Although the blog itself will not be coming to an end, the domain name (josiahconcept.org) will be coming to an end.

I don’t feel that I post enough to justify the annual cost of domain registration, nor the annual cost of mapping it via wordpress.com.

So, that means the blog will simply be josiahcm.wordpress.com from now on.

I will still make the occasional apologetics-related post on this site, so by all means stay tuned.

I have been largely absent from the blogosphere recently, and I hope to change that by getting back into it.  I’d like to reiterate what I said at the beginning of the year:  I have moved my focus from apologetics to fiction.

[Yes, atheists, I know one of you in the comment section of this post is going to say something along the lines of “How is that any different than what you’re writing now?”  Ha, ha, ha, ha.  It’s funny.  And I beat you to it, so there.]

Anyway, long ago I started a blog that I intended to populate with free adventures for role-playing games (like Dungeons & Dragons).  All I did was repost two adventures that I had already posted elsewhere online.  And they weren’t even technically RPG adventures; they are expansions to a forgotten board game called Hero Quest.  Those two were supposed to be a trilogy, and I did manage to post part 3 (which I had never completed).  Those three would lead into a much larger adventure, which I promised to deliver next week.  And two years went by….

That was supposed to be my start in the world of fiction, but like that promised update to my answers for God is Imaginary and Why Won’t God Heal Amputees, nothing ever came of it.

Then, as I was watching the gritty Thundercats reboot last year, I thought that I could do that.  I could write my own gritty reboot of an 80s cartoon and publish it as a virtual seasons project.  A year later, I finally selected the TV show I’d use.

So, what’s the problem?  Barring that I just haven’t realized I suck as a writer and no one is mean enough to tell me, I’ve decided my problem is that I’m not disciplined enough.  So, on that front, I’ve decided to write at least 2000 words every day.  I’ve definitely surpassed that total today!

But, my focus is going to remain on fiction.  I will still post here, but not nearly as often.

So, hopefully, the audience here would be interested in my other writing projects.  In that case, look for more on that aforementioned virtual seasons project.  My wife has seen some of my early writing, and she’s into it!

But, if you just have to have apologetics, I plan to keep on that.  I’m thinking of a short series on the Bible’s teaching that there is only one God, apart from some contentions from our skeptics that it teaches polytheism.  I’ve been given a few verses on Twitter that allegedly acknowledge the existence of other gods aside from Yahweh.  I think addressing those would be interesting and informative.

It has been almost a month since I’ve posted anything substantive on this blog.  That is, perhaps, the longest silence since its founding in 2006.  Some of you have probably been wondering where I’ve been.  Or, crossing your fingers that I left the blogging game for good, another casualty in cyberspace moved on to better things.  Like real life, for example.

Not the case.  Sigh in relief, or facepalm, depending on which camp you were in.  I’ve just been shifting the focus a bit, writing more fiction rather than apologetic-related material.

I was first inspired to write in seventh grade, when my dad introduced me to the old Twilight Zone series.  Its creator, Rod Serling, wrote over three-quarters of the original episodes.  They are exceptionally well-written, and I had never before considered that there were real people behind the books and the TV shows that I loved.  For the first time I thought that I might be able to turn some of the stories circling my head into a book.

So I wrote bad fan fiction, because I think that’s where everyone starts.  I wrote a first-person account of adventures through my favorite video games with me recast as the hero and the girl I crushed on at the time as the damsel in distress (a mark of bad fan fiction called the self-insert).

I also adapted several ghost stories I found in spooky anthologies.  I created some of my own, always with Twilight Zone twist endings.

That, by the way, gets old fast.  The more you try to do Twilight Zone endings, the harder it gets to come up with original twists and original stories to support those twists.

I continued to write stories throughout junior high and high school.  Some for school credit, most just for fun.  Mercifully, it has all been lost because I’m sure it was terrible.

When I became serious about writing seven years ago, I wrote nothing but nonfiction until about six months ago.  Then, inspired by the dark reboots of my childhood favorite series on the big (Transformers, GI Joe) and small screen (Thundercats), I thought, “Why couldn’t I do that?”

So, I went back to writing fiction.  Some fan fiction, some original.  A sampling:

• Inspired by The Avengers, I’m working on a 12-issue comic book series that weaves all of my kids’ favorite Disney characters into a single story
• My wife was interested in a crossover episode of the TV shows Without a Trace and Criminal Minds
• Four slackers try to win a radio contest asking for incontrovertible proof that aliens exist, but the kids get more than they bargained for with government assassins on their trail
• A gaming group that always talked about one more campaign is reunited after 20 years at their DM’s funeral; and his will has them running through a four-part real-life campaign
• Some kids hack the cloud back-ups of their favorite screenwriter’s unfinished screenplays and read a well-planned terrorist attack against a large city in one recent entry; imagine their surprise when the exact attack happens two days later!
• A couple of Christian inspirational fiction stories
• My own dark reboot of an 80s cartoon series in virtual seasons format (I’m not saying which cartoon — I haven’t made my final choice, but I have a few in mind that were likely forgotten by all but the geekiest among us)

As for this blog, I still plan to write material for it.  I will return to more frequent updates soon.  Meanwhile, I am also recycling some old or unpublished evergreen material for the Christian Apologetics Alliance blog, so you might want to follow that.  If not for me, then for the other exceptional minds that contribute.  God is truly blessing that ministry, and I’m happy to be a part of it.

