Whenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and torturous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness, with which more than half the Bible is filled, it would be more consistent that we called it the word of a demon than the Word of God. It is a history of wickedness that has served to corrupt and brutalize mankind.
Thomas Paine

Archive for the ‘Books’ Category

Humanity without God

Thursday, November 16th, 2006

In reading through Paradoxy by Tom Taylor, I’m am constantly perplexed by it’s peculiarities.
The book itself is really nothing spectacular. It’s basically a sermon about how to live a better life and find inner peace. It has some good points, but the whole book seems diminished with it’s constant references to Jesus. It’s odd because the references to Jesus don’t seem to add anything to the arguments he’s making. He tells interested stories about individuals (I’ll probably add some specific examples in a later post), but then he says something about Jesus that seems, to me, to completely miss the point about his own stories.

Mysterious evangelism

Monday, November 13th, 2006

I received a mysterious package in the mail today. Which is fine, I enjoy getting packages, it’s like Christmas. Anyway, it was mysterious because though there was a return address, it had no name, and inside there was no note, only 2 books. One was marked “Read First” and the other “Read Second.” But the books themselves gave away the sender.

The one marked “Read First” was Misquoting Jesus by Bart Ehrman, the second was Paradoxy: Coming to Grips with the Contradictions of Jesus by Tom Taylor. I’m pretty sure they were sent by my grandmother. Ever since I’ve ‘come out’ to my family about my atheism, they’ve had some problems with it.

Don’t Believe Everything You Think

Thursday, August 24th, 2006

For my current graphic design project, I am tasked with creating a conference for a non-profit organization. I have chosen to create a conference for the Skeptics Society based on a book by Thomas Kida called Don’t Believe Everything You Think. There’s a Point of Inquiry interview with the author here.
I haven’t read it yet, but it sounds very interesting.