Sarah, Wonderful post and beautifully written. What I find interesting about the "decline of Christianity" is that it is phenomenon mostly in Europe. And even there it's possible that it has bottom. In the US, church attendance is up, and Christianity is exploding in Africa, China, the middle East and other parts of the third world. Even Iran and Iraq have growing Christian communities. I am an optimist about the future, for all the reasons you cite. People need spirituality and purpose as much or more than they need reason. You and I and many others are doing our part by showing that the idea of a science/faith conflict is a myth, and I think this is also helping to turn the tide.
I sincerely hope so, Sy. It does encourage me that Christianity is growing in some places. The accounts of the growth of Christianity in the Middle East, mostly through the spread of dreams and visions of Jesus Christ, fascinate me.
I cannot believe I am reading a comment by Sy here. Your book was really impacting to me, and helped explain a lot of the sciency stuff that was always hard for me. God bless you!
I love this Sarah, thank you. I'll need to reread it and check out some of your other links too. I get frustrated when I feel like I'm in a minority at my church when it comes to believing in miracles. Yes, at my church! So I will reread this. Thanks again.
"Genesis 1’s alignment with science: Its dozens of testable creation steps, from the universe’s origin to life’s progression, match modern cosmology and biology in precise order—odds of this being chance are incomprehensibly low."
According to AI (Search Assist): The Book of Genesis is traditionally attributed to Moses and is believed to have been composed around 1450–1410 BCE. However, scholarly consensus suggests it was written several centuries later, possibly in the fifth century BCE, after the Babylonian captivity.
Scientifically precise, 1450–1410 BCE, without telescopes, particle colliders, satellites, spacecraft, or Dawkinses. Truly amazing.
I used to teach middle school earth science, including evolution. I've always been intrigued at how much the creation story in Genesis got right. I don't for a moment suggest that anything about the Bible is based on science, or that it should be. But some capable minds were at work, imagining how the universe and the world came into being, and they got the basics mostly right.
p.s. We STILL don't know what caused the 'Big Bang'.
That Portland Oregon picture is only the half of it. That street of Winnebagos and portable homes goes on for *miles*- and that was two *years* ago. How they can possibly police that level of rubbertramping is beyond me. The sad truth is, there is no place to put regular people anymore. Not at these prices. And the American Empire continues to fall.
It's just terrible, but I included that picture for two reasons. First, I lived in Portland for a while as a teenager in the 80s. It was a beautiful thriving city at that time. Second, Boghossian was a professor at Portland State University (where my dad went to grad school). I'm sure he's well acquainted with how much Portland has changed and why.
I've personally found agnosticism to be a more defensible position than atheism. You can no more tell me you "know" that God doesn't exist, than I can tell you that I know he does.
Thank you for sharing this post. Can you explain whether you believe Creation in Genesis is a literal 7 days, or literal 7 time periods that could be much longer in duration? Thanks.
Miracles happen every day. The resurrection itself is a miracle. There is no pretense here! I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. I also believe that science and Christianity go hand in hand.
Ayan is thinking the same, that if Islam hits a de-Christianised west it will decent the west into chaos. Consider Atheism to be a worldview like non-stamp collecting is a hobby. Based on materialism it lacks internal coherence. The west has turned materialistic not only in having the money made their God and named him Fuck as they now mostly do things for Fuck's sake. After all, that is the depravation the western world has sunk into by declaring sexual behaviours sacred identities with which you are born and that you can not defy by will. After all, the material configuration of your brain states is what controls your desires. Nowadays you don't need to be martyred to get your virgins, just hook up to AI.
The absence of a worldview creates a self centred society that can easily be pushed over by giving young men radicalised values or by seeding internal conflicts to weaken said society as is currently demonstrated to us in plain sight.
When it comes to miracles like Jesus first one in Canaan, we should ask ourselves why we would expect him to defile the water of ritual purification, that which made what it touched ritually clean. Anyone thinking an expensive wine to be more valuable has a problem in the value scale. If one believes the miracle took place in the OH molecules in the water to turn it into alcohol and not in the minds of the people to realised the value of that cleansing water one follows a false prophet, one that supports our materialistic value scale, defiles that sacred water, makes the master of ceremony give a hollow praise about the groom serving good wine all the way because he had even better wine to come and create a fake reality to satisfy the greed of the wedding guests and hide the fact that the groom wasn't wealthy enough and prevent that embarrassment - instead of embarrassing the greedy wedding guests. He was already upset when he was told that there wasn't enough wine as can be eluded from his harsh reply to his mother.
Should we see a miracle as a sign of God's power to do acts of magic to please us or to make us think about his values and his glory. making fine wine is an industrial process, something we can do ourselves, even when not instantaneous. The purity of the water of ritual cleansing is not achieved by distillation of fermentation.
