January Reading Log

Okay, here goes...

 1. The Grace of Repentance, by Sinclair Ferguson. 3 stars.

This short little booklet by Sinclair Ferguson sets for a classic, Reformed understanding of the doctrine of repentance.  The book has six chapters, the first three of which deserve 4 stars. The last three I thought were the weakest of the book, and seemed to be essays the author had written elsewhere that were thrown into this work to make it a short book length study.

I picked this book up in preparation for an upcoming series at New City Church, & there are some good nuggets that will prove helpful.

"Faith is trusting in Christ; repentance is turning from sin. They are two sides of the same coin of belonging to Jesus." 

"Evil deeds [& thoughts & words] are the fruit of an evil heart. They are not an aberration from our true self but a revelation of it."

 2. The Gospel & the Kingdom, G.E. Ladd. 4.5 stars.

I was first introduced to George Eldon Ladd in seminary with his massive, A Theology of the New Testament." This smaller book dealing with the Gospel and the Kingdom of Christ is a good work highlighting the fact that Christ's kingdom is both a present and future reality.  I enjoyed the chapter called "The Kingdom is Today" the most. Overall, it is a very important work.

"The kingdom of God belongs to the Age to Come. Yet the Age to Come has overlapped with this Age. We may taste of its powers and thereby be delivered from This Age and no longer live in conformity to it. This new transforming power is the power of The Age to Come; it is indeed the power of the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is future, but it is not only future. Like the powers of The Age to Come, the Kingdom of God has invaded this evil Age that men may know something of its blessings even while the evil Age goes on."

 3. The Gift & Giver: The Holy Spirit for Today, by Craig Keener. 3 stars.

I picked up this intro to charismatic theology by the respected scholar, Craig Keener. It had some great moments, but the consistency seemed to be off. He took on John MacArthur's Charismatic Chaos in a few places accusing him of using the worst examples / excesses of the Charismatic movement to make his case. Despite some of the uneven aspects of the work, it was a good overall primer on charismatic theology. It is an important reference for study in this area.

"It is most fully in worship that our hearts can embrace who God is, adoring him and finding the ways of his heart."

 4. Licensed to Kill: A Field Manual for Mortifying Sin, by Brian Hedges. 5 stars.

Brian Hedges has one of the best introductions to the Christian life that I have seen. It is called, Christ Formed in You: The Power of the Gospel for Personal Change (5 stars. Get it!). In that book, he has one chapter on the subject of mortification--or putting sin to death in our lives. What was in good, seminal form he unpacks further in Licensed to Kill. 

This little book comes with a powerful punch and is very practical. I read through it with some men from New City Church and we all benefitted from it immensely. The plus of Hedges work is that he roots our calling to put sin to death in our lives in the Gospel of grace itself. Therefore, there is no "Let go and let God" theology here. Neither is there a "Pull yourselves up by your bootstraps" mentality. Hedges does an excellent job teaching us how the Cross kills sin, and further what our active responsibility is in this endeavor.

"If we want to kill sin, we must aim at the right target. That target is not merely bad behavior but the sinful desires of the heart that produce the behavior. Mortifying sin will certainly bring about changes in what we say and do, but we need more than external reformation. Many people change their behavior without changing their heart to any significant degree. But Jesus is concerned about the root and motivation of sinful behavior--our drives and desires--not simply the behavior itself."

This week's sermon intro brought to you courtesy of Time magazine

In the midst of prepping for Sunday's study in the Gospel of Luke, I noticed that once again news agencies are crowning the next political savior.  And it gives the perfect illustration for our text this week, Luke 3:15-22.

Of course, for anyone who has followed American politics even casually, this comes as no surprise. It's as silly as it is embarrassing, but it seems something in our nature longs for the perfect political savior.  Obama was hailed as the savior long before he was sworn into office. 

Of course, some can sweep this away as mere exaggeration, but more recently, actor Jamie Fox referred to the President as "our Lord and Savior" leaving little doubt that some people look to mere mortals to fill this role.

Time Magazine decided to go ahead & name its next Messiah, or at least the Republican's Messiah.  

The new issue of TIME, featuring Sen. @marcorubio, hits newsstands Friday. See the cover | twitter.com/TIME/status/29…
— TIME.com (@TIME) February 7, 2013

I've often wondered what politicians think of this attention. No doubt some of them enjoy it. At least they make it easy to suspect it. 

