays (Photo credit: Joe Doe 2010)

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Posted by: the warrioress | May 31, 2012

Ain’t No Homo Gonna Make it to Heaven

I have to say that once again, I am incredibly ashamed to be associated by name with those who worship God, who would encourage a little child to express himself in this fashion, shown in this video.

I don’t say this to be politically correct by any means, because I don’t support gay marriage and am not a politically correct person; but as a Christian and a follower of Jesus Christ, we are to love everyone, including and not limited to those within the LGBT community.

This is sick and wrong. This does not show the loving, non-condemning side of Jesus Christ. This does not show the love of God. This is a “people-thing,” and is thus akin to gossip, hatred, strife, bickerings, and leading people away from our Lord.

Remember what God said about that….

But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. – Matthew 18:6

I’m afraid these unfortunate church-goers are going to have a lot to answer for when they stand before Jesus Christ our Lord.

An Indiana pastor is reportedly fielding death threats after footage surfaced of his congregation going wild for a tiny tot singing an anti-gay hymn. The clip went viral on Wednesday and features a young boy crooning a song about God and bible verses, including the lyrics, “Ain’t no homo gonna make it to heaven.”

Since it hit the blogosphere, the church, identified as the Apostolic Truth Tabernacle Church in Greensburg, Indiana, has received harassing phone calls, and its pastor, Jeff Sangl, has even gotten death threats at home, members told TMZ.com. The website reports the church is “on lockdown” and members are taking turns watching over the property. Sangl fears for his safety and he and his wife fled for vacation

Wednesday morning without telling anyone where they were going, one member told TMZ.com. Representatives of the church could not be reached for comment by the Daily News. Viewers online were jolted by the video — and by how young its star appears to be. Gawker writer Neetzan Zimmerman likened the video to child abuse. “What makes this particular demonstration of intolerance so shocking is just how young this congregant is. Believing him to be no older than five, some are calling the church’s treatment of the boy out-and-out child abuse.”

Others were appalled by the congregation’s overwhelmingly positive response to the performance. “Listen to the applause he’s getting for spouting hate!” wrote one commenter on YouTube. Author Anne Rice posted the video on her Facebook page, writing: “In this country, Christians can teach toddlers to hate and to persecute, and we, through the automatic tax exemption for churches, foot the bill.”

Despite the uproar and reported threats, church members told TMZ.com they don’t regret that the video surfaced online. “The people who are upset just don’t reach the word of God,” an unnamed member of the church told the website. “If we don’t teach the children the truth early they will never learn. “Of course we applauded a child who is singing a song about God.”  

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/boy-sings-homo-gonna-heaven-church-pastor-receiving-death-threats-report-article-1.1087165#ixzz1wTHuHSmD

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Posted by: the warrioress | May 30, 2012

Bigger Bone Syndrome

Dog treats are special types of dog food given...

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I like to reward my dogs with a variety of chewy treats, so I guess some might say that they are a little spoiled. At the cost of these canine delicacies, my animals are certainly being cared for with love. What I’ve noticed when I hand out the treats, though, is that each dog is initially oh-so-grateful and appreciative, but this doesn’t last too long.

 
Most of them will begin chewing vigorously, holding the bone, chew stick, or rawhide, between their paws eagerly. This usually lasts all of about three minutes and then pairs of little eyes begin angling about, looking slyly to the right and left to see who has what in his or her mouth. Before you know it, it’s like musical bones!
 
Treats formerly cherished are now abandoned in hopes that one’s next door neighbor will drop theirs, and they do, because they are doing the very same thing! That neighbor’s treat is then scooped up and carted off to a private corner where it can now be enjoyed in quiet bliss…that is, until this strange scenario happens all over again after about fifteen minutes or so.
 
As I watched this phenomenon take place, I began to correlate this with human behavior, noting that we do the very same thing in our lives! How many of us actually appreciate what we’ve got? How many times have we eyed another person’s wife, husband, family, car, home, children, clothes, body, job, wallet, looks, personality, or whatever, with great envy and desire? How often have we silently wondered how what we have stacks up to or compares with what others have? How often do we lust after what someone else has instead of being content and really happy with our own? 
English: envy- 7 deadly sins

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This “grass is always greener” scenario is fairly common for most human beings, I guess, but it is unfortunate. If we are never satisfied with our own home, wallet, family, children, clothes, lives…. we never really get to enjoy anything in the moment, do we? We’re always seeking that bigger bone. We can never just sit and be content and enjoy what we have. We want something that looks better than what we think we’ve got. Ours isn’t “good enough.” It doesn’t measure up. His or hers seems better. Suddenly, as we compare, what we have looks really pathetic and we can see the immeasurable flaws within it, making it all the more ugly or embarrassing. 

