Become a better blogger in just 31 days

Yes, the claim is that you can become a better blogger in just 31 days! However, you will need to participate in a practical blogging project for 31 week days. You will get a break over weekends. I am seriously thinking about doing it myself. As you can see here at my blog, there is ample room for improvement!

So, if you are interested in being part of this "better blogger" project, join Paul Steinbrueck at Christian Web Trends as he guides you to becoming a better blogger! BTW, this project starts on 3 May 2010.

My different blog feeds

As most of you know, I maintain several blogs, and of course, it is not necessary to always go back to them to see if I have written anything new. There are two ways to keep up to date on what I write on my 3 blogs.

1. RSS Feeds.
2. Email subscriptions

I have 3 blogs:

• Just thinking... (dealing with Christianity and theology and Christian news snippets)
• BiblioPolit (mostly political in nature, covering South Africa and the U.S.)
• William’s Life & Trials (more of a personal nature)

You can subscribe to them individually or as a combined subscription. If you subscribe to them individually, you will get updates only of the blog(s) you have subscribed to. If you subscribe to the combined publication, you will be updated on what I write at each of them. Don’t worry, I don’t blog every single day at each of them.

RSS Feed Subscription
If you do not know what this is, then don’t bother using it. For this you will need a feed reader. Some browsers can subscribe to feeds these days, but you will have to open your browser’s feed reader to read them. A very good feed reader is Google Reader.

• Just thinking… feed.
• BiblioPolit feed.
• William’s Life & Trials feed.
• Combined feed.

Email Subscription
Receive updates via email to your email inbox! Simply click on the link and you will be taken to a page where you need to enter your email address to subscribe.

• Just thinking… subscription.
• BiblioPolit subscription.
• William’s Life & Trials subscription.
• Combined blogs subscription.

I hope you make use of this! If you like what I write, pass this on to others!

Wazzat? - 2010-04-23

• How about that Thugabe, er, Mugabe
• Obama fights for Muslim women to cover up, but not for those who don't want to.
• Funny, these Islamists blame America, not the Jews, for their own violent attacks against others!

Amazing images of volcano Eyjafjallajokull in Iceland

How would you pronounce the name of the erupting volcano in Iceland, Eyjafjallajokull? E%jaf$alla*&ull?

Anyway, check out these amazing pics of the event. Simply click on the image.

Jennifer Knapp: another Christian artist comes out

Jennifer Knapp, a former Christian artist comes out among rumours to admit that she is a lesbian. Must be fun to stab God in the back, telling Him that He doesn't know what kind of lifestyles these people want to live! Never mind what God demands!

Two years ago, another Christian artist, Ray Boltz, also "came out."

What does it mean to come out? It means that they will now live their immoral depraved lives in God's face and claim that He sanctions it!

All that we can do is pray for these people!

Wazzat! - 2010/04/16

• Historical profiles of Christian apologists
• Douglas Groothuis apologetics course audio feed
• Phil Johnson "On the Piper-Warren Connection."
• Islam poised to take the West without firing a shot!
• So, you think Bono is a Christian?
• Very "old" wasps were no different from ours!

HT: Dan Philips

John Piper and the Rick Warren invitation

It is amazing, no, sickening, how so many Christians can turn on one another based on one single piece of evidence. These people are as fickle as sports lovers.

John Piper invited Rick Warren, who has proven himself to be a bit of a chameleon when it comes to religion. He literally is all things to all people. When he is with Muslims or Jews he keeps his Christianity very private. He changes his message depending on who he is with.

I do not agree with John Piper for inviting Warren to the national Desiring God conference for 2010. However, does that mean I must now lump Piper with the rest of the heretics like these intrepid finger pointers do? I do not think that Warren is a true heretic either! He is terribly misguided and does not stand up for the gospel clearly in all situations, but that does not make him a heretic. It makes him weak!

Wazzat! - 2010-04-09

This week's Wazzat will not have stuff of the whole week since I will be on leave this whole week and I have no guarantee that I will ever have internet connection to keep this updated. So, you will only see some assortment of links and goodies.

