tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-103259672012-01-28T09:25:07.902-05:00Promoting Science, Debunking Religion, Exploring Human ThoughtJerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.comBlogger4081100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-60905745301103415202012-01-26T15:30:00.002-05:002012-01-26T15:31:52.180-05:00

More than two decades ago when Louisiana passed legislation that would allow schools there to teach Creationism, I thought how foolish and uneducated those people are. When Kansas’ state board of education mandated equal treatment for Intelligent Design, I thought how sad it is that the people in that state who decide how their citizens are educated are so dim-witted. When Dover, Penn. Schools

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-1865759857940612762012-01-21T10:49:00.001-05:002012-01-21T10:53:57.138-05:00

People believe in God or they don't. Some say they don't know, but if they don't know or are not sure that God exists, then they don't really believe, do they? But if a person does have belief in God, it is not based on any kind of empirical evidence. It might be based on personal evidence, which is not allowed when doing science. It might be based on a trust in others who have told them that God

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-28413362573857841062011-12-31T12:47:00.000-05:002011-12-31T12:47:26.745-05:00

I was listening to an NPR program a couple of days ago about how 2011 has been a year for scientific take-backs. Some of the supposed discoveries of recent times, such as zeroing in on a cause for aging, have gotten second looks by the scientific community. Some of the conclusions of these studies were rethought in 2011. Unfortunately, such news adds fuel to the anti-science flames that burn in

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-7159837778053043072011-12-30T09:38:00.001-05:002011-12-30T09:38:40.126-05:00

This blog entry is not on one of my usual topics of religion or politics, and I am not even complaining about anything. It's just a subject my daughter and I have played around with recently and I thought it noteworthy. Have you ever noticed how adding the modifier "French" in front of a common word sometimes makes it sound so much better? Here are a few examples. Feel free to add your own in

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-3302287089789513752011-12-10T13:15:00.001-05:002011-12-10T13:17:33.689-05:00

What exactly is Christmas and why does it have an entire season devoted to it. Most holidays get a single day; Christmas gets a whole month. Charlie Brown, that affable but misunderstood Peanuts character was struggling with that question in the 1960s cartoon classic. Near the end of the program, Linus, the most insecure of the Peanuts bunch, swallowed his insecurities long enough to march out

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-81704756868719514382011-12-09T17:38:00.001-05:002011-12-22T16:16:57.998-05:00

I'm one of those people who loves Christmas music. Yes, I'm an atheist, but Christmas has a very strong secular side, which is really the only side I ever cared much about anyway. Granted, there are some very lovely Christmas hymns. Much of classical music was written in honor of someone's imaginary friend in the sky. That doesn't make the composers any less talented nor the songs any less able

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-9522264618831608002011-12-04T08:46:00.001-05:002011-12-04T09:35:28.590-05:00

Remember CDs and CD players? Of course you do. Most people still have them. CDs are still sold at Walmart last time I checked. But in a few short years, that question will sound less out of place, because physical media, like the compact disc, will soon become relics of a by-gone era. I remember a few years ago when I had CD towers in my living room to store all my music. I didn't own as much

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-56444409953311945162011-11-27T09:05:00.001-05:002011-11-27T09:39:32.942-05:00

I love watching Christmas movies and I love listening to Christmas music. It gives me a nice warm and fuzzy feeling of wintertime coziness. But there is a theme running through many holiday movies and songs that, although is intended to raise the spirit, might not be the best message to send to children, or to anyone for that matter. The theme is to "just believe" and somehow everything will work

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-58211805238667576942011-11-21T08:35:00.001-05:002011-11-23T22:02:06.148-05:00

A few months ago, researchers in Europe thought they had discovered particles called neutrinos going faster than light, something that is impossible according to Einstein and every other physicist working in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The notion that nothing moves faster than light is the underlying principle of physics and one that is put to use in technology every day. So

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-88556925557227781762011-11-08T20:22:00.002-05:002011-11-08T22:18:52.776-05:00

I have been debating via e-mail with a Christian apologist called VL Vawter. It has so far been stimulating and engaging. Our responses to each other have been rather long and thorough, so I have decided to include them here as PDF files. They have not been edited for public consumption. I started the conversation with a short essay refuting several key doctrinal claims within Christianity and,

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-32545291617545266632011-11-05T08:31:00.000-04:002011-11-05T08:34:48.255-04:00

Once again the Republicans in the Senate have obstructed a bill that would create thousands of jobs across the country. The bill is part of Pres. Obama's American Jobs Act that was already shot down in the Senate, so the president decided to send it through piecemeal. When 100 percent of Senate Republicans vote down a bill that will create jobs and is paid for, it only means what at least half

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-55980670514381739742011-10-29T22:24:00.000-04:002011-10-29T23:11:32.591-04:00

Once again I found myself having to defend a very-well-established scientific theory to a bunch of knuckleheads on an Internet forum. Nobody has to defend quantum theory, relativity theory, or the atomic theory to religious nut-cases, because they don't see these as threats to their precious bible. But evolution is different. God said he made all living creatures in six days so that must be the

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-75271598629383816462011-10-20T10:25:00.002-04:002011-10-20T10:38:09.694-04:00

