Darwinian Death: Euthanasia Meets Eugenics

agnostics, atheists, Culture & Ethics, disabilities, Edward Tylor, Ernst Haeckel, Essays of the Birmingham Speculative Club, eugenics, euthanasia, Evolution, F. H. Bradley, Fortnightly Review, Francis Galton, Germany, Hans-Walter Schmuhl, Ian Dowbiggin, illnesses, International Journal of Ethics, Judeo-Christian tradition, Lionel Tollemache, Natural History of Creation, Natürliche Schöpfungsgeschichte, Nick Kemp, Punishment, self-murder, self-redemption, The Cure for Incurables, The Wonders of Life, usefulness, World War I
One powerful influence on the early euthanasia movement was eugenics ideology, which emerged first in the 1860s under the leadership of Francis Galton. Source
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Why Did God Put That Tree in the Garden of Eden?

determinism, free will, free will theodicy, garden of eden, Problem of Evil, Problem of Hell, Punishment, rebellion, Theology and Christian Apologetics, tree of the knowledge of good and evil
God created humans in a state of sinless perfection, but all of that changed when Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Gen 2:15-17 ESV). So why did God put that tree in the Garden in the first place? Not only that, He put it right in the middle of the Garden! It wasn’t…
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Where Rebellion Against God Leads

Al Serrato, Battlestar Galactica, Divine justice, eternal conscious torment, Hell, Problem of Hell, Punishment, rebellion, Theology and Christian Apologetics
Imagine a time in the not-too-distant future. Trying to compensate for a declining population, scientists use advanced technology to build a “race” of robots, giving them not only human appearance and abilities, but also increasing amounts of AI. Things work smoothly in the short run, as the robots’ nearly limitless energy for work transforms Earth into a near paradise. But the programmers, seeking to give their creation a chance at true relationship with their human masters, give the robots freedom of will, grafting it on to their ability to think independently. Chaos soon ensues, as the robots rebel and rise up against the human population… This is standard fare, of course, in science fiction circles. Shows like Battlestar Galactica explored the philosophical issues surrounding this scenario, and play out possible…
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Why We Praise God

Al Serrato, awesome, Divine justice, divine perfection, eternal conscious torment, Hell, Holiness, Praise, Problem of Hell, Punishment, Theology and Christian Apologetics, worship
Christian apologists are accustomed to dealing with the “straw man” fallacy. This is where the skeptic paints a false picture of a theistic position, making it easier to ridicule or defeat, and then concludes, triumphantly, that his skeptical view prevails. But not every challenge that misstates our views is intentional. At times, the challenger simply fails to grasp what it is that Christianity holds. Take for instance the doctrine of Hell – the concept of eternal punishment. Many atheists take this doctrine as evidence that primitive men invented Christianity to control others by threat of eternal punishment. They then reject Christianity because they believe that any God who would punish someone for “failing to worship him properly” would be unworthy of worship. I have heard this argument presented a variety…
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How Much Punishment Is Enough?

Al Serrato, Divine justice, eternal conscious torment, Hell, Jesus Christ, Problem of Hell, Punishment, Theology and Christian Apologetics
Many people reject the possibility of an eternal Hell because they feel that “the punishment doesn’t fit the crime.” Some atheists focus on this perceived inequality between the sins we commit here on Earth and the unending punishment we face in the life to come. One skeptic framed the challenge this way: “God is perfectly just, and yet he sentences the imperfect humans he created to infinite suffering in hell for finite sins. Clearly, a limited offense does not warrant unlimited punishment. God’s sentencing of the imperfect humans to an eternity in hell for a mere mortal lifetime of sin is infinitely more unjust than this punishment. The absurd injustice of this infinite punishment is even greater when we consider that the ultimate source of human imperfection is the God…
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In the Name of “Academic Freedom,” a Scientist Calls for Punishing Creationists

academic freedom, accrediting agency, atheists, Ball State University, BDS movement, Big Tech, Canceled Science, censorship, China, Christian colleges, computational biology, creation science, creationism, customers, East Coast, employers, equality, eric hedin, free speech, freedom, freedom from religion foundation, Giant Food, Intelligent Design, invidious labeling, Israel, Jerry Coyne, Joshua Swamidass, Justice, lockdown, othering, Punishment, Race, racial indoctrination, religion, reward, scientists, social credit, supermarkets, The Boundaries of Science, viewpoint, Wall Street Journal, Washington University
The practice has a sordid history. There’s always a rationale — for example, in labeling Israeli businesses, or those doing business with Israel, to be avoided. Source
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Infinite Punishment for Finite Crimes?

Al Serrato, Apologetics, Bible, Christian Apologetics, Christianity, Finite Crimes, Gospel, Hell, Punishment, Sin, Sinner, theology, Theology and Christian Apologetics
By Al Serrato Trying to explain how a good God created Hell can be a daunting task for the Christian apologist. In my last post, I considered the challenge that God could not be “good” if he created a place of “torture.” I tried to make the case that there is a difference between torture – which implies intentional infliction of punishment for the pleasure of doing so – and torment, which is the necessary byproduct of God’s legitimate act of separating Himself from those who have rejected Him, who died while still in rebellion against Him. A related challenge often encountered when discussing the doctrine of Hell is the seeming unfairness in endless punishment for what appears to be brief – in some cases, extremely brief – temporal actions.…
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