Comments From Caller On William Lane Craig

Last year I wrote a few posts that interacted with an email exchange I had with a group in Colorado that desired to help men experience Christ (read 1, 2, 3). When I wrote that, my main response was in relation to the group's understanding of what it means to experience Christ and the fruit that comes from that. The Gospel and the God ordained means by which we are to proclaim the Gospel was simply not in this group's thinking.

More and more we are seeing Protestants willing to work with Roman Catholics as if Rome possesses the Gospel. How do we know Rome possesses the Gospel? Because they have just as much fervor for Jesus as Protestants do.

Theology matters. On the 4th of June a caller on the Dividing Line had a discussion with Dr. White about the debate between an atheist and Dr. William Craig. During the debate the atheist asked if Dr. Craig could point out Christians who have bad doctrine. Dr. Craig's first thought was that of the Calvinists. This would explain his willingness to stand with Roman Catholics more than he would Reformed folks.

To make a loooong story short, in this short clip the caller makes a great point about the same problem I was addressing last year. When man's autonomous will must be believed at all costs, the foundation for the reformation is undercut. Listen here.

Pass the Buck

I read these couple of quotes on the masked crusader's site.

Denny's...

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Posted: 03/03/2009

Denny's is now offering a new breakfast "slam" in special honor of the California octuplet's mother.

You get 8 eggs, no sausage and the person next to you gets the bill.

[more information after the jump]

Socialism in America

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Posted: 03/02/2009

Norman Mattoon Thomas (November 20, 1884 - December 19, 1968), and some of us are old enough to remember him running for President, was a leading American socialist, pacifist, and six-time presidential candidate for the Socialist Party of America.
Norman Thomas said this in a 1944 speech:

"The American people will never knowingly adopt socialism. But, under the name of liberalism, they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program, until one day America will be a socialist nation, without knowing how it happened." He went on to say: "I no longer need to run as a Presidential Candidate for the Socialist Party. The Democratic Party has adopted our platform."

Snopes has not yet verified the Thomas quote, but is there any doubt as to its truth whether he actually said it or not? I first read this in an email.

A Couple of Notes

Just a couple of things. First I have been reading through a small book by Donald MacLeod called Shared Life. Subtitle is The Trinity & The Fellowship of God's People. This is a great book for the beginner Christian. I really appreciated a couple of paragraphs that answer the question of "why?" the Trinity is important to learn. With so much demand for "practical preaching, here is a portion of his response.

Even here, however, we need to be careful. What do we mean by practical? We think immediately of humanitarianism: of assisting our neighbors, of relieving famine in Africa, of ministering to drug addicts and alcoholics. Practical is seen almost exclusively in terms of this world. Such thinking looks harmless enough, but what it actually makes us say is this: loving our neighbor is practical, loving God is not. As Christians we obviously have no right to think like that. Practical Christianity will certainly involve concern for our fellow man and good will towards our neighbor wherever we meet him. But it begins with loving God, and with expressing that love in humility, gratitude and obedience.

The book is broken down into 3 section. First, an explanation of the biblical teaching of the Trinity and the major thinkers down through the centuries contribution to our ability to articulate the teaching. The second section deals with the Trinity in our religious life. The third is a defense of the doctrine in light to the major world religions and cults.

MacLeod is also the author of one of the best books on the Person of Christ that I have in my personal library. In this book you will receive a very thorough understanding of who Christ is from the Scriptures and also the historic debates concerning His dual nature.

Get it. Read it. Give it to a Christian friend.

I also managed to listen to a few programs of Issues Ect. with Todd Wilken. Shane Rosenthal was interviewed by Todd last week. After a few generations of bad preaching and worse youth group programs, Shane discusses a survey showing that American Christian youths are simply moralistic deists looking for a life coach in Jesus. Basically, we have become narcissistic gnostics looking for new ways to experience Jesus.

Carter and the Created Order

I have noticed something over the years that I think has caused Christians a problem in the field of apologetics. I have seen this problem when discussing the issue of homosexuality not only in the religious context but in the political realm as well. Since the issue of women in the church and family is tightly related, I thought pointing out this inconsistency might be of service in the Christian's ability to communicate his beliefs.

This morning's blog post by Albert Mohler is excellent. Mohler explains that Jimmy Carter is simply wrong in his use of scripture and Carter's view of denominational membership (Why doesn't he leave already!). But, here comes the other shoe, there is that one point that I think Christians need to clarify.