It really pisses me off when a certain faction of society tries to limit the rights of everybody else by trying to force their own limited view of morality onto society as a whole. There are lots of examples but the abortion issue is one of the most contentious. And with few exceptions, it's the right-wing, evangelical Christian crowd that is the fondest of making everyone else toe the line of

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-46224636478672520202011-10-16T12:45:00.001-04:002011-10-16T16:20:24.060-04:00

I was having good conversation at my weekly CFI Sunday Social when the topic for discussion turned to truth and whether or not it exists outside our human perception. As a left-brained, science-oriented teacher, my position was that of course truth exists. It doesn't matter whether we know what it is or understand even how to arrive at it, but truth certainly does exist. My point was that

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-30263891418304176452011-10-09T09:01:00.001-04:002011-10-09T09:04:19.214-04:00

I don't know of any scientist that would claim that science has all the answers. But what scientists will claim is that science is the best thing we have to acquire the answers - real answers, not wishful-thinking answers. The problem is with the implication that since science doesn't know everything then we still need to look to God for the answers. No we don't. We just need to keep applying

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-55017082484705848012011-10-02T14:07:00.000-04:002011-10-02T14:19:45.510-04:00

Fundamentalist Christians have a skewed view of the world. They live in a world where facts are irrelevant and evidence is what you find in the bible. Because of this slanted approach to reality, fundamentalist beliefs are riddled with inconsistencies, contradictions, and scientific inaccuracies. Here is my countdown of the top 10 fallacies believed by fundamentalists: 10. The world is about

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-87125988211861932552011-09-11T08:28:00.001-04:002011-09-11T08:42:48.106-04:00

As a science teacher I always have a lesson or two near the beginning of my 8th grade science course on the difference between fact and opinion. On one of my guided practice handouts, for example, I might list several pieces of information and ask the students to write whether or not each represents a fact or an opinion. A sample list might include: A clear sky usually appears blue. A blue sky

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-18475387991440559172011-09-03T18:45:00.000-04:002011-09-03T18:49:32.767-04:00

Dear Science, You are one of my favorite channels on television. I watch you on a daily basis. I also watch some of your sister channels, such as Discovery, Animal Planet, and Planet Green. That said, I do have some concerns and complaints. Sometimes you show programming that is not really about science. Shows such as Oddities and Junkies can't really be described as science shows. And

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-7276353907452752882011-09-01T16:27:00.001-04:002011-09-01T16:36:05.232-04:00

In the twenty-first century, things go lightning fast. I can send a message to someone in Australia in a matter of a few seconds. Cars speed around the track at Indy at more than 220 miles per hour. And today's computers are clocked in gigahertz. My first real computer, a Tandy, had a clock speed of about 6 megahertz. But some things have actually slowed down. The speed of progress in such

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-66576170958522506872011-08-20T17:18:00.006-04:002011-08-21T19:13:34.213-04:00

In the abortion debate there are two main positions: Pro Life or Pro Choice. I've already written at length about the misnomer of the former and the fact that it is really just a euphemism for Anti-Choice, since pretty much everyone is in favor of life, so this post is not about that. It's about the debate between the two opposing viewpoints concerning whether or not a woman should be legally

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-51589776030018833402011-08-14T14:40:00.002-04:002011-08-20T21:15:00.108-04:00

While thousands of fans waited for the main act to start on the main stage at the Indiana State Fair in Indianapolis Saturday night, a sudden and catastrophic gust of wind blew up and caused the rigging of the stage to collapse. It took two seconds for the scaffolding, which held up numerous lights and speakers, to crash to the ground. Several people were killed and many were injured. Within

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-55040548383669747802011-08-03T09:24:00.002-04:002011-08-03T09:24:59.393-04:00

Billions of Christians from all over the world use the bible, and specifically the New Testament, as a basis for their faith. Some of them, the evangelicals, believe that the bible is not only a guide for their faith, but is literally the word of God and totally inerrant. They have no problem whatsoever in believing everything the bible says, despite its many contradictions and obvious mistakes

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-74882594978854612662011-07-25T09:58:00.000-04:002011-07-25T09:58:34.725-04:00

Dear Norwegians, You have just gone through a national trauma that should never be visited upon any nation, but especially not a free and tolerant nation such as you have. It is going to take some time for you to heal, but you will. The thing to remember is that these acts of terror, although perpetrated by one of your own, do not reflect badly upon your country or your way of life. They

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-68640099298298267362011-07-23T08:53:00.002-04:002011-07-23T08:53:50.617-04:00

Politics is a dirty business. It was so even back in the days of the Founding Fathers. But I can't imagine what is going on in Washington now over the national debt is what the founders had in mind when they created this nation. The Republicans in the House have painted themselves into a corner. They made promises to the Tea Party knuckleheads that they cannot keep. Some of them wish they could

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-55662224480823438722011-07-17T16:34:00.001-04:002011-07-17T16:34:55.619-04:00

Christian apologist Josh McDowell has a problem with the Internet. He sees it as anathema to Christianity. Why? Because it allows children and young people to gain knowledge and information, and to be skeptical. And McDowell sees this as a big problem. This is what McDowell said in a speech, as reported by the Christian Post: “Now here is the problem. I made the statement off and on for 10-11

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-75252212427232176412011-07-14T18:22:00.000-04:002011-07-14T18:22:32.033-04:00

