Oh Hell…or Hades…or Gehenna…or Sheol! Will there be an Eternal Crispy Burning Sensation there? (Part 1)

Recently, someone I know posted a question on his Facebook page about Hell. He said he didn’t see anywhere in the Bible where it said that a person was cast into Hell for an eternity of suffering. “From what it looks like, once a person is thrown into Hell, he is dead, with no eternal…

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Ken Ham, the Bad Magician

Researching and writing a book about the young earth creationist movement of Ken Ham of Answers in Genesis is both highly entertaining and incredibly frustrating at the same time. It’s entertaining in the sense that once you have figured out their talking points, you can point them out every single time—it’s like calling a really…

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Mere Christianity 3:6–Christian Marriage

I am going to do one more post on Mere Christianity before I put it to the side for a week or two. The next chapter deals with Christian Marriage. In light of the recent “gay marriage” debate, I think there might be one or two things that can be applied to that, but Lewis…

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Let’s Talk More About Sex: Applying Mere Christianity to Today

After I wrote yesterday’s post, I have to admit it, I was thinking about sex…a lot. So cue the Barry White, I have a few more thoughts. If that is an intriguing (or perhaps disturbing) opening, don’t worry…this post is not at all like what that opening implies. (It’s 8:00 am and I haven’t had…

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Mere Christianity 3:5–Sexual Morality (Let’s Talk About Sex)

I haven’t written any posts for the past few days: this is why. The next chapter in Mere Christianity is “Sexual Morality.” For some reason, I just haven’t wanted to write about this. Maybe it’s because I’m now divorced; maybe it’s because I’m 45 and am too busy raising my 4-year old son to even…

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Mere Christianity: Morality and Psychoanalysis

Here’s a question for you: if someone suffers a psychotic break and, in the midst of that, takes a knife and slits the throat of an innocent person, is that person guilty of murder? Here’s another question: who is the “more moral” of a person? Me (I never got a detention in school, never even…

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Mere Christianity: Social Morality

In 3:3 of Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis addresses the topic of morality at the social level. It may come as a shock to modern Evangelical conservatives in America who think Donald Trump’s or Ted Cruz’s vision of America is the same as that of Jesus, but C.S. Lewis doesn’t see things that way. For that…

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Mere Christianity: The Cardinal Virtues

C.S. Lewis was a well-respected professor of medieval literature. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that when discussing the idea of Christian morality, Lewis hearkens back to the wisdom of the medieval church. There has traditionally been seven virtues articulated by the church. The first four are called the “Cardinal Virtues,” and the next three are called…

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Finale! Saying Goodbye to Christopher Hitchens

Christopher Hitchens is a kick to read. At the beginning of this last post on his book, god is not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, I want to make one thing clear about Hitchens: he strikes me as a guy you could debate viciously, and then afterwards go out and have beer with—and he would…

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