Scientific American - Charles Q. Choi - September 12, 2011
Peace of Mind: Near-Death Experiences Now Found to Have Scientific Explanations
Near-death experiences are often thought of as mystical phenomena, but research is now revealing scientific explanations for virtually all of their common features. The details of what happens in near-death experiences are now known widely—a sense of being dead, a feeling that one's "soul" has left the body, a voyage toward a bright light, and a departure to another reality where love and bliss are all-encompassing.
Approximately 3 percent of the U.S. population says they have had a near-death experience, according to a Gallup poll. Near-death experiences are reported across cultures, with written records of them dating back to ancient Greece. Not all of these experiences actually coincide with brushes with death—one study of 58 patients who recounted near-death experiences found 30 were not actually in danger of dying, although most of them thought they were.
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Associated Baptist Press - 9/8/11 by Zachary Bailes
Dear Albert Mohler:
We hope this finds you well. First, we offer our congratulations for making it on the Colbert Show. That’s a fantastic show, and we tune in often. Second, we offer gratitude for fighting for people to believe in us. It’s an incredibly sweet act -- our thank-you note is in the mail.
While we appreciate your remarkable interest in us, we think you’ve gotten us wrong. For example, you said, “When Adam sinned, he sinned for us, and it’s that very sinfulness that sets up our understanding of our need for a savior…. Without Adam, the work of Christ makes no sense whatsoever.”
While we understand your evangelical piety and unequivocal love for Jesus, we didn’t sin for you. We also didn’t sin in order to make relevant the work of someone born thousands of years after us.
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Bachmann Dodges Question On Whether God Uses Weather To Send Messages (VIDEO)
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It's fun to watch religious evangelical Republican presidential candidates try to downplay their out-of-fashion-yet-biblically-based religious views. If they try to defend them, they look stupid (see Rick Santorum and the paper towel analogy), so they obfuscate, try to hide the truth of their idiotic beliefs.
Rick Perry gets cornered by a kid asking him about evolution. The Bachmanns have to lie about their de-gaying treatment, and Michele is forced to walk back from saying the recent earthquake and hurricane in the northeast was God trying to get the attention of the politicians.
Makes me want to ask them, If your Bible is true, then your biblical beliefs are correct why would you ever apologize for them or deny them in order to get elected to public office?
It's only going to get better, folks.
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Christian theology is being transformed before our eyes due to the inconvenient encroachment of reality...
Urban Christian News - August 9, 2011
Here can be found some of the most interesting and salient answers to that question:
New Statesman - Faith No More by Andrew Zak Williams (July 25, 2011)
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Los Angeles Times - By J. Anderson Thomson and Clare Aukofer, July 18, 2011
Before John Lennon imagined "living life in peace," he conjured "no heaven … / no hell below us …/ and no religion too."
No religion: What was Lennon summoning? For starters, a world without "divine" messengers, like Osama bin Laden, sparking violence. A world where mistakes, like the avoidable loss of life in Hurricane Katrina, would be rectified rather than chalked up to "God's will." Where politicians no longer compete to prove who believes more strongly in the irrational and untenable. Where critical thinking is an ideal. In short, a world that makes sense.
In recent years scientists specializing in the mind have begun to unravel religion's "DNA." They have produced robust theories, backed by empirical evidence (including "imaging" studies of the brain at work), that support the conclusion that it was humans who created God, not the other way around. And the better we understand the science, the closer we can come to "no heaven … no hell … and no religion too."
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Skeptical inquiry is the best way to approach life. That's my premise. What is skeptical inquiry? Here's one straightforward definition:
Skeptical inquiry is a method of investigation which guides the evaluation of claims of fact. Four words neatly summarize the skeptical credo: Prove what you claim!
Skepticism's core value judgment holds that empirical evidence must support a falsifiable claim to justify acceptance of that claim. A skeptic strives to identify and clearly articulate assumptions and, when they are questioned, rigorously test those assumptions. Science is the best tool yet-invented for producing evidence that skeptics consider valid.
I mean this literally: Not a single day goes by that I don't celebrate and appreciate my freedom from religion. I'm not talking about freedom to do bad things. My morals don't have anything to do with divine edict or fear of supernatural punishment; then never did. I'm talking about mental, intellectual, emotional freedom. This post from unreasonable faith says it better than I can.
Since leaving the church, I have learned to value people for who they are regardless of what they believe, without feeling like I need to “win them to Christ” and save them from their horrible selves. I’ve been able to simply enjoy a drink with a coworker without ridiculously talking religion and pressuring her into Christianity. I am free to sleep in on Sundays and no longer feel obligated to give my time and money to an organization. I can enjoy life, each moment, the simple things without cursing the hell bound world around me and then forcing myself to think heavenly thoughts.
People who follow Todd Bently are complete jackasses and deserve to have every penny they own taken from them by this fucking lunatic. First of all, his name is TODD!!! On top of that, he's Canadian! (At least he sounds like he's Canadian, which is just as bad.) Shouldn't that be enough? But no, you need more to keep you away?
The best line from this video: "People that need people raised from the dead are now tuning in to the meeting." It's like he's talking about people who need their drains unclogged. Who in hell wouldn't like to have someone raised from the dead?
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This can be inferred from the fact that, rather than "vigorously" defend himself against the charges that he used his spiritual authority and material enticements to get young men to have sex with him, as he promised he would do, Long has settled out of court with the men in question.
At issue is not his attraction to young men. Nothing wrong with that. It's the stinking hypocrisy, as always, and the gullibility of his adoring fans.
Bishop Eddie Long settles sexual misconduct suit out of court
By Elizabeth Tenety
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As you surely know by now, the Rapture was to be accompanied by a giant, rolling earthquake beginning at the International Dateline and proceeding westward so that it would hit every time zone at 6PM local. So all eyes were on New Zealand, the first major country to experience the catastrophe. Here's a sample of some of the answers online to the burning question: It is now 6pm in New Zealand May 21st, 2011, anyone get raptured?
>Damn, im waiting for the same anwser. Grrr. its 2am here and i want to go to bed hahah, but i want to know lol
>Hi nothing has happened here in nz you can all stop worrying, there is no earthquake or rapture.
>Part of me is going upward but I don't think it would sanctioned by rapture people.
>Oh shit! I'm still here, so are all my friends, both of them.
>I can see you are sleeping. I am up in the air looking at you:)
>hi all i'm one of those raptured communicating from an internet cafe in heaven run apparently by john the baptist
>it was absolutely awesome, jesus had a little minibus waiting for us with refreshments and some "light" entertainment. some kiwis got a little travel sick [and home sick] along the way, but after jesus gave us a bit of a prep talk with some soothing background mood music, we were all in high spirits once again.
we were looking back at new zealand as were flying in our jet minibus at the ghastly horrors of destruction; people going silly, pets and tomato plants being ruthlessly unfed and unattended. it was most unbearable.
you all should repent now. it will be terrible for you if you don't. besides there's a lovely cafe up here owned by gabriel you'll love. they make a nice tomato soup.
(Via http://www.godlikeproductions.com/)
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