Mohler quotes Carter,

So my decision to sever my ties with the Southern Baptist Convention, after six decades, was painful and difficult. It was, however, an unavoidable decision when the convention's leaders, quoting a few carefully selected Bible verses and claiming that Eve was created second to Adam and was responsible for original sin, ordained that women must be "subservient" to their husbands and prohibited from serving as deacons, pastors or chaplains in the military service. This was in conflict with my belief - confirmed in the holy scriptures - that we are all equal in the eyes of God.

Mohler then makes this comment with a quote from Carter,

Instead, his reference to the Southern Baptist Convention introduced his argument that any religious teaching that denies what he construes as full equality for women "is in clear violation not just of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights but also the teachings of Jesus Christ, the Apostle Paul, Moses and the prophets, Muhammad, and founders of other great religions - all of whom have called for proper and equitable treatment of all the children of God."

Of course, one could have a field day with this nonsense. Could anyone with a quarter pounder in his mouth and half a brain make such stupid words string together by accident? Yet that is the beauty of Liberalism. Words have no meaning and history is able to be rewritten at the whim of the touchy feely.

However, it is in the next paragraph that I think the Christian in general and Mohler in particular miss the opportunity to clarify. Mohler states,

All this fits a pattern for which Mr. Carter is now well known. He simply rejects the texts in the Bible that clearly establish different roles for men and women in the church and the home. He dismisses these verses for the simple reason that he also rejects the inerrancy of the Bible.

Now all this is true of course. Liberals hardly believe in Genesis. It is just a story to twist and pervert and mythologize to no end. Yet one does not have to believe in the inerrancy of Scripture to argue against Carter's feminist views anymore than the homosexual issue or even just talking with an unbelieving neighbor. (I need to clarify that I am a presuppositionalist, and I believe that the Christian must start with the inerrancy of Scripture. However, here I am simply arguing the created order. This knowledge is known by all men.)

My point is simple but easily missed. There is a created order. Christians in particular need to learn to argue from this created order to demonstrate the Creator's purpose and design. Everyone knows that men and women are created equal in one sense. Yet we all may see that there is a purpose and order to things as well (Eve comes from Adam. She is not second rank because of her sin but because of the created order). Our consciences even bear witness to this fact. For we see this in militaries that have attempted to incorporate women along side of men in battle. We see this when a man's family is attacked. We see this plainly in so many areas of life that we must acknowledge, as the apostle Paul says in Romans 1,that men suppress the truth.

Christians have the Scriptures to speak to the sinful heart of man, and we must continue to proclaim the truths of God's Word. For it is the written special revelation of God that gives the needed correction to all of man's sinful perversions and twistings of the general revelation around him and within him. The Scriptures also give the special revelation that man needs to once again be reconciled to his Creator and to once again come into a right thinking about himself and the created order around him.

I doubt Former President Carter would be persuaded by any of this. Sinners do what sinners do. Nevertheless, I think Christians could and should engage unbelievers in the political arena in a more consistent manner for the simple fact that Christians desire to honor God's truth.

Time To Brag

The 4-H results are in and my kids did great. Once again, Steven got Grand Champion for his Geology project, and this year he also took grand champion for his rocket. Rachel got plenty of blues as well. In fact, she caused the judge to struggle between her Key Lime Pie verses somebody's chocolate cake for Grand Champion. Here are two things she also did really well in.


Above is a decorated zucchini and below is her snowman.

Steven also took grand junior champion in the Scott County photography contest with this one.


This one got a purple.


As for my pictures, 2 of the 3 lightning pictures (see previous posts) received champion and reserve champion. The rest were all blues including these.



There is just no place this boy can not sleep.

Tomorrow I'll try to have more pictures of the fair.

Lightning

As one friend pointed out, there are plenty of red dots in the background. They have proved quite difficult to rid. With a little online help, I fixed one picture. I must admit I am no artist. Real photographers know how to take something like this and make it great.

Lightning Storm

Tonight we had a thunder storm miss us to the west and then slid south east of us. My daughter talked me in to taking some pictures. I am sure glad she did. Here are a few of them.









This week is the Scott County Free Fair. I usually try to enter something into the photography open class. Any suggestions would be great.

4-H Rockets

This evening we did a little 4-H rocketry. These pictures were better than I could have hoped for.


Yes, it survived impact with only slight damage.