But I'm glad that Senator Marco Rubio clarified the issue. In case there was any doubt, Rubio took to the fastest way to disseminate info:  Twitter.

There is only one savior, and it is not me. #Jesus
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) February 7, 2013

  Senator Rubio does here what John the Baptizer did in ancient times.

Luke 3 tells us,

"As the people were in expectation [of the coming Messiah], all were questioning in their hearts concering John, whether he might be the Christ, John answered them all, saying, 'I baptize with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sanles I am unworthy to untie.'"  

Like Rubio, John pointed people away from himself to the true Savior of the world.

And when anyone points away from themselves and point to the true King of Kings, #Jesus, there is true hope.

____

UPDATE:

My friend, Sean, alerted me to this song by Derek Webb, "A Savior on Capital Hill."



I’m so tired of these mortal men
with their hands on their wallets
and their hearts full of sin
scared of their enemies, scared of their friends
and always running for re-election
so come to DC if it be thy will
because we’ve never had a savior on Capitol Hill

you can always trust the devil or a politician
to be the devil or a politician
but beyond that friends you’d best beware
‘cause at the Pentagon bar they’re an inseparable pair
and as long as the lobbyists are paying their bills
we’ll never have a savior on Capitol Hill

[Bridge] all of our problems gonna disappear
when we can whisper right in that President’s ear
he could walk right across the reflection pool
in his combat boots and ten thousand dollar suit

you can render unto Caesar everything that’s his
you can trust in his power to come to your defense
it’s the way of the world, the way of the gun
it’s the trading of an evil for a lesser one
so don’t hold your breath or your vote until
you think you’ve finally found a savior up on Capitol Hill

So, who’s afraid of death?

Can I ask you a question?

If you could know the date of your death, would you want to know?

That’s an interesting question. As I’ve asked people this question over the years, I’ve found the conversations that ensued to be fascinating.

Some of us find the question itself to be distasteful. We don’t even want to think about it. To know would be depressing, and perhaps if it were to be sooner than later, well, that would put a damper on things. Better to live in the bliss of ignorance.

Others of us seem to be intrigued by the thought. To know the exact date of one’s death gives a sort of thrill. We feel a bit more alive knowing the expiry date. Better live while we can and suck all the marrow out of life. “Carpe diem!” Right?

It’s gonna happen. Book it. 

Whether you find the question distasteful or thrilling, one thing is certain: We all have a date with death. One day, your time on this planet will be up, and you will, as they say, assume room temperature.  For most people, the thought is a bit sobering no matter what you believe.

Woody Allen

I remember once hearing Woody Allen quip, “I’m not afraid of dying. I just don’t want to be around when it happens.” Many of us laugh in agreement nodding our heads.

The reason I remembered this quote is because I came across an interesting article in the NY Times in which Mr. Allen does admit the fact that he is afraid of death.

In typical Woody Allen style of humour, he tells of the strategy he employs to deal with his “constant terror” in the face of his date with death. And it is as telling as it is both fascinating and sad.

Mr. Allen describes his fear as an “obsession with personal vulnerability” that expresses itself not so much in terms of being a hypochondriac as in being an alarmist. Why? Because with every pain or new mark on his skin, he is certain that he has come down with some illness or disease that will prove to be the end of him. He asks,

When I panic over symptoms that require no more than an aspirin or a little calamine lotion, what is it I’m really frightened of? My best guess is dying. I have always had an animal fear of death, a fate I rank second only to having to sit through a rock concert. My wife tries to be consoling about mortality and assures me that death is a natural part of life, and that we all die sooner or later. 

She's right. But Mr. Allen's not comforted.

Undeterred, he does try to console himself, and since humour is the best medicine, he concludes his article with the thought, “…whether you’re a hypochondriac or an alarmist, at this point in time, either is probably better than being a Republican.”

In the end, Mr. Allen knows the clock is tickin’. Tick, tick, tickin’ away.

And then the end will come. Hence, the existential angst.

As an atheist, Mr. Allen believes that death is the end. And since that isn’t a pleasant thought, he lives in “constant terror.” Who knows but that little pain might be the death toll?

And watch out for those germs!

The death of death in the death of Christ

At the heart of Christianity is the proclamation that Jesus himself, as he predicted, conquered death by defeating it in his own death and resurrection.

