I swear not 3 months goes by before I see the movie trailer for a new cinematographic take on the “Demonic Possession” genre.

The newest in this long, long chain of movies (all of which are eaten up by the faithful as pop culture affirmations of religious experiences, based on TRUE STORIES of demonic possession and exorcism), is “The Possession: Darkness Lives Inside.” The tagline: “Fear the Demon that Doesn’t Fear God.”

Proof that Demonic Possession is Real?

“The Possession”, like all exorcism and demonic possession movies, claims to be based on a true story.

But try finding the real evidence to back it up – and you’ll usually come away empty handed (I’ve seen links that go to Catholic Websites that then link to Satanist Groups (who don’t actually believe in a real Satan – they only use Satan as a symbol for humanist values).

However in this case, I found a background story here which is pretty cool. Lots of bad luck.

But at the same time, I can go on Ebay and buy a magic ring full of all kinds of evil spirits or demons ready to gratify my desires.

Look, here’s a 3000 year old ring with magical fire coming out of it! … Read More »

A 24-year-old neuroscience doctoral candidate in a Batman costume walks into a theater… it sounds like the beginning of a joke, but we know this story has a tragic conclusion.

And now begins the fight for James Holmes’ Soul. Here is the expected Christian response, from thread on Huffington Post:

Expect to see more of this, as we continue to move toward a Godless secular culture with no respect or recognition of authority or value for human life. A society that glorifies violence, deviant sexual behavior, & civil disobedience. Right & wrong is relative and has given way to the more popular political correctness. We surely aren’t so naive as to think that the harvest we reap will not be from the seed that we sow?

Conclusion: a society of infidels that turn their backs on God and Religion will produce more violence. It doesn’t even matter if Holmes was an Atheist; his actions were caused by Atheism.

But we need to look deeper. Holmes was raised in a “church going family.” While that doesn’t make him a Christian, it does make the Biblical world-view a condition of his upbringing.

This article even claims Holmes walked into a church a few weeks before the shooting, then walked … Read More »

Every year or so, I get obsessed about my jewelry. It’s silly, but mostly harmless, so I allow myself to obsess.
You see I like to believe that wearing gemstones can influence our lives.

You may think I’m an idiot, but first let me me explain.

I’m well aware of placebo effect, and it’s very possible that I and everybody else interested in vedic astrology (or Eastern astrology, which unlike western astrology, provides “remedies” to counteract planetary effects) is just fooling themselves. They think they feel better or more successful than usual, but it’s not really true.

Here’s my response: I never know what a stone is going to do for me. I’ll go into a market, pick up and hold the stones, and see if I feel anything. I’m not a psychic or warlock or anything like that, but often I can feel something, usually in my throat, heart or stomach. Sometimes I don’t feel anything. Sometimes I feel like I’m moving forward or backwards.

Often I feel lightheaded. This is something that happens reliably with stones, but with almost nothing else that I touch.

Many, many times, I’ll buy something that I think should be good for me, but it makes me so uncomfortable … Read More »

I can’t help but write a post after reading an article called “Is Jesus Christ Reaching Out to Muslims Through Their Dreams?” I found on The Blaze.

Basically, (according to the article), devout Muslims are having spontaneous dreams about Jesus, who touches their hearts and foreheads and says “You’re mine, Follow me.”

That’s freaking fantastic (not in the sense of good, but in the sense of “fantasy”).

If it’s really happening, it’s a small miracle, because it’s hard to account for any psychological factors that would make Muslims dream of Jesus.

Christians have Jesus-experiences all the time. Muslims don’t.

So on the surface, this is amazing.

My first thought was that some US Government anti-terrorism plot is experimenting with a form of mind control; maybe broadcasting subliminal messages at high frequency to Muslim communities to see if their subconscious will “tune into” Jesus.

If they accept Jesus, they’ll probably be much easier for the US to work with.

It’s probably not a genuine miracle, though, because: why isn’t Jesus appearing in the dreams of American Atheists or Chinese Buddhists? Why not appearing to everybody at the same time? Why wait till they’re sleeping? Why do these sort of miracle conversions only happen to a handful of people? Is … Read More »

Today on Facebook I found this excellent conversation between a Christian and David G. McAfee, author of “Disproving Christianity and other Secular Writings” and someone who thought Atheists should be banned from government.

Personally, I no longer engage in debates like this because I don’t believe the party on either side is open minded enough to change their views – so it always becomes a shouting match that makes each side more righteous.

But that said, David cleanly makes 3 irrefutable points in response to the religious claims on the left.

(Click on it to zoom in and read in full.)

The claims are pretty standard, beginning with…

Atheists have no moral standard

We can’t let atheists into public office because they don’t believe in right and wrong, so they’ll let anything happen.

Christians, on the other hand, have an all-righteous, biblical morality.

But what is it?

The Bible says lots, and lots, of things about what is right and wrong, what is permissible or not, including what we can eat, who we can sleep with, what we should wear, when and how we should pray, etc. If you count up all the rules in the Old Testament, you’ll find that most Christians only follow about 2% of them. … Read More »

It’s 7:38 in the morning. I stayed up late watching “Jeff Who Lives at Home”, which completely surprised me. It starts of with a douchy character talking about Mel Gibson’s “Signs” movie (Jason Jordan Segel). He’s a 30 year old pot-smoking loser who lives at home and has no job. I thought the film was making fun of him.

The movie begins with his mom demanding he get off the damn couch, pick up some wood glue and fix the broken window blinds. (A huge task for him).

He gets involved in his brother’s messy marriage (his wife is about to cheat on him) and tries to follow “Synchronicities” or little signs of coincidence to know what he’s supposed to do next. If you’re familiar with “The Secret” or any New Age literature, this is pretty common stuff. Remarkably, some of his gut feelings (jumping on a van because the name “Kevin” is on it) actually start working out.

By the end of the movie, after it seems like nothing has happened, he suddenly finds himself at the right place at the right time – he helps a city councilman and his two daughters escape from a sinking car. Then his brother jumps … Read More »

If you could meet God, what would you ask?

This is the basic premise of the 2012 movie Prometheus. Although as entertainment, the movie is weak (for being self-conscious, repetitive, and trying to be deeper than it is) as a theologian and religious researcher, I enjoyed it.

There’s a ton of references to religion and mythology, including of course the title. Since my PhD Thesis focuses mainly on the figure of Prometheus and rebellion against gods in general, I’ve got a lot to say on the topic.

The protagonist Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) represents Faith. Her faith in God and the cross she wears = faith that we were created deliberately, for a purpose; that life has meaning; that we have value, that we are worth something.

The scientists want to find humanity’s creators and ask them, “What did you make us for?”

The Robot, David (Michael Fassbender), who offers a powerful foil to the plot, retorts:

“Why did you make me?”

And the male scientist Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green) answers:

“Because we could.”

“Imagine how disappointing it would be to hear that.” David replies.

The protagonists struggle to understand herself, and her faith, amidst a cruel and violent world is the same question that Christianity continues to  struggle with: … Read More »