A nice little piece from Surviving the World to balance up the nice things I just said about science…
I think it’s funny. And it’s what I suspect most fence sitters – both on the theistic and atheistic sides – think.
Author: Nathan Campbell
Nathan runs St Eutychus. He loves Jesus. His wife. His daughter. His son. His other daughter. His dog. Coffee. And the Internet. He is the pastor of City South Presbyterian Church, a church in Brisbane, a graduate of Queensland Theological College (M. Div) and the Queensland University of Technology (B. Journ). He spent a significant portion of his pre-ministry-as-a-full-time-job life working in Public Relations, and now loves promoting Jesus in Brisbane and online. He can't believe how great it is that people pay him to talk and think about Jesus. If you'd like to support his writing financially you can do that by giving to his church.
Things not to say to atheists
So, although I’m (possibly temporarily) retired from arguing with atheists, I’ve been nominated to present a little seminar at college on things not to say to atheists.
I reckon I’m pretty good at saying things they don’t like – some right, some wrong…
Here are some things I think you shouldn’t say:
- Don’t say anything about how Hitler was both an atheist and evil – as though atheism necessitates evil. I’ve broken Godwin’s law plenty of times – but mainly to suggest that atheists arguing from Christian extremities is about as consistent as Christians arguing using Hitler. This context is often lost. Hitler is like a red rag to a bull in these discussions.
- Don’t say anything about how atheists can’t possibly be moral or good as a result of rejecting God. This is silly, it’s not even Biblical. If we’re right and God exists, and he’s the God of the Bible, then atheists are capable of “moral” actions even if they reject him. They don’t put off imago dei just because they don’t believe in the second part of the Latin equation.
- Pretty much don’t say anything negative about science. Science is a good thing. Acknowledge that. Move on. Stick to the philosophical and reject “naturalism” that’s much sager ground because there’s no proof that it actually is how things work, just that it’s an observably feasible method of understanding things.
- Don’t suggest that atheists should be governed by laws set by Christians just because they’re in the minority. This again is pretty dumb. It’s like we expect people to live like they have the Holy Spirit when they don’t. This is mostly relevant when talking about politics, but also has some bearing on talking about personal choices. It’s fine to say that something is wrong if you’re a Christian, and fine to say that someone is doing the wrong thing according to God, but unless there’s a third party innocent victim to protect (like there is in abortion) I’d be keeping that powder dry.
- Don’t quote Psalm 14:1 out of context (“the fool says in their heart there’s no God”) unless you want to be lumped in with every other proof texting Bible bashing redneck who wants to beat up homosexuals while eating lobster. We need to make sure that we use the Bible well. In fact, don’t quote the Bible out of context at all. Ever.
But I’d love to hear from you, dear readers (especially any atheists hanging around) about what us Christians shouldn’t say to atheists (within reason – we’re allowed to say “you’re wrong, and it’s not very nice to call our beliefs a crazy delusion”).
Any pointers from your experience – otherwise I’m just going to be rehashing things from this post and this one (and the comments therein) – and possibly these ones from Pharyngula and the Friendly Atheist.
Pizza capers
One of the coolest things about moving to Brisbane was discovering Pizza Capers. They’re pretty expensive. But they do cool flavour combos. But if I was on about their pizzas in this post I’d have capitalised the C in the title.
We’ve been working on our homemade pizza skills recently, and I’m pretty happy with my bastardisation of a Pizza Capers creation.
Here’s the recipe:
- Pizza dough (we make it in our breadmaker).
- Jack Daniel’s Smokey BBQ sauce.
- Chicken (marinated in said sauce – which also functions as the base), cooked first, of course.
- Bacon, also marinated. Also in said BBQ sauce.
- Mozzarella Cheese – in the lumpy form, not the grated form.
- Potato sliced thinly, boiled first.
- Sour cream – a drizzle on top.
- Onion – somewhere in the piece.
Mmm. Delicious. But tangential to my actual purpose of posting. Firstly, I wanted to know what good topping options are out there. And secondly, it seemed an appropriate way to share this video. My next step in pizza making…
Iron sharpening chalk
Put two or more Christian men in a room together after one of them has just used their gifts to serve the kingdom and its almost inevitable that there’ll be a session of “iron sharpening iron”… it’s biblical.
I think the notion is healthy. But I think at times we can jump straight into thinking of one another as a robust elemental substance. We can forget that it’s person sharpening person – and sometimes assume that our critique is what they want to hear almost immediately. I suspect sometimes we’re geared up to be “iron” and the other person is a little more brittle. Even in designated “critique sessions” we jump straight in as though our criticism is ordained and automatically appropriate. It’s not always the case.
I’ve been sitting on this post for a while – just in case anybody who has critiqued me thought I was talking about them. It’s born more out of my own desire to provide “constructive” feedback after every talk I hear.
How would Jesus cook
He’d cook fish over an open fire. And possibly bake bread. I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t be anything like this atheistic parody.
I probably shouldn’t be laughing at this.
Blog ja vu
I thought I had posted these before, but then I looked, and I couldn’t find them on my blog. So I’m going to assume I looked at them, thought “wow, I totally should blog those” and then didn’t. Until now. They are nice, from this designer, via bookofjoe.
Ecumenical preacher Barbie
What the world needs is:
a) more silly “ecumenical” concepts.
b) more Barbie varieties.
Someone killed two birds with one stone – this (not yet for sale) preacher Barbie comes with various outfits.
Via here.
Meme: Five things in my wardrobe that I wouldn’t be without (Nathan).
Simone started this Meme, Amy tagged both Robyn, and myself.
Here you go.
- My “punny” t-shirts.
- My brown fake suede jacket (I inherited it from my pa).
- Jeans.
- Supporters Jerseys – Manly and Manchester United.
