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Stacks of unsold books and glum publishers stood for three days inside the cavernous Dallas Convention Center this past weekend at the Christian Book Expo, a first-of-its- kind event designed to connect publishers and authors directly with readers in the evangelical Christian market. Only problem was there were few readers to connect with, despite the show’s location in Dallas, the buckle of the Bible Belt and a top market for Christian publishers. The show, sponsored by the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association, attracted 1,500 consumer attendees; it had hoped for 15,000-20,000.

See here.

The event was two years in the planning, and had panel discussions and other programs.

Doug wrote:Stacks of unsold books and glum publishers stood for three days inside the cavernous Dallas Convention Center this past weekend at the Christian Book Expo,...

DAR
A lot of Christian books are end timer, Jesus is coming soon, stuff. That's what sells. See the "Left In Your Behind" series. But these books have an expiration date. They become absurd testaments to the lying BS narrative they are within ten years+ or so. Who's reading Hal Lindsey's "Late Great Planet Earth" which sold tens of millions of copies in the '70's? Nobody. Because it was all crap. Just like the Left Behind junk. People should really go back and read some of this evangelical stuff from the 40's and 50's. It's the same old poop chock full of failed prophecies and almost all of the people who invested their beliefs in that back then are dead.

Actually, what am I saying? This is nothing new. This is a game Christians have been titillating themselves with for 1,900+ years. Christianity is founded upon false, failed, prophecy.

D.
----------------------
The END was nigh.

Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom. Matt. 16:28

But this I say, brethren, the time is short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none; 1 Cor. 7:29

Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. Phil. 4:5

For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven... Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds... 1 Thess. 4:15-16

God...Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son... Heb. 1:1-2

For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. Heb. 10:37

Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord... stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh...behold, the judge standeth before the door. James 5:7-9

But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer. 1 Peter 4:7

The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass;... Rev. 1:1

Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand. Rev. 1:3

A new book out:

The Good Book.

Darrel wrote:President of the Christian Action League, 74, Is Arrested after Allegedly Paying Hooker with Checks

Does she not take checks?....I mean most are cash only but it really should be posted if you are going so far as to arrest someone for only having a check.

.

We aren't going to kiss and make up, sorry

Category: Religion
Posted on: March 28, 2009 12:38 PM, by PZ Myers




This is not one of those fake church signs: it's the real thing, taken in Arkansas.

from Pharyngula


.

I'm watching an episode of House, M.D. with Hugh Laurie in which the patient is a nun. Because the show is so great, there are many religious sub-plots; at one point, Dr. House speaks directly to the patient who has asked to be released from the hospital against medical advice. During the course of the conversation, House lets loose this gem, which I can only wish people would heed:

You can have all the faith you want in spirits and the afterlife, and heaven and hell, but when it comes to this world, don’t be an idiot. ‘Cause you can tell me you put your faith in God to put you through the day, but when it comes time to cross the road, I know you look both ways.

In fact, maybe I should post a larger portion of the conversation:

Augustine: Why is it so difficult for you to believe in God?

House: What I have difficulty with is the whole concept of belief. Faith isn’t based on logic and experience.

Augustine: I experience God on a daily basis, and the miracle of life all around. The miracle of birth, the miracle of love. He is always with me.

House: Where is the miracle in delivering a crack-addicted baby? Hmmm? And watching her mother abandon her because she needs another score. The miracle of love. You’re twice as likely to be killed by the person you love than by a stranger.

Augustine: Are you trying to talk me out of my faith?

House: You can have all the faith you want in spirits and the afterlife, and heaven and hell, but when it comes to this world, don’t be an idiot. ‘Cause you can tell me you put your faith in God to put you through the day, but when it comes time to cross the road, I know you look both ways.

Augustine: I don’t believe He is inside me and is going to save me. I believe He is inside me whether I live or die.

House: Then you might as well live. You’ve got a better shot betting on me than on Him.

Church sign above:

"REASON IS THE GREATEST ENEMY FAITH HAS."

DAR
And they are exactly right. Martin Luther, the founder of protestantism put it much stronger:

"Reason must be deluded, blinded, and destroyed. Faith must trample underfoot all reason, sense, and understanding and whatever it sees must put out of sight and wish to know nothing but the word of God." --Martin Luther (1483-1546)

"Reason is the Devil's greatest whore; by nature and manner of being she is a noxious whore; she is a prostitute, the Devil's appointed whore; whore eaten by scab and leprosy who ought to be trodden under foot and destroyed, she and her wisdom ... Throw dung in her face to make her ugly. She is and she ought to be drowned in baptism... She would deserve, the wretch, to be banished to the filthiest place in the house, to the closets."
-- From Martin Luther, Erlangen Edition v. 16

"The damned whore Reason..." --Martin Luther
***

DAR
Nothing could be more clear. Christianity and the idea of believing by faith is (quite rightfully) dead set against and terrified by rational thinking and reason. It is their greatest enemy. It's best when they are honest about it.

