Dr. Michael J. Svigel

All three books in the The AItheist Cycle now available: amazon.com/dp/B0DDDWV55N

Advice: The first step in healing is admitting you have a problem.

Theology 101: The same politics that fashions our political idols melts them down and fashions them anew. The result is a serial pantheon of false lords and saviors that are made of the same corrupt stuff as we are made and thus deserve none of our faith, hope, and love.

One guess where I’m at this weekend.

Heads up! Some people will be upset with you simply because you’re not as upset about some things as they are.

Them: “Dr. Svigel, sorry to bother you, but I’m wondering when I can expect to see my grade posted for your spring class.” Me: “What do you mean? I still have 47.3 seconds left before grades are due!”

Theology 101: To me, a lot of end-times teachers with dozens of books on the subject feel like the book-writing equivalent of Taco Bell—the same dozen ingredients rearranged in different ways and given different names. In short, they seem to me unoriginal and cliche.

As a professor it doesn’t bother me at all when students affirm views on matters different from my own. It DOES bother me when they completely ignore every evidence and argument I presented to them for the view in their own articulations. They must at least engage critically.

@keepawake2 Question has been asked and answered for 2000 years. Next.

@Svigel If this doctrine is essential, why did Jehovah not leave some wiggle room in Deuteronomy 6? You know, to help the Jews to 'get it' later?

Theology 101: Them: “The doctrine of the Trinity isn’t clearly expressed in Scripture, so it isn’t essential to the Christian faith.” Me: “Is the unity of God clearly in Scripture?” Them: “Yes.” Me: “Is it essential?” Them: “Yes.” Me: “Is the deity of the Father clearly in Scripture?” Them: “Yes.” Me: “Is it essential?” Them: “Yes.” Me: “Is the deity of the Son clearly in Scripture.” Them: “Yes.” Me: “Is it essential?” Them: “Yes.” Me: “Is the deity of the Spirit clearly in Scripture?” Them: “Yes.” Me: “Is it essential?” Them: “Yes.” Me: “Is the fact that Father, Son, and Spirit are not the same person but are distinct clearly in Scripture?” Them: “Yes.” Me: “Is it essential?” Them: “Yes.” Me: “The doctrine of the Trinity is clearly expressed in Scripture, and it is essential to the Christian faith.”

Theology 101: Yes, anchoring theology to Scripture often hinders us from sailing the faith into the exciting seas of contemporary relevance; but it also prevents us to shipwrecking the faith against the rocks of dangerous doctrine or careening over the falls of apostasy.

Theology 201: On speaking in tongues, historically speaking, @WesleyLHuff is correct, actually. This shouldn’t be controversial. A lot of things that are quite clear in the early church get muddied in the modern era.

@Exodus15_11 It’s an epidemic.

@Svigel I can only imagine the plagiarism at universities via AI.

A.I. is turning out to be that annoying guy who shows up to your party and completely changes the vibe and sets everyone on edge but is kinda entertaining and energetic but you really want him to leave but he’s eating and drinking too much and getting louder by the second.

“The AItheist” and “The AItheist 2.0” present two starkly different pictures of the promise and threat of advanced A.I. and their intersection with and intrusion in faith. Listen to these—and 3.0—on audiobook now. Or read them in paperback or ebook.

Theology 101: If you have to use laws, lies, or lethal force to make or keep converts to your religion, your god isn’t very great.

Theology 101: The church is witnessing a distortion or destruction of the theological virtues. Instead of faith—either gullibility or skepticism; instead of hope—either despair or blind optimism; instead of love—either unbridled passion or seething hate.

Theology 101: The Holy Spirit is not an influence, an active force, or an impersonal energy. He is Lord and God, distinct but inseparable from the Father and Son. Anything else leaves us as orphans and renders the church not, after all, the temple of God.

Theology 101: As embodied beings, both the environment around us and the orientation of our bodies are relevant to worship and prayer. We must confess an incarnational—not gnostic—view of worship.