Matter, Energy, and Life of Michaela A. Castello.

Tag: religion

  • Fantastic Post on How Genesis != Science

    A Worshipping Evolutionist? Science doesn’t have to be scary. In fact, I’ve found that when I finally let Genesis be what is (a beautifully meaningful poem) and science what it is (science), it can all actually be tremendously awe-inspiring.  Science can actually become another testament of God–another space where the voice of God can be…

  • We Do, But We Aren’t: A critical examination of sex independent of marriage

    The Christian community is rife with warnings about people having sexual relationships outside of the marriage commitment, a practice typically referred to as premarital sex. Abstinence is considered to be worth whatever hardship it incurs as it serves to enhance the lifelong sexual fulfillment provided by a spouse. That the Bible explicitly prohibits premarital sex…

  • Jesus. All?

    Recently, Loma Linda University used the slogan “Jesus. All.” to brand a series of worship services. Apparently it’s also the headline of a reform-type movement within the Seventh-Day Adventist church. It’s one of those phrases so firmly reflective of Christian tradition that, to Christians, it is incontrovertible. Upon closer, more objective examination, however, the statement…

  • Finding the Right Path

    God’s way is the right way because if he exists, he exists outside the world and can see the shape of things. God’s way is the right way because that is the way the world is; therefore, you can find God’s way by looking at the world—which is exactly what people did when they wrote…

  • Exfoliating My Faith

    I have been thinking, with some trepidation, about writing this for a while now. My friend wisely pointed out that if I feel like it requires “working up the nerve to do” it’s probably a good idea. Essentially, I’ve reached a point in my life where I feel like my beliefs need to be aggressively cast off…

  • Joplin Trip Aftermath

    Now that we’re back I wanted to give one final update on the trip and disaster response itself. While I think everybody would agree that we made a difference, there are areas for improvement. It was interesting seeing the FEMA contractors working alongside nonprofits and church-based organizations. While their street closures made it tough to…

  • Inside the PhD Program

    Somehow I managed to sleep for twelve hours last night. I thought I’d take a “short nap” at around 8 PM, and basically ended up waking at 8 AM this morning. Huh. Oh, also it’s Rapture Day. Having made a similar mistake more than a hundred years ago, Seventh-Day Adventists know what to do. Anyway,…

  • Heaven is Socialist

    It might ruffle some feathers, but the more I think about it, the less I understand how a “Christian Right” can exist in politics without serious cognitive dissonance. In the all the seething furor against so-called socialism in the United States, they seem to have forgotten that egalitarian values predate Marx. While I’m no theologian,…