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https://www.patheos.com/blogs/tippling/2019/04/21/before-the-big-bang-a-multiverse-from-nothing/
Skydivephil and his team have just released a new cosmology film in their Before the Big Bang Series. In previous episodes of the series they have interviewed such names as Stephen Hawking, Sir Roger Penrose, Alan Guth and many others. In this episode, we interview Alex Vilenkin. Vilenkin was the first to propose the universe […]
from https://www.patheos.com/blogs/tippling/2019/04/21/before-the-big-bang-a-multiverse-from-nothing/
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“I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.””
from https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?version=NIV&search=John%2010:28-30 Easter Round-Up: Everything You Need To Know About The Resurrection (Skeptically Speaking)4/20/2019
Well that came around quickly. It’s like I’ve been a little bit distracted or something! Anyway here is your annual Easter skeptical roundup of previous writings I have done on the Resurrection and other things pertaining to the Easter story. Indeed, I was thinking of turning my writings on this topic into a short book to […]
from https://www.patheos.com/blogs/tippling/2019/04/20/easter-round-up-everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-resurrection-skeptically-speaking/ The Evangelical Council of Venezuela is seeking a new way of societal accord, peace, and reconciliation. Venezuela, with the oil wealth of Saudi Aribia, today looks more like Syria, noted a journalist. With the country in free fall, it is hard to imagine how it can last much longer. In daily updates, we listen to multiplying horror stories of no food, empty medicine shelves, stunning numbers of kidnappings, and the hemorrhaging of ten percent of its population in a matter of months. This incredibly beautiful and rich-in-resource Latin American country is the paradigm of ideological delusion, bureaucratic dissonance, governmental piracy, police intimidation, and outright robbing of the public pursue. Keep in mind what we are talking about. With 30 million in population, about the size of Canada, it is harbored on the northeast coast of South America. Colonized by the Spanish in the 1500s, it became independent in 1881. Long the bastion of caudillos or military “strongmen,” in the 1950s and following, a series of elected governments ruled, ending in 1993 with Hugo Chávez becoming president. He died in 2013. During his rule, Venezuela, with more natural oil reserves than Saudi Arabia, came unglued. Mirroring Cuba, its economic management drove it to financial ruin, with shortages in almost everything and millions fleeing the country for survival. Its current president, Maduro, a former bus driver, has turned his failing country into a kind of police state, merging dire economic realities with religious intimidation, social fiascos and an unending litany of debilitating stories of starvation, needless deaths from lack of medicine, and a citizenry fatigued by dishonesty and failed governance. Responding to resistance with authoritarianism and repression, day to day its precarious status teeters on the edge of utter ... from http://feeds.christianitytoday.com/~r/christianitytoday/ctmag/~3/yQtbB9BCQy8/venezuela-today-world-evangelical-alliance.html
““Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
from https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?version=NIV&search=1%20Corinthians%2015:55-57
American Legislative Exchange Council – Alec – is an organisation that has a worrying amount of power and influence (See John Oliver’s episode on them). One of the insidious things they are up to is campaigning for a constitutional convention. There is a clause in Article V of the Constitution that can be used to call a […]
from https://www.patheos.com/blogs/tippling/2019/04/19/article-v-consitutional-convention-a-massive-risk/ Sometimes culture makes it difficult, but there are aspects of culture that are quite conducive to evangelism. In part one, I talked about some of the headwinds hindering evangelism— things slowing or making sharing the faith more difficult. Now, we’re going to focus on the good news; specifically, we’re going to examine the tailwinds accelerating people’s openness towards sharing (and in some cases receiving) the gospel. Ironically, I think one of the great tailwinds, if engaged properly, is tolerance. The beauty of tolerance is that, extended properly, it’s meant for everybody—and that includes Christians. The truth now is that biblical convictions about the uniqueness of Christ, sexuality, human sinfulness, and other things are now minority views. The decline of nominal Christianity has opened up the door for the ‘nones’—those who aren’t committed to one faith or another—to grow. Increasingly, nominals are becoming nones. This trend has brought about a shift in cultural consensus on many matters related to faith, and if current trends continue—which is what trends tend to do—evangelical ideals and morals will only be given less and less representation. But, tolerance (functioning properly) can help people to hear different views. Of course, that’s not how tolerance is applied right now— it is often used to shut down speech one might find offensive. However, we can (and must) explain that in a truly tolerant world, people can believe things that don’t align perfectly with commonly held, widely accepted values and still have the right to practice their faith freely. Christians Share Their Faith For Christians, part of the exercising of our faith includes sharing it with other people. Actually, according to the Bebbington Quadrilateral, it is ... from http://feeds.christianitytoday.com/~r/christianitytoday/ctmag/~3/1bJ2iFVyovo/tailwinds-in-evangelism-tolerance-diversity.html
Here is what Gary Whittenberger offered as his coherent version of heaven and hell in response to my article on the notion that heaven and hell are binary and yet all of human moral activities sit along various different continua. Thanks for this interesting article. You said “The only sensible way around this is some […]
from https://www.patheos.com/blogs/tippling/2019/04/19/whittenbergers-heaven-hell-what-would-yours-be/
“But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.”
from https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?version=NIV&search=1%20Corinthians%2015:20-22 Historic confessions escape an Islamist, while Muslim converts pray for reform. One of the early iconic martyrs of Sudan’s recent protests was inspired by Christian oppression. Shot dead by police while aiding protestors against the regime of 30-year dictator Omar al-Bashir, Babiker Salama—a 27-year-old doctor from an exclusive Khartoum suburb—was motivated in part by what he witnessed in the mountain region populated by one of Sudan’s few Christian communities. “We were not like the people in need,” his sister toldThe New York Times in January. “We had nothing to do with politics.” Salama was sent by the military for a three-month stay. After performing emergency C-sections by the light of his cell phone, he volunteered to stay three months longer until a replacement could come. The same military has now replaced Bashir, whose crimes include indiscriminate bombing in the Nuba Mountains. And among the thousands who protested outside military headquarters demanding his overthrow were Sudanese Christians, from the mountainous community. Open Doors ranks Sudan No. 6 on its list of nations where it is hardest to be a Christian, and in the top 10 since 2015. Sudanese Coptic Orthodox Christians were also witnessed in revolt. “It has a human and emotional impact and it draws a patriotic image Sudanese people long missed,” political analyst Faisal Salih toldTheGuardian. “Most importantly it shows a transformation in the position of the Coptics … who avoided getting involved in politics, except for a few of them.” The Sudanese Copts set up shelters for Muslim prayer, recalling images of cooperation from the 2011 Arab Spring in Egypt. It is difficult from media analysis to judge whether or not Sudanese Christians—4.6 percent of the population, ... from http://feeds.christianitytoday.com/~r/christianitytoday/ctmag/~3/yQgAoTAergU/sudan-algeria-protests-christians-arab-spring.html |