Jeremy Thompson Catholic PhD in Biblical Languages, Programmer, Runner

I’m feeling very musical today.  So, I thought I’d start handing out BiblioBlogger theme songs.  Since I do the rankings I’m kind of like the producer so you don’t get to debate my choices.  I figured I’d start with James McGrath because choosing this theme song was SO easy.  It’s the theme song from his favorite show – LOST.  Enjoy!

James McGrath presents an interesting thought on faith and skepticism (though he cites he got it from elsewhere).

Related:

Chris Heard on Atheism and the Legitimacy of Change in Religion

James McGrath on Atheism

James has just posted about a show on PBS called the “Human Spark.” It sounds very interesting.  Here is one of James’ comments:

The irony is that young-earth creationists adopt an anti-evolutionary stance for the most part because they feel that evolution threatens human uniqueness and dignity. And yet this show was all about human distinctiveness – but not simply affirming it but also trying to understand when and how we developed some of our unique characteristics.

James has links to the show and to some clips as well.

Posts on Genesis:

Free Bible Experience Audio of the Creation Story

Chris Brady on The Character of God in Genesis 1

Genesis 1.1 and the Importance of Comparing Translations

Apparently there has been a recent magazine article on whether or not Jesus was actually wealthy.  I’m with James McGrath on this one.  I doubt that Jesus would have pronounced such harsh woes on the rich if he had been wealthy.  But, you can check out the posts HERE (James McGrath) and HERE (Joel Watts).  I’ll keep you posted as others respond.

Head over James McGrath’s blog if you want to read one of the most aberrant statements ever written in the English language.

“Be that as it may, there is a reasonable likelihood that the vast majority of Christians today are unorthodox in their view of Jesus in some respect – I’ve rarely met a Christian without theological education who even understood classic orthodoxy, much less adhered to it in detail.”

James McGrath in response to this blog post by Brian LePort and the ensuing comments

This meme thing is fun.  I hadn’t been tagged for one, but then it was two in about a 24 hour period.  I think I probably went overboard on the first one, but that tends to happen when I rant (though I think I may have had a point somewhere in there).  Thanks to James McGrath for tagging me on this one.  I’m not sure how you normally find out if you’re tagged in a meme, but James’ blog is one that I read fairly regularly.  And, when I saw I was tagged I thought that was pretty cool.

I looked around and read a couple of these to see what others had done with it.  Seems some people went more focused on actual substantive beliefs and others for humor.  I’ll try to go for a mix of both, though I realize that I often use humor to shield myself from having to share my thoughts/feelings about God, life, etc.  Still I think humor also keeps me from taking myself too seriously.

1. I believe beyond any shadow of a reasonable doubt that Jim West is the Antichrist and that anyone who denies this is in league with him.
2. I believe that God loves everyone.  And, shame on staunch Calvinists who believe otherwise.
3. I believe that God chose to speak in Hebrew because it is the best and most beautiful language ever known to mankind and that he only later chose to speak in Greek to a much smaller degree because Greek is by far an inferior language.  Anyone who says otherwise probably cannot understand Hebrew.
4. I believe that God the Father raised Jesus from the dead.  I can understand why someone would not believe this as it would have been and still would be an extremely rare occurrence, rare enough to be called a miracle in fact.  But, I really believe it.
5. I believe that one of the clearest ways we experience the presence of God is in our relationships with other people.  For me, this is especially my beautiful wife and two beautiful daughters.
6. I believe that Raymond Brown was one of God’s greatest gifts to the Catholic church in modern times.
7. I believe that seven is not a perfect number.  If you are trying to play a game where you divide teams evenly, it is terrible.
8. “I believe the children are our future. Teach them well and let them lead the way.”  Only partially trying to be funny here.  A lot of truth to this lyric.
9. I believe that, though I love my life, the best is yet to come.  However, I am also superstitious enough to believe that because I have acknowledged I believe the best is yet to come that I might be marked for an early tragic death seeing as I have jinxed myself.
10. Finally and perhaps most importantly, I believe that God will bless anyone who gives me financial donations one hundred fold just like the Bible says.

Okay this is one of those things that got me laughing.  I realize that my sense of humor is not normal, but that’s okay.  This may not be for everyone.  I read this title on one of James McGrath’s posts in the RSS feed for his blog – “Mosaic Authorship of the Pentateuch.”  I have read James’ blog enough to know that he doesn’t think Moses wrote the Pentateuch.  So, I thought that I might be clicking a link to a good quick resource I could point people to explaining why Moses didn’t write the Pentateuch.  And, what I came upon was THIS.  Got me.