Undeception

Most people are familiar with Carl Sagan’s famous declaration that “We are made of star stuff,” if only because of that song from a decade ago. It is often referenced to prove that even stereotypically stodgy, lab-coated scientists can have a sense of awe, an appreciation for intangible aesthetics like beauty, and even the occasional turtleneck sweater. The implication of our unity - solidarity sounds a little too punny – with the building blocks of our material universe on the basis of our common heritage from the Big Bang is a strangely resonating notion that science popularist Lawrence Krauss has recently capitalized on.

Krauss’s version of the motif, now a famous infographic, has gained a lot of recent attention for its having caused an Evangelical backlash against Miley Cyrus when she revealed on Twitter that she found it “Beautiful,” despite Krauss’s snarky materialistic send-up of one of the central ideas of Christianity.

There is indeed undeniable poetry in this. And one mark of a good poet is the ability to find beauty even in the sewage.

Conversely, a good satirist is able to expose a common perception of beauty as hardly more than a misidentification of sewage. To me, this comic from SMBC does a good job of approximating philosophical naturalists’ attempts to synthesize from pure matter the persistent human conviction that the universe has transcendent value, which has traditionally been explained by the belief that reality is comprised of more than merely conveniently-yet-coincidentally arranged atoms:

Presumably one would have to go to the beginning of the universe to find the answer to that other, oldest question in the universe.
[Direct link for mobile viewing]

Trying so hard not to spoil the fun of this by over-analyzing it. If I can…just reach…the publish button…

You may have your beefs with apologist Alvin Plantinga – and his evolutionary argument against naturalism certainly needs some work – but there’s no arguing with him here at least. Being without an air conditioner is no way to start the summer!

H/T Glenn Peoples

Remember that infamous Larry King interview when Joel Osteen was cowed into acknowledging the possibility of inclusivism?  In this video, Benny Hinn calls out Osteen as a coward, accusing him of being unbiblical and indicative of the problem with the Church in America.

I don’t even know where to begin. My irony meter is on tilt, so I guess I’ll just pull over and let you guys drive on this one!

I have to admit that I would have thought this was pretty cool when I was young enough to want to color it.

There are a few related pictures at Jason Boyett’s site, which I’d never been to before today. Do check it out, along with his humorous comments.

(There’s one more really funny one you need to see at the original page.)

Today I put in a bid to join the newly revived Biblioblogs rankings list. Listed blogs that are related to biblical studies of one sort or another are ranked based upon their traffic as recorded by Alexa. Since this list is in new hands, it’s currently pending a revision of the standards determining what is and what isn’t a “Biblioblog”.

In the meantime, a blogger who happens to regularly top the list in rankings simultaneously savagely misrepresented me and fair-mindedly (or schizophrenically) recommended that my blog get ranked, despite his penchant for trying to get people thrown off this list. With friends like that…well, I’ll take any friends I can get.

For the record  – as if my readers didn’t know any of this - I am not a creationist, an inerrantist, a Calvinist of any stripe, nor someone who holds any water for the Manhattan Declaration (I haven’t so much as mentioned it on this blog). I can’t afford to allow these below-the-belt charges to color anyone’s perception of me while I’m trying to get recognized as an honest-to-gosh “Biblioblogger”.

I’ll certainly understand if the criteria Jeremy decides upon ultimately exclude me; the Biblioblogs.com criteria are decidedly more stringent than what the Biblioblog ranking criteria have hitherto been, so if he goes with aligning the two more closely, I’m out for sure. And of course, I certainly wouldn’t expect to be anywhere but at the bottom of the list when it comes to Alexa rankings. But for the fun of joining this band of bible-blogging brothers, I’d like to see something come of it.

I have a friend in seminary at Asbury (Kentucky) named Matt Stout who draws comics. This one’s a classic in that it manages to lampoon more than one annoying aspect of popular evangelicalism. Enjoy! You might also like his regular web comic series Big Sandy Gilmore.