The church leadership responds concerning their sign:
"We have people in our congregation who are homosexual. We are an all-inclusive church, a family. No one cares what your sexuality is. Come on in, we don't see any difference."
They don't care and see no difference? Interesting. I reviewed the sexual sin list and and was completely unaware that one could simply "Cherry pick" the Bible and omit what they decide God was wrong about??? Go figure!
Since they claim they are an inclusive bunch next week's bill board should read:
"Joey had his own wife...and his best friend's wife...and his neighbour's wife...and his brother's wife...and his physicians wife...AND last but not least his wife's sister! Although he left a trail of broken and devastated families...no need to worry because he turned out OK!"
Following that they could do an entire sermon series for weeks on how they also embrace rape, beastality, incest, adultery, fornication, etc. I mean really, you can't embrace one sexual sin and omit all the others. That would be to "Exclusive" and I'm sure the Anglicans would not want to be viewed as hypocrites. Just sayin'
"Next time somebody tells you that something is true, why not say to them: "What kind of evidence is there for that?" And if they can't give you a good answer, I hope you'll think very carefully before you believe a word they say"
Richard Dawkins, "A Devil's Chaplain" pg 248
And on that note, enjoy the following :)
If you can believe it, many vehement followers of the great and mighty Richard referred to this video as a hoax, stating that he did in fact answer the question but the reality is he did not touch the question. In fact he went completely off in his own direction rambling on about the misconstrued perception of the evolutionary process. Uh yeah, that's nice Richie that you hold onto your beliefon how it all happened but that was not the question.
The interviewer did not ask you whether or not we are descendants or just cousins. They did not ask you to explain how you believe it all happened. They asked you to substantiate your assertion of the evolutionary process of genetic mutation based on your very own words and truth claims. In 1993 it was you who decided what constituted a "scientific" approach to what was "True". On page 145 of your book "A Devil's Chaplain" you state:
"testability, evidential support, precision, quantifiability, consistency, intersubjectivity, repeatability, universality, progressiveness, independence of cultural milieu (this should include atheists since they are a culture unto themselves) and so on"
Alright, fair enough. Now answer the question. Give us an example of genetic mutation or evolutionary process based on your concept of scientific approach. Still "Nothing" Richard? How ironic for someone who believes in nothing.
"As a lover of truth, I am suspicious of strongly held beliefs that are unsupported by evidence".
(A Devil's Chaplain, pg. 117)
Now there Richard is something you and I can agree on. Scientifically speaking of course.
So allow me to apply your advice and great wisdom with your original quote at the beginning of this post. There is no doubt, Richard, that you believethat genetic mutation is true. You have stated that many times. So I will ask the question that you yourself would encourage an inquisitive guy like myself to ask. OK, Here we go:
"Richard, what kind of evidence do you have to substantiate genetic mutation?"
Oh wait you just answered that one on your video response. You came from "nothing", believe in "nothing" and your answer was "nothing". In that case I will take you up on your advice since you can't give a good answer...or any for that matter. And I will think carefully about what you said before I believe a word you say..or don't say. Just as you would recommend.
Since there was "Nothing" to ponder, except 14 seconds of deafening silence and 1 minute 24 seconds of your doctrinal preaching on what you believe to have taken place, that did not take me long to consider. Thanks for your insight and advice Richard. I have applied it as per your direction and have drawn the conclusion that I don't believe you :)
Well the great and mighty Richard Dawkins has spoken yet again! The world's self proclaimed master of intelligence continues to grace our planet with his wonderful random chance supremacy steeped in his deep "accidental" logic that derived from nothingness! How blessed we are to have such a humble personality come together with such vast knowledge of his own wisdom! How did he attain such heights of orderly intelligence out of all the chaos in our expansive universe? I guess he was just first in line thru natural selection to grab hold of that selfish gene. Good thing to because I would not know how stupid I was if he were not around to tell me.
Thank God for...oh dear, I just offended Richard and displayed my hallucigenetic nature exposing my incredible lack of intellect. But really, I just want to know more Richie. If you are as smart and as intelligent as you keep telling us you are and we are as stupid...as you keep telling us we are...then please, for the love of...(oops, almost did it again) please "enlighten" the masses with an answer.
In the following video, Richard had a minute and a half to answer a very simple question, no doubt from a "simple" person compared to his greatness, and was incapable of it. If one claims to be such a supreme intelligence at the very least grace us all with an intelligent response. Instead Richard displays an "attitude" of arrogance and ignorance without responding with an answer at all.
First he opens up with a self defeating contradiction:
"Well, anybody could be wrong!"
Not true Richard, because you assure everyone that only people with weak minds who have the audacity to believe in a deity are wrong! Don't believe me? Just ask yourself since there is no other superior intellect outside of you. In fact it was you who said "The refusal to believe in anything you can't see yourself is absurd". Wait a minute... Yikes! Forgot about that one. That little statement could actually put you in a place of conflict with yourself so we just won't go there.
Next up he says to the "simple" minded student, who was probably robbed in the gene pool of intellect by being the weaker of the species:
"You know what it is like to believe in a particular faith because you are not a muslim your not a Hindu. Why aren't you a Hindu? Because you happen to be brought up in America not in India. For people brought up in India you'd be a Hindu. If you were brought up in, in Denmark in the time of the Vikings you would be believing in (could not make it out) and Thor.If you were brought up in classical Greece you'd be believing in Zeus. If you were living in Central Africa you'd be believing in the great Juju up the mountain."
OK let's get serious here now. Are you freakin' kidding me? What a generalized, broad brushed statement that was. On the one hand I will give Richard some credit for the whole "you are a product of your enviorment" spiel but that is certainly not a verifiable consistent pattern in which one could draw a conclusive absolute on. There are far to many circumstances that would dictate just the opposite. This is such a narrow minded unintelligible response.
