Morals without Christianity
It was an interesting conversation that I did not start. The other day I was working at my desk when a coworker– a contractor from natively from Canada– probed to see what I believed in and then offered a short dissertation on the impact of Christianity in his hometown.
Basically, he recounted that in Quebec at one time the Roman Catholic Bishop (or whatever head was there) more or less ruled so far as ethics were concerned. Even public officials would go for this man’s blessing. But during the 50s and 60s when both ours and his country started to reject religion, the people of Quebec stopped listening to this man’s guidance, and now the city is rampant with crime and this man attributes this to the wane of religious authority in the town.
Read the rest of this page »
Christian Atheism
One of the things that is truly fascinating about the atheist movement in America in 2008 is not that there are people that actually believe that the Universe was brought about from nothing, but that they attempt to take morality from Christianity and then claim a secular derivation in order to take ownership of said morality.
For example, not very long ago an atheist decided to raise money for a charity. Why would they do such a thing? The concept of loving your neighbor is a Christian concept, not a secular one. In fact, if you were to derive morality from science, you would end up arguing that the helpless should be left without help so that the fittest may survive.
Read the rest of this page »
Creator = Owner
To come to the topic of God and justice, we first must define who God is– what is His standing. I know that this will be philosophical and theological, but hang with me, because it’s important that we think through these things.
Who does God claim that He is? Of the many things, one that stands out as important to our discussion is that He claims to be the Creator of all that is. In Genesis 1:1 we read that God created the Heavens and the Earth– He spoke them into existence.
Read the rest of this page »
Are You Afraid of the Dark?
…Because the dark doesn’t really exist.
One of the things that I muse on from time to time is the whole way we represent the world around us, and how accurate or inaccurate our descriptions are. Here are some others:
- Dark: Absence of Light
- Cold: Absence of Heat
- Vacuum: Absence of Air
- Evil: Absence of Good
I’m sure you can name others. What’s interesting is that when you get to that last one. I have to admit that the last one is one I struggle over. Is evil really the absence of Good– or a degree of missing good. And I have to agree with it.
And here’s why:
Read the rest of this page »
What if Seeker Sensitive Isn’t the Way to Go?
The Christian Church is an interesting thing in that, like most religions they want more numbers and have different standards about how they go about getting them.
All too often I’ve experienced being brought to the point where the question has either been asked (or I have asked it) about what mix of quality or quantity were we striving for.
I usually fall on the side of the quality argument– I think that we should make believers the best that they can be and so that they will produce disciples of high quality to reach their world.
Read the rest of this page »
Dr. Bob Jones III Steps Back Into Presidential Politics
As many of you know, I have a BS in Computer Science from Bob Jones University (located in Greenville, South Carolina). My alma mater never ceases to be a target when it comes to Presidential elections.
In the 2000 election cycle the University was pounded by negative press about its beliefs since President George W. Bush spoke there. The University had a policy of allowing political speakers to come and address the students which has been curtailed somewhat since that event.
Which is part of the reason that some of the recent activity surprises me. In an article entitled Bob Jones Dean Endorses… Romney, Michael M. Phillips reports that Robert R. Taylor (Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences) has come out in support of Mitt Romney. He believes that, of the front runners, Romney has the best record when it comes to issues that Christians care about.
What bothers me is the following quote: Read the rest of this page »
Is KJV Only as Bad as Liberalism?
There are two different errors Scott Buchanan highlights in his article Indifferentism vs. Everythingism: Stay in the Middle of the Road, but that’s not what makes his article interesting.
First, let’s get some definitions out of the way:
- Indifferentism is the error of accepting the gospel but refusing to acknowledge the doctrines of the gospel as “unbreachable boundaries for Christian faith and fellowship.”
- Everythingism is the error of holding all doctrines on the same level as the gospel, making every belief a boundary for faith and fellowship.
The problem here is that both are wrong Scripturally. The one is wrong because there are doctrines that go along with salvation that must be maintained. The other is wrong because not every doctrine is of the same weight as salvation or necessary for salvation.
Fundamentalists have the problem of allowing for the second, Evangelicals have the problem with being permissive about the first. But both are wrong, as illustrated by the end of his article:
One time when discussing separation with a friend, I mentioned that I considered strong KJV-only-ism as serious an error as new-evangelicalism. The friend, who came from conservative circles, looked at me with a shocked expression: surely I was crazy to imply that somebody with an ostensibly “higher standard” of practice was as wrong as a “compromising” new-evangelical.
Interesting stuff, is it not? How often do we allow someone to slide by because of a higher standard that they’ve linked to salvation (there’s nothing wrong with a high standard when you are not judging another, especially with an extra biblical issue) and take to task the evangelical?
