nameandnature | Different Tan

ladysisyphus writes about why she is a Christian even though she cannot say unequivocally that Jesus Christ is her Lord and Saviour, which, as we all know, is the litmus of such things. People who thought that the Jerry Springer entry was intended to imply that I believed all American Christians were nutters, take note: there is at least one who is not.

andrewducker says what I'd have said about truth and facts, in a conversation which reminds me of those I've had with

cathedral_life.

People who read Hebrew might want to have a look at the huge thread on Creationism that developed under my post here, since some of it relies on what I suspect are standard Creationist assertions about the Hebrew used in Genesis. Or you might not: after I while, I learned to avoid the Creationism threads on uk.r.c, only popping out occasionally to ambush people with physics.

There are more photos of the musicals party, to add to bluap's. My camera's rubbish in low light, alas.

Random Flash linkage: To Kill A Mockingbird, Numa Numa. Been doing the rounds, but I mention it in case you've not seen it.

Update: I got a comment from someone recommending the CICCU mission talks this year (which have now been and gone). This has started a debate on whether God is just. Read all about it in the comments inside.

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I do wonder about the "productiveness" of these missions, even from a Christian perspective. As you know if you heard the same dire warnings as I did from StAG's leavers' talk, most student evangelicals do not remain Christians for long after leaving university.
Perhaps they are useful as they continue to drum into the students a fear of hell which hopefully will stop them from leaving the church or thinking about what they are being told. When I stopped being a Christian although I had no reason to believe that Christianity was true I was terrified of going to hell - the idea of how awful it is gets drummed into you so deeply that fear can motivate you into going to church. Someone who left the CU at Derby said to me a few months ago that they were amazed that I was no longer a Christian, when I asked why they said that they didn't understand why I would want to go to hell! This also seemed to be a core reason for them being a Christian themselves.

I haven't the faintest idea whether God could square a circle or why evil exists. Indeed, the question that has always seemed pertinent to me is that of why /so much/ evil exists. It seems that God knows it exists, and works amongst its existence (or the absence of good) in the person of Christ. I can't decide whether it's the best objection to Christianity or one of the worst. Some of the Christians I know are people one could describe as having suffered a great many evils, and yet they still continue to come to Church.

However, I think that the practice of Christianity on the basis that one considers oneself hell-ward bound without such practice is bad practice. Here is Gerard Manley Hopkin's poem, which I think gives a far better reason for loving God: http://www.cybertime.net/~ajgood/ilove.html The crucial lines being: "Not for heaven's sake; not to be
Out of hell by loving thee; Not for any gains I see;".

I love the idea of the radical non-utility of that. "Not for any gains I see..." Wonderful. I don't know if it's true, but I very much like the sentiment.

It's a logical problem for theists (who define God as defined above). If I were to say that Santa Claus exists, has the power to give every child who is good a present, and wants to do so - the existence of good children who don't get presents (for example) means that such a Santa Claus cannot exist (although some other type of Santa Claus might).

Logic is I think quite useful, it allows us to make a reasonably good decision on whether something is true or not. Otherwise one might believe anything. The more you try to take reason (well - and to some degree a God who can objectively be demonstrated to exist in any way) the more you end up with a dragon in your garage (http://robhu.livejournal.com/92268.html).

I don't know that I define God as defined above. I don't so much define God as confess the God who is made known to us through Jesus Christ and recognised as the God of Abraham and Sarah.

See here:

http://www.garnertedarmstrong.ws/Mark_Wordfroms/Tsunami1/tsunami1-7.shtml

For what it's worth, I just love having a dragon in my garage. The problem is that she fights with the invisible pink unicorn...

Different Tan

Re: This year's CICCU Main Event - DIRECTION

Re: This year's CICCU Main Event - DIRECTION

Re: This year's CICCU Main Event - DIRECTION

Re: This year's CICCU Main Event - DIRECTION