Religion (all)
-
Posted On Religion (all)
41: Easter Quiz!
.
How well do you know the details of the Easter story? Questions first then the answers after. 1. One of Jesus’ most impressive miracles was…
-
Posted On Religion (all)
40: Do We Have the Lord’s Supper All Wrong?
.
Scholars debate whether the apostle Paul invented the Lord’s Supper (aka the Eucharist or Communion) or merely inherited it from earlier disciples. Here is what…
-
39: Baptism and the Macbeth Effect
.
From Macbeth, Act V Scene I by William Shakespeare: Doctor: How came she by that light? Gentlewoman: Why, it stood by her: she has light…
-
Posted On Religion (all)
38: Fishing and Theology
.
I grew up in Florida and loved the water sports there, including fishing. A fishing excursion did not just mean catching fish, but usually…
-
Posted On Religion (all)
37: Heaven and the Hedonic Treadmill
.
My favorite TV series is the old Twilight Zone by Rod Serling. There is an episode in which a small-time crook named Rocky Valentine…
-
36: Did Jesus Have a Near-Death Experience?
.
There have been books written and at least one movie I know of that are based on the idea of near-death experiences. An NDE is…
-
35: Jesus the Healer, Part 5: What if Jesus was a heel, not a healer?
.
One of the best-known and best-loved Christian writers of the 20th Century was C. S. Lewis. One of his better-known sayings is that based…
-
33: Jesus the Healer, Part 3: Repossessed?
.
Jesus’ ministry kept the disciples on the move, from town to town. In two cases we looked at in previous posts Jesus specifically sent the…
-
32: Jesus the Healer, Part 2: The Analysis of Paralysis
.
In the previous post I discussed exorcisms as a form of healing and how we can account for Jesus having some apparent success in…
-
31: Jesus the Healer, Part 1: Those Darn Demons
.
Some years ago I participated in a retreat for Christian medical students in Kursk, Russia, arranged by a church pastor I had met in…
-
Posted On Religion (all)
29 The Star of Bethlehem and Other Silly Pursuits
.
Around Christmas there are (naturally) various TV shows about Jesus, especially his birth story. I have seen several shows in which (supposedly) serious scholars…
-
Posted On Religion (all)
28: The War on Christmas
.
A popular topic in recent years, at least for some conservative Christians, is the “War on Christmas.” The idea is that the term “Christmas”…
-
Posted On Religion (all)
26: Christmas Conundrum, Part 2
.
In the previous post we left the Magi at Jesus’ house. Eventually Herod realizes the Magi aren’t coming back. God warns Joseph, once more…
-
Posted On Religion (all)
24: Job vs. God: This Time It’s Personal!
.
Most doctors have to help some of their patients deal with various forms of suffering. It may be the result of a disease beyond their…
-
Posted On Religion (all)
23: The Problem with Prophets, Part 3
.
In the previous two posts I have been looking at prophets in the Bible, examining their integrity and their accuracy, or lack thereof. Let’s…
-
Posted On Religion (all)
22: The Problem with Prophets, part 2
.
In the previous post we looked at some odd stories about prophets in the books of 1st and 2nd Kings. Those stories did not cast…
-
Posted On Religion (all)
21: The Problem with Prophets, Part 1
.
Were the prophets of the Bible holy men inspired by God? Then why did they insult and sometimes kill each other? Can you always trust…
-
Posted On Religion (all)
19: The Problem: Not Enough Killing!
.
We had lunch with a delightful Christian couple, very nice people. They mentioned how their grandchildren were getting such good teaching at their church,…
-
18: Loopy Laws
.
Are the laws in the Old Testament divinely inspired, or do they simply reflect the primitive superstitious culture that produced them? I remember when…
-
17: Moses the Hypocrite
.
Our word “hypocrite” comes from a Greek term for “actor.” You pretend to be someone you are not. Today it is commonly applied to…
-
16: Was Moses Really High on Mt. Sinai?
.
I always found it strange that doctors are allowed to prescribe a variety of potent and expensive psychoactive medications but safe and cheap herbs…
-
15: Is The Bible Sexist?
.
A doctor revealed to a young blond woman and her boyfriend that she was pregnant. He said, “It can’t be mine!” Then she blurted…
-
14: Cut Off My What?!
.
During my medical residency I performed quite a few circumcisions, when parents requested it. The boys didn’t seem so happy about it. If I…
-
13: The Truth about Ruth
.
I recall standing at my work station in our medical office years ago when a loud wail emitted from one of the exam rooms. …
-
11: Is It A Sin To Be Transgender?
.
– There is an unusual medical condition called androgen insensitivity syndrome (AIS). It is caused by a genetic mutation with the result that a…
-
10: Did Israel Have Its Own ‘Sacred Band of Thebes’?
.
Homosexuality has been known throughout human history but it was not until 1973 that the American Psychiatric Association (APA) finally removed “homosexuality” as a…
-
9: Onan the Barbarian
.
– How an obscure Bible character affected the church’s stance on birth control and masturbation. – Most doctors have some embarrassing stories. Relevant to this…
-
8: Earthy Sex: Traditional family values? Not!
.
Promiscuity can have its consequences. In my medical residency we would serve as doctors for the women at the local correction facility. Some of…
-
7: Does God Have Chromosomes?
.
In the previous post we looked at the possibility that angels are able to have sex and offspring with human women, as suggested in…
-
6: Heavenly Sex and Amorous Angels
.
In 2016 television psychologist Dr. Phil hosted a 19-year-old woman who believed she was pregnant with “baby Jesus” despite negative pregnancy tests and an…
-
Posted On Religion (all)
5: Did Abraham Actually Kill Isaac?
.
In October of 2019 a man in Florida was arrested for killing three people. He claimed he was “a prophet, not a serial killer”…
-
4: Was Abraham ‘Just Plain Nuts?’
.
One of my favorite Far Side cartoons by Gary Larson shows a man lying on the couch as the psychiatrist writes on his notepad,…
-
Posted On Religion (all)
3: Blame It On The Woman!
.
I want to explore the Garden of Eden story to ask these three questions: 1) Why do we believe ancient stories that in any other…
-
1: Does God Have A Split Personality? (part 1)
.
Life is amazing. I mean, a single microscopic cell not only multiplies into more than 30 trillion cells (30,000,000,000,000!) but groups of cells somehow…