thoughtful ideas on life's big questions
Hugh Mackay is probably Australia’s leading social researcher and commentator. His book Beyond Belief (2016) explores spirituality and religious belief in Australia. It is, I think, as much a vehicle for Mackay to share his own spirituality as it is solid social research, and it contains some interesting insights. In a chapter titled Reasonable Faith […]
Most people like to think they are logical, and have good reasons for their choices – including their choice of believing in God, or not. But modern atheists often accuse christians (and believers in other religions) of not basing their beliefs on evidence and reason. And it’s a plausible argument, for psychological studies have suggested […]
Recently I came across a magazine article about the discovery of the remains of a 3,500 year old burial in Greece, dating to the time of the Mycenaean civilisation (about 1650-1200 BCE). I knew little about the Mycenaeans, so I read on, looked at a few other online sources, and made some interesting discoveries. Interesting […]
The Pool of Bethesda – model in the Israel Museum Picture taken by deror avi on 18th August 2006 (Wikipedia) Fifty years ago, when I was a young christian, there was a clear division in New Testament studies between scholars who defended historic christianity and more secular scholars who took an extremely critical view of […]
I have been waiting for this book for a long time, and while it isn’t perfect, it doesn’t disappoint. The so-called “fine-tuning”note 1 of the universe has been the subject of much scientific investigation and philosophical thought since it became apparent less than 50 years ago. Aussie cosmologist Luke Barnes has written and talked about […]
The New Testament gives us a lot of information about Jesus, but there aren’t many other historical references to Jesus in the first century to support the New Testament information. Some sceptics claim this indicates Jesus was an invention or a legend. So there has always been great interest in two references in the writings […]
Blogging and commenting on other blogs exposes me to many different viewpoints. And it makes me think …. Some questions I’ve heard before, thought about, and know what I think. Other questions require thought, research and more thought. But all the time I’m considering, reviewing, pondering. I’ve also “met” many people, each one on the […]
This page in brief The internet is an amazing source of information – we can find out almost anything we want to know with a quick visit to Google. But trust is involved – we have to trust websites to speak honestly about things they actually know. But what happens when that trust is misplaced? […]
Internet discussions between believers and non-believers often get into the matter of evidence. Is there any evidence for God? Trouble is, we cannot always agree on what type and amount of evidence for God is enough to believe. And of course we all have our own viewpoints to defend. But perhaps looking at evidence a […]
Last post (I’m beginning to see a pattern here) I looked at a number of scientific and historical facts where a bunch of non-experts challenge the consensus of the real experts. These areas were: evolution vs creationism; whether Jesus was a historical person and Nazareth was where he lived; climate change; the medieval church vs […]