So that’s that.  If you’re interested in the fiction (and hopefully you are), stay tuned.  I will keep readers abreast of where that stuff might be appearing (it won’t be here).  And more apologetic material is coming soon!

I haven’t been on Twitter since November.  I decided to check in because I got an e-mail saying that Lee Strobel, author of The Case for series of apologetics introductory books, followed my Ratio Christi account.

Nothing much on my main account, so I thought I’d put up a tweet just for ole time’s sake.  I posted why I even checked Twitter at all.  And that elicited a fascinating reply:

Twitter.  Where else can the ordinary everyman gab with best-selling authors?

Which brings my “Authors I’ve Chatted With on Twitter” total to 2.  I also had a brief interaction with Greg Boyd, author of The Jesus Legend.  Mostly I was warning him to stop interacting with a particular Twitter user who shows no love of truth — only a desire to squash Christianity and persist in his fervent unbelief.  Mr. Boyd took my warning, I’m happy to say.

Now, if only Rachel Vincent will respond to me!

Dear Readers,

I value everyone’s input and I really do read and consider your comments, even if I don’t always respond to them (or respond quickly).

At the end of yesterday’s post on truths that I learned as irrefutable in elementary school that have all been overturned by science, I explained that I knew there was valid reply to my points.  I purposely made them simplistic because I have a grander design that will play out today and tomorrow.

I know that when I touch a nerve,  I will get very angry replies.  I further know that suggesting science isn’t a 100% effective method for discerning truth to atheists is like yelling “Allah’s mother wears army boots!” in the middle of a crowded square in Afghanistan.  In fact, the stoning I’d get for that is probably a quicker and less painful death than the slow torture of 1000 atheists calling me ignorant and stupid in creative, pseudo-intellectual prose.  For this reason, I disabled the comments on yesterday’s post.

I already know exactly what I’ll read.  And in a mere couple of hours, atheists will read exactly what they automatically thought as they read the post.

Despite requesting people to hold all comments, even e-mails, until the end of the series, I received this e-mail from Mark Preston:

I notice that the concept of comments seems to have slipped you by since people are not actually able to make them. Given your appalling nonsense about science in the post today I am not surprised.

Obviously, he didn’t read to the end.  The first simple request, dear readers, is that you read to the end of my post before you leave a comment.  I don’t always go the direction you think I’m going to go, and I hope that my atheist readers find a pleasant surprise in this series, and a greater challenge than answering my purposely ignorant and simplistic riposte toward their messiah — I mean, science.

Exactly as I predicted, Preston suggests I’m ignorant in so many words, and is quite condescending.

You know what I noticed, though?

I’m ignorant, but he’s not attempting to correct me or explain why my points are simplistic.  Just arrogance and biting condescension.

I’m more open minded than the most open minded atheist.  Trust me.  If I’m wrong, show it to me.  Educate me.  Teach me.  I might not agree right away, I might discuss it further or offer contrary opinions — mine or other scientists.  But don’t give up.  I want to know I’m wrong if I am, but I still fall into the typical human mind trap of not letting go right away.

It’s not close-mindedness.  Its basic psychology.

So my second simple request: Please educate me, and don’t talk down to me about it.  I want to learn.

I try to educate the atheist as to why I think he’s wrong, and why his theology is totally whack.  Do me the same courtesy.

Sincerely,

Cory Tucholski

I took it down long ago to do some maintenance, but never actually did the maintenance.

Well, it’s still a work in progress, but I’ve got most of the articles back up and running.  So you can check out my new articles page in all its glory right here.  Hopefully I’ll get some more to add to it real soon.

I decided that it is more productive to tinker with the layout of the blog than it is to actually blog.

For the sarcastically impaired, that opening sentence was meant to be taken ironically.

However, I think that I have achieved something pretty grand.  I have taken a lot of clutter out of the sidebar and moved it to the footer areas.  So the tinkering wasn’t a total waste of my time.

Although I did write a lengthy diatribe about how boring the powers-that-be want your writing to be at my personal blog.  Ironically, it’s probably boring.

Anyway, I’m probably going to post the first entry in the aforementioned case against gay marriage series shortly.  I would have posted it sooner, but I thought of an obvious objection to it, put it on hold, then didn’t get back to it (even though I had the answer the next day).

Plus, I have some pieces I’m writing for submission.  Some for possible pay, which (of course) would be awesome.  Even more awesome if I could keep a steady income stream through writing.  My ideal, dream job.

Anyway, new piece on gay marriage coming soon.  Stay tuned!