Sunday, January 25, 2009

 

'In the beginning ... something'

Dr. Robin Meyers, senior minister of Mayflower Congregational UCC Church, OKC.

Jan. 11, 2009 sermon: "In the Beginning ... Something."

Sure. You've got 30 minutes to spare. It'll be worth it.

--ER

Comments:
This morning as I lay in bed with my sinuses draining the amazon down my throat, I read about naked singularities in my recent issue of Scientific American Magazine and how if you fell into one you would be flung out somewhere else along the energy stream from the singularity. Naked singularities are collapsed super stars that have lost the concretions of the vent horizons around them that would normally trap all matter and energy that fell into them and cause them to function as a black hole from which nothing escapes.

In the stream of a naked singularity space/time does not exist. Now ain't that a theological wonder. Is there any Faith system or religion that does not require space and time?

In the beginning .....something. It is a strange world isn't it when people believe in things much stranger than anything in the Bible and yet such a belief is not based in Faith at all, but in mathematics and science.

Even stranger, when you consider that all of the black holes, naked singularities, stars, planets and other objects in space or energy impacting what can be seen actually only comprise 4% of existent universe or cosmos.

And God, knows and controls and is it all.

Of course there are a number of Republican pundits and U.S. Senators and well, others, who wouldn't believe what's said in Scientific American any way.
 
My last comment was just "to good" to leave here alone so I used it at my place as well.
 
:-) It's called "repurposing."

Did you listen to the sermon? It wasn't his best, but it was one of his best lately -- I liked it, at least.
 
Yep, listened to his sermon.
Not too shabby.
 
I smell strawman. Note the slogan of the atheist bus campaign. I'll try and listen to it in more detail later, but liked his point on the arrogance of faith.

Is this your church?
 
The bus campaign is just stupid.

And, yes.

Tell me what the straw man is. I'm not very good at seeing them where others do.

Remember that it's a sermon, not an argument per se.
 
The bus campaign is just stupid.


I'm not so sure about that. It was a response to a rather nasty christian threat about hell. If it frees people from fear, I'd say that was good.

Some christians also think it is a good thing as the hope it will get people discussing the existence of god (I'm told some even contributed to the campaign for that reason).

The strawman was about some atheists being certain there is no god. This may be true for a small number, but isnt the major position.

I think one thing that may believers dont get about the bus slogan is that the message means there is probably no god, but in the same sense that there are probably no unicorns.
I'm not too keen on the slogan myself though.
 
Oh, sorry. I thought you were referring to the hell threat bus signa, not an atheist response.

As for the staw man; I think it's more of an assumption about atheists than an unthinking, or deliberate, straw man.

Myself, if I think "atheist," I think "convinced that God is not." Maybe y'all have your own fundies to contend with? :-)
 
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