“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 'sin'
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
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
Evolution as Salvation for Theology? Not So.
August 5th, 2010 · No Comments · Evolution, Evolutionary Adaptation, Evolutionary Byproduct, History, Philosophy
In May of this year, John Avise — an evolutionary biologist at UC-Irvine — published an article (“Footprints of Nonsentient Design Inside the Human Genome“) in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, one of the world’s leading scientific journals. The article, which attacked Intelligent Design “theory” on the ground that an omnipotent and [...]
Tags:accomodationists·Adam and Eve·Augustine of Hippo·Catholic theologians·Diarmaid MacCulloch·fall from grace·Footprints of Nonsentient Design Inside the Human Genome·human genome·intelligent design·John Avise·justification for God·Leibniz·non-overlapping magisteria·non-sentient selection·problem of evil·problem of suffering·Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences·Protestants·rebellion·sin·Stephen Jay Gould·The Reformation·theodicy·theology·unintelligent design
Training Humans: Better Living Through Religious Indoctrination
June 1st, 2010 · No Comments · Cognition, Cultural Evolution, Ecology, Emotions, Morality, New Religions, Ritual
Today’s title riffs on the seventh installment of William Saletan’s Slate series on the memory researcher, Dr. Elizabeth Loftus. In several places in the article, one could simply replace words or phrases and the result would be an accurate description of the ways in which religious cultural inputs create imaginary worlds for believers of most [...]
Tags:cultural inputs·cultural patterning·Elizabeth Loftus·imagination·implantation·indoctrination·memories·memory·sin·suggestion·taboo·Ur-God·William Saletan