Like clockwork, that forum zings the “irregardless” I left in on purpose.

How did I know that was going to happen…

I said it was my last post there…

When we are challenged to a debate, what should we look for?

Here’s an example of one I was offered, via hookflash, who you can find on my blogroll under “Ripostes”.

Chaoslord and Todangst Vs. Theists

The post/replies from the topic starter were interesting – if condescending. What do you think, concerning my response? I’m curious to know.

I think his “requirements” were over the top – if not insulting. I may have read too much into them, but that’s the impression I got. Anyone else?

This one deserves it’s own post.

At “NoGodBlog,”Dave, of American Atheists, says:

Our thoughts and support are extended out to the families and friends who lost someone today in the name of a god. This is primitive and barbaric behavior.

The number of people who have died in the name of a deity is unimaginable. I look forward to watching the human race as it evolves out of the need for religion.

Now, that is just the usual atheist vitriol, of course. Until you look closer. It is a post about the 7/7 attacks on London.

Jihadist terrorists are equated with all believers in God – and the ubiquitous “killings in the name of a god” is brought up.

Even terrorist attacks are just fodder for advancing their rhetoric, and their agenda.

It is not a direct connection within the posts – but he makes it crystal clear in the comments.

You may learn a lot, including the remarkable and predictable similarities between Islam and Christianity.

…

Indeed, you’re exactly the same — religions filled with a broad spectrum of followers, all looking at the same book but finding different passages which justify their actions.

How difficult would it be for you to justify mass murder with the Bible?

And later…

As an aside, I’ve been chided for saying that Atheism is perfect, but this is the perfect time to defend that assertion. EVERY religion has problems like this because EVERY religion is open to interpretation. You can defend love, hate, terrorism, slavery, incest, hard work, and murder using the “perfect word of god”, which is darn imperfect if you ask me.

Here’s the link.

Congratulations, NoGodBlog – you’ve won the “Scornful Skeptic” award – for posting one of the most calculated attempts to use a tragedy for ideological “point scoring” that I’ve ever seen.

That made me sick.

Kudos to Steve Hanson and Tim in the comments section, for doing their best to stand for Christ in the face of such an appalling statement.

I’m looking for a graphic, to “award” to these blogs. If anyone has an idea, or a graphic to offer – let me know. I’ll credit you.

“Logic and truth, as a matter of fact, have very little to do with each other. Logic is concerned merely with the fidelity and accuracy with which a certain process is performed, a process which can be performed with any materials, with any assumption. You can be as logical about griffins and basilisks as about sheep and pigs.”

…

“Logic, then, is not necessarily an instrument for finding truth; on the contrary, truth is necessarily an instrument for using logic – for using it, that is, for the discovery of further truth and for the profit of humanity. Briefly, you can only find truth with logic if you have already found truth without it.”

Source: Basic Philosophy, by way of Confessing Evangelical, by way of BlogCritics, by way of Google Alerts. (Apologetics)

Now, in the last post (see directly below), I brought up a new idea of mine.

The TheoMeme ©.

There are two reasons for this.

First:

Vox Apologia needs a retooling. It wasn’t working. This is an attempt to do so.

Second:

It’s a way to claim at least some portion of the “meme” craze for Christ. Considering it’s origin, I find it fitting. read the preceding link. You may find it eye-opening, Christian, where the word comes from. Our friend, the pragmatist – Richard Dawkins. It teaches theology to those who may need to read it, allows others to teach it, and makes us all think about it, if we get involved.

The Way it Works

We’ve all seen memes, by now. Book memes, community memes, movie memes, Star Wars character memes – whatever you can think of, there’s been a meme about it. Except Theology.

Why, Christians, is that? Are we not to take every thought captive? Let’s take one meme captive, shall we?

Ok, so here’s how it goes. The questions – every time – will be written by a pastor, or a theologian. Period. As much as I adhere to Sola Scriptura – the people who know how to succinctly, correctly phrase theological questions are theologians, and pastors. That way, we will minimize the effect of poorly worded questions on the responses. We hope 😀

The additional question is as follows: “Do you attend church? If so, what denomination or congregation do you attend at?”

The purpose: To give us a “doctrinal map” of comparative theologies between branches of Christianity. This, friends, is a useful thing. Comparative theology is a pain, at best – but this may be something the blogosphere is uniquely suited for. If we take it seriously.

How to do it effectively:

A pastor writes the questions. The questions are inserted into the initial meme. That meme post “tags” 5 higher-profile Christian blogs, for a good “first seed”. (Evangelical Outpost, Jollyblogger, Adrian Warnock, SmartChristian, Parableman?) Those blogs can each seed 5 in turn – and the meme spreads. I’ll posit, though, that those 5 blogs can reach 75% of the God-bloggers within 3 links of their blog. I’d almost guarantee it. So, it would be possible to reach the vast majority of the Christian blogs with a real live theological discussion, every week.

How about that for meta-niching?

Seriously – think it over. What downsides are there? It is worth a shot, most definitely.

Technical:

Have as many blogs as possible trackback to the original meme post – include the trackback url in the meme. Have the blogs who understand technorati tags – tag their posts with “TheoMeme” – as this post (and it’s predecessor) just were. Create javascript updater, which gives current information about Meme info, which can be included on any blog, and centrally updated. (See King of the Blogs, or the New Blogs Showcase for examples)
Technorati Tag: TheoMeme

I just coined this word – and because I just coined it, I’m going to use it fairly soon – and I’m taking the credit for it, should it take off 😀

I just had one of those “stroke of lightning” ideas, while I was on one of my nightly “thinking cap” sessions.