All across the country states are passing laws that restrict a woman’s reproductive rights. In state after state, including Indiana, Ohio, Kansas, New Jersey, and Texas states have passed or are trying to pass legislation that would restrict or eliminate funding to Planned Parenthood. In other states, such as Kansas and South Dakota, Republican legislatures have limited when and how a woman can

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-36751781237397424342011-07-12T10:40:00.004-04:002011-07-12T10:49:54.538-04:00

In a recent Gallup poll, nearly a third of all Americans (30 percent) say they believe that the bible is the literal word of God, that is, the bible is word for word what God meant to say. Drilling down into the poll results, though, it is revealed that those who are most likely to believe that the bible is the literal word of God are those who have the least amount of education. That's not

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-60019695391079613762011-07-06T10:11:00.001-04:002011-07-10T13:23:17.775-04:00

The title of this post is a quote from Ernest Hemingway. It evokes a sense of personal conscience. If you perform some act and then feel a sense of regret afterwards, chances are what you did is not in line with what you believe is moral. Contrariwise, if something you do leads to a feeling of accomplishment or if it somehow enhances your self worth, the act was probably moral to you. But is it

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-55600002682870237432011-07-03T21:31:00.000-04:002011-07-03T21:31:29.272-04:00

I often ruminate on matters of the conscious mind. I find the topic fascinating. Another topic I find fascinating is the belief in a god and existence after death. As anyone knows who has read my blog, I'm not a believer in God, especially the personal god of the bible or any other holy book. But I can't rule out with 100-percent assuredness the existence of some kind of entity that could be

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-66124981825146713462011-06-30T12:38:00.002-04:002011-06-30T20:19:04.637-04:00

I have written in this blog for years, making what I believe are cogent, logically-consistent, and rational arguments against religion, and especially fundamentalist religions. I've posted the same reasonable arguments on forums and on Facebook. And it always seems that no matter what I say or how well I seem to have made my point, I get replies from those who just don't seem to understand my

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-62027151882120722342011-06-08T13:22:00.000-04:002011-06-08T13:22:47.283-04:00

A very recent poll reports that 91 percent of Americans believe in God. That is compared to 51 percent of people in the world. So the logical conclusion from that is that nine percent of Americans are atheists. Pollsters may point out, though, that there may be some “not sure” votes in there. Other polls show that 16 percent of Americans do not have a religious belief. Contained within this 16

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-13860926864439081722011-05-28T19:56:00.001-04:002011-05-28T21:08:27.579-04:00

What are some of the signs of the end of days, or the Second Coming? Ever since I was a child I’ve heard people tell me that we are living in the last days because the signs the bible speaks of are being fulfilled daily. And here are some of the things they mention: “There will be wars and rumors of war.” Even as a child, I knew that there had always been wars. The Old Testament is full of war.

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-84125051816899187772011-05-10T09:05:00.003-04:002011-05-10T10:08:05.640-04:00

Flood zone victims are “praying every day” for relief from the rising waters. So says a headline on one of my news feeds. Last month, the governor of Texas officially announced a “Weekend of Prayer” to pray for rain to alleviate the Texas drought. Well, how’s that working out for you, Governor? Perhaps the two groups should get together and pray for the rain that is already falling to move

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-33259431044218455412011-05-08T10:05:00.003-04:002011-05-08T10:17:50.850-04:00

So what happens in the minds of the deluded when they wake up on Sunday morning, May 22, and have not been raptured? They won’t talk about it now. They say to even think of the possibility that they might be wrong is an insult to God. That is how they keep themselves focused. It is how they tell themselves not to listen to the naysayers or nonbelievers. Some of them are more deluded than others

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-3835777983565368482011-04-23T08:50:00.001-04:002011-04-23T08:56:45.347-04:00

I woke up after my accident and suddenly I realized that I was dead. I was in a beautiful place, full of light and the most wonderful sense of well being I’ve ever felt. I thought to myself, “This could work.” Then I saw a figure that introduced himself to me as God. He told me to look around and enjoy, because this brief moment is all I am going to see of Heaven. “What?” I asked him. “Why. I

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-4234823946328621852011-04-10T19:08:00.001-04:002011-04-10T19:08:50.012-04:00

EVANGELICAL CHRISTIAN: God exists. Heaven and Hell exist as real places and in order to go to Heaven you need to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, your Lord and Savior. SINFUL WRETCH: That’s quite a powerful contention. You seem awfully sure of yourself. How do you know all this? EC: It is in the Bible. SW: Well I know lots of people who read the Bible and some of them do not

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-77572101828106186112011-03-26T17:21:00.001-04:002011-03-26T17:21:19.563-04:00

In the United States, only 16 percent of people believe that humans evolved by means of natural selection, while 58 percent of Canadians believe the same thing. In most Western European countries, the percentage of those who accept evolution is even higher. By far, the largest segment of American society who does not accept evolution belongs to one of the fundamentalist Christian cults or are

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-33563818090456781972011-03-19T09:42:00.000-04:002011-03-19T09:42:47.456-04:00

Nobody is born a Christian. Nobody in the world would be a Christian if someone else did not sell them on the idea. The same is true of every religion, of course, but right now I want to tackle Christianity since I live in that world. Jesus instructed his disciples to go out and spread the good news (gospel) to the world. And it’s still spreading, 2000 years later. One would think that a real

