“I saw in his hand a long spear of gold, and at the iron’s point there seemed to be a little fire. He appeared to me to be thrusting it at times into my heart, and to pierce my very entrails; when he drew it out, he seemed to draw them out [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Jesus'
There’s Spiritual Power Inside a Woman
December 6th, 2011 · 2 Comments · Emotions
Tags:Christian eroticism·Doyle Grimes·God's Love·Jesus·Saint Teresa·sex·sin·temptation·Teresa of Avila
The Sins of an Evolutionary Psychologist
April 22nd, 2011 · 5 Comments · Emotions, Evolutionary Adaptation, Methodology
In a recent essay on the cult of David Foster Wallace, Nathan Heller notes that DFW’s mature work deals with the crisis of contemporary pluralism: “how to think intelligently and truthfully about the world when that world is full of intelligent and truthful people who adhere to irreconcilable schools of thought.” While Heller [...]
Tags:Alan Sokal·Catholic·confirmation bias·David Foster Wallace·evolutionary psychologist·fantasy·group level selection·group size·Jesus·language·Matt Rossano·Nathan Heller·natural law·Panglossian·parsimony·pluralism·Pope Benedict·postmodernism·resurrection·science·storytelling·supernatural selection·technology·truth·wish fulfillment
He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands
March 26th, 2011 · 2 Comments · Axial Age, Economy
By now you surely have heard about Colton Burpo (he is a real kid from Nebraska, not a character from an Upton Sinclair novel). When Colton was 3 years old, he allegedly went to the Christian heaven during an appendectomy. Young Colton “miraculously” lived to tell about it, and now at age 11, he and [...]
Tags:Buddhist·Colton Burpo·God·Gretchen Carlson·Heaven Is For Real·Hindu·Jesus·John the Baptist·Julie Bosman·Lynn Vincent·Muslim·NDE·near death experience·Robert Trivers·Sarah Palin·self deception·Todd Burpo·William von Hippel
Sage or Schizophrenic?
December 23rd, 2010 · 1 Comment · Cognition, New Religions
Over at the Salt Lake Tribune, Peggy Fletcher Stack has written a nice article on the fine and sometimes indistinguishable line between religious inspiration and madness. Because Stack’s audience in Utah is predominantly Mormon, she perforce tap-dances around some delicate issues (i.e., Joseph Smith’s mental health). But this portion of the article particularly caught my [...]
Tags:churches·CS Lewis·cults·DSM-IV·ecstasy·Jesus·Jim Jones·Joseph Smith·mania·manic depression·mental illness·messiahs·Mormons·Peggy Fletcher Stack·prophets·psychopath·Ralph Hood·schism·schizophrenia·sects·shamans·The Line Between Inspiration and Insanity
Fantastic Beliefs
December 21st, 2010 · No Comments · Daily Devolutions, Magic
Anyone interested in the history of religions will inevitably become familiar with all manner of truly fantastic stories and beliefs. Whether we are talking about the soul flights and death duels of shamans, the avatars and exploits of Vishnu, or the appearance of Moroni and golden tablets of Joseph Smith, all religious traditions have their [...]
Tags:Adam·apple·avatars·bizarre theology·Christianity·Christians·Eve·golden tablets·Jesus·Jewish·Joseph Smith·Moroni·Satan·Scientology·shamans·sin·strange doctrine·thetans·Vishnu
Hitchens on Anti-Semitism
September 2nd, 2010 · No Comments · Axial Age, History
Provocative and thoughtful as he usually is, Hitchens opines on anti-semitism for The Atlantic:
There is, probably first and certainly foremost, religious anti-Semitism. Unlike other nations or peoples, Jews were among the witnesses to the alleged lives and preachings of Jesus and Muhammad, and turned away from men they deemed false Messiahs. It is inconceivable that [...]
Tags:anti-semitism·Christians·Christopher Hitchens·false messiahs·false prophets·Jesus·Muhammad·Muslims
Near Death Experiences: Portal to Another Realm?
July 16th, 2010 · 8 Comments · Cognition, Emotions, Evolutionary Byproduct
There are many who believe that near death experiences (“NDE”) provide evidence of the existence of a spirit-soul and that those who have these close encounters with death have glimpsed another realm. Over at Brain Blogger, Jennifer Gibson discusses some recent studies of NDEs in a post titled “Light at the End of the Tunnel [...]
Tags:altered states of consciousness·American Indians·Asian Indians·Brain Blogger·Buddhist·carbon dioxide·Christian·consciousness·cultural imprinting·cultural patterning·Glenn Roberts·hallucinations·heaven·Hindu·Jennifer Gibson·Jesus·John Owen·Krishna·metaphysical realm·metaphysics·Muslim·NDE·near death experience·pan-human neurology·Siddhartha·soul·spirit·supernatural·The Near Death Experience·Vishnu·Wakan Tanka·Yamdoots·Yamraj
The End is Always Near: Jesus to Return by 2050
June 25th, 2010 · No Comments · Axial Age, Daily Devolutions, History
A recent article in the UK’s Telegraph notes that forty one percent — yes, 41% — of Americans believe that Jesus will return by the year 2050. With wry understatement, the Brits observe that American “optimism” is irrepressible.
What most of these eager and apocalyptic Americans do not know is that beginning almost immediately after the [...]
Tags:apocalypse·Christianity·disciples·end times·eschatology·Jesus·medieval Christianity·prophecy·rapture·Reformation·Revelations·Roman Church
The Un-Intelligent Design of Religions
May 12th, 2010 · No Comments · Axial Age, Cognition, Cultural Evolution, Evolutionary Adaptation, History, Hunter-Gatherers
Over at HuffPo Religion, Michael Zimmerman has posted an interesting piece on the wild imperfection of the human genome and the implications of this imperfection for “intelligent design” believers:
The latest attack [on ID] appeared in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS) and provides conclusive evidence that [...]
Jesus Face Appears on Burning Log
February 21st, 2010 · No Comments · Cognition
His face has appeared in many odd places: on cinnamon rolls, cheetos, grilled cheese sandwiches, sidewalk stains, and now — on a burning log:
I have seen several of the other manifestations and was not overly impressed. I will say that if this photo has not been shopped and the story is true, it is one [...]
Tags:cultural priming·Jesus