Ancient Aliens Debunked

Posted on December 30, 2012 by jackpelham

For those of you who are familiar with the History Channel’s series, Ancient Aliens, you’ll want to watch this video that I ran across at YouTube.

I’ve watched several episodes of Ancient Aliens over the past couple of years, with a particular interest in how they explain ancient visits by angels (as recorded in the Bible and similar documents) as visits instead from mortals from other solar systems.  In all this time, I kept telling myself that I’d have to vet their stories someday, but had not begun to do it until now.  I have watched this entire video and find that it accurately and soundly refutes Ancient Aliens on a large number of points—so much so that I now view that series as a deliberate attempt to deceive the audience into believing a theory that is simply not viable. Continue reading →

Posted in History, Religion, Science | 1 Comment

Solutions for Mass Murders: An open letter to America from Billy Tomlinson

Posted on December 30, 2012 by jackpelham

Dear America,

In the wake of these terrible mass murders, no one has yet proposed a truly-viable set of solutions.  So I’m stepping forward with this brief letter to meet the need:

First of all, I propose that we require all would-be mass murderers to register for a mass murder permit.  We would deny them all on principle, of course.  Meanwhile, we’d know to be on the lookout for bad behavior from all who apply for such a permit.

And for those critics who are thinking that true mass murderers wouldn’t care about getting a permit in the first place, Continue reading →

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The Cycle of Liberty

Posted on December 20, 2012 by jackpelham

Continue reading →

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The Hypocritical Question: “Why does God allow evil?”

Posted on December 15, 2012 by jackpelham

Many have ventured to ask why God allows evil and suffering.  I’m sure the discussion of this question could range through several chapters in a book on the topic, but my concern at the moment is simply the hypocrisy that it represents for most who ask it.  Here’s what I mean:

When bad things happen, many people’s default expectations are revealed: they tend to expect that God should prevent evil from harming anyone.  So when bad things happen, it naturally raises the question of why God is not performing as expected.  While some may dare to shake a fist at God, others hesitate to charge him openly with wrongdoing, yet their question remains unanswered and they can find no reason that God does not meet their expectations in protecting the world from evil.  Thus does this persistent question amount to a soft challenge to his sovereignty.  He could do it, they reason, therefore he should do it.  So why doesn‘t he do it? Continue reading →

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If Self Correction Were Ubiquitous

Posted on November 26, 2012 by jackpelham

One of my fundamental paradigms is the idea that we all ought to correct ourselves when we see that we are in the wrong.  I believe that we have a rightful duty for such, and that our fundamental downfall as a species is that we generally fail to do so in some areas.

Interestingly, though, we all find that some self correction is quite worth the effort.  To give a humorous example, imagine Billy frantically in search of a bathroom.  “Ah, there it is!” he thinks to himself, as he spots a closed door down the hallway.  But he is mistaken; it is a linen closet.  Even though Billy is disappointed and aggravated to discover that he has been wrong, we see him continue to search for which room really is the bathroom.  And for this, we can all thank Billy later. Continue reading →

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Dysrationalia: God is leading the United States

Posted on November 18, 2012 by jackpelham

Many claim that the United States is a “Christian nation”, that God is somehow “leading” us, that when we get bad presidents, that is God “giving us what we deserve”, and so forth.

Here’s an example of a similar notion, posted this week on Facebook.

Original Poster (OP):  Do not let the affairs of men and their corrupt and wicked practices cause you to lose faith in the God of our nation or Old Glory. Stay true to the noble principles of Holy Scripture and the ideals of the American way. May God Save America! Continue reading →
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The Gold Bar Metaphor

Posted on November 18, 2012 by jackpelham

See this gold bar?

Chances are, you’ve never seen one laying on a neighbor’s lawn.  Likewise, I’d say that chances are pretty good that if you had one, you wouldn’t keep it out our your lawn, either.

And why not? Continue reading →

Posted in Character, History, Logic, Philosophy, Politics, Religion, Science, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Am I Too Focused on the “Mind”?

Posted on November 16, 2012 by jackpelham

In a recent conversation on a religious forum, a participant expressed his opinion that I’m too focused on the mind and on facts, and not enough on other factors.  Here’s my reply.

—————————————-

In your summation, you wrote (emphasis added):

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul and all your strength. Your writings suggest that you have the mind part down. Your passion suggests that you do understand the heart, soul and strength part at some level. Your words, however, indicate that your experiences with the irrationality of this world have you focused on facts. Continue reading →

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Understanding the Current Secession Mania

Posted on November 14, 2012 by jackpelham

I must admit that I find this entire topic to be insufferably tiring from the very beginning.  Not tiring in the sense that it is boring, but in the sense that most people involved in the discussion are so ill-informed that it becomes exhausting even thinking about how to straighten them out.  As with so many other topics, this one probably deserves a book of its own.  Having no time for such, however, it seems at least worthwhile to me to write a very brief post about what’s going on.  If for no other reason, I can send my Facebook friends a link to this article when they post stories about secession. Continue reading →

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Deep Thoughts About Bathroom Hygiene

Posted on November 11, 2012 by jackpelham

As I aspire to be a deep and rational tinker, willing to call into question even the most deeply entrenched tenets of common human wisdom, I find that my thoughts are not always limited to the more traditional topics of public discussion.  No, this post is not about politics nor religion nor even the psychology of rational thinking (OK, maybe it’s going to turn out to have something to do with that, after all, as most of my posts do–but let’s pretend I hadn’t brought that up so as not to derail my introduction.) Continue reading →

Posted in Humor | 1 Comment