In a previous post, Sunday Study: Interpreting the Sixth Commandment Part I, I discussed some translations of the sixth commandment of the Decalogue. I began with the King James Version (KJV), “thou shall not kill.”[1] I looked at problems with this translation most famously raised by Augustine. The New International Version (NIV) and New Revised [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Theology'
Sunday Study: Interpreting the Sixth Commandment Part II
September 13th, 2009 11 Comments
Tags: Augustine · Ethics · Old Testament Ethics · Sunday Study · Ten Commandments · Theology
Sunday Study: Interpreting the Sixth Commandment Part I
September 6th, 2009 5 Comments
One of the most well known biblical commands is the sixth commandment of the Decalogue (according to protestant enumeration). This commandment occurs in the 20th chapter of the book of Exodus and the fifth chapter of the book of Deuteronomy. In its most well-known rendition, the King James Version (KJV), this commandment states “thou shalt [...]
Tags: Old Testament Ethics · Sunday Study · Ten Commandments · Theology
Sunday Study R 13: Romans, Revelations and the Role of the State
September 4th, 2009 6 Comments
In a previous post, Sunday Study: 666 The Number of the Beast, I exegeted Revelation 13’s infamous reference to the mark of the beast, in that post I argued that the first beast is a reference to Rome; a world empire, built on seven hills that ruled over all the nations of the earth at [...]
Tags: Hermeneutics · Hitler · Role of the State · Sunday Study · Theology
Fisking Margaret Mayman: The Flawed Moral Theology on the Smacking Referendum
July 7th, 2009 7 Comments
In “A Christian Perspective on the Child Discipline Referendum,” Rev Dr Margaret Mayman presents a theological justification for retaining the amended section 59 of the Crimes Act 1961, which has criminalised force used against a child for the purposes of parental correction. Mayman began by offering three standard arguments for repealing the old section 59, [...]
Tags: Crimes Act · David Benatar · Hermeneutics · Margaret Mayman · Referendum · s59 · Smacking · Theology
Sunday Study: Does the Bible Teach that a Rape Victim has to Marry her Rapist?
July 5th, 2009 45 Comments
In our recent discussion on the Bible’s teachings on slavery John Loftus asked Madeleine, “if you were raped you should marry your rapist? Get real. … Would you want to be treated the way the Bible says women and slaves should be treated?” Loftus then dedicated a post on Debunking Christianity to Madeleine’s “stupidity” for [...]
Tags: John Loftus · Michael Martin · Old Testament Ethics · Sexual Morality · Sunday Study · Theology
Guest Post: Why doesn’t the Bible address X?
July 3rd, 2009 3 Comments
The following is authored by Bethyada of True Paradigm, it is particularly apt given recent comments left on this blog. Bethyada writes: A not infrequent complaint raised by theism sceptics is that the Bible does not address many issues the sceptics think it should address; if indeed the Bible is a divine book and not [...]
Tags: Guest Post · Theology
John Loftus on Madeleine Flannagan and Women and Other Red Herrings
July 1st, 2009 7 Comments
A few days ago I posted, Sunday Study: Slavery, John Locke and the Bible; in this post I defended an argument proposed by John Locke that the Bible does not support slavery. In that article I quoted from John Loftus’ book “Why I Became an Atheist” as an example of what is typically meant by [...]
Tags: Atheism · Christian History · Ethics · John Loftus · Religious History · Theology
Sunday Study: Slavery, John Locke and the Bible
June 28th, 2009 97 Comments
It is often affirmed, as an incontestable and obvious truth, that the Bible supports slavery. Walter Sinnott-Armstrong cites Leviticus 25:44 as evidence of this charge in “Why Traditional Theism is not an Adequate Foundation for Morality.”[1] Although Armstrong is not the alone in making this claim, I think the charge is mistaken; the Bible does [...]
Tags: John Locke · John Loftus · Old Testament Ethics · Selection · Slavery · Sunday Study · Theology · Walter Sinnott-Armstrong
Sunday Study: The Virtue of Judging – Jesus was not a Relativist
June 23rd, 2009 3 Comments
About a year ago I gave a talk on moral relativism for Thinking Matters Tauranga. During that talk I noted that relativism entails that one cannot apply the moral principles you (or your culture) accepts to the practices of other people (or cultures). I was critical of this position arguing that it suffers from all [...]
Tags: Judging · Relativism · Sunday Study · Theology
Theology and Natural Sciences Conferences
June 17th, 2009 1 Comment
TANSA (Theology and Natural Sciences in Aotearoa) run conferences in Auckland. As Matt will be speaking, on “Does Evolution Make Belief in God Untenable? – An Examination of the Common Arguments,” at the TANSA August Churches Conference, Faithful Science? – Just How Well Do Science and Faith Get Along? I thought I would refer you [...]
Tags: Events · Science and Religion · Theology
