Wow, double post today! It’s nearing Christmas, the day when most Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus. I thought perhaps this would be a good time to talk about a huge, glaring contradiction in the nativity stories of Matthew and Luke. Apologists have worked very hard to try to reconcile this problem, but it is simply inescapable. It is among
Read moreI have a rather unique perspective on holidays. Many of my family members are or were JW’s, but I was not. My sister and I followed the path of my Protestant mother rather than “the Truth” espoused by my dad’s side of the family. I was quite familiar with why Witnesses don’t celebrate holidays, as I had been given a
Read moreFor this post, I’m going way back, to a time in Hebrew history for which we have only only a mere glimpse. This was a time before the earliest parts of the Bible were even written, yet it is the Bible itself that gives us this stained glass window into its own past. In 1876, Ignaz Goldziher published a book
Read moreThere are a lot of misconceptions out there about living a non-religious life. Many of these are due primarily to what believers are taught about a life lived outside of “God’s will”. It is often depicted as something very scary, where one is beset on all sides by struggles and difficulty. Sometimes it is depicted as sad, hollow and meaningless,
Read moreOur planet is about 4.5 billion years old. Our species has been here about 200,000 years. There were many religions and beliefs in the Ancient Near East, one of which became Judaism and thus, Christianity. But when, historically, did was the god Yahweh first worshiped and by whom? Is it possible to find this answer, especially when the Torah can be shown to have human origins? This article explores what evidence we do have and where it may point to the origins of the god Yahweh.
Read moreA major point of contention between religious believers and secularists is that of morality. The subject is nearly inevitable any time there is a debate, discussion or other confrontation between the two groups and the conversation nearly always proceeds in the same manner. In this article, I intend to illustrate what I see as the most significant problems any theistic argument must overcome to legitimize the idea of divine morality. It is a difficult proposal indeed.
Read moreCould an all powerful creator of the universe prove his sovereignty? According to JW theology that is precisely what God is doing as we speak, by allowing Satan an opportunity to rule this world and prove his claim that he could do better than God. Satan will eventually fail and this will prove that we need God to rule. Sounds reasonable, right? But is it even possible? This article explores this with a little creative thinking and imagination.
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