For one thing there are Christians in every region that he mentions. Many who converted (in some of the mentioned regions under threat of death) from the different "beliefs" within the differing time eras. Secondly, how does Richard the almighty supreme intelligence explain me? If I had posed the same question he would not have me pegged at all. I came from a very non-Christian/religious home. Not a single Christian on either side of my family. As far back as my great grandparents, none ever attended church on a regular or irregular basis unless it was a wedding or funeral. To this day none of them even have a bible in the home unless I personally gave them one which I doubt they read. The mindset of my enviorment growing up was liberal and my step father professed his atheism. Yet, in my stupidity as Richard would point out, I made a decision to follow Christ. regardless of my childhood surroundings, nation, or atheistic influences. Answer that one O great master of supreme intelligence.
Finally he states:
"There's no particular reason to pick on the Judeo Christian God in which by the sheerest accident you happen to have been brought up in and ask me the question "What if I'm wrong?". What if your wrong about the great juju at the bottom of the sea?"
And there you have it. He refuses to answer the question and then turns the question back on the "simple" minded student. This sounds so much like "I know you are but what am I?". Childish and redundant. What are you afraid of Richard? Answer the question if you are so sure of yourself. And to insult the young lady by referring to her upobringing as an accident. Wow! Tell us then Richard what it was like being raised in the selfish dominating gene pool that natrually selected your parents to raise such an intellect? Funny how nothing "influenced" your perceptions. You are to sharp for that aren't you?
What an asine response. In Richard's earlier years he displayed a willingness to engage in intellectual philisophical debate with respect. Today, he appears to have given into the "New Atheism" which is completely disengaged philisophically and focuses more on outright attacking people who believe in the existence of a deity. Tsk tsk, not very tolerant! I am willing to answer the question Richard. Why aren't you?
Been a long while. So much to talk about. So much intolerant hypocrisy to expose from the masses and preachers of tolerance (lol)...but not today!
Medina, Saudi Arabia is the home of Mohammeds tomb and bodily remains. Kusinara, India holds the cremeated remains of Bhudda. Ch' u-fu Shandong, China the burial site of Confucious.
Jerusalem, Israel home of the empty tomb of Jesus Christ. The only place where the faithful travel to "Not" see a body/remains. That is because He is not there. He has risen!
Happy Easter my friends. The following video is the true meaning behind Good Friday.
I am not one to get to personal on my blog site, as many of you know, I rather enjoy a challenging mind bending discussion that...how shall we say? Stirs the poop!
However, this is not going to be one of those posts. I have been away for quite sometime. 5 months to be exact, so I thought, if any of you still happen by, I would fill you in on my whereabouts.
It has been a crazy, educational journey that I have been on. As you know, I am a man of prayer. 9 months ago as I looked around my very modest 800 square foot home I realized that when I purchased it 10 years ago I had two kids knee high to a grasshopper. Today I have three who are as tall as the Ent trees in Lord of the Rings. This began my prayer request to God. It was quite simple, "Lord, I am grateful for all that you have blessed me with but I really need more space"
I don't believe I am a greedy man. I felt I recognized a legitmiate need for my family. As is always the case with God, He does not expect you to sit and wait for Him to do absolutley everything while you do nothing. He is a God who delights in watching His children learn and grow. He aslo wants His children to lean on Him while they learn life's lessons. I leaned on God for the answer to my prayer.
I first took measures to place my house up for sale. When a few potential buyers fell thru due to their own "credit" issues, I took that as God's way of saying that I will not be going anywhere. Which left me questioning. "Does the Lord feel I have enough space?", "Maybe this is just not the right time just because I might think it is maybe He see's something down the road that I do not".
The Lord made it clear to me that I was staying put but I was going to learn something in this life that I never imagined I would. He directed to my local bank where I discovered they had what was called an "Add on mortage loan". In other words, one can get the money to renovate their home without taking out a loan but could, instead, have the cost "ported" onto their excisiting mortage.
The financial end of doing this is far more cost effective then trying to buy a larger home. This is where the "educational" portion came into play. God said "And your going to build it!" In other words, except where absolutley neccessary, I was not going to contract ANY of the work out. I would build it with my own hands. A labour of love for the family. Easy to say, problem was is I am by no means a carpenter and have cerrtainly NEVER built a house.
But God said He would provide the knowledge, skills and labourers and I would take care of the rest. Believe it or not, that is exactly how it all went down. I am now in the finishing stages and was even able to celebrate Christmas in it. God saw the bigger picture. My need for more space would not have been easily accomodated with an insane mortage. Especially in todays economic landslide into the abyss. When I began the planning stages of this project back in March (2008) I certainly did not see the market heading where it has today. But I know that God did.
In this, one of life's lessons, God spared me from a foolish mortage amount that could have sunk me and at the same time provided me with a mountain of knowledge from start to finish when it comes to bulding a house. Right from dealing with Planning boards, aqquiring all the neccessary permits, designing my home/blueprints, ordering all materials, organising a crew (made up some very solid friends/family who sacrificed a lot) right down the finishing touches.
As exhausting as it has all been (work all day, come home and work on the house all night and ALL weekends) I am so grateful for the knowledge I have obtained, the friendships that have I hgave solidified, anbd the space I now have.
God really is good. Because in His infinite wisdom He answered my prayer not by me sitting back and having Him do everything for me but by using me to as the answer. For this I am grateful.
Merry Christmas to all and a very Happy and prosperous New Year. My acid tongue shall return in the New Year :)
