Heretical musings on religion and culture from a literary scholar
Thinking big thoughts about religion, God, eternity etc.
At the end of a hard day's work, I like to unwind with whatever TV show I can find. I tend to like supernatural drama series, but not really shitty high school drama ones. The latest series that has caught my attention is CW's "The Messengers" - which is, basically, the Book of Revelations but on TV. As someone who understands the Apocalypse Story as a vindictive minority group's wish-fulfillment future where all their enemies get ...
Criticism of Islam can result in very nasty and very personal backlashes, as Sam Harris continues to notice, but I was a little surprised to watch John Stewart grill Ayaan Hirsi Ali on the Daily show on the March 23, 2015 episode. John often meets with authors promoting their books, and mostly laughs, pitches them softball questions and tells people to go buy the book. With Ayaan, who was there to promote her book "Heretic," he ...
Today on Steven Pressfield's blog he posted an article called How Resistance Proves the Existence of God. Let me start by saying, I saw this coming years ago. I saw it in his now famous "War or Art" and in the interview he did with Oprah. I saw it in the new book "Do the Work" Seth Godin asked him to write. In brief, Pressfield believes that we are all called to produce art, and our greatest enemy in ...
"Impact Apologetics" sells info products online on how to argue with Atheists. On the product description of one of their main products, "I don't have enough faith to be an atheist" (which comes in book, CD and MP3 formats) they have the following quote, which they claim is a Five Star review on Amazon.com from an Atheist: Having read quite a few Christian apologetics books, I feel I can say that this one is by far the ...
I started this blog about a decade ago, when I was young and bold and idealistic. I believed that everything should be challenged: especially beliefs that we hold dear, because they can be dangerous. Every idea, belief, and concept should be tested and either found strong and valuable, or weak and useless. Nothing should be prioritized over reason, pursuit of knowledge, Truth. But I've mellowed. Or you could say, I've been distracted. I still research and write what ...
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 ...
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) ...
The original Snow White myth is already full of esoteric, hermetic symbolism; written to preserve alchemical wisdom during times of persecution. So they could have left the story alone when making the 2012 movie Snow White and the Huntsman. Instead, somebody in Hollywood decided to stuff so full of overt, deliberate and obvious Christian symbolism that I feel like I've just suffered through a two hour sermon with flashy special effects. I knew something was off in ...
The Grey (2011, starring Liam Neeson) is, on the surface, a man versus nature survivalist story about a group of man facing the elements and a pack of vicious wolves in the aftermath of a plane crash. However, this background is really just a platform to explore the movie's true theme: dignity in the face of death, and whether or not religion is helpful to ease the transition. On the one hand, given that the protagonist and ...
Any good Christian has to believe in demonic possession. After all, Jesus was always casting out demons. If the Bible and Christianity is true, then Jesus couldn't have mistakenly viewed mental illness using the common superstition of possession. He would have known better. So they're real. That basis has been the support for dozens of demonic possession/exorcism movies, which mostly make good entertainment because, demonically possessed people look really freaking scary. They are great horror flicks. But ...
An online review posted about Disney's 2012 John Carter of Earth movie runs thus: "John Carter evokes pretty much every sci-fi classic from the past 50 years without having any real personality of its own." The essential thing to keep in mind, however, is that Edgar Rice Burroughs' A Princess of Mars was first published almost a century ago in 1917! Science fiction and fantasy novels and stories since then are deeply indebted to John Carter. Others ...
Here's an interesting mental exercise for you: 1. Let's define Satan as the worst thought you can think. So anything bad, evil, disagreeable, wrong... all that stuff is "Satan" or "Satanic". He's the absolute most vile, ugly, scary creature you can imagine, with fangs, horns, and lots of eyeballs. 2. Ok, are you picturing it? Can you conceive of this idea? Now in your mind, take this concept a bit further by imagining that it exists in reality. This ...
If you're interested in religious mythology, astrological symbolism, or supernatural folklore, grab my book Gods of Myth and Man. You can go buy it on Amazon.
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
Be Social