“Next time you think I need callers, why don’t you call if you have something to say instead of listening for extended periods and blogging me?

You’re obviously hooked. I promise to be nice. Should I beg you now? Or later?”

Calling me an uninformed, catty, self appointed media critic is hardly the way to convince me that I should contribute to your show by calling in. What happenned to my “good ear for talk radio” that you once claimed I have?

She also said the Bible was a human construct. Scripture affirms itself… Lk 24:25-27, 2 Ti 3:15-17, 2 Pe 1:20-21. A Christian, or anyone else, can ask if this or that Bible story is literally true. If someone doesn’t believe that the Bible is the word of God they aren’t Christian.

Anyone who actually believes that the bible is “True” is suspect to me. I’m 30, educated, and have discovered that there is no easy way to get through this life. The day of my Confirmation in the Catholic Church was the last day I went to church. My social obligation was fulfilled. Waking up and making your way through the world is tough, and scary and not at all black and white. You have to actually THINK and find your place and your path. I realize that’s not for everyone. Some of us out there in the world don’t want to think their way through things. They want things to be easier. They want to be told what to do and how to think. That way they can live their McLives in McPeace. It’s not all their fault, we’re being conditioned from the time we’re born now to want the Mcjob, own the McCar with the McHouse, eat the McFood and watch the McTube. These people who don’t want to discover their own original thoughts cling to the bible. This piece of propaganda (And don’t kid yourselves, it is the most widely accepted piece of propaganda ever circulated.) lays out everything for you. If it was to be re-released in todays society it would marketed as “How to live, for Dummies” and have that tell tale yellow cover. Please don’t get me wrong, it’s a book that’s full of good stories with good morals that work as examples of how you could live your life. What people can’t seem to accept is that it is a STORY BOOK. Written by people trying to survive in a turbulent world, where there was little to no law and the survival of you and your family was never absolute. It was their best ideas they had at their time in history. Do we still farm the same way they farmed back in 10 AD? No. But why? They were the best methods they had at the time…. Instead we kept using our brains; we kept improving upon it, re-thinking things…. like a plough… maybe an ox to pull the plough… hmmmm? Do we fish the same? Do we travel the same? NO, we took what was best in those early ideas and we continued to work with them, improve them and make them relevant to the times that we live in. That is why I’m constantly blown away by the intellectual paralysis that has gripped religion. Really, and I do mean Really look at the church, the vaulted Papacy. This institution, this corporation, does NOT have your best interests at heart. “Outrageous!!” you yell. Turn off your TV, Open a book if you remember what one of those looks like, and read about this entity that you pay money, time and lip service to. Popes turning the Vatican into their own private brothel. Fathering illegitimate children that were quietly killed or exiled. Living their private live in the lap of luxury while having hundreds of thousands of their own followers killed in crusades so they can keep living in the style in which they’ve become accustom. When challenged they kill thousands more with their inquisitions. Many of these men are now considered Saints by their church!!!!! It was these power hungry corrupt men who cut and pasted the bible together…. PEOPLE don’t you get it! When these men MADE the bible they went through thousands of documents and put in what They wanted and left out and locked away what They didn’t want….. These men, these human men, these rich, well fed, sexually active, war hungry men put your book together for you…….. Once they had their propaganda prepared they weren’t happy with just that, they had to get it out to the “Heathens”. How many Natives across the world had to be abused, tortured and killed for the missionaries to get the FEAR of god into them? People, this isn’t hard information to find. But you’re not interested in that. It will interfere with your busy night of Burger King and American Idol. You hear someone like Gretta on the radio trying to shake you up and make you dust off your thinking cap and you revolt. You call in and try to tear her down…. why? Is it because she’s tearing at one of your foundations? A foundation that if not true to your understanding would make your life less easy and require some original thought? No of course not. You’re smart right? You’ve got the answers and it’s all figured out for you. Great. Good for you. From Jack London’s title character Wolf Larsen “Do you know, I sometimes catch myself wishing that I too were blind to the facts of life and only knew its fancies and illusions. They’re wrong, all wrong, of course, and contrary to reason; but in the face of them my reason tells me, wrong and most wrong, that to dream and live illusions gives greater delight. And after all, delight is the wage for living… and your dreams and unrealites are less disturbing to you and more gratifying than are my facts to me.”

