A commenter recently brought my attention to the site Vigilant Citizen, which provides us with essays explaining how today’s pop culture is loaded with occult symbolism.
I really dislike this sort of thing. Conspiracism in general, and occult conspiracism in particular, is a house of mirrors where it becomes hard to tell reflection from reality. [...]
by VorJack
In a previous post I discussed the way I think that some people, mainly Liberal Christians, misuse the historical Jesus. Wishing to divorce the historical Jesus from the church, they accurately declare that Jesus had nothing to do with setting up the religion that bears his name. However, in attempting to explain [...]
by Vorjack
We live in a secular society. At no time is that more clear than when looking back at the middle ages. Religion did not just permeate politics and culture, it even had a major role to play in economics.
Pay for Pray
Pullquote: ”Human beings could construct their own humble imitations of the mercy [...]
by VorJack
Can you handle an obscure bit of American history? Oh, good.
As you probably know, the Hudson Valley was originally settled by the Dutch. The first colonies were controlled by the Dutch West India Company, which ran the area more like a company town than an actual colony. They brought with them [...]
by VorJack
“Jesus wasn’t Christian!”
That’s becoming a common refrain, particularly among the Liberal Christians. The point is that the historical Jesus is only tenuously connected to the church that bears his name. After his death, the members of his movement began to practice a religion about Jesus, rather than the religion of Jesus. [...]
by VorJack
We’ve had a couple of posts about the Church of Latter Day Saints, and conversation has naturally turned to the founder, Joseph Smith. He’s a fascinating character, by turns a con man and a sincere prophet. But to understand Joesph Smith requires understanding the world he was born into. That means [...]
by VorJack
Here’s a little ditty I learned back in the days of Vacation Bible School:
The Lord is good to me,
And so I thank the Lord,
For giving me
the things I need,
The sun and rain and an apple seed.
The Lord is good to me.
I suspect that many of you are baffled, particularly those of you from outside [...]
Sometimes you hear people claim that NASA spent millions of taxpayers money to develop a pen that would write in space, whereas the Soviet Cosmonauts used a pencil. It sounds plausible, but it’s an urban legend:
Originally, NASA astronauts, like the Soviet cosmonauts, used pencils, according to NASA historians. In fact, NASA ordered 34 mechanical pencils [...]
Jabster: “I see a lot of things science has produced for our benefit. Religion hasn’t given us anything to compare.”... Fooling Ourselves
Brian: the first time I see a monk levitate up to the moon I’ll start giving religion a little more respect. Theologians... Fooling Ourselves