There is something to be said for sincerely loving what we’ve got, flaws, imperfections, and all. Whether it be the people in our lives, our particular rag-tag batch of family members in all their imperfect glory, our little car with some age on it, or the standard three bedroom dwelling; why can we not simply love what and whom we’ve been gifted with in our lives and appreciate these for the gifts that they are? How many have so much less?

Nothing is by any means perfect in my life and a lot of people probably have better, but I love what I’ve got; I’m learning to love and appreciate the family and people in my life whom I’ve been gifted with, no matter how any of them compare to others. My life is as it is for a reason. I want to live every moment I have left in this life appreciating what God has given me. It really is good enough and I’m going to cherish all of it.
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Posted by: the warrioress | May 27, 2012

RFID Chips Added to TX Student ID’s

Students from San Antonio, Texas, in the Northside Independent School District will soon be tracked via chips implanted in their student ID cards.  These Radio Frequency Identification System (RFID) tags are becoming more and more common place.

I’m just wondering when we’ll be making the jump from inserting the chips into ID cards, to having them inserted directly into our right hand or forehead.  I see this as none too far away and an obvious next step toward government rising to full power over the American populace.

Some say this is conspiracy theory, others believe this is the infamous “mark of the beast” come to fruition.  Regardless of what you believe, it’s interesting that the bible warns us to beware.

16And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, 17and he provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name. 18Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six. – Revelation 13:16

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Northside Independent School District plans to track students next year on two of its campuses using technology implanted in their student identification cards in a trial that could eventually include all 112 of its schools and all of its nearly 100,000 students.

District officials said the Radio Frequency Identification System (RFID) tags would improve safety by allowing them to locate students — and count them more accurately at the beginning of the school day to help offset cuts in state funding, which is partly based on attendance.

Northside, the largest school district in Bexar County, plans to modify the ID cards next year for all students attending John Jay High School, Anson Jones Middle School and all special education students who ride district buses. That will add up to about 6,290 students.

The school board unanimously approved the program late Tuesday but, in a rarity for Northside trustees, they hotly debated it first, with some questioning it on privacy grounds.

State officials and national school safety experts said the technology was introduced in the past decade but has not been widely adopted. Northside’s deputy superintendent of administration, Brian Woods, who will take over as superintendent in July, defended the use of RFID chips at Tuesday’s meeting, comparing it to security cameras. He stressed that the program is only a pilot and not permanent.

Full story, here. 

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Posted by: the warrioress | May 23, 2012

Remaking Christianity II

Who are these modernist “progressive Christians” interested in remaking Christianity? We are currently looking at two people. The first is Bishop John Shelby Spong, and the second is Karen Armstrong. 

Based upon a request from one of my regular commenters, (Joe), I thought I would find some interesting quotes from both Spong and Armstrong, thus allowing you, the reader, to digest their religious and spiritual views for yourselves. For traditional Christians who believe the bible, the perspectives held by Spong and Armstrong are going to be a bit of a shock.

Most certainly, these individuals do not believe in any kind of actual literal, or biblical interpretation of God, Jesus Christ, or the supernatural events that transpired within the bible. Both Spong and Armstrong are recreating Christianity through modified and “updated” versions of what Christianity should look like according to them, so that it can be brought into the 21st Century.

Spong attempts to “liberate the gospel,” in one of his more recent books, and by the time he finishes, I don’t see anything recognizably left of Christianity but the name. You’ll see what I mean, should you pick up a copy of his writing.

Needless to say, in my opinion, I think we’re seeing an example of the spirit of antichrist within pretty much everything that Spong and Armstrong offer us, but you be the judge of whether or not their interpretations of Christianity ring true for you.

Let’s look at Bishop John Shelby Spong first: 

Bishop John Shelby Spong, Episcopal Diocese of...