The original disciples of Jesus who hid in fear for their own lives when their Teacher was crucified were in a matter of days transformed into fearless witnesses claiming to have seen the resurrected Jesus. And they gave their lives to seal their testimony.

Men who hid in fear of death suddenly were fearless in the face of it. Why?

Because in rising from the dead, Jesus made the definitive statement that death doesn’t have the last word. As the writer of the book of Hebrews said, through death Jesus can “deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery” (Hebrews 2:14-15).

Those who once were enslaved in “constant terror” can now be liberated.

Jesus’ resurrection was the firstfruits of the resurrection to come (1 Corinthians 15:20, 23). What Jews expected to happen at the end of history (the resurrection of the dead) actually happened in the middle of history in the resurrection of Jesus. Here is our definitive proof of the death of death.

And now, the follower of Christ can say with the Apostle Paul,

“O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”

And that’s the cash value of the Good News about Jesus. Death, though our enemy, is a defeated enemy. And yes, death still sucks. It is ugly vandalism on the face of God’s canvas of creation.

But Jesus gets the last word.

And he makes everything beautiful in its time (Ecclesiastes 3:11). One day, when he returns to set the world to right,

"He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I lam making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” (Revelation 21:4-5)

Jesus offers you freedom from the fear of death. You don’t have to live in constant terror.

You can even know the (approximate) date.

And yes, there’s an app for that.

Save the Date: Be Ready Apologetics Conference

Save the date! March 8-9, 2013

I'm a part of a local apologetics group here in Calgary called Faith Beyond Belief. This organization is organizing a conference with some great speakers, including William Lane Craig, JP Moreland, Sean McDowell, Craig Hazen, & Clay Jones.

 We are very excited at the privilege of having these fine speakers and thinkers address us on issues of defending the Christian faith.

 For more info, check out BeReadyCalgary.ca, and sign up!

On tolerance of just-so stories...

Richard Lewontin, a leading evolutionary thinker, made an interesting admission as to how the commitment to how he wants to see the world (materialism / naturalism) actually determines his findings as a scientist.

“Our willingness to accept scientific claims that are against common sense is the key to an understanding of the real struggle between science and the supernatural. We take the side of science in spite of the patent absurdity of some of its constructs, in spite of its failure to fulfill many of its extravagant promises of health and life, in spite of the tolerance of the scientific community for unsubstantiated just-so stories, because we have a prior commitment, a commitment to materialism."

 And here's the startling admission:

"It is not that the methods and institutions of science somehow compel us to accept a material explanation of the phenomenal world but, on the contrary, that we are forced by our own a priori adherence to material causes to create an apparatus of investigation and a set of concepts that produce material explanations, not matter how counterintuitive, no matter how mystifying to the uninitiated. Moreover, that materialism is absolute, for we cannot allow a divine foot in the door.”

~ Richard Lewontin in New York Review of Books, January 9, 1997, p. 28.

The grinches are at it again...

Over at the Beratta Blog, Dr. Glen Peoples, took up the issue several years ago of whether or not Christianity is a copycat religion.  In other words, Did Christianity construct a fake myth from pagan religions around it and fool everyone with it?  In a post called "Merry Mithras," Peoples writes...

The grinches are at it again. Every year at Easter and Christmas the tired old wheels start squeaking and some of the detractors of Christianity start wheeling out a few predictable canards, all connected to the idea that Christianity is just a copycat religion and that the accounts of the life of Jesus of Nazareth that we have in the New Testament were just borrowed from other older religions. 

Generally these attempts are now limited to personal websites and message boards on the internet, as they are so discredited that bringing them up at, say, a conference on New Testament studies, would get one laughed all the way home. But, unhappily resigned to the fact that some people only know what they know about theology or biblical studies because they read it at a website, it’s worth addressing some of these claims. 

I’ve already dealt with the claim that the virgin birth was borrowed from Buddhism and the claim that Jesus’ life is just a re-hashed version of the life of Osiris. Another common “copycat” theory that floats around online is the claim that Jesus is a mythical character copied from Mithras.

Read the rest here.

You may also be interested in these links...

