In the case of Christian apologetics, we see one of the clearest examples of that mismatch, since their creators often explicitly state what their goals are–which allows us to test their claims very nicely. I’ll show you why Christians don’t generally like to state clear goals, why apologists do it all the time anyway, and how to test those statements against the group’s actual system.
In Christianity, we’re seeing this situation come into clearer and clearer focus regarding their stated goals. I’ll show you what I mean today–and how to evaluate a group’s behavior to see how it matches up with their stated goals.
Well gyarsh, Shaggy, the Christian god can’t provide anyone with 100% solid proof of his existence because then we wouldn’t be able to freely choose belief or non-belief. He’s so eager for us to love him for his own self that he can’t possibly take the chance of corrupting our natural inclinations…. Obviously this whole line of reasoning is ridiculous, but today I’ll show you exactly why–and how this argument completely backfires for Christians.
I think I’ve heard like a dozen people so far talking about just how militant and weirdly pushy Christmas services are this year. So me being me, I got curious–was it just our imagination, or was this a trend?
Christians are losing people fast, and along with members they’re losing shocking amounts of credibility and influence. Some of them have finally begun to accept that their various groups are in a serious slump–years after anyone with half a clue could have told them they were. But they’re still not ready to engage with why the slump is happening, much less to start working out what they should do about it. Here’s what they think is going on–and what is actually going on.
Not a whole lot of people join Christianity nowadays; usually the movement is from Christianity to either nothing at all or to other religions. But when someone does happen into a Christian group, typically they make the move because they’re aching for a group to belong to and think they’ve found it. Read more
The denizens of broken systems tend to take very poorly to critics outside the group–and even more poorly to dissenters within it. Often they reserve their most vicious retaliation for those dissenters. But of late, it’s gotten safer for Christians to dissent. In a very real sense, their tribe’s herd immunity may be fading away. I’ll show you why today–and why there’s never been an easier time to walk away from that most broken of systems.
Here we see exactly what happens when a tribe claiming ultimate moral authority and a stranglehold on the very concept of love is presented with a voice of dissent. The reality of Christian love ain’t pretty, but then, not much in Christianity is pretty once you get past its soapy, scrubbed-clean veneer.
We’ve talked before about the not-pology, that kind of apology that isn’t actually a real apology. I’ve been reading PostChristian by Christian Piatt, who makes use of that common Christian distraction tactic early in the book. I’ll show you why he used the kind of apology he did, what he thinks it means, and what it really reveals about the people who use it–and why we’re on firm ground to view all similar apologies with deep suspicion.
Many political commentators have noted that the election wasn’t just a statement from voters who rejected Moore’s antics, but also one regarding the entire American Republican Party itself–and maybe even toxic Christianity itself, which is the social movement that allowed Roy Moore to succeed for as long as he did. So obviously Christian leaders have their work cut out for them in formulating a response to their increasing rejection by the rest of society. But they probably won’t pick a very good way to respond, and today I’ll show you why I say that.