It is my third day of classes and I 've already gotten my first Christian flyer! Last year I had a collection of Christian propaganda strung on a clothesline in my dorm room. This year I'm taping it on my closet door.

This first flyer was an invitation to First Assembly of God kinda-almost disguised as an invitation to a free meal. Read the small print: the meal is after the church service. Oh and they're giving away a flatscreen TV, but you must be present to win.  Then there's more information about service times, contact info, yadayada...

lol, apparently I'm not they're target audience because it would take more than a flatscreen TV to get me to go to First Assembly. If a rapidly spreading deathly disease was sweeping the nation and my only hope of survival was getting a vaccination at First Assembly, well, then I'd go, but ONLY then!

Fellow non-believers: what would it take to get you to go to church? 

I haven't had the motivation to post in a while, but I thought since I had a new subscriber, I should at least update for them!

I'm reading a great book "God: A Biography" by Jack Miles. He looks at the God of the Bible as a literary character who undergoes changes throughout the story just like any other literary character.

 I never thought of this before, but the Bible is the only book I read where I expect the protagonist to be exactly the same at the end as he is at the beginning. So naturally I'm very confused when I read instructions to stone children in one part and the statement "God is love" in a much later section. Well, it makes sense if you look at the bible as literature with a protagonist who is just trying to figure things out like the other characters.

I'm reading the chapter about Abraham right now. It never occurred to me how gutsy Abraham is. God keeps promising him over and over that he will have a son, but when years go by and God still hasn't made good on his promise, Abraham straight up laughs at Gos when he tries to tell him "No, really, you're going to have a son. I'm gonna get around to that." I mean, Abraham was basically telling God "Whatever! You've been saying that for years and I ain't seen nothin yet. I gave up on you making good on your promise."

Now that's gutsy.

Then later, he blatently defies God when he gives his wife away to some foreign ruler, saying she's his sister. I think that was Abraham's way of saying "I'm through with this whole mess", but God snitched to the foreign ruler about what Abraham did and he gave Sarah back to Abraham.

I rather like this Abraham character. He's not the meek, submissive father of the faith I was told about in Sunday School.

I've been mulling this question over for months ever since an interesting convo with my philosophy prof.

How are Santa Clause and God alike?

How are they different?

Which is better, in your opinion? and WHY?

This is all hypothetical- you don't have to believe in either one to answer. Just use the qualities typically attributed to them by popular culture.

I think Santa Clause is better because he gives gifts and doesn't expect anything in return. He demands no worship, no adoration, no thank-you cards. He just gives gifts.

I think Santa Clause and God are alike in that no one I know has ever seen either of them (the ones at the mall are just his helpers). I have never been to where they live (Heaven or the North Pole) or seen any of their helpers (elves or angels). Both supposedly know when you are sleeping, when you are awake and whether you are bad or good.

I think they are different in that no one has ever started a war over anything to do with Santa Clause. Kids usually stop believing in Santa Clause at some point, but many kids, if they ever did believe in God,  keep believing in God. They are also different because God has control over the weather, laws of nature, time and human interactions whereas Santa Clause is at the mercy of weather (he got Rudolf to light his way because he couldn't see in the fog). No one goes to foreign countries to try to convince peopleto believe in Santa Clause. I don't know of anyone who has ever been killed for believing or disbelieving in Santa Clause.

They both, however, take over the radio, stores and malls for one month every year!