Just by being born, we know that one day we are going to die. And while none of us knows the exact number of our days, there are some things we can do, or not do, that might affect when we succumb to our mortality.

More specifically, some of us are risk takers, while others of us prefer to be more conservative with our lives.

One of our daughters works at a design company. The owner is pretty much fearless. He travels to parts of the world most of us would be happy to avoid. And once there, it seems that he looks for trouble. While he has some pretty amazing stories, he’s not the travel companion most parents would wish for their 28-year-old daughter.

However, since this is a design firm, creativity is a requirement. To get his designers thinking outside the box, the owner likes to shake these mostly young and single artists… http://www.jeremyandteri.com/2010/04/life-is-fatal/feed/ 0 http://www.jeremyandteri.com/2009/07/religulous-2/ http://www.jeremyandteri.com/2009/07/religulous-2/#comments Fri, 24 Jul 2009 05:59:39 +0000 Jeremy http://www.jeremyandteri.com/?p=58 Why is faith a good thing?

To many people, the above question is an odd one. Of course faith is a good thing. Why question that? However, in “Religulous” it is one of Maher’s chief objections to religion (particularly Christianity).

The question is first raised by Maher after he asks the pastor of a small truck stop chapel how any rational person can believe in a talking snake in a garden 5000 years ago. The pastor responded by saying that, “It’s a faith thing,” to which Maher replies, “Yeah, but why is faith good?”

His argument is that a person who’s life is in danger or who is going through hard times would be justified to believe God, but for anyone else faith is pointless. This objection is that of many other skeptics: faith is unfounded and breeds comfort, but isn’t useful. I disagree.

Maher’s beliefs are incorrect for two reasons: first, he assumes that all faith is blind faith, and second, he thinks faith is not relevant. Although these two aspects of faith are inter-connected, I’ll begin by explaining the difference between faith and blind faith.

“Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have… http://www.jeremyandteri.com/2009/07/religulous-2/feed/ 0 http://www.jeremyandteri.com/2009/06/religulous/ http://www.jeremyandteri.com/2009/06/religulous/#comments Sun, 14 Jun 2009 04:39:49 +0000 Jeremy http://www.jeremyandteri.com/?p=54 Few things in life create more social tension than prying into people’s religious beliefs, particularly when the prying is done on camera. The 2008 Larry Charles/Bill Maher movie, “Religulous” does just that, and certainly takes no prisoners. The movie, for those who don’t know, is a comedy/documentary in which the host, Maher, travels to various places around the world to interview people from different religions (although the movie predominantly focuses on Christianity) so he can ask them questions about their beliefs, and why they believe what they do. Maher takes a very cynical and sarcastic approach in performing this task, often leaving his victims deeply offended, which subsequently provides (or is supposed to provide) its comical aspect. Ultimately, Maher reaches the extraordinarily philosophical conclusion that all religion is bad and people who believe in any kind of religion are morons. As this is a major area of interest in my life, I decided I should watch the movie and see if Maher could change my mind.

Now, before watching the movie, one should consider a few things. First, this film is intended to be a documentary, thus it will be (strongly) pushing a biased agenda, and as the film’s title… http://www.jeremyandteri.com/2009/06/religulous/feed/ 3 http://www.jeremyandteri.com/2009/02/college-where-you%e2%80%99re-liberal-or-you%e2%80%99re-wrong/ http://www.jeremyandteri.com/2009/02/college-where-you%e2%80%99re-liberal-or-you%e2%80%99re-wrong/#comments Fri, 20 Feb 2009 03:00:50 +0000 Jeremy http://www.jeremyandteri.com/?p=36 So I finally did it; after many months of consideration, prayer, consultation, and jumping through financial aid hoops, I’m officially a college student. In January I began to attend Front Range Community College. Since I’m still working full time I’ve had to take it easy on the classes, starting with only two at first, then hopefully working in more as I go. I’m taking a fairly basic math class online and a lecture-style English 121 class, which I was looking forward to because I enjoy writing and reading. Unfortunately though, my excitement and positive attitude ended up being short-lived, as I had no clue what English 121 actually held in store.

I remember showing up for class the first night full of enthusiasm, as I was finally about to begin my long-awaited college career. As soon as the class before mine let out, I walked into the room, grabbed a seat close to the front, and just watched in anticipation as all my classmates slowly filed in and took up the remainder of the empty chairs. So far, things were good. Then my teacher started to talk.
Within a few minutes of everyone showing up, my teacher, Mr. Reden,… http://www.jeremyandteri.com/2009/02/college-where-you%e2%80%99re-liberal-or-you%e2%80%99re-wrong/feed/ 13