God's Debris

Most of you would know of/have heard of Scott Adams as the Dilbert cartoonist. Scott's Dilbert Principle has profoundly affected management culture in the last decade, so much so that Adams was voted the 12th most influential management thinkers in the world. Not only is Adams an great cartoonist, but he is also a proliferic writer. His blog generates unbvelieble amounts of traffic and has some wonderful content.

I've downloaded his free ebook, God's Debris. Although not a claimed theologian, Adams has written a deeply profound "experiemtal philosophy" book that deals with the existence of God through a "thought experiment". Yes, yes I can hear you gagging at the thought of reading another damn book that claims God exists. This one is really different! Adam's starts off by assuring you that you've never come across thinking like this in relation to God ... and he's right. God's Debris is a monumental mind-fuck ... oops, did that slip out?

Read it and you'll probably feel the same.

Technorati : scott+adams dilbert god's+debris

Shirley Phelps

So, the podcast interview with Westboro Baptist's Shirley Phelps-Roper, the daughter of founder Fred Phelps, happened yesterday. I was disappointed that we didn't get to hear from Fred himself, but his daughter made up for it by dealing with Craig Gross and Mike Foster in the most condascending, brash, arrogant, incisive and defensive response to an interview I've yet heard.

Not surprising was the fact that their stance on gay folk, America, Sweden, Canada, priests, everyo other church except theirs, dead soldiers, 9-11, Katrina and suicide bombers is justified by Scripture. Man, this chick knows her Bible - all out of context IMHO. Kudos to Criag and Mike for keeping her on the line as long as they did ...

Things went pear-shaped when Shirley justified calling Mike and Craig a cocktail of dumbass', jackass' and fools as wholesome references made in the Bible. Oh yes, in her opinion, God definitely hates ... and cannot does not love everyone. God's wrath is real and is not redeemable by God's grace i.e. our entire generation is doomed to hell. Of note is the fact that WBC has membership of 90-odd - lets do the math: Fred Phelps has 13 kids, 55 grandchildren and 1 great gran-child. Add in a few husbands and wives and you've arrived at the golden 90 ... the total number of people eligble for heaven and the reason Jesus died on the Cross!

It really got hilarious when in wishing her a merry Christmas, Shirley denounced Chirstmas as a pagan, soul-damning ritual. Hence Westboro The Phelps Family don't celebrate such family time, but instead consider great family QT to be picketing at dead soldier's funerals.

Westboro Part 2 & 3

I'm really beginning to wonder if these guys are for real. I found out today about other sites that Westboro Baptist are involved with: www.priestsrapeboys.com & www.smellthebrimstone.com - the best are listed on the links page (you have to check these out!)

Be sure not to miss the Dirty Little Secrets podcast this week when they interview Fred Phelps of Westboro on the topic. If you miss it, email me and I'll get it to you.

Technorati : westboro+baptist

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

It is not often that I sit in a cinema and see a movie trailer that convinces me immediately that the movie is a "must see". It did however happen when I saw the trailer to CS Lewis' The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Already being a fan of Lewis' apologetic writings, I have only heard good things about his childrens fiction, especially his Chronicles of Narnia.

And so I read The Magician's Nephew, the first of the Chronicles. Next in line is TLTWATW. Suffice to say I am chomping at the bit to get to a theater on the 23rd December when the movie opens here. But Lewis and the upcoming move have not gone without their fair share of criticism.

Lewis wrote predominantly in the 1940s and 50s. These were times where the social conscience was turned towards issues of war, pain, death, family, society and moral obligation. Some of his works that characterise this time are the Screwtape Letters and The Great Divorce. Even in Mere Christianity- a profoundly apologetic work - you can pick up how his context informed his writings i.e. his concept of marriage is very traditional. The role of women is also distinctly 50's-ish. Hence Lewis has been criticised for being racist, misogynistic and prejudicial.

For me, this raises the issue of timelessness and applicability of post-biblical Christian writings. The assumption, by and large, of biblical writings is that their application to our context is timeless i.e. what was written then, into a specific historical context, is particluar to our context today - bar some allocation for changes in history. But how can we assume this when it is so clear that post-biblical writings need to be read while keeping in mind that the context may not apply to us. What makes the biblical texts different. I can't accpet the argument that it is because they were Spirit inspired - is the same not true of post-biblical writings? And if a context does not apply to us, how do we glean wisdom and insight from the content?

At a deeper level I suppose this is about what makes up canonical writing and what doesn't.

Can you spell HOMOPHOBIA?

I've wondered for long now whether God has the capacity to hate. But thanks to www.godhatesfags.com I now see the light. I found this page especially enlightening, while this one really clarified things for me.

Cheers

As we all shut down for the festive season, let me be the first to wish all of you a very Cherry Mistmas and Yew Near!

Last chance to confess your identity

E-mail me if you want to order an Idle Banter t-shirt, as soon as you can.