D.

Doug writes:
Last week I had a conversation with a young woman from China. She said that 80% of young people in China are atheists.

However, she said that most people accept it as a fact that when the holiest Buddhist monks are cremated, their holiness causes there to be shiny stones left in the ashes, presumably a manifestation of their holiness.

I asked her for evidence of this, and this week she e-mailed me photographic evidence of the shiny stones.




See here.

DOUG
Funny video, 8 minutes 41 seconds. All too accurate...

"The thing that made the things for which there is no known maker."

See here.

Bart Erhman on The Colbert Report.

Darrel wrote:Bart Erhman on The Colbert Report.

DOUG
Ehrman pitching his book Jesus, Interrupted. But Colbert interrupts Ehrman so much it was hard for Ehrman to really say very much at all.

Praise Jesus!



Sweet Jesus!

That just might have been the reaction of a Bucks County woman at about 2 a.m. Friday when her regularly scheduled Comcast program - Good Friday Mass at the Vatican - abruptly changed to a 30-second "Girls Gone Wild" ad.

The seemingly unholy programming snafu was caused by a test for the Emergency Alert System, said Jeff Alexander, a Comcast spokesman.

"We're obliged to do emergency tests that are usually done in the overnight hours," Alexander said last night.

The test automatically tunes viewers to a preselected channel that is supposed to provide emergency information.

Since yesterday's test was just that, the preselected channel also aired its regular programming, which in this case was a paid advertisement for a "Girls" video.

See here.

each day, the Northwest Arkansas Times prints a "daily inspiration" - a choice bible verse for its readers. Today, on Easter Sunday, the daily inspiration is particularly....inspiring?

"From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some youths came out of the town and jeered at him. Go on up, you baldhead!" they said. He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse on them in the name of the LORD. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the youths."

- 2 Kings 2:23-24


Lovely, isn't it?

WWJD? Probably Not Mail In Traffic Tickets Smeared In Dog Shit

"A story just came across the AP wire that a man in South Dakota has been convicted for sending in a traffic citation, cash payment, and a note smeared in animal excrement. The man pleaded guilty to “mailing injurious articles” and has to pay a $500 fine, $451 in restitution, and will be on probation for the next three years.

It’s not something we’d normally comment on. But we happened upon a strange backstory to this “News of the Weird”-worthy episode. This site seems to establish that the man in question, Jeffrey DeZeeuw–we could find only one person by that name in local listings–is a coordinator at a local Christian divorce crisis center. In that capacity, he uses a Bible-based program to help his clients move past their “anger” and “resentment” issues and put them on a path toward “reflection, spiritual growth, personal study, prayer and journaling.” He’s also the point man on divorce at the fundamentalist Good News Reformed Church in Sioux Falls.

So, in moments of great personal crisis–with savage feelings of anger, jealousy and betrayal at play–this is the guy who’s been doling out the advice?"

Link

As Christianity declines, Dobson admits defeat. Send money.

James Dobson delivered a farewell speech to the Focus on the Family staff, and conceded that the culture war he helped start hasn't turned out well for the agents of intolerance. Indeed, Dobson almost sounded resigned to defeat.

James Dobson, 72, who resigned recently as head of Focus on the Family -- one of the largest Christian groups in the country -- and once denounced the Harry Potter books as witchcraft, acknowledged the dramatic reverse for the religious Right in a farewell speech to staff.

"We tried to defend the unborn child, the dignity of the family, but it was a holding action," he said.

"We are awash in evil and the battle is still to be waged. We are right now in the most discouraging period of that long conflict. Humanly speaking, we can say we have lost all those battles."

LINK

Darrel wrote:"Humanly speaking, we can say we have lost all those battles."

That's the Good News for Easter this year, I suppose.

Very good news.

Doug wrote:

Darrel wrote:"Humanly speaking, we can say we have lost all those battles."

DOUG
That's the Good News for Easter this year, I suppose. Very good news.

DAR
But spiritually speaking they are KICKING ASS. Which doesn't amount to much. Actually zip.

Darrel wrote:But spiritually speaking they are KICKING ASS. Which doesn't amount to much. Actually zip.

DOUG
Yes. Kicking spiritual ass is like getting an 800% return on imaginary money...

Saudis to review marriage law after 8 year old weds man, 58

The country is a patriarchal society that applies a form of Sunni Islam that gives fathers the right to wed their sons and daughters to whoever they deem fit.

But Justice Minister Mohamed al-Issa said his ministry wanted "to put an end to arbitrariness by parents and guardians in marrying off minor girls".

A court in the Saudi town of Unaiza upheld the marriage of the Saudi girl to a 58-year-old man on the condition he does not have sex with her until she reaches puberty.

See here.

Doug wrote: ...on the condition he does not have sex with her until she reaches puberty.

DAR
He'll be checking daily no doubt. Oh well, if they change the rules on him, he can always become a Mormon. It's against their rules too but <wink> <wink> <nod> <nod>.