My thoughts on quantum gravity

Last month I read an article about Professor Steven Hawking in which he was quoted as saying:

“I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail. There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark”

Well, that’s nice… As intelligent and qualified as you are to answer questions about black holes and quantum gravity, I’m afraid Professor Hawking, this is a philosophical question. It was for this reason, after reading the article, my Facebook status quickly became:

“Hey Stephen, do want to hear my thoughts on String Theory?”

Professor Hawking has recently been increasingly vocal over the question of God. I was originally going to write a longer post about Professor Hawking’s recent assertions, but then I remembered that Fr. Barron had produced a superb video where he addressed some of these issues:

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Qur’an Cover-to-Cover: Day 20 (“Joseph”)

joseph

Thus far in the Qur’an we have encountered the stories of the prophets Adam, Noah, Hud, Salih, Abraham, Jacob, Shu’ayb, Moses and of Isa’s mother, Mary. Today we hear about the story of Joseph the patriarch, the one whom the Bible describes as having a “coat of many colours”:

Surah 12 – “Joseph” (Yusuf)
We open with the affirmation that the Qur’an is a “clear Book”. There is also the assertion by Allah that He is revealing “the best of stories” to Muhammad, about which he was previously unfamiliar. This seems to me to me an unlikely claim, given that Muhammad would have certainly had contact with Jews while he was a merchant trader.

We are then treated to the Islamic version of the story of the Patriach Joseph. Joseph tells his father about his dream where the sun, moon and stars bowed down to him. Jacob tells Joseph not to share this dream with his brothers, for fear they will plot against him.

(Although I’ve questioned previously whether the author of the Qur’an knew Isaac was the father of Jacob, this chapter does appear to recognize that correct relationship when Jacob is quoted as saying “[Allah will] complete His favour upon you and upon the family of Jacob, as He completed it upon your fathers before, Abraham and Isaac”)

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Leading Bible Study

Saturday was the last installment of my “Do’s and Don’ts of Leading Bible Study” series. I’ve decided to create this short post to aggregate all the different entries in the series:

Part 1: Preparation
Part 2: Beginning the meeting
Part 3: Starting the discussion
Part 4: Fostering discussion
Part 5: Tricky issues
Part 6: Concluding thoughts

Bonus: Feedback #1
Bonus: Feedback #2
Bonus: Feedback #3

I have used this blog series to capture some of my experience in leading Bible study, as well as record some of the hard lessons I’ve had to learn. It is my hope that this will be a useful resource for anyone new to leading a Bible study group, such as the many new people we’ve recently had leading in the JP2 Group.

DO: Be welcoming…just not too much…

When I began this series, I had hoped that there would be more discussion. Unfortunately, despite these posts getting a large number of hits, there was fairly little feedback in the Comment Boxes.

Therefore, over the next few days I’m going to be emailing this post to everyone I know who has been involved in leading Bible studies, discussion groups or are involved in leadership in some kind of way 🙂

I invite you to do the same 😀

Even if you’re not a Bible study leader, what have been some good experiences and bad experiences you’ve had in a Bible study group?

What, in your opinion, makes for a good Bible study?

PWJ: S1E26 – Bonus – “The Grand Reveal”

Today’s episode is a little different. Matt and I have an announcement. Last weekend we spent a day with New Eve Media

If you enjoy this episode, you can subscribe manually, or any place where good podcasts can be found (iTunesGoogle PlayPodbeanStitcher and TuneIn).

Please send any objections, comments or questions, either via email through my website or tweet us @pintswithjack or message us via Instagram!

Episode 26: “The Grand Reveal” (Download)

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Calming of the storm

Work is busy at the moment. In fact, “busy” doesn’t even come close to covering it. I don’t think I’ve ever been so stressed and overworked in all my career and it’s been like this since Easter.

As such, I’ll be taking a brief blogging sabbatical. Maybe see you in May?
CalmingOfTheStorm

PWJ: S4E102 – Bonus – “Season Finale” (Part 1)

David, Andrew, and Matt wrap up Season 4 with the Season Finale. This is Part 1…

S4E102: Season Finale (Part 1) (Download)

If you enjoy this episode, you can subscribe manually, or any place where good podcasts can be found (iTunesGoogle Play, AmazonAudible, PodbeanStitcherTuneIn and Overcast), as well as on YouTube. The roadmap for Season 4 is available here.

More information about us can be found on our website, PintsWithJack.com. If you’d like to support us and get fantastic gifts, please join us on Patreon.

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Memes and Heresy

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