Thoughts & Commentary

“So how could you ask me to believe in God when there’s absolutely no evidence that I can see? I do believe…that there are scientific explanations for phenomena that we call mystical because we don’t know any better.” -Jodie Foster in an interview regarding her 1997 film Contact Jodie Foster probably doesn’t realize that she has exchanged one source…

Celebrate diversity! has become a popular mantra. True diversity makes the world interesting and challenges us to look at things from another point of view. True diversity allows evaluation of and disagreement about differing viewpoints. However, like its twin brother, “tolerance,” today’s “diversity” uses a group’s racial, ethnic, religious, or sexual identity to shield that…

A petard was a medieval bomb. To be “hoisted by one’s own petard” is to be blown up by one’s own bomb. People utter petards when they use words that destroy their own arguments (self-defeating statements). Here are a few  humorous examples: • “I plan to be more spontaneous.” • “All extremists should be shot.”…

From Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005): Palpatine: “Anakin, search your feelings.” Anakin: “The Jedi use their power for good.” Palpatine: “Good is a point of view, Anakin.” Anakin: “The Sith rely on their passion for their strength. They think inwards only about themselves.” Palpatine: “And the Jedi don’t?” Anakin: “If you’re not…

Moral relativism is a slippery worldview. It is blatantly self-defeating yet alarmingly popular because it sounds so tolerant and inclusive. Relativists want to liberate the world of moral absolutes they believe inhibit personal freedom and expression, yet they advance their own subjective views as absolute standards. It takes practice to recognize the convoluted language relativists…

The typical (and mistaken) definition of heaven in American pop culture is “the place all good people go after they die to have an eternally good time.” But the key element missing from flawed ideas of heaven is love. If love is the highest ethic, shouldn’t it be involved in reaching the highest place? Partying…

Mark Victor Hansen, co-author of the best-selling Chicken Soup for the Soul, says this: In India, guru means “self-realized being.” To be self-actualized means divine self-mastery–you literally learn how to tell your thinking mind how to think and your feeling mind how to feel, so you pre-ordain your destiny. If all life is imaginal, meaning…

Religion and spirituality make two significant errors: they exaggerate the character of man and/or diminish the nature of God. These two errors put spiritual skeptics in a corner. They must either: 1) believe that man can fulfill the perfect standards of God (the only standards worthy of a true God); or 2) believe in a…

Astrophysicist Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson waxes poetic in what he perceives as the “most astounding fact” about the universe. But is his assertion supported by scientific observation based on evidence or is it an interpretation based on assumptions? Watch the video (3:30) here:  http://vimeo.com/38101676 Evaluate Tyson’s claims in light of this article on the Big Bang:…