“Most of us would rather die than live a life where nothing is fundamentally valuable at all, right?” So begins Rachel Robinson-Greene’s depressing foray into a post-zombie world in an article entitled “Better Off Undead." I have been blogging my way through The Walking Dead and Philosophy, a fascinating book that has so far addressed issues involving logic (zombies like the … [Read more...]
The Hunger Games: Revisited
Last monthI posted a critique of the movie The Hunger Games. It came to my attention that Fred Edwords posted a short piece at the American Humanist Association's website addressing the general evangelical response to the movie. He linked to my original article and broadly addressed my comparison of the society of The Capital to where today's societies are leading. Mr. Edwords … [Read more...]
Leviathans and Zombies: Social Contracts and the Walking Dead
AMC's The Walking Dead has provided an interesting (and at times gruesome) venue with which to revisit some of the more significant questions about life. I have been blogging my way through The Walking Dead and Philosophy, a fascinating book that has so far addressed issues of logic (zombies like the Walkers are not possible) and the nature of humanity (but philosophical … [Read more...]
Much Undead Ado About Nothing
The debate about what it means to be human has taken an interesting direction following the recent fixation with zombies. The Walking Dead and Philosophy opened with two essays arguing that the consideration of philosophical zombies (P-Zombies) - theoretical beings identical to humans but lacking consciousness, qualia, or sentience - mitigates against a purely materialistic … [Read more...]
The Hunger Games: The Atheist's Utopia Revealed
My Past Week I've noticed lately that I have a harder and harder time going to see movies purely for the entertainment value of the show. This weekend I went to see one that really made me step back and look at society, not just as portrayed in the movie, but the society of the audience. Last week I had a conversation with a person that was still fresh on my mind, and I … [Read more...]
How Do You Solve A Problem Like A Zombie?
Even before "The Walking Dead" and "Jersey Shore" became popular, the world had been introduced to the notion of philosophical zombies, theoretical creatures identical to human beings with one tiny distinction - they have no consciousness, qualia, or sentience. Imagine a twin who is identical to you in every possible material way but lacks any type of inner subjective … [Read more...]
A Christmas Carol versus the gospel
The first three parts of the Christmas sermon series, “He Came to Us: Four Gospels - Four Perspectives,” preached by Redeemer’s lead elder, Jim Applegate, are subtitled, “Matthew: In our brokenness,” “Mark: To all of us,” and “Luke: Knowing we are skeptics". This fourth and final part is subtitled, “John: For all eternity” and evaluates A Christmas Carol, complete with … [Read more...]
The Courageous Movie and the Purpose of Apologetics
Tomorrow marks the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ- the one who's life, death, and resurrection the Christian faith is founded upon. On this blog we spend a lot of time explaining how to defend the truth of Christianity, but why should you learn to defend the truth of Christianity? What is the real point in apologetics? Does it seem like a favorite past-time of only … [Read more...]
The Wolves of Mercy Falls
"In the end, it’s a long, cold night and those woods for all of us.” _________________________________________________________________________ Maggie Stiefvater has written a a trilogy entitled The Wolves of Mercy Falls. While her latest, The Scorpio Races, has her on the front pages of literary news, this trilogy has excelled as well. Grace lives in Mercy Falls. As a child, … [Read more...]
Daughter of Smoke and Bone
“You tell me that battling with monsters has made me a monster? Doing business with devils, what has that made you?” _________________________________________________________________________ Universal Pictures has already bought the film rights to Daughter of Smoke and Bone, and no wonder: Laini Taylor's book has received exceptional critical accolades: New York Times … [Read more...]