The white power movement has lots of propaganda out there too. I loath the white power movement as much as I hold the church in contempt. But, if you; had no knowledge of their movement and the hate and fear that is behind it, you just read their books and took them at face value, you could think that they make a lot of sense too. You could believe what they have to say. If you; never bothered to actually use your reason, think about what they’re saying, look into the history of the organization, you could find yourself at a rally feeling like you belong, feeling all warm and fuzzy inside as you lit a cross on a visible minority’s front lawn. All I’m asking you and anyone I meet is to USE YOUR BRAIN. If I tell you the sky is brown and you’re too lazy to look up does that make the sky brown? It’s a scary world out here folks. But we’re all going through it together and at the best of times we still don’t know what we’re doing past 10 minutes from now. So just be nice to each other. It’s not a big request.

You fanatics on the right will no doubt have some sad and protectionist response. I only ask that you actually make it intellectual. If it’s just to say that I’m sad and lost and in need of guidance and you’ll pray for me… keep it. It fits better on you than it does on me. Sincerely though, thanks for your time, even if you don’t like what I had to say I still respect you as you are, and however you choose to find the way that works best for you.

Cheers.

I am expected to do something if you are taking the time to listen. As far as “begging for callers” is concerned, it is quite a mis-characterization.

When I have a guest, especially one as fascinating and controversial as Gretta, I am more than happy to just interview her. It is incumbent upon me however, to invite others to join in. As such, I have to give the numbers out and conduct a “reset”, letting people know if they have just tuned in who my guest is and what we are talking about.

You see, not everyone sits there, enraptured, enthralled, and listens to 2 hours of my show like you do and then takes the time to extend catty, uninformed comments in their self-appointed role as media critic.

Next time you think I need callers, why don’t you call if you have something to say instead of listening for extended periods and blogging me?

You’re obviously hooked. I promise to be nice. Should I beg you now? Or later?

#1. The famous trilemma that Jesus was a liar, lunatic or Lord doesn’t take into account the fact that the Gospel of John, which is the only one that presents Jesus as claiming to be “I am” and the “Son of Man who came down from heaven”, cannot be regarded as presenting the actual words of Jesus. Its style is too uniform on the one hand, and too different from the other Gospels on the other.

#2. It is arguable that historical study cannot say anything about the resurrection. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. My guess is that your views on this subject are shaped by apologists like Josh McDowell who accept the claims of the Biblical writers uncritically and ignore historical questions. The evidence for evolution, on the other hand, is overwhelming, but here too apparently you’ve been listening to that fringe of crackpots with an axe to grind rather than the vast majority of scientists, including Christians, who actually know and study the relevant evidence.

#3. Here you are simply saying that it is useful for God to exist if one wants to avoid moral relativism (and personal responsability for one’s own moral decisions). I’ll grant that, but it certainly doesn’t prove anything.

#4. The willingness of the early Christians to die for their faith shows they didn’t simply make it up. They were persuaded Jesus was alive and their faith was true. Down the millenia plenty of others have given their lives for their faith, but it doesn’t prove that they had tangible evidence for the resurrection that was unavailable to others. It simply proves the power of their religious experience and convictions.

Your arguments, in short, might seem persuasive to someone who really wants to reach the conclusions you hold, or already holds them and merely wants to defend them. They have nothing to offer to anyone using the tools of historical study, academic Biblical study, biology, or any other field of knowledge relevant to the issues you mention.

One more thing. The term for what you are not is “theologian”, not “theologist”…

Also its faith… even if you change it to be more realistic or in todays standards I dont think that would change anything (the decline of the church)…

I hope there is a after life but I have no faith or religious views. I view religion as conflict, an uncessary conflict. So I dont deal with the BS…

From my point of view, id say this minister is losing faith.

