Dr Paul Allen

The Holy Spirit depicted as a dove, surrounded by angels, by Giaquinto, 1750s. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) When I was a child in Sunday school, I would ask searching questions like ''Angels can fly up in heaven, but how do clouds hold up pianos?'' and get the same puzzling response about how that was not important, what was important was that Jesus died for our sins and if we accepted him as our savior, when we died, we would go to heaven, where we'd get everything we wanted. Some children in my class wondered why anyone would hang on a cross with nails stuck through his hands to help anyone else; I wondered how Santa Claus knew what I wanted for Christmas, even though I never wrote him a letter. Maybe he had a tape recorder hidden in every chimney in the world. This literal-mindedness has stuck with me; one result of it is that I am unable to believe in God. Most of the other atheists I know seem to feel freed or proud of their unbelief, as if they've cleve...

Image via Wikipedia Perhaps the most notable aspect of America ’s revolutionary period was that its chief protagonists were not particularly revolutionary. From Samuel Adams to George Washington , from Patrick Henry to Samuel Chase , the leaders of the American cause were profoundly conservative. They were loathe to indulge in any kind of radicalism that might erupt into violence—rhetorical, political, or martial. For the most part they were the faithful sons of colonial gentry. They were devoted to conventional Whig principles: the rule of law, noblesse oblige, unswerving honor, squirey superintendence, and the maintenance of corporate order. They believed in a tranquil and settled society free of the raucous upsets and tumults of agitation, activism, and unrest. It took more than the Boston Massacre , more than Lexington and Concord, more than Bunker Hill, and more than Ticonderoga to provoke the patriots to commit themselves to forceful secession. Even as late as the first week ...

Image via Wikipedia God ’s emotions are complex—like yours, only a million times more. Right now, your emotions about bin Laden are not simple, i.e. not single. There are several, and they intermingle. That is a good thing. You are God-like. In response to Osama bin Laden ’s death, quite a few tweets and blogs have cited the biblical truth that “God does not delight in the death of the wicked.” That is true.                                      It is also true that God  does  delight in the death of the wicked. There are things about every death that God approves in themselves and things about every death that God disapproves in themselves. Is God Double-Minded? This is not double talk. All thoughtful people make such distinctions. For example, if my daughter asks me if I like a movie, I might say ye...