risen
Today I rejoice that my mind rose from the dead. And it didn’t even require a grisly blood sacrifice to appease a Stone Age god.
thy will be done
In 2009, Nicholas Epley, a professor of behavioral science at the University of Chicago used an fMRI scanner to peer into the brains of volunteers who were asked to state opinions on various controversial topics. [Click here for a full summary of the experiments] The volunteers gave their own opinions, what they believed other people’s … [Read more…]
songs of innocence and experience
Reading some Bible storybooks to my niece the other night, I couldn’t help but notice that all three of them talked about how we are sinful and need Jesus to save us. One of the books was about Deborah, a badass Old Testament heroine. But they had to get sin and Jesus in there. I’m … [Read more…]
freedom
When I became convinced that the Universe is natural–that all the ghosts and gods are myths, there entered into my brain, into my soul, into every drop of my blood, the sense, the feeling, the joy of freedom. The walls of my prison crumbled and fell, the dungeon was flooded with light, and all the … [Read more…]
horrors
(Trigger warning – sexual abuse of children) Stories like this are why I find it impossible to believe in a personal god. 45% of rapes reported to the police in South Africa are child rapes, and 50% of South Africa’s children will be abused before the age of 18. Further… In another photo, a nine-year-old … [Read more…]
the brightest witch of her age
Happy Friday! =)
credit where it’s due
You know, maybe one of the reasons that some believers have such a low opinion of humanity is that they never give human beings the credit for what human beings have done. If a man has a heart problem and goes into surgery for ten hours and then recovers, while his family and friends huddle … [Read more…]
good at heart
In one of my sixth grade classes, we read The Diary of Anne Frank and had an assignment to write a speech about it. One of Anne’s quotes – In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart – especially struck me, so I used it in my speech. As I often did with … [Read more…]
gorgeous video
The body of a newborn baby is as old as the cosmos. The form is new and unique, but the materials are 13.7 billion years old, processed by nuclear fusion in stars, fashioned by electromagnetism. Cold words for amazing processes. And that baby was you. Is you. You’re amazing. Not only alive, but with a … [Read more…]
age of accountability
I was saved from my grievous sin nature at the age of six years old. Here’s where my mom dutifully recorded it in a memory book: I repented from my sins because I had been at a church service about hell, and my mom found me crying in bed. “I don’t want to go … [Read more…]