“I do not believe that Jesus, at the end of his earthly sojourn, returned to God by ascending in any literal sense into a heaven located somewhere in the sky. My knowledge of the size of this universe reduces that concept to nonsense.” –John Shelby Spong (Source: A New Christianity for a New World: Why Traditional Faith is Dying & How a New Faith is Being Born, Pages: 5,)

In our next quotes, Spong is obviously opposed to biblical literalism, the virgin birth, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He writes:

“The best way to lose all is to cling with desperation to that which cannot possibly be sustained literally. Literalistic Christians will learn that a God or a faith system that has to be defended daily is finally no God or faith system at all. They will learn that any god who can be killed ought to be killed. Ultimately they will discover that all their claims to represent the historical, traditional, or biblical truth of Christianity cannot stop the advance of knowledge that will render every historic claim for a literal religious system questionable at best, null and void at worst. [Bishop John Shelby Spong, Episcopal (Anglican) Bishop of Newark, NY, in Resurrection: Myth or Reality? pg. 22]

Bishop Spong also apparently believes that prayer is akin to talking to Santa Clause. He wants Christians of the world to debate the following:

The following twelve “issues to which I now call the Christians of the world to debate are these,” according to Spong:

  1. Theism, as a way of defining God, is dead. So most theological God-talk is today meaningless. A new way to speak of God must be found.
  2. Since God can no longer be conceived in theistic terms, it becomes nonsensical to seek to understand Jesus as the incarnation of the theistic deity. So the Christology of the ages is bankrupt.
  3. The biblical story of the perfect and finished creation from which human beings fell into sin is pre-Darwinian mythology and post-Darwinian nonsense.
  4. The virgin birth, understood as literal biology, makes Christ’s divinity, as traditionally understood, impossible.
  5. The miracle stories of the New Testament can no longer be interpreted in a post-Newtonian world as supernatural events performed by an incarnate deity.
  6. The view of the cross as the sacrifice for the sins of the world is a barbarian idea based on primitive concepts of God and must be dismissed.
  7. Resurrection is an action of God. Jesus was raised into the meaning of God. It therefore cannot be a physical resuscitation occurring inside human history.
  8. The story of the Ascension assumed a three-tiered universe and is therefore not capable of being translated into the concepts of a post-Copernican space age.
  9. There is no external, objective, revealed standard writ in scripture or on tablets of stone that will govern our ethical behavior for all time.
  10. Prayer cannot be a request made to a theistic deity to act in human history in a particular way.
  11. The hope for life after death must be separated forever from the behavior control mentality of reward and punishment. The Church must abandon, therefore, its reliance on guilt as a motivator of behavior.
  12. All human beings bear God’s image and must be respected for what each person is. Therefore, no external description of one’s being, whether based on race, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation, can properly be used as the basis for either rejection or discrimination.

http://www.liberator.net/articles/LiberatorMark/Spong.html

As I finish looking into Bishop Spong’s views, I’m so relieved to find that he has retired. Unfortunately, when we have a look at Karen Armstrong, we find many similarities. Let’s look at some of the quotations attributed to her:

Karen Armstrong:

“Even though Paul and the evangelists all called Jesus ‘son of God,’ they were not making divine claims for him. They would have been quite shocked by this idea.” (p. 85)

“A God who kept tinkering with the universe was absurd; a God who interfered with human freedom and creativity was tyrant. If God is seen as a self in a world of his own, an ego that relates to a thought, a cause separate from its effect. he becomes a being, not Being itself. An omnipotent, all‐knowing tyrant is not so different from earthly dictators who make everything and everybody mere cogs in the machine which they controlled. An atheism that rejects such a God is amply justified.” ― Karen Armstrong
 
“The only way to show a true respect for God is to act morally while ignoring God’s existence.” ― Karen Armstrong, A History of God 
 
“This was the scientific age, and people wanted to believe that their traditions were in line with the new era, but this was impossible if you thought that these myths should be understood literally. Hence the furore occasioned by The Origin of Species (1858), published by Charles Darwin (1809-82). The book was not intended as an attack on religion, but was a sober exploration of a scientific hypothesis. But because by this time people were reading the cosmogonies of Genesis as though they were factual, many Christians felt — and still feel — that the whole edifice of faith was in jeopardy. Creation stories had never been regarded as historically accurate; their purpose was therapeutic. But once you start reading Genesis as scientifically valid, you have bad science and bad religion.” – Karen Armstrong, A Short History of Myth
 
 “I see the Christmas story and the deification of Jesus not as a statement of historical fact or an abstract religious doctrine. Like all religious teaching it is a call to action. When St Paul quotes that early Christian hymn in his letter to the Philippians (2:5-11), he was not giving his converts a lesson in the doctrine of the Incarnation. He was telling them how to behave.”

Karen Armstrong on the bible: “These myths were not intended to be taken literally, but were metaphorical attempts to describe a reality that was too complex and elusive to express any other way.”  – Karen Armstrong on “the bible.”

http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Karen_Armstrong

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