• Is Jesus Christ a Mythical Entity Prefigured by Osirus-Horus Mythology? (Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3)
• Did Christianity Invent Stories by Borrowing from Pagan Religions? (with links to two debates with William Lane Craig on the issue)
• Jesus, the Resurrection, & Borrowed Myths
• Bart Ehrman of Emory University: "I don't think there is any serious historian who doubts the existence of Jesus. There are a lot of people who want to write sensational books and make a lot of money who say Jesus didn't exist, but I don't know any serious scholar who doubts the existence of Jesus.... We have more evidence for Jesus than we have for almost anybody from his time period. I'm not saying this as a believer. I'm not a believer, but as a historian you can't just dismiss it and say 'I don't know.' I mean you have to look at the evidence. There is hard evidence. "  Check out this interview...
  

Ehrman: chasing the ghosts of his evangelical past...

Michael Kruger of Reformed Theological Seminary has a good review of Bart Erhman's latest book:  Forged:  Writing in the Name of God.   Kruger concludes, 

In the final analysis, Forged is a book with a mix of positives and negatives. Ehrman’s helpful overview of the various kinds of early Christian forgeries and his excellent treatment of early Christian views of pseudepigraphy are bright spots in this volume. However, Ehrman’s level of confidence that the NT definitely contains forgeries is not commensurate with the arguments he puts forth to prove that thesis. In this regard, he regularly goes beyond what the evidence can sustain. For this reason the book, like many of his others, comes across as more autobiographical than academic; more polemical than historical. Ehrman still seems to be chasing the ghosts of his evangelical past. One wonders how many more books he will need to write before they go away.

My guess is, as long as he keeps making money from folks who are eager to listen to only one side of the debate.   

Read the full review here.

Medved on homosexuality in the West

Michael Medved has an illuminating article in a recent USA Today on the issue of homosexuality entitled, "Does it matter if only 1.4% of people are gay?".  He writes,  

The nation's increasingly visible and influential gay community embraces the notion of sexual orientation as an innate, immutable characteristic, like left-handedness or eye color. But a major federal sex survey suggests a far more fluid, varied life experience for those who acknowledge same-sex attraction.

Within the article, he states,

While pop-culture frequently cites the figure of one in 10 (based on 60-year-old, widely discredited conclusions from pioneering sex researcher Alfred Kinsey) the new study finds only 1.4% of the population identifying with same-sex orientation.

Moreover, even among those who describe themselves as homosexual or bisexual (a grand total of 3.7% of the 18-44 age group), overwhelming majorities (81%) say they've experienced sex with partners of the opposite gender. Among those who call themselves heterosexual, on the other hand, only a tiny minority (6%) ever engaged in physical intimacy of any kind with a member of the same sex These figure indicate that 94% of those living heterosexual lives felt no physical attraction to members of the same sex, but the great bulk of self-identified homosexuals and bisexuals feel enough intimate interest in the opposite gender to engage in erotic contact at some stage in their development.

Read the article here.  

Brooks: It's Not About You

David Brooks has an excellent op-ed piece in the NYTimes regarding the narcissistic message that most graduates will hear these days.  He says,

Worst of all, they are sent off into this world with the whole baby-boomer theology ringing in their ears. If you sample some of the commencement addresses being broadcast on C-Span these days, you see that many graduates are told to: Follow your passion, chart your own course, march to the beat of your own drummer, follow your dreams and find yourself. This is the litany of expressive individualism, which is still the dominant note in American culture.

But, of course, this mantra misleads on nearly every front.

College grads are often sent out into the world amid rapturous talk of limitless possibilities. But this talk is of no help to the central business of adulthood, finding serious things to tie yourself down to. The successful young adult is beginning to make sacred commitments — to a spouse, a community and calling — yet mostly hears about freedom and autonomy.

 And he concludes his piece,

Today’s grads enter a cultural climate that preaches the self as the center of a life. But, of course, as they age, they’ll discover that the tasks of a life are at the center. Fulfillment is a byproduct of how people engage their tasks, and can’t be pursued directly. Most of us are egotistical and most are self-concerned most of the time, but it’s nonetheless true that life comes to a point only in those moments when the self dissolves into some task. The purpose in life is not to find yourself. It’s to lose yourself.

And I say, "Amen."

But, who has ears to hear among both the graduates and the culture who has discipled them to believe that "the self is the center of life?"

The end is near (again). No, for real this time....

UPDATE: THIS JUST IN...

YAHOO News is reporting...

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – With no sign of Judgment Day arriving as he had forecast, the 89-year-old California evangelical broadcaster and former civil engineer behind the pronouncement seemed to have gone silent on Saturday.