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-79075743608577428842011-03-09T23:24:00.004-05:002011-03-10T08:10:12.994-05:00

There is a different kind of politics going on in this country right now folks. It is not politics as usual. Sometimes in this country, and in various states, the Democrats take control and the Republicans whine and cry fowl. Sometimes, they even walk out so that the Democrats can’t vote. Sometimes, like now, it’s the other way around. But this time, it’s a little different. The difference is

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-85072887967523145502011-02-26T09:18:00.000-05:002011-02-26T09:18:54.387-05:00

A young woman is getting off work from her job as a waitress at midnight one Friday night. She is walking to her car in the parking lot. She fumbles for her keys as she approaches her vehicle. Just as she is about to place the key into the lock, a stranger abducts her and pulls her to the bushes at the side of the parking lot. He cups his hands over her mouth so she can’t scream. Then he ties a

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-38142431715444407112011-02-13T10:13:00.002-05:002011-02-13T10:13:28.451-05:00

I think a lot about religion. People have asked me why I care so much that people have faith or believe in the bible. And I give them all the standard answers to that: I care because I’ve discovered reality and I wish others would discover the same thing; I care because people of faith have a nasty habit of moralizing for everyone else; I care because some people of faith put themselves in

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-42670278137519363102011-02-04T11:34:00.005-05:002011-02-04T16:12:22.463-05:00

What, exactly, is time? Consider its characteristics as we recognize them. Time can be measured. But when we measure time, we do so with an object that changes in a predictable and regular way through a series of cycles: A swinging pendulum, a vibrating crystal, or an atom going through repeating quantum fluctuations. We then define a period of time, such as a second, as a certain number of these

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-13627019813040993712011-01-26T08:14:00.001-05:002011-01-26T08:14:37.407-05:00

Gov. Daniels claims he wants education reform. I contend that what he actually wants to do is kill or make impotent a teacher’s right to collectively bargain. It has nothing to do with education. The governor has said repeatedly that the quality of the teachers, more so than classroom size or socioeconomic status, determines how well students perform in class. Well then, how unfortunate it is

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-60144469380037278282010-12-31T13:44:00.001-05:002010-12-31T13:48:23.064-05:00

When I was a kid I used to fantasize about future technologies, even before computers were widely available to ordinary folks. I would fantasize about owning a robot that would accompany me to school and help me with my lessons. I would fantasize about building electronic gadgets and wonder at the marvels of how electrons flowing through a circuit could do all manner of things not dreamed of 100

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-17966082838825781252010-12-20T16:36:00.000-05:002010-12-20T16:36:25.864-05:00

How old is too old to believe in Santa Claus? And how old is too old to believe in God? I’ve called myself an atheist only for about the last three or four years. Before that, I was an agnostic. Before that I was “spiritual but not religious.” And before that I was a Christian. I went to church every Sunday. I attended Easter Sunrise services and Christmas Eve service. I got myself baptized. I

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-86049829825684197732010-12-20T00:05:00.004-05:002010-12-20T09:03:03.664-05:00

I was at a Christmas luncheon at work the other day talking about my students and how some of them might do better with a home schooling option. I related how I had home taught my two kids for part of their secondary school career. Another teacher explained how she was home schooling her children and that she was using a curriculum that was prepared by a Christian organization. My heart

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-55680465675060970212010-12-10T23:14:00.004-05:002010-12-10T23:32:41.829-05:00

It’s Christmastime and ‘tis the season for those holiday movies to reprise their appeals for kids who are on the cusp of becoming too old for Santa to “just believe” as the lyrics to Josh Groban’s song from Polar Express goes. To “just believe” in Santa is also a metaphor to implore a belief in God. A belief in a god requires faith – a baseless, strong belief in something unseen. To have faith

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-67160667234677001732010-12-05T10:52:00.001-05:002010-12-05T10:52:51.289-05:00

The Indiana General Assembly, during its upcoming session, will once again consider whether to lift the ban on Sunday sales of liquor. It tried last year and failed. Proponents of lifting the ban have higher hopes for this coming session. Several states join with Indiana in banning the sale of certain items, such as alcoholic beverages or vehicles, on Sunday. These are called blue laws for

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-72537758255782111192010-11-25T14:41:00.001-05:002010-11-25T14:41:51.121-05:00

Thanksgiving is an American holiday set aside to be grateful for all that we have. There are a lot of customs and traditions associated with this holiday. But there are just as many myths. Let’s take a look at some of the myths of Thanksgiving and then what really happened. Myth 1: The first Thanksgiving took place in 1621. Reality: There was, indeed, a three-day harvest celebration in the fall

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-84878072547991045212010-10-17T09:29:00.000-04:002010-10-17T09:29:08.395-04:00

I attended a wedding this weekend, which is unusual for me because I like attending neither weddings nor funerals. But since it was my niece who was getting married and they were going to serve me food at the reception, I had to attend. The reception was fun. They did have food and it was a chance to visit with members of the family. The wedding, on the other hand, was excruciating. First of

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-66067086121193616922010-10-03T10:00:00.002-04:002010-10-03T10:26:31.995-04:00