- Comfy undies.
Title your post- Meme: Five things in my wardrobe that I wouldn’t be without.
Tell us who linked you.
List your 5 wardrobe items.
Paste these rules at the bottom.
Tag 2 or 3 others to join in the fun!
Right, I tag whoever hasn’t done this yet.
Paul the father of “all publicity is good publicity”
From the PR point of view this idiom is pretty stupid. Some publicity is not good publicity, but in terms of establishing a brand you could argue that Paul fathered this idea in his letter to the Philippians, in chapter 1:18…
“15Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. 16The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. 17The former proclaim Christ out of rivalry, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. 18What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.”
More Greek and Hebrew Resources
Fonts
Vocab
Some visual flash cards…
From Visual Greek.
A handy guide to prepositions
Grammar
- A verb “parsing drill” that’s a little confusing at first.
- An equally confusing cartoon for noun parsing:
- And an equally confusing one for verbs…
- Download Visual Greek here. It’s created using Mounce (which QTC doesn’t use) but it’s the same language. It’s 17mb.
- NTGreek.net is essentially a textbook with exercises that you can do online.
“Fun” stuff
More Resources
- If none of these scratch your itch check out the Institute of Biblical Greek’s list.
- WordBase Greek is a little flash card program for Windows users. It features a hangman game. Huzzah.
- FlashWorks is a flash card program with Greek and Hebrew modules. It uses Mounce’s word lists. Here are the OSX install files – for Greek or Hebrew, and here are the Windows files for Greek (XP SP2 or 3 or Vista) or Hebrew (Windows XP SP 2or later; 6 megs)
Here are a couple more flashcard programs recommended by the FlashWorks people:
YouTube Tuesday: Left Behind in a cafe
Christian television is pretty lame. Especially Christian prank shows. Especially Christian prank shows that prank people on the basis of their beliefs about the rapture. And yet. This actually made me laugh.
How to dress good and preach at people
I’m all for looking good while in the pulpit. Dressing badly can be an unhelpful distraction. But I’m colour blind and have no fashion sense. I walk into some shops and can’t tell where the women’s clothes end and the men’s clothes begin. Walking around Brisbane’s inner city I can see that this actually isn’t such a big problem anymore, and I could, if necessary, pull off (though probably not remove) a pair of women’s jeans if I was that way inclined…
Anyway, help is at hand. Beauty Tips for Ministers seems mostly aimed at women (as in women ministers) from a “unitarian” (read liberal stand for nothing denomination in the states) background – but fear not, there’s advice for men too… and for Bible college students, and for what to wear to assembly, and for what to wear to a job interview, the list is seemingly endless… there’s even advice on how to pull off moving to a new climate:
“Moving to a new climate almost always creates problems with the hair and complexion. You may find it useful to stick with the most gentle products for awhile (Cetaphil cleanser, fragrance-free moisturizers and eye cream) to let your skin calm down. Stay hydrated. Do not panic and start slapping all kinds of chemical treatments on your face, which will only exacerbate problems: stick to a simple routine of cleansing, moisturizing and gently exfoliating. Use a good eye cream and sunscreen year-round. See the BTFM archives for TONS of product reviews of skin care products.”
I’ll no doubt be much more compelling next time I preach because I’ll have done away with the frumpy me, and be looking good…
The author of Tarzan on writing fiction
Are you reading Letters of Note yet? If not you’ll have missed this interchange between a youngster (a boy named Forrest Ackerman who later went on to coin the term “sci fi”) and Edgar Rice Burroughs, author of Tarzan.
Ackerman, at 14, wrote Burroughs after his English teacher spend a lesson decrying the author’s popular schlock fiction. He describes the tirade as follows:
Well with that she burst into a perfect tirade! “If I were to buy the highest priced box of chocolates obtainable,” she said, “and were to offer it to you along with a box of old cheap stuff, which would you take? Why the good candy of course! Yet you’ll go to extremes to pick up this horrid literature out of the garbage cans such as Burroughs writes.” — and she went on for hours and hours and hours. I got in a good word for you every chance I could.
And then signs off with class belying his age:
“I don’t expect you’ll bother to answer this–maybe you haven’t even read it–but anyway will you please autograph the enclosed card and return it to me. Thank you, so much!
And now I’d better sign off. I certainly envy the fellow–if there is such a fellow–that is friendly enough with you to call you Eddie!”
Burroughs did reply. With a lesson on good fiction and bad criticism.
“Tell your teacher that, though she may be right about my stories, there are some fifty million people in the world who will not agree with her, which is fortunate for me, since even writers of garbage-can literature must eat.
My stories will do you no harm. If they have helped to inculcate in you a love of books, they have done you much good. No fiction is worth reading except for entertainment. If it entertains and is clean, it is good literature, or its kind. If it forms the habit of reading, in people who might not read otherwise, it is the best literature.
Last year I followed the English course prescribed for my two sons, who are in college. The required reading seemed to have been selected for the sole purpose of turning the hearts of young people against books. That, however, seems to be a universal pedagogical complex: to make the acquiring of knowledge a punishment, rather than a pleasure.”
Brilliant.
Pixar by pixel
Here’s a cool infographic. 100 Pixar characters side by side and to scale.
It’s at Flickr and is available in mega size (it’s worth a look). The main characters from each franchise are in yellow.
How to mix stuff through your ice cream
Here you go readers. A free tip. I bought some cookie dough and some ice cream at the grocery store. Intending to combine them for some homemade cookie dough action. But how to do it? How does one take two fairly solid substances and mix them thoroughly to create the desired effect? You use a potato masher, that’s how.
It worked brilliantly. I didn’t have to melt the ice cream. Which is always a no-no – it doesn’t freeze well afterwards.