Family Radio, the Christian stations network headed by Harold Camping which had spread his message of an approaching doomsday, was playing recorded church music, devotionals and life advice unrelated to the apocalypse.

Camping previously made a failed prediction Jesus Christ would return to Earth in 1994.

----

Al Mohler has a good read if you are wondering if the end of the world as we know it will happen today.  In a post entitled, "The End is Near?  The False Teaching of Harold Camping", Mohler writes,

Harold Camping is now warning the world that the Day of Judgment will begin at about 6:00 p.m. on Saturday, May 21, 2011. The 89-year-old founder of Family Radio has made such pronouncements before, most recently in 1994. He now says that he simply miscalculated then, but he is absolutely certain that he has the right calculation now. You have been warned.

Despite the long tradition of people who claimed special secret knowledge about the return of Christ, and despite the fact the Camping has got it wrong before in 1994 (yes, this isn't the first time; yet he's been given a pass and scores of people still follow him and give him money--his ministry is worth $72M), Camping remains undaunted.

But Mohler has the right perspective....

First, Christ specifically admonished his disciples not to claim such knowledge. In Acts 1:7, Jesus said, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.” In Matthew 24:36, Christ taught similarly: “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.”

To state the case plainly, these two verses explicitly forbid Christians to claim the knowledge of such dates and times. Jesus clearly taught that the Father has not revealed such dates and timing, but has reserved that knowledge for himself. It is an act of incredible presumptuousness to claim that a human knows such a date, or has determined God’s timing by any means.

Second, the Bible does not contain hidden codes that we are to find and decipher. The Bible has been given to us in order that we might know the truth, and the truth is clearly revealed in its pages. We are not to look for hidden patterns of words, numbers, dates, or anything else. The Bible’s message is plain and requires no mathematical computation for its understanding. The claim that one has found a hidden code or system in the Bible is an insult to the Bible as the Word of God.

Third, Christians are indeed to be looking for Christ to return and seeking to be found faithful when Christ comes. We are not to draw a line in history and set a date, but we are to be about the Father’s business, sharing the Gospel and living faithful Christian lives. We are not to sit on rooftops like the Millerites, waiting for Christ’s return. We are to be busy doing what Christ has commanded us to do.

In Hebrews 9:28, we are taught that Christ will come a second time “to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.” That is the faithful Christian response to the New Testament teachings about Christ’s coming. The church is not to be arrogantly setting dates, but instead to be eagerly waiting for him. Of that we can be truly certain.

Read the full article here.

For years, Camping has convinced untold numbers that the visible church is evil, so they should follow him.  And with all of this hullabaloo, scores more will be convinced that Christianity has nothing to offer because of con-artists like Camping.

So after today, can we please make Camping's name synonymous with "heretic"?

Like at 6:01pm to be precise?

Happy Belated Birthday, Mr. Hubble Telescope

April 24th was the bday, but I'm thank for this telescope and the beautiful pictures of our universe that it has given to us.

 

Click here for the first 20 years in pictures.

NT Wright deconstructs Hawkings deconstruction of Heaven

In case you missed it earlier in the week, the otherwise brilliant scientist, Stephen Hawking, ventured out of his narrow specialized field of theoretical physics to pontificate on why Heaven is a fairytale for scaredy-cats (the topic of "Heaven" being properly the realm of meta-physics).  

Illustrating the old dictum that "the man of science is a poor philosopher," theologian & NT scholar, NT Wright deconstructs Hawking's stinkin' thinkin'.

Hawking is working with a very low-grade and sub-biblical view of ‘going to heaven.’ Of course, if faced with the fully Christian two-stage view of what happens after death -- first, a time ‘with Christ’ in ‘heaven’ or ‘paradise,’and then, when God renews the whole creation, bodily resurrection -- he would no doubt dismiss that as incredible. But I wonder if he has ever even stopped to look properly, with his high-octane intellect, at the evidence for Jesus and the resurrection? I doubt it -- most people in England haven’t. Until he has, his opinion about all this is worth about the same as mine on nuclear physics, i.e. not much.

 Read the rest here.

The Nature of Nature

I'm super grateful for my friend, Catherine, and her Easter gift to me:  The Nature of Nature:  Examining the Role of Naturalism in Science.   The book is edited by her son, Bruce Gordon (see "Coffee with Dr. Bruce Gordon"), and his collegue, William Dembski.

