A Short Thought On Dictators

The ruling dictator of a county cooks people in an oven for a relatively short amount of time and people call him a monster. The purported ruling dictator of the Universe cooks people in an oven forever – and people call for his praise and adoration, demanding that he be worshiped. It’s interesting how ramping torture up to a cosmic level suddenly makes it virtuous.

Prepare To Meet Your Maker

DarkMatter2525 has outdone himself yet again with this absolutely hilarious video. Are you prepared to meet your maker?

A Prisoner In Their Own Mind

Ever the glutton for punishment, I was listening to a sermon not too long ago, and the pastor had these words to say to their congregation:

“What I see in front of me might contradict everything he [Jesus] has said, but I believe in the end he’ll be born out to be true.”

This type of attitude is very disturbing, and in essence says, “Look, you can show me all the evidence you want to, and it can be the most solid evidence ever, and I’m still not going to accept it.” There are few things to be pitied more than a person who says their mind cannot be changed no matter what evidence is provided. Such a person is a prisoner in their own mind, who when handed the key to set themselves free, gouges out their eyes with it lest they find the lock.

Gun Ownership: “A God-given Right”

I got into a discussion on Facebook the other day on the topic of control, and I thought it might be worthwhile to share it here. The individual I was discussing this with seemed to have a focus on the AR-15, though handguns were also a part of the discussion. I had expressed that I had seen a lot of poor arguments for pro-gun ownership online, and so they asked me what I thought a good reason was.

They had posted this initially: “people would be seriously stirred up if the same attacks were coming from the government toward free religion or free speech or voting or any of our other pre-existing, fundamental, God-given rights.”

Building off that statement – I made my case:

Well, let’s look at a potential bad reason…

You seem to indicate with your statement that gun ownership – like freedom of religion, speech, or the right to vote – is a “God-given right.” Firearms of course aren’t listed anywhere in the Bible, and the example in the character of Jesus – who reportedly said, “turn the other cheek,” did so, and then died at the hands of the ruling authorities rather than retaliate – is lifted up as the model a Christian should live their life after. 

Following up after Jesus you have Paul, who is reported as saying, “Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves” (Romans 13:1-2). He is also reported as saying, “Follow my example as I follow Christ’s,” and Christian tradition holds that he did so by dying at the hand of the ruling authorities rather than retaliating just as his example had done. 

So, as a Christian, looking at Jesus and Paul – how does one declare that guns are a “God-given right,” and that guns should be kept if the need to overthrow a tyrannical government should arise – when overthrowing the tyrannical government amounts to “rebelling against what God has instituted” and supposedly brings judgement upon oneself? How does one get to the place of gun ownership being a God-given right? Unless we’re talking about a God other than the one in the Bible. 

For me the gun argument stands as a completely secular issue. People on the political left are correct – if we had a complete ban on all guns like the UK, Japan, and other western developed nations – we would have fewer gun deaths in the United States. The data is clear on that. However, to do the same in the US would violate individual freedom and liberty. We already put certain restrictions on the 2nd amendment, which in all honesty has outlived the purpose of why it was created. [Name withheld] is right that it was put in so the people could revolt against a tyrannical government, and when the government was fighting with muskets and bayonets it made a lot of sense, but we’re well beyond that now. We kill people in the Middle-East with the push of a button on a remote controlled flying device, and they never see death coming. If we’re really talking about a tyrannical government, there’s nothing that would stop that same thing happening to a bunch of hunkered down hillbillies in the foothills of Alabama. An AR-15 would be more useful as toilet paper than an instrument of rebellion against an armored, air-powered, bunker-busting, smart-bombing, industrialized death steam roller. So, yeah – “the 2nd Amendment isn’t for hunting,” but it might as well be for fishing as effective as it would be in both practice for a Coup d’état, and as an argument for the rights of gun owners. 

The only argument for gun ownership, with reasonable checks and balances – is for home and self-defense. Police response time is not adequate to protect yourself from and armed intruder, and a lawful weapon is what provides you the potential added protection until officers can respond.

It’s been over 10 days since I posted that, and I’ve yet to hear a response. I doubt I will.

If Man Obeyed God

Here is another hilarious video from DarkMatter2525 that points out some problems with the Genesis account from the Bible in a humorous, yet informative way. You’ll laugh. You’ll cry. You may even wet your pants. Enjoy…

Free Curiosity Rover Poster With Carl Sagan Quote

For quite a while I’ve been looking for just the right poster to frame and hang in my office, but I’d yet to find anything that really caught my eye. Instead of continuing to search for something I probably wouldn’t be completely happy with, I decided to make my own poster. Here it is:

In a couple of weeks my 24″x36″ poster will be delivered from http://shortrunposters.com for the affordable price of $26.86. That’s the cheapest I’ve found for printing up a single poster, and if you’d like to have a copy of your own printed up you can feel free to use this PDF (my gift to you – 24.6mb), which has been prepared for those dimensions. Enjoy!

Original Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems

Note: I am not affiliated with ShortRunPosters.com in any way. They are just the cheapest that I’ve found, and they do a good job. If you find a cheaper place to have the poster done up, please leave a comment. Thanks!

Conspiracy Road Trip: Creationism

Comedian Andrew Maxwell takes five British creationists to the west coast of America to try to convince them that evolution rather than creationism explains how we all got here. Stuck on a bus across 2,000 miles of dustbowl roads with these passionate believers, Maxwell tackles some firmly held beliefs – could the Earth be only 6,000 years old, and did humans and T-Rex really live side by side? It’s a bumpy ride as he’s confronted with some lively debates along the way, but by the end could he possibly win over any of these believers with what he regards as hard scientific fact? [BBC]