Sarah, Wonderful post and beautifully written. What I find interesting about the "decline of Christianity" is that it is phenomenon mostly in Europe. And even there it's possible that it has bottom. In the US, church attendance is up, and Christianity is exploding in Africa, China, the middle East and other parts of the third world. Even Iran and Iraq have growing Christian communities. I am an optimist about the future, for all the reasons you cite. People need spirituality and purpose as much or more than they need reason. You and I and many others are doing our part by showing that the idea of a science/faith conflict is a myth, and I think this is also helping to turn the tide.
I sincerely hope so, Sy. It does encourage me that Christianity is growing in some places. The accounts of the growth of Christianity in the Middle East, mostly through the spread of dreams and visions of Jesus Christ, fascinate me.
I cannot believe I am reading a comment by Sy here. Your book was really impacting to me, and helped explain a lot of the sciency stuff that was always hard for me. God bless you!
Thanks for your kind words. God bless.
I love this Sarah, thank you. I'll need to reread it and check out some of your other links too. I get frustrated when I feel like I'm in a minority at my church when it comes to believing in miracles. Yes, at my church! So I will reread this. Thanks again.
Miracles are such an important part of Christianity!
"Genesis 1’s alignment with science: Its dozens of testable creation steps, from the universe’s origin to life’s progression, match modern cosmology and biology in precise order—odds of this being chance are incomprehensibly low."
According to AI (Search Assist): The Book of Genesis is traditionally attributed to Moses and is believed to have been composed around 1450–1410 BCE. However, scholarly consensus suggests it was written several centuries later, possibly in the fifth century BCE, after the Babylonian captivity.
Scientifically precise, 1450–1410 BCE, without telescopes, particle colliders, satellites, spacecraft, or Dawkinses. Truly amazing.
I used to teach middle school earth science, including evolution. I've always been intrigued at how much the creation story in Genesis got right. I don't for a moment suggest that anything about the Bible is based on science, or that it should be. But some capable minds were at work, imagining how the universe and the world came into being, and they got the basics mostly right.
p.s. We STILL don't know what caused the 'Big Bang'.
The "capable mind" at work was God who inspired the writing of the book. :)
Agreed!
Atheists: Spend the better part of a century and a half chipping away at the Christian foundation of the West.
Also Atheists: “we’re bummed that the house is tilting.”
That Portland Oregon picture is only the half of it. That street of Winnebagos and portable homes goes on for *miles*- and that was two *years* ago. How they can possibly police that level of rubbertramping is beyond me. The sad truth is, there is no place to put regular people anymore. Not at these prices. And the American Empire continues to fall.
Thanks for this. Keep on. +1
It's just terrible, but I included that picture for two reasons. First, I lived in Portland for a while as a teenager in the 80s. It was a beautiful thriving city at that time. Second, Boghossian was a professor at Portland State University (where my dad went to grad school). I'm sure he's well acquainted with how much Portland has changed and why.
Thanks Sarah. I appreciate your work and have passed it along to a dear member of the parish I serve for his enjoyment.
I've personally found agnosticism to be a more defensible position than atheism. You can no more tell me you "know" that God doesn't exist, than I can tell you that I know he does.
Thank you for sharing this post. Can you explain whether you believe Creation in Genesis is a literal 7 days, or literal 7 time periods that could be much longer in duration? Thanks.
Miracles happen every day. The resurrection itself is a miracle. There is no pretense here! I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. I also believe that science and Christianity go hand in hand.
Ayan is thinking the same, that if Islam hits a de-Christianised west it will decent the west into chaos. Consider Atheism to be a worldview like non-stamp collecting is a hobby. Based on materialism it lacks internal coherence. The west has turned materialistic not only in having the money made their God and named him Fuck as they now mostly do things for Fuck's sake. After all, that is the depravation the western world has sunk into by declaring sexual behaviours sacred identities with which you are born and that you can not defy by will. After all, the material configuration of your brain states is what controls your desires. Nowadays you don't need to be martyred to get your virgins, just hook up to AI.
The absence of a worldview creates a self centred society that can easily be pushed over by giving young men radicalised values or by seeding internal conflicts to weaken said society as is currently demonstrated to us in plain sight.
When it comes to miracles like Jesus first one in Canaan, we should ask ourselves why we would expect him to defile the water of ritual purification, that which made what it touched ritually clean. Anyone thinking an expensive wine to be more valuable has a problem in the value scale. If one believes the miracle took place in the OH molecules in the water to turn it into alcohol and not in the minds of the people to realised the value of that cleansing water one follows a false prophet, one that supports our materialistic value scale, defiles that sacred water, makes the master of ceremony give a hollow praise about the groom serving good wine all the way because he had even better wine to come and create a fake reality to satisfy the greed of the wedding guests and hide the fact that the groom wasn't wealthy enough and prevent that embarrassment - instead of embarrassing the greedy wedding guests. He was already upset when he was told that there wasn't enough wine as can be eluded from his harsh reply to his mother.
Should we see a miracle as a sign of God's power to do acts of magic to please us or to make us think about his values and his glory. making fine wine is an industrial process, something we can do ourselves, even when not instantaneous. The purity of the water of ritual cleansing is not achieved by distillation of fermentation.