I admire the courage it must take Gretta to espouse the positions she does, especially her belief that the bible is not the word of God. However I am puzzled by her continued self identification as a Christian. How can she claim to be a Christian when she denies that Jesus was the son of God?

Good discussion yesterday…I was glued to the radio during the commentaries. I would like to ask some questions/and comments that I believe were overlooked and that can add to this discussion.

I am a young, married, educated and professionally employed father of two, who is in his late twenties. I used to think that the way a person lived was more important than what they believed. Then about 6 years ago, I personally went on a search for “truth”. I approached this from the thought of:

-why on earth are we here
-are we an accident
- have we evolved
- if there is a designer then who or what are they and what do they expect from us.

I was on a search for truth and where ever that lead or what ever the outcome, that was the direction I was going to apply to my life and my families life.

So I began my search…I researched and read a lot, asked lots of questions and made sure that my research would stand up to “life’s hard questions” and stand up to scrutiny. I did not have any biases that would skew my results in any way.

I personally came to the conclusion that there must be a designer. This place we called earth is very structured and elements of design are everywhere. If we look at the human body for example, I believe the design and structure alone displayed in the human body should be solid enough to testify to creation. Was it coincidence that we as humans live on a self sustaining earth, where we have resources that allow us to live and to have nourishment, and that it is has a temperature and climate sustainable for life!

So then I wanted to discover who or what God is. I was totally amazed with the evidence that we have for Christianity and the foundation for this faith is on solid ground. I don’t know of many people who will dispute the fact that a person named Jesus of Nazareth did exist. Historically, the fact that Jesus existed is unanimous and almost every faith will include that Jesus is exist. Historically, the evidence for the existance of Jesus is open and shut. The question of course is, was he the son of God and savior of mankind?

I could bore you for hours with theology (I’m far from a theologist) but I’ll just state a couple of observations that personally spoke to me.

#1. Either Jesus was who he said he was (Son of God and Savior to mankind) or he was a complete lunatic! Let that sink in for a second. Many people when asked the question “who is Jesus” will say…he was a good guy, a prophet, a messenger, moral teacher and umpteen different things. But the underlying fact is that everyone will testify that Jesus was a very moral teacher and a very ethical human being. On the flipside, Jesus said and proclaimed very strong things (ie: he was the son of God, the way…truth and life, the only way to the father in heaven was through himself and I could go on and on). So either he is who he says he is or he’s a lunatic, there is no middle ground. He would have definitely objected to the fact that the way we live is more important than what we believe.

#2. History continues to confirm the accuracy of the bible, bible writers and the resurrection as portrayed in history is solid. Again, we could spend days on this, but archaeology continues to confirm the bible. Archaeology does not confirm evolution. You would think that after years and years of evolution, that archaeology would have uncovered something.

#3. The existence of absolute right and wrong. There is without a doubt absolute right and wrong. If there wasn’t a God, where would right and wrong come from? Without absolute truth, who are we to say what or who is right and wrong?

#4 Liars make poor martyrs. Example, the disciples of the early church were in the position to know whether or not Jesus was who he said he was. If he wasn’t, their faith in him would be a lie and they would know it. Would a liar willingly die for something that he knew for a fact wasn’t true? Extremists today are will to die for something that they believe is true, but they don’t know for a fact. The early disciples were in a position to know for sure that Jesus was who he said he was.

Thanks again for provoking this discussion on your show. Craig Adams who is a well respected biblical scholar lives in Wolfville and teaches at Acadia University and would be a great person for you to interview on your show. I think that he would really add to this topic and would be able to clearly and concisely refute the arguments brought forth by Greta Vosper.

In closing, you mentioned yesterday that you questioned miracles this day in age. Have you ever seen the miracle of childbirth? Childbirth is definitely a modern miracle. You also questioned the virgin birth. We, this day in age could have a virgin birth (artificial insemination with a virgin lady). If God created the vast cosmos and everything within, I personally have no problem with His ability to create a virgin birth.

Thanks again for your show and the forum for which you allow listener to comment on your blog.

Respectfully,
Rob