Here Come the Thought Policing Left

The Thought Police and the Secret Tribunals are coming our way with the U.S. Senate's passage of the Hate Crime legislation. The Baptist Press News speaks about the Senate's version,

The Senate measure says a person commits a hate crime when he "willfully causes bodily injury to any person or, through the use of fire, a firearm, a dangerous weapon, or an explosive or incendiary device, attempts to cause bodily injury to any person, because of the actual or perceived religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability of any person."

The penalty for a hate crime could be as much as 10 years in prison or, in some cases, up to a life sentence.

The legislation would authorize the U.S. attorney general to provide assistance to state and local officials in the investigation and prosecution of hate crimes.

Sam Brownback has attempted to amend the bill to make the bill more palatable. The bill should be completely opposed. The Republican Party is a complete failure. Brownback is no more able to articulate why this bill is wrong than his Democrat counterparts are able to defend this intellectually. This is all emotionally driven. Brownback is simply giving us the light version of the Democrat/Left-wing hate crimes legislation. We should all be happy now? Yeaaaaa! Only a portion of my American liberties have been lost?

The Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) is quoted in the article.

"In addition, the Brownback amendment doesn't resolve other inherent problems in the bill," Duke said. "The bill still elevates homosexuality and other aberrant sexual behaviors to a specially protected class, and it still creates an opportunity for the prosecution of thought. Consequently, while we appreciate the protection that Senator Brownback gained for people of faith, the hate crimes bill is still inappropriate legislation and should be defeated."

The article also states,

The amendment also is unclear in defining who would fit the categories of "sexual orientation" and "gender identity," ERLC President Richard Land said in a July 16 letter urging Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky to oppose the legislation. "While the American Psychiatric Association lists roughly 30 sexual orientations, including pedophilia, the term 'sexual orientation' is unspecified in the bill, and 'gender identity' is only loosely defined," Land wrote.

"Loosely defined" bills like this are bad news. With irrational judges, who reject the created order and the law of God, sitting on benches attempting to define loosely defined laws, Conservatives in general and Christians in particular better get ready for the many lawsuits that are coming our way.

The culture war has only increased in measure since the 60s. How could a bill like this help Americans to "get along"? My prediction is that this bill will only inflame the culture war. Eventually, when enough people are sued, people will turn to violence.

One thing I have learned over the years is that wars don't start over night. The Revolutionary War, The Civil War and other wars didn't start the day congress got into the mix. Wars escalate to the point of forcing governments to be involved. This is all the worse because the government is now taking sides. It appears to me that the Political Left wants a war. I wonder if they'll be able to finish it.

The Conversion of Souls

I just received this week's edition of the Spurgeon Baptist Association Weekly Newsletter. Richard Smith's article, THE CONVERSION OF SOULS, PART 24, stated much of what I have been thinking. Here is the first couple of paragraphs.

The professing Church must begin to think of salvation in terms of conversion and not just salvation from hell as the Bible does. Hell is a fearful truth, but it is not conversion. Sinners are saved from hell, but also converted for the glory of God now. The professing Church must repent of practical deism and live before the living God. Deists think that God created the world, wound it up like a clock with natural laws, stood back, and then disinterestedly watched. God did not, they said, take part in daily affairs. That is what the professing Church has done spiritually. Practical deists have taken the Bible as His Word and yet think that God is standing back and watching what human beings will do with it. They think that all that is needed is to teach people for the purpose of intellectual belief. Their theology may say differently, but practically speaking they deny that God is active in conversion.

Practical deists evangelize by quoting Scripture and telling men that they need to make a decision and pray. It is to tell them that the Bible gives the facts and we must make an act of the ill to believe them to be saved from hell. This idea has permeated churches and seminaries. We believe that if we can simply get the information to those listening that we have done our duty.

This paragraph just nails it.

As we can see from the text, God must reveal the truth. He reveals these things by the Holy Spirit, and we might add that the Holy Spirit breathed forth the words of Scripture (II Tim 3:16). No one can really understand the thoughts and things of God apart from the Spirit of God. The Lord teaches His people things that do not come from human wisdom. Simply put, as verse 14 says, the natural man cannot understand the things of the Spirit of God. It does not matter if the person is a seminary professor or pastor, if that person is unconverted that person does not understand the things of the Spirit of God. A pastor cannot be cool enough and our music cannot be professional or lively enough to teach what the Spirit alone can teach. We cannot be smart enough to teach what the Spirit alone can teach. In other words, we are developing personalities and methodologies in order to get people to say prayers because the Spirit is being withdrawn in our day. If we cannot even understand things apart from the Spirit, then surely we must know that the Spirit of God alone can truly convert people and bring spiritual life to their souls.