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ABC to air debate on God online
ABC.com will be airing, what will hopefully be and education and entertaining, dialogue/debate between two pairs concerning the existence of God. I did not catch the names of the against-existence folks but on the other side will be Way of the Master stars Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort.
The theology that both Cameron and Comfort present are not what I really uphold as my own, however, I have to admit that I admire and like Cameron – mainly because of his previous work on the great 80s sitcom classic Growing Pains. He’s passionate and I give him thumbs-up for that. I’ll be checking this debate out, although the notion of having to prove God’s existence seems to fly in the face of faith which is so highly upheld in Christianity particularly.
[On a side note, I think they should have included others from other faith traditions to this debate such as Muslims and Jews to give a more balanced approach].
Salvation: Just click and confess – 04/29/2007 – MiamiHerald.com
Confessional persons will be thrilled to know that this long-standing element of the Christian faith (and others as well) has now reached the 21st century. You just go online to a confession website, click, and confess. Pretty simple. But does it work?
Yeah, it probably does. If someone is wanting to confess something to ease their conscience, then confessing it on a website would seem to be an optimum way to get the word out there, so to speak. One’s anonymity is kept intact (I hope), yet they are able to vent their guilt. A pretty neat idea, if I do say so myself.
BREITBART.COM – Edwards: Jesus Would Be Appalled
John Edwards, hopeful Democratic presidential candidate, has staked a claim to what he believes Jesus thinks about America. America, according to Edwards, has allowed the suffering to continue to suffer and has stripped prayer away from children in school [an odd statement by a Democratic candidate].
Although, I’m not on the same page with Edwards politically and, honestly, I’m not a big fan of his, I do agree with him – at least halfway. America has allowed suffering to continue all for the sake and preservation of capitalistic greed. This is a horrible thing indeed. I’m not so sure that America as a whole is to carry out Christian love as much as the Christians within America are. It is us, the body of Christ, that are to help end the suffering of the suffering, i.e., bring about the Kingdom of God.
As for the prayer remark, I believe that to be a ploy to gain support. He initially gave this interview to Beliefnet.com, which is viewed by conservative and liberal Christians alike. I think he’s just trying to play the odds here. A typical political move made by all politicians regardless of affiliation.
I agree with Edwards, though the complete reference to what he’s referring to is disagreeable to me I suppose. Jesus probably is appalled with America, but we as Christians can hopefully change that.
Dr. Deidre Good is currently speaking rationally about the Jesus Tomb debate raging in Christianity right now. She is speaking at St. John’s Episcopal in N.Y. today and part of her discussion will be on this very topic. She makes some very good points about the implausibility (good choice of words) of this whole issue. Also, worthy of note, is her attention to the fact that even if it were proven to be true, it is not the end-all of the Christian faith. I think that’s a message that should be heard more.
[HT to: EpiScope]
James Cameron apparently thinks so. The famous Titanic director is doing a documentary that claims the tomb of Jesus was found, along with his mother, wife, son, and others. All of this comes from ossuaries found in a tomb in Jerusalem with the names of Jesus and others inscribed on them. The find is huge, for sure. But is it real or reliable?
No, it’s not. I appreciate the work and the detective ingenuity that Cameron and others put into this find, however, any and all evidence is purely circumstantial. All of the names – Jesus, Mary, Joseph, Judah, and Matthew – are extremely common in Ancient Palestine. It would not be hard to imagine several Mary’s marrying several Joseph’s and having children named Jesus. They were as common then as the names John and Will are today. This is not to discount the find that Cameron and others have found, but it is to show that the evidence they’ve gathered is merely circumstantial.
On a deeper note, as a Christian, this is one of those test-things that James speaks about. However, the beauty of faith surpasses all of this. Faith needs no hard evidence and disregards evidences like this that tend to test the faith. The lesson here is strong: faith is of supreme importance, and I hope that others learn that lesson through all of this.
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