Stormbringer's Thunder

"What Naaman did was childish. It was foolish. It was an insult to his intellectual dignity. But what he did cured his leprosy. He was cured because of his faith, his humility and his obedience. God was the one who healed him, but the way to his healing came through the very low door of humility."   — Ray Comfort Buon giorno. I thought I could take the week off because I had five days' postings all lined up on Sunday, but no, another inspiration hit me. And yes, I said that philosophical debates become a waste of time. I'm going to give you some of my philosophy. You can sit there and look pretty. Nicky, you can just sit there. When it comes to presenting evidence for the existence of God, the validity of the Bible &c., I have observed several "brick walls" constructed to disallow contrary viewpoints. As far as I'm concerned, this comes down to "making your own rules".  This tactic is used when a mind is made up and does not...

And now for the exciting conclusion of yesterday's broadcast! Part 1 is here . Some things that lying is not: Mistakes.  I dislike it when people will say something like, "I spent three hours on that project. Oh, wait, I lied, it was two hours." No, the speaker simply made a mistake. Don't beat yourself up, mmmkay? Carelessness. Sometimes (especially in online forums and such) people will misquote. It happens. Accept correction graciously and move on. Misunderstanding. Sorry that you misunderstood me. I should either rewrite it or you should reread it. Creative embellishments. Nobody has "said it a million times", that's just hyperbole to make a point. Writers (and speakers) expect readers (and listeners) to have some degree of sense.  Jokes can be a form of creative embellishment, or they can be "free-standing". Some people need to get a sense of humor, capice? Disagreement. You think this , I believe that ; neither one is...

“I'm not upset that you lied to me, I'm upset that from now on I can't believe you.” — Friedrich Nietzsche Buon giorno. Yours truly is a bit wired today, and ready to give you a couple of lessons on lying. Yes, two: First, some explanation on what lying really means (and doesn't mean), and second, why it's counterproductive. "Why do people lie, Uncle Bob?" Some are compulsive liars and cannot help themselves. It may be that the truth is unflattering to them, so they have to make themselves look better than they really are. Sometimes it's because they are selfish and greedy, so if lying is a means to an end, that's fine with them. Further, people who are consumed with hate will say anything to hurt the object of their ire. The intent to deceive is an integral part of lying. Lying has several aspects: The obvious, flat-out lie. "Did you come in a half an hour late to work?"..."No..." Also, there was a "sc...

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart." Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. — The Apostle Paul (ESV) Buon giorno. Don't get the wrong idea, I am not saying that all philosophy is a waste of time, and reject it out of hand. It can be interesting to follow someone's line of reasoning and find out where they're coming from. Personally, I find the Socratic Method quite fascinating. Nor am I "anti-intellectual" (which I discussed here ). What puts me off is the "intellectual" argumentation w...

Here is a link to a good article. I particularly like the expression, "Atheistic faith masquerading as science". Another article on the nonsense by Stephen Hawking is here .

Listen, don't get me wrong, I'm all in favor of businesses making a profit. Also, I don't hate the rich (after all how many poor people can give you a job, huh?).What grinds my gears is when any employer, big or little, will take advantage of the employees. I was pondering some of the stories that Neil told me about his cheapskate but very large Fortune 100 company. First, they claim to be interested in "diversity". Their propaganda has phrases like this: Diversity is about having a broad mix of talent in our operations A diverse workforce offers unique perspectives, ideas and solutions [With] diverse workforce, we can better meet the needs of the increasing multicultural clients, communities and individuals Build teams that bring together varied points of view to generate unique ideas and business solutions Age, experience, gender, ethnic backgrounds all contribute to a grand and glorious whole (my summary of some of their other propaganda)   And so o...

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen Buona sera. Ready for some brutal honesty? Good. (I've revised this a bit on March 15, 2015, the original was published on September 20, 2010.) I have had many discussions with atheists, atheists pretending to be agnostics, agnostics, deists acting like atheists, anti-theists, evolutionists and what have you over the years. Also, I have been involved in drive-by postings, both to and from these groups. Many of these exchanges have been online, whether this Weblog, other peoples' Weblogs, forums, other social media and the like. For the rest of this article, I'm going to stick with the term "atheist", since those are the majority of my encounters, and the rest are not exactly "believers". I realize that atheist encounters from civil and intelligent people have been good for me. "Have you gone completely nuts, Uncle Bob?" Nope. I'm still partly looney, but not all the way yet. I've...