I grew up in a Christian family. Mom made my siblings and me attend church on a regular basis. I didn’t much care for it and often went to great links to avoid it, such as turning the clock hand ahead to make her think we were already late. It didn’t work. She eventually stopped attending church regularly herself, but when I was 10 or 11 I started going to church on my own because all the other

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-18151368693157754292010-09-20T19:22:00.001-04:002010-09-20T19:22:18.932-04:00

If there is one thing that is as certain to happen as tomorrow’s sunrise it is the drone of opposition to anything new and different by the naysayers who are always suspicious of almost any improvement or innovation. In the news recently is a story about genetically-modified salmon. The salmon is genetically enhanced to produce more of a different salmon’s growth hormone, which causes it to

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-82326739184389623962010-09-11T10:15:00.003-04:002010-09-11T10:20:27.380-04:00

Until just a few weeks ago no one outside his small circle of friends, family, and congregants had ever heard of Rev. Terry Jones. This morning, merely typing in three letters on a Google search, “T-E-R” produced several listings for the reverend. Jones is the pastor of Dove World Outreach Center, a small evangelical Christian church in Gainesville, Florida. Founded in 1985, the church has only

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-45278626966271331052010-08-23T18:28:00.003-04:002010-08-23T19:19:19.683-04:00

Enough already! I’m sick of hearing about the proposed mosque and community center that will occupy a new 13-story building only two blocks from Ground Zero. Do people really have nothing better to do than to go protest for or against the building of this mosque? So what if they build it? The sky is not going to fall. Sure it is disrespectful to those who lost loved ones in the 9/11 terrorist

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-76422652928161066082010-08-14T16:27:00.000-04:002010-08-14T16:27:10.069-04:00

One of the biggest challenges to my understanding of the religious mind is that so many believers continually insist on making up excuses for their god when things go badly. For example, the quintessential excuse used when prayers seem to go unanswered is, “God answers prayer in his own way and in his own time.” So, in other words, either God is behaving capriciously or God is not answering

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-2307206163617601272010-08-11T22:15:00.000-04:002010-08-11T22:15:04.196-04:00

I was reading a blog the other day in which the author claimed that people in America were becoming less religious and, as a result, this country was becoming less moral. The post lamented that morality was quickly becoming a casualty of ecumenicalism. But when Christians talk about morality, what they are really talking about is sex. Nobody disputes the fact that things like theft, rape, and

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-45398004419624940962010-08-07T13:51:00.001-04:002010-08-07T13:51:25.571-04:00

Most Christian apologists think that atheism is as much a religion as Christianity because atheists seem to show just as much devotion to the idea of their being no god as Christians show to their god. While, admittedly, some atheists are zealous in their non-belief, many go about their daily lives quietly not believing in a deity, not saying anything about it to anyone. They are either closet

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-20349683770938724492010-08-05T10:10:00.001-04:002010-08-05T12:11:52.496-04:00

During the George W. Bush era, they were called the Red States. They are states filled with conservative Republican voters who espouse Christian values. These states are filled with church-going people who believe that the bible is the literal Word of God, who generally do not believe in evolution (The Creation Museum was built in one of these states, Kentucky.), and who believe that homosexuals

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-42824176409558665932010-07-21T13:10:00.002-04:002010-07-21T13:10:44.416-04:00

What do Christians believe? To answer that question it helps to know which group of Christians is answering. But the main theology is common among almost all Christians. Here it is in a nutshell: Christians believe that if you have faith that Jesus Christ is the divine Son of God who died on the cross for your sins and then was resurrected and ascended into heaven as a flesh-and-blood body, then

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-10001692570196320262010-07-10T18:46:00.003-04:002010-07-12T08:24:04.216-04:00

A fly lives for about four days, reproduces, then it dies. If it somehow managed not to successfully reproduce, its existence was for naught. But even if it does reproduce, what does that really mean? Hundreds of other flies just like it will be produced (once they go through the larval stage). Then they live a few days, reproduce, and die. What’s the point? But it is not only the lowly fly that

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-84289563319631271512010-06-30T08:41:00.000-04:002010-06-30T08:41:13.207-04:00

I am dedicating this entry to the declaration of the World Atheist Conference below. All politicians running for any office, local or national, should sign off on this set of principles as their baseline position. If they do not, then they do not deserve to hold public office and voters should decide their fate accordingly. Notice that this declaration is certainly not an apologetic for atheism.

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-52782939504672298852010-06-23T10:04:00.000-04:002010-06-23T10:04:21.605-04:00

The Center for Science in the Public Interest is at it again. The “Food Police,” as food industry advocates have dubbed it, is now targeting that great American institution, McDonald’s. The CSPI is best known for whining about consumer food favorites such as buttered theater popcorn and sugary-sweet breakfast cereals. This is the group that forced the Kellogg Company to stop marketing its

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-79219571862670034322010-06-20T18:38:00.000-04:002010-06-20T18:38:27.944-04:00

I have had many labels placed on me during my life. I have been called a conservative. In fact, one man once described me as being "just to the right of Hitler." I, of course, disagreed with him. I’ve also quite often been called a liberal nut-job. I don't mind being labeled. It is just interesting to me that I can carry so many conflicting labels, placed there by people trying to further

