Tag Archives: radio

Salvation and Damnation = Incentives for Good Behavior?

Powerball asks an interesting question. Before I get to it, though. Here's a snippet of the article that made him ask it. It was discussed on The Marty Minto Show today.

"Stacy Payne says both of her sons are smart, athletic and well-liked by their friends. But after hearing horror stories of teenage keg parties and drug abuse, she doesn't plan on 'playing stupid.'"

"So she and her husband are offering their 15-year-old and 12-year-old sons the mother of all bribes: $1,000 each at their high school graduation, as long as they don't touch cigarettes, alcohol or drugs before then. "

"Each son has signed a contract agreeing to their parents' condition. And as a reminder of their pact, each wears a leather bracelet inscribed with the word 'BRIBED.'"

ASHLEY ROWLAND
For The Birmingham News

So here's what Powerball asks:

"Does God 'bribe' us with the promise of salvation? We talked about it on the show. I want to know what you think. If you were not rewarded with eternal life would you still be a Christian? (Assuming you are) Let me know what you think."

I asked a very similar question in an email I wrote to Marty.

"Isn't the beatific vision in Heaven incentive from God to do as He asks? Answer this honestly: would you follow the teachings of Christ if there was no resurrection of the dead? As Paul says, if there is no resurrection, we are to be pitied for believing and behaving as we do."

"We are God's children. Is Heaven bribery from God? No, but it is incentive. There's nothing wrong with giving children incentive to behave properly. On the other hand, incentives don't work without punishment for improper behavior. "

The punishment I alluded to, in this case, would be eternal damnation in Hell for some and finite pain for others in purgatory.

Radio on TV

Radio That Doesn’t Suck

3 Replies

If you’re like me, you’re sick of most or all of your local radio stations. There
are too many commercials, the morning shows aren’t funny and you’d rather hear music
anyhow, the formats are stale, the playlists are too short and repeat too much,
modern rock is trite and offensive, and only bands with major contracts get played.
Well, there’s an alternative. It’s not on FM, but it’s still cool enough to mention.
It’s Radio Paradise.
Give it a listen sometime.

Each hour of music is carefully blended together to flow smoothly between different
musical styles & genres – just like real DJs used to do on FM. We don’t use
the computer-generated playlists or “carefully researched music libraries”
that have sucked the soul out of FM radio – and we never just throw songs together
at random the way many web stations do.

We also depend on input from you to help fine-tune our music mix. If you hear something
that you feel strongly about (either positively or negatively), please take a moment
to post a comment on that song. Just click the song title on the playlist or in
the mini-browser window. We’d also love to hear from you if there’s an artist you
don’t hear, but think would fit in with our music mix. Registered users can upload
suggested additions to the library for review.

Faithful Atheist

2 Replies

I don't often listen to Bible Answerman, but it comes on after The Marty Minto Show, so I sometimes leave it on for a while. Today the host, Hank Hanegraaff, had an interesting guest with him. Actually, he wasn't particularly interesting and I didn't listen to much of the show, but he wrote a book that I thought might stir up some conversation here. The guest, Frank Turek, and Norman Geisler wrote I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist. Here's the description:

"All worldviews, including atheism, require faith. I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist argues that Christianity requires the least faith of all because it is the most reasonable. The authors lay out the evidence for truth, God, and the Bible in logical order and in a readable, non-technical, engaging style. A valuable aid to those interested in examining the reasonableness of the Christian faith, Geisler and Turek provide a firm challenge to the previous beliefs of doubters of all sorts."

I should note that I haven't read this book, nor do I know its contents. I don't know if I would like it or agree with the authors' points. That said, I invite my readers, particularly my resident atheist gadflies, to comment. Let the games begin. 😉

Ales Rarus

A Rare Bird, A Strange Duck, One Funky Blog

Tag Archives: radio

Salvation and Damnation = Incentives for Good Behavior?

Radio on TV

Radio That Doesn’t Suck

Faithful Atheist

Congratulations, Marty