By Doc Mike When confronted with ridiculous Bible rules, Christians often respond the same way, "That was the Old Testament . Those laws are no longer valid." Well, here's a little story from the New Testament that disproves their claim. In Matthew, chapter 15, Jesus is criticized by the Pharisees for not washing his hands before eating. He defends himself by attacking them for not killing disobedient children according to the rule: "He that curseth his father or mother, shall be surely put to death." ( Exodus 21:17, Leviticus 20:9, Deuteronomy 21:18-21) So, is that rule still valid or not? How do Christians reconcile their unwillingness to kill their own children for cursing them, with their insistence that the Bible is the inerrant word of God? Deuteronomy explains it like this: 21:18 If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not he...

By DocMike In 2005, Bill O'Reilly declared there was a " War On Christmas " because retailers were posting signs that said, "Happy Holidays" or "Season's Greetings" instead of " Merry Christmas ." Of course, the stores were simply trying to appeal to all Americans instead of a single group, in hopes that everyone would buy more stuff during the holiday shopping season. But Uncle Bill and his followers proceeded to blacklist retailers and anyone else who didn't cave in to the media pressure. Now, three years later, Bill is pushing, "We Say Merry Christmas" bumper stickers (free with a purchase of $19.95 or more from his website), The Liberty Council and Focus on the Family have posted "Naughty or Nice" lists, identifying retailers who mention (or don't mention) the word "Christmas" in their ads, and there has been a major backlash by religious groups (and individuals) about recent billboards and si...

By DocMike I don't know if it's the approaching holiday season, the global economic crisis, or just the fact that I'm getting a little older, but I've been feeling the pain of the world lately and I really want to do something about it. I'm a very fortunate person. I have financial security, a close family, lots of great friends, and basically everything I need and most of what I want in life. If I believed in a deity, I would certainly be thanking it for my good fortune. But since I'm a rational human being, I attribute it to hard work and lots of good luck! Anyway, I've been reading a lot lately about hunger and I really want to do something to help those in need. However, I don't like the idea of sending money to a religion-based organization. Now, I know many of them do a lot of good in this area. I won't try to take that away from them. But frankly, I don't trust them. I always wonder how much of my money is being spent to feed hungry people...

By DocMike I know I've done this one to death (excuse the pun), but I just love Leviticus !

By DocMike I love finding obscure Bible stories the kids never hear in Sunday School . Here's a nice little tale about one of the Bible- God 's favorite people, Noah . Apparently, after the whole ark thing was over, Noah planted a vineyard so he could get drunk whenever he wanted. One day, he got so drunk he fell asleep naked in his tent. When his son, Ham , wandered in and saw Noah's "nakedness", Noah got pissed off. Genesis 9:24 says, " And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him." I'm not sure what Ham did, but it sounds like Noah was mad because Ham didn't cover his eyes. So in retaliation Noah cursed Ham's son, Canaan , to be " a servant of servants." In fact, Canaan (Noah's grandson) would become a servant to Noah's other son, Shem , because of what his father did (or didn't do). It's very complicated and it really makes you wonder what the fuck kind of message the autho...