Well, this hasn’t been much of a “daily” cut recently.

Oh well. I’m back into blogging, so… I’m back into Daily Cuts.

Agent Tim has a great post entitled “Nothing or Something”

I sat down and began to write without thinking—just allowing the thoughts to flow onto the blank page in front of me, hardly slowing or pausing to consider what would come next. Then it happened—it stopped. I couldn’t write anything more. Nothing came to mind, nothing inspired me, and the word nothing plagued my mind.

The Apologetics Resource Center has an interesting post contrasting Positive Faith with the God of the Gaps theory.

Christians do not believe in the existence of God, the truthfulness of Scripture, and the words of Christ in order to simply fill in the knowledge-holes left by modern science. Rather, Christianity is believed based upon positive and rational reasons that stand on their own right.

Paul sheds some light on the “Dark Ages” over at Pensees.

Based on the other myths from my school days that have been burst one by one, like Columbus being the first to think the world was round, I should find it no surprise that the true nature of the Middle Ages is quite different than I imagined[…]

Alex Forrest contrasts George Barna with Rousseau.

[…]it is almost as if Barna is advocating a spiritual version of Rousseau’s myth of the Noble Savage. For Rousseau, of course, the myth (now strong in the popular mind) was that the “natural man,” unfettered by the shackles of civiliation and technology, lived in a state of natural purity and goodness. Civilization, however, brings with it bondage, degradation, self-interest, and all sorts of other vices. […] Barna seems to have a similarly romantic image of the “Noble Christian Savage,” unfettered by the trappings of dry institutionalism, empty tradition, and other vices that often beset American evangelicalism.

Interesting stuff.

Comment by Aaron Kinney (of Kill the Afterlife), in response to Eternal Revolution’s post entitled A Need for Compassion:

Oh and by the way, you said:

“As he hung there, dying on the cross, facing an injustice far worse than any of us could ever fathom…”

I could fathom something much worse: an eternity in hellfire.

I could point out that Aaron’s schtick has always been that he refuses to accept the “inhumane and immoral” belief that life goes on after death. (If the very concept is immoral, isn’t he violating his own stance by contemplating such a thing? :D) But, I won’t.

Anyways, the point is that hell is separation from God – which is what the lifestyle found deserving of hell wished in the first place. The punishment is the wages of sin – you never get anything for nothing. If you choose to ignore what is right, and do what is wrong, there will come a penalty, eventually. That’s what hell is. But, whatever. Aaron likes to post throwaway snarks – don’t you Aaron?

I’m sure I’ll have another Scornful Skeptic award for you soon. That one’s actually pretty tame, for you.

Imago Dei has an interesting post entitled “A Different Abortion Story”, which was crossposted from LTI, who is also on my blogroll, and Serge’s new second home!

The Good Fight has two interesting posts:

One is entitled “The Hypocrisy of Anti-Creationists“. Here’s an excerpt.

[…]what is truly interesting about many of the critics of YEC is their seeming hypocrisy when it comes to scientific theory. I’ve seen often many of these scholars advocate scientific explanations that are so odd and radical that they are the only ones who believe it. But isn’t that supposed to be what YEC believers are famous for?

Two, a post entitled “Gratuitous Evil and God“.

Gale presents an argument for the reality of a god who is similar to the theistic God but who is not apparently fully omnipotent or ominiscient. He is very powerful and intelligent but not necessarily maximally so.

It’s an interesting look at Gale’s response.

CADRE takes an in-depth look at Earl Doherty, in response to favorable posts on other blogs.

I have noticed an up-tick in Earl Doherty admiration on the blogs. So, I decided to bring some of the points I made in my articles on the Jesus Myth to the pages of Cadre Comments.

In this post, I examine a passage in Hebrews that proves troublesome to Doherty’s theory that the early Christians did not believe that Jesus existed on earth. Hebrews 9:27-28 refers to the second coming of Jesus Christ to earth.

Challies gives his State of the Domain address, and asks some questions to help guide the future direction of his blog.

And so, as I gaze towards 2006, now only a few days off, I would like to ask for your input. I promise not to be offended and am honestly asking for honesty. If you know me, you know that I have any easier time dealing with criticism than praise! […] While this site is and will remain my site (and I say that in as non-offensive a way as I can) I am eager to hear from readers what you feel is done well and what is done poorly.

Go check it out.

Mr. Dawn Treader puts some perspective on 2005 with “Buzzing the Treetops“.

I encourage you to take a look at his personal commentary.

Now, on a personal note – yes, I’m back to regular blogging. I’m back to tweaking my site fairly regularly, as frequent visitors can see pretty clearly. I’ve updated all my blogrolls, fixed the Aggregator once again, and I’m working on a few new posts.

In addition, I’ve been asked to join The Dialogical Coffee House as a contributor. I’m definitely going to enjoy that, as I’ve been a reader over there for quite some time, and respect the bloggers there immensely.

I’ll be back to working on new ideas, until one hits home, and revisiting some old ones that I ran out of time for. Here’s to a New Year, a new start on blogging, and a renewal of my walk with Christ.