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-57825422576262750552010-06-12T10:15:00.002-04:002010-06-12T10:15:58.954-04:00

People believe in God for different reasons. But I believe the most common reason is that they were raised that way. Religion has hung on so long despite having absolutely no empirical evidence to support it because it has become an ingrained tradition in families. Couple that with the lucrative church business, so that religious organizations are compelled to keep the believers coming in, and

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-18966681195753778122010-06-02T09:23:00.002-04:002010-06-02T09:23:34.518-04:00

I was watching this documentary called Waiting for Armageddon and it really made me sad and afraid. No, I’m not afraid that I will witness the end of the world or that I won’t be among those who are “raptured.” I’m afraid because of how the children of today are being indoctrinated into what is little more than a cult, and they will pay the price. The beginning of the documentary focused on one

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-44424874695034299572010-05-22T18:48:00.002-04:002010-05-22T18:48:19.982-04:00

I want to write another one of my meaningless rants today, just because doing so makes me feel better somehow. This one concerns the weatherman. Yes, I know. The weatherman always gets blamed for bad weather. But that’s not really what I’m going to blame him for. (Oh, and by “weatherman” I’m actually referring to any of the television weather broadcasters, regardless of their gender.) Like I

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-12167185707116839852010-05-08T18:05:00.002-04:002010-05-08T18:05:38.894-04:00

The problem of evil in the presence of God has been around ever since humans invented the concept of God. The bible spends many pages throughout the Old and New Testaments trying to rectify the situation. How can a just and loving god allow suffering in the world? It is fairly unanimous among the Old Testament authors that evil is the result of God’s wrath. God was angry at us for disobeying Him

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-44318451311029853302010-05-02T09:14:00.001-04:002010-05-02T12:42:21.036-04:00

When someone creates an organization to support a cause, they normally give it a descriptive name that let's people know what they are actually supporting: Save the Whales, Greenpeace, Mothers Against Drunk Drivers, etc. If someone wanted to give their organization a name that has nothing to do with their cause it might be because they are brain dead, but more likely it is because theirs is

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-18339135315580515772010-04-24T11:20:00.001-04:002010-04-24T11:34:32.411-04:00

Is the Holy Bible the inspired word of God or isn’t it? Let’s look at the evidence on both sides of that question. First, what is the evidence that the bible is, indeed, the actual word of God? Well, the bible itself says it’s the word of God. “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-33044028610492384052010-04-17T10:23:00.001-04:002010-04-17T10:23:48.017-04:00

When Ben Franklin went out in a thunderstorm and flew his kite, he knew he wanted to capture the power of lightning, but he didn’t know what lightning was made of. He had no idea about ions or electrons. He wanted to prove that lightning was a form of electricity. But he didn’t know what electricity was. But he was the first to recognize that it consisted of positive and negative charges. A

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-76449806848893026012010-04-04T09:56:00.001-04:002010-04-04T09:56:18.118-04:00

As with almost every other allegory in the bible, the stories of the Crucifixion and Resurrection also contain many incongruous and even contradictory details among the four Gospels. The Gospels were not written in the same order as they appear in the bible, and they were not written by the apostles whose names appear on them. Mark was written first, and therefore, closest to the actual events (

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-31844131543322243332010-04-03T08:47:00.000-04:002010-04-03T08:47:18.907-04:00

As I write this the Apple iPad is about to go on sale nationally. But instead of waiting in line to get one for myself, I’m here at the keyboard writing about it. Why? Because, as cool as it may be, I haven’t a clue what it’s good for. How would I use it? First of all, I’m a huge fan of technology. Unlike my daughter who likes only the technology that she deems truly beneficial to her or to

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-65749761122792770522010-03-27T23:15:00.003-04:002010-03-27T23:25:48.235-04:00

What is sin? Sin can be an act. It can also just be a thought. It is the deliberate disobedience of the known law of God. Apparently, according to some belief systems, it can also happen without deliberation. Catholics believe in original sin, which is why they baptize babies. It’s not clear to me how someone so innocent can also be a sinner. But there is a lot I don’t understand about religious

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-59068541723584224792010-03-14T20:29:00.000-04:002010-03-14T20:29:43.366-04:00

Why are people religious? That’s a serious question. What makes people decide to have faith in an all-powerful, unseen entity? There are numerous reasons, and I believe I know some of them. Most people who are religious acquired their religious views from their parents or their social clique. Think about it; when you were born, you were an atheist. Everybody was. Atheism simply means you don’t

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-30743071607547585932010-03-06T13:07:00.004-05:002010-03-06T13:10:53.037-05:00

Could a monkey accidentally type out the entire bible if you sat him down in front of a keyboard for long enough? The odds, given the number of words in the bible, are so incredibly tiny that for all practical purposes we could say it borders on the impossible. The universe is not old enough for it to have happened even if the monkey started typing at the big bang. That is the argument that

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-91343076890420636402010-02-28T09:51:00.001-05:002010-02-28T18:17:41.328-05:00

Keep the faith. That is something many of us are encouraged to do. It is part of the general well-wishing that often comes with saying goodbye to a friend. “See you later, my friend. Keep the faith!” Keeping the Faith was the title of a movie about two good friends, a Catholic priest and a rabbi, and a childhood friend who came back into their lives as a beautiful woman and shook things up