The Supposition:

A meme is a popular thing, in the blogosphere. There are book-memes, quiz-memes, community-memes…

Memes can be powerful – so, let’s harness them for something the Godblogosphere can uniquely address – theology. Not to mention actually learning about theology. The catechism – blog style.

The Structure:

Post something short, which brings up a point of theology – and list 5 short questions which serve to bring out doctrinal stance on that theological issue. Add one question to the end: What denomination or church group, (or neither) do you belong to. I’ll explain that soon.

The Strategy:

Address that meme to 5 people who regularly read your blog, and will find it quickly. Spread meme. Have them trackback to your original post, and collect the links to their answers. Answers will be collected for the next Vox Apologia, two weeks later, so that the meme has time to spread. Start meme two weeks ahead of time, and keep the pace going – post a new meme every week, and maintain that pace. You will always get an answer, and there will always be content, and discussion on that content, which adds to the body of information.

Categorize the answers by doctrinal/congregational affiliation, so that the stances from various groups can be annotated and tracked – and provide a sort of “comparative theology” study.

Thoughts?

Note, first – before you go ANY farther. This post is a specific answer for this post, and the material found within it’s comments. It is nothing more – and nothing less.

It is neither an apologetic for the institution of slavery, nor an endorsement of any sort of racial supremacy. It is certainly not a call to return to the practices of early American slavery – not by any means. It is a simple answer, in response to this question:

If slavery were still around today, then those of us who claim to be God’s children would have to fight against it, even at the cost of our own lives. Right?

My answer: Slavery, as an institution, is not something which is Biblically mandated that we fight against. Abuses in slavery is what we fight against.

A minor delineation, perhaps – but one I feel has to be made.

Read on for more, including a point by point response to Shrode’s comments.

Read the rest of this entry

As I have said in previous Vox Apologias with this common theme – “useful, or useless” – all apologetics are merely tools. Every defense has an object, a particular use, and an audience best suited for it. I have also said that I disagree with the “you must only use a certain type” of apologetics approach. Be it presuppositional, evidential, or what have you. This is much the same way. It is a tool. As with most tools, it has a specific purpose, and will be quite useless if you attempt to use it for something other than it’s specific purpose.

My thesis: The Trilemma has a particular audience, and a particular application. If these two conditions are not suitable, the Trilemma will not be effective, or it’s effect will be severely limited.

No apologetic is a substitute for study, effort, and prayerful consideration. The Trilemma is no exception. This apologetic has a very specific purpose, and is an answer to a very specific assertion: That Jesus was only a great moral teacher. The apologetic rests on one presupposition: That Jesus claimed to be God.

When using the Trilemma, you must do two things. One, consider your audience. Two, have a definite application, complementing the apologetic. They must both coincide, or you are wasting your time.

Read the rest of this entry

My response to Mumon’s 5 questions, as posted here.
Read the rest of this entry

The next Vox, unfortunately, will be hosted here once again. I’ll have it up tomorrow morning, once I get back from work.

I got tapped to work tonight… again. Which means that I worked Saturday night, had church this morning, had 3 hours or so of sleep between church services – and now have to go to work again. So, obviously… I haven’t had much time. (For those who don’t know, I have a new job, on graveyard shift – as well as a couple other projects and personal concerns which have severely curtailed my blogging. So, please excuse my lack of posting lately.)

Which was the time I WAS going to use to finish that surprise I talked about. I *should* have that surprise up and ready by the next Vox – and running how it’s supposed to be. Until then… please be patient, and thank you for your consideration! I do appreciate it.

I know several of you have left comments that I really should reply to… and I will. I have projects I *need* to get done – and they are my first priority at the present time. Blogging was, to be honest, supposed to be a part-time hobby to begin with. For a while, it became almost an all-consuming thing, due to the need I felt to organize and link together the apologetic bloggers, and to seek out and find as many as I could, so you could all meet each other. That has been my passion for the last few months – and still is. When my time constraints returned to normal, I had to set something up to continue the ministry I started, with a smaller time “budget” – and that’s what I’m trying to get set up. So… please be patient. In doing so, I’ve run into those time restraints (as well as discovering more…), while simultaneously trying to cover several other projects.

In other words… neither my available time, nor my time management skills have been up to the task. So, I apologize for not coming through on my promises on time.

Once this is done, I’m hoping we’ll have a newer, better Daily Cut style series, an awesome home for the Vox Apologia Symposium, and a reference library for apologetics blogging. Circumstances just haven’t let me accomplish everything I had planned to do, in the time I had to do them. I’ve barely blogged at all in the past few weeks! I will get back to blogging, and to “normal” (albeit with a bit less time, which, honestly, has been a long time coming :D) soon – but, in the meantime, please be patient. I really think you’ll like the results coming from my recent hiatus.

Once again.. stand by for updates. And thank you, as always, for visiting my humble abode.

Thanks!
~RK

91% of responses followed a uniform theme that the decline in traditional Christian moral and doctrinal teaching has caused the outflux of congregations. They listed the lack of apologetics, the reasoned defence and explanation of Christian doctrine, as one of the main reasons for the collapse. “It’s a myth today that the people of this country have rejected Christianity; they simply haven’t been told enough about it to either accept or reject it,” wrote one respondent.

Source: Lifesite.net

Don’t tell me it’s not important….