• None of those burqas in public, says Belgium
• Apologetics bloggers stand up for Christianity through April
• Challies heads back to the Puritans in Reading the Classics Together. I'm in!
• Michael Horton writes about Rick Warren
• Ligonier's 2010 National Conference: Tough Questions Christians Face
• All about the Cross!

Book Review: The Making of an Atheist - Part 3

Read Part 1 and Part 2 of this review.


4. The Obstinacy of Atheism

Dr. Spiegel starts this chapter using the movie The Sixth Sense as an analogy for the doctrine of original sin. It is the idea of being dead and not even knowing it. We all need a person like the boy, Cole Sear, to bring our deathly situation to our attention.

"Then, and only then, can we glimpse the truth about ourselves and--to break from the analogy of the film--experience spiritual resurrection." p90

In this chapter Dr. Spiegel aims to show how "a person may become locked in the atheistic delusion" through his worldview and the influence of sin on the mind.

Book Review: The Making of an Atheist - Part 2

Read Part 1 of this review.


2. The Irrationality of Atheism

In this chapter Dr. Spiegel deals a fair amount with one of atheisms "leading champions of atheism" and his "conversion" to theism. Antony Flew.

"In this chapter we will look at the principal categories of evidence that persuaded Flew to become a theist, and we will see why any fair-minded person should be similarly convinced of the reality of God." p42

There were three evidences that moved Professor Flew from atheism to theism, and they were: "the laws of nature, the existence of the cosmos, and the presence of life." (p42) Nature's laws are very constant. The question is why? Scientists could formulize laws from the data they study, yet they cannot answer the question, "why?" Even though some scientists still deny God and believe that the laws of nature are as they are by necessity, "this only raises the 'why' question at a different level." (p43) What makes these laws necessary?

Wazzat! - 2010-04-02

Today we commemorate the crucifixion of Jesus Christ as a ransom for His people.

• Does the head of the Beast Pope have to cover-up sexual abuses in the Roman Institution? Abuses have been known about by popes for at least 50 years.
• Beck vs Wallis! Who comes out on top?Neither! It is a non-contest! Biblical justice counts!
• Don't work too hard as a census data collector, you'll be fired!
• It is amazing how those wanting tolerance are always so intolerant! It really advances discussion! Oh, yea! Only their own ideas are acceptable!
• The intolerance continues!

Interview with Dr. Jim Spiegel author of The Making of an Atheist

For those who have been following this blog, you would have been reading about The Making of an Atheist blog book tour.

It is my privilege today to interview Dr. Jim Spiegel on his book The Making of an Atheist.

1. Just thinking...: Hi Jim, welcome to Just thinking...!
Dr. Jim Spiegel: Thank you for this opportunity to share my thoughts with your readers.

2. JT: Tell us a little about yourself, where you grew up, your family and how you came to Taylor University.
DJS: I grew up in Michigan and Mississippi.  I did my undergraduate work in Biology at Belhaven College in Jackson, then went on to do graduate work in philosophy at University of Southern Mississippi and then back up north to Michigan State University for my doctorate.  I arrived at Taylor in 1993 and have been teaching there ever since.

Book Review: The Making of an Atheist - Part 1

TITLE: The Making of an Atheist
SUBTITLE: How Immorality Leads to Unbelief
AUTHOR: James S. Spiegel
PUBLISHER: Moody Publishers, Chicago
YEAR: 2010
ISBN: 978-0-8024-7611-1
PAGES: 141 (including notes and acknowledgements)

Apologetics, especially in the face of blunt, dare I say "blind", atheism, is never
easy. The question of their "blindness" always intrigues me. How could they not see God's handiwork all across creation? How could any rational person believe the fairy tale of goo to the zoo to you? How could a thinking person deny that what so clearly looks like design is not design? If an alien (of the grey extra-terrestrial variety) lands on our moon, would their first thought really be, "I wonder how many million years it took for this flag to evolve on this moon?" (The flag mentioned here is the one that the Apollo 11 crew planted on the moon.) Why do these atheists not believe? Why are the New Atheists like Dawkins so acerbic towards any belief in God, especially Christianity?