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-70351352052294678702010-02-20T18:41:00.000-05:002010-02-20T18:41:44.042-05:00

Take this test to see if you are, indeed, a Christian fundamentalist. 1. Do you believe that God created all the world in six literal days about 6,000 years ago? 2. Do you believe that being homosexual is a sin? 3. Do you believe that the United States was founded on the principals of Christianity? 4. Do you believe its ok to use any measures to stop abortions? 5. Do you believe that every

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-9928979033900875782010-02-20T09:51:00.000-05:002010-02-20T09:51:48.765-05:00

A recent survey reported in Science and Religion Today shows that more than half, 51 percent, of Texans do not believe that humans evolved from more primitive animal species. A full 38 percent believe that humans have existed in their present form since their creation by God less than 10,000 years ago. The Texas poll is fairly reflective of the country as a whole, unfortunately. I don’t know for

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-38500227196743127902010-02-07T10:42:00.003-05:002010-02-07T10:42:54.537-05:00

There is a rather fine line between religion and superstition. I guess the biggest difference is that, whereas superstition involves a single act or a single item, religion is more organized and typically involves a set of related beliefs. But, in some cases, one person’s religion can be another person’s superstition. Voodoo, for example, can be viewed as superstitious ritual, but not to those

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-7078568600970222022010-01-30T20:23:00.000-05:002010-01-30T20:23:12.598-05:00

I do not need to be convinced of the fact of evolution. I’ve known that organisms have evolved ever since I took biology in high school all those decades ago. I also know that not everyone shares my conviction that evolution has happened. Oh, I know, even the most ardent creationist admits that evolution happens up to a point, within a species. But they go on blindly denying that one species can

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-14163189087731786372010-01-23T18:26:00.003-05:002010-01-24T00:01:24.409-05:00

There they were, two folded dollar bills lying flat on the tile floor at McAlister's Deli. I was one table up the aisle from where they lay. And there was a party of four at the table next to the dropped dough, but none of them saw it lying there. There was a party of five at the table across the aisle and the man on the end was within arms length of it, but he didn't see it either. My daugher,

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-64253157305671297992010-01-17T09:14:00.001-05:002010-01-17T09:14:34.398-05:00

In my last post I complained about how the news media often encourages a misunderstanding of the facts by the general public because of its insistence that both sides of every story be reported even if the other side is based on faulty science. The examples I included were anthropogenic climate change and the theory of evolution. Few legitimate climatologists debate that humans are affecting

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-79808899951721127042010-01-10T10:00:00.001-05:002010-01-10T10:09:09.486-05:00

A commenter on one of my blog posts lamented, “I believe that the worst thing that has happened in my life, I'm 65, is 24 hour news.” While I disagree with this writer’s opinion on ubiquitous and continuous news coverage, I do whole-heartedly agree with the point he was making, that when you have so much time to tell the news, a lot of what you’re reporting is not really news. It’s opinion; it’s

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-69879286260076275212010-01-03T20:29:00.000-05:002010-01-03T20:29:36.314-05:00

I love cheese. Cheese is one of my favorite foods. Almost any savory food goes better with cheese. Even some desserts go better with soft, mild cheeses. Take cheesecake, for example. Cheese is its prime ingredient. My favorite types of cheeses are the softer varieties, such as brie. I’m less of a fan of mozzarella. I don’t like pizzas that are made from whole slices of mozzarella, because it

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-58593542710993228602010-01-01T09:40:00.000-05:002010-01-01T09:40:57.143-05:00

Happy New Year and welcome to 2010 everyone. And that’s “Twenty Ten” NOT “Two Thousand Ten.” I admit it was easier to say the year 2009 as “two thousand nine,” and all the previous years in the millennium as well. But that habit has got to stop. “Why is that?” I heard you asking. Well, it’s a matter of syllable economics. We are now a society of texting and tweeting and we value brevity,

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-35428186481868883632009-12-29T08:14:00.000-05:002009-12-29T08:14:40.216-05:00

Over the past several years, this Over Coffee blog has been available for subscription from my own Web site. I have moved the blog to Blogger.com's site for a number of reasons. The bottom line is, the old feed will no longer include any new posts. Please change your reader to grab the feed from: http://feeds2.feedburner.com/wilstar/acax Some have already been using the above feed source. If

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-59837380856728390132009-12-24T18:29:00.002-05:002009-12-27T08:17:37.005-05:00

It’s Christmas Eve. Tomorrow is Jesus’ birthday. Well, no, not really. Nobody knows when Jesus was born. Nobody even knows for certain IF Jesus was born. There were lots of Jesus’ in those days. It was a common name. But I’m talking about THE Jesus. There is no solid evidence, outside the bible, that the Messiah Jesus existed, let alone what day he was born on. The early Church adopted December

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-58832023536963492652009-12-21T23:07:00.000-05:002009-12-21T23:07:37.027-05:00

You can drive down almost any street in any small town, big city, or along any country road and sooner or later you will see a sign proclaiming “Jesus Loves,” or “Jesus is Lord,” or listing a bible verse, usually “John 3:16.” You’ll see Christian messages on church placards or read some bible verse on a bumper sticker. But when someone puts up a sign that says something as innocuous as “Reason’s

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-11576733446255422602009-12-19T11:44:00.000-05:002009-12-19T11:44:06.099-05:00

My son and I were having lunch at the Slippery Noodle a couple of days ago when our discussion turned to Tiger Woods. No, we didn’t discuss his philandering. The ramifications of his marital fidelity should be between his wife and him. Both of us agreed, however, that the decision by the Associated Press to name Woods as Athlete of the Decade was quite a reach. Personally, my choice would be for

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-59702806598710659062009-12-12T13:06:00.002-05:002009-12-13T08:18:46.303-05:00

Are we doomed in a mere three years? On December 21, 2012, the earth and all its inhabitants will cease to exist. Well, that’s if you believe the hype surrounding one interpretation of an ancient calendar constructed by the Mayan civilization. That calendar follows a very precise cyclical pattern. And the cycles end on the first day of winter in the year 2012. That’s December 21. The Mayans had

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-5965247608442708212009-12-05T13:28:00.001-05:002009-12-05T13:54:40.949-05:00

I finally purchased and installed a copy of Windows 7 on my desktop computer. But the whole process was not a very pleasant one. It started at Best Buy about three weeks ago when I saw a Windows 7 Family Pack box on the shelf. I have a desktop and two laptops in my house and the three-license family pack seemed like a good bargain. Unfortunately, the store was out. The box was for display only.

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-54792996360727152632009-11-14T11:08:00.002-05:002009-11-14T11:10:59.662-05:00

When Galileo pointed his newly-improved telescope to the skies 400 years ago, he saw things he wasn’t supposed to see. He saw that the sun has blemishes; today we call them sunspots. He saw that the moon’s face was pockmarked. And, most importantly, he noticed that the planet Jupiter had little moons orbiting it with regular periods.He wasn’t supposed to notice these things because, according to

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-2978365453723791862009-11-09T19:00:00.004-05:002009-11-09T19:07:48.655-05:00

by Shana Wilson(This week's entry is by guest blogger Shana Wilson, who happens to share my opinion regarding the H1N1 pandemic and how the media may be responsible for bringing undue alarm to parents.)The spread of the influenza virus, H1N1, also commonly known as the swine flu, has struck panic in many parents. Add into the equation that it is becoming increasingly difficult to get vaccinated,

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-84180937335337589692009-10-31T15:09:00.002-04:002009-10-31T16:27:12.547-04:00

I used to go to church a lot. My church of choice was the First Christian Church, Disciples of Christ. But I’ve also been to other protestant denominations including Lutheran, Methodist, Nazarene, Baptist, Pentecostal, and Assembly of God. I’ve heard a lot of sermons in my day. Most of the sermons centered around the teachings of Jesus, as would be expected in a Christian church. The Pentecostal

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-40575897656442775572009-10-24T17:13:00.000-04:002009-10-24T17:14:25.195-04:00

After living for years in a sort of religious limbo (no pun intended) I now call myself an atheist, not because I know there is no god, but because I do not believe in one. God might or might not exist; I have no way of knowing for sure, so I’m an agnostic atheist.I used to call myself just an agnostic, and before that I called myself spiritual but not religious and before that I called myself a

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-22027813337565871292009-10-10T09:28:00.001-04:002009-10-10T09:30:25.378-04:00

America does not exist in isolation. The isolationist policies that existed prior to World Wars I and II cannot work in the global economy of today. One can argue that they didn’t even work back then, since those wars might have been prevented by a United States that was more engaged in world affairs.The United States, if we are to be a world leader, needs to have the respect of the nations we

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-69681653431972901892009-10-04T11:33:00.001-04:002009-10-04T11:43:24.142-04:00

Most people have heard of the five-second rule. It says if you drop a piece of food, such as a potato chip or an apple on the floor, and if you pick it up right away, within five seconds, it is still clean enough to eat.Our science class at George Washington Community School decided to test this rule. No, we didn’t use each other to test the rule by eating dropped food to see who would get sick.

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-33488907412406572682009-09-19T15:36:00.000-04:002009-09-19T15:37:02.833-04:00

Republicans are at it again, bashing Obama for something that they let slide under George W. Bush. This time it’s about Obama’s appointment of so-called czars to advise him on various policy issues.The word czar originally meant an emperor, like Caesar, which is the term’s root. Russia was ruled by czars for centuries. But it is not at all affiliated with communism or socialism, which is what

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-38660042255566893892009-09-06T19:02:00.000-04:002009-09-06T19:04:00.683-04:00

Ever since Barack Obama was elected president, conservatives have been crying and bellyaching over one thing or another. I guess that’s normal in a two-party system. Democrats complained a lot when George W. Bush was president. But then so did many Republicans. After all, Bush was a blithering idiot.Obama is an intellectual and is very charismatic. Outwardly, he is a lot more like Ronald Reagan,

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10325967.post-25154938226380969092009-08-29T16:54:00.001-04:002009-08-29T16:59:51.729-04:00

When I was a kid, I believed all the popular stories of the bible. I believed that Noah and his family really did build a big boat. I believed Adam and Eve were the first people on Earth. I believed that Eve spoke to a snake and that Jonah was eaten by a whale (although it turned out to be a big fish). The sad part is I believed most of these things at least a little all the way into my college

Jerry Wilsonnoreply@blogger.com24