The mammoth book (917 pages excluding endnotes) is a collection of essays by both Christian and non-Christian thinkers on the issue of naturalism, the belief that nothing exists outside of physical matter or nature.   Some notable non-Christian thinkers include Michael Shermer, Francis Crick, Roger Penrose, David Berlinski & Michael Ruse.  Noteable Christians include Bruce Gordon, William Dembski, William Lane Craig, JP Moreland, Alvin Plantinga, & Stephen C. Meyer.  

The debate?  Bruce Gordon explains in his introductory essay:

"A central issue in this interplay between presuppositions and conclusions, one made all the more pressing by recent scientific advances, is whether the universe is self-existent, self-sufficient, and self-organizing, or whether instead it is grounded in a reality that transcends space, time, matter, and energy.  More pointedly, does our universe find its ultimate explanatory principle in matter or mind?"

Some of the articles are way out of my league (e.g., articles on Quantum Physics which, just perusing them is enough to make ones head swim--unless of course, you speak that language), but most are right up my ally in terms of my interests in philosophy, cosmology, & ethics.

What am I looking forward to reading the most?

• "The Rise of Naturalism & Its Problematice Role in Science and Culture" (Bruce Gordon)
• "Sauce for the Goose:  Intelligent Design, Scientific Methodology, and the Demarcation Problem" (Stephen Meyer)
• "Evolution versus Naturalism" (Alvin Plantinga)
• "Must Naturalists Be Realists?" (Michael Williams)
• "On the Origins of Life" (David Berlinski)
• "DNA:  The Signature in the Cell" (Stephen Meyer)
• "Life's Conservation Law:  Why Darwinian Evolution Cannot Create Biological Info" (William Dembski & Robert Marks)
• "The Limits of Non-Intelligent Explanations in Molecular Biology" (Michael Behe)
• "The Chain of Accidents and the Rule of Law:  The Role of Contingency and Necessity in Evolution" (Michael Shermer)
• "Naturalism and the Origin of the Universe" (William Lane Craig)
• "Habitable Zones and Fine-Tuning" (Guillermo Gonzalez) 
• "On the Origins of the Mind" (David Berlinski)
• "Evolution and Ethics" (Michael Ruse)
• "Naturalism, Science, and Religion" (Michael Tooley)

As you might guess, this will keep me busy for a long while.  Now, if I only had a reading group to discuss these articles....

Do you like mysteries?

Dr. Holly Ordway has a nice, succinct post on mystery novels and the Christian worldview. 

Mystery novels, taken as a whole, reflect at a deep level the truth of the Christian worldview. And yes, I mean mystery novels in general, not “mystery novels by Christian writers.”

Here’s why.

In any normal mystery novel (notice that I am omitting weird literary or experimental ones; those are the exceptions that prove the rule), certain ingredients are essential:

1. A crime.
2. An investigation of the crime.
3. A resolution of the crime.

All three conditions point ineluctably toward a moral universe, one in which right and wrong, good and evil, have objective meaning. Let’s consider each point.

 Read more here.  

The Great Debate: Is there evidence for God?

 Well, we of course believe there is overwhelming evidence for it.  But tonight there will be a debate between two well matched opponents:  Dr. William Craig (pro) & Dr. Lawrence Krauss (against).  You can get the a preview of the debate here at Wintery Knight, and you can watch the debate online, 7pm EST.

Last day for free audio download

Have you downloaded RC Sproul's "The Holiness of God" from christianaudio.com yet?   Today's the last day to do so.  I encourage you do get this free download.  Sproul's classic work is one of the top 5 most influential books in my life. 

Science & Faith

"Once upone a time, back in the second half of the nineteenth century, it was certainly possible to believe that science and religion were permanently at war...This is now seen as a hopelessly outmoded historical stereotype that scholarship has totally discredited."

~ Alister McGrath, The Dawkins Delusion:  Atheist Fundamentalism and the Denial of the Divine

Ideas have consequences....

Does one's worldview matter?

"I see no reason for attributing to man a significance 

different in kind from that which belongs 

to a baboon or a grain of sand?"

~ US Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes

I wonder if those who hold to such a worldview finding it shocking when someone goes on a shooting spree?

"How," one wonders given Holmes' view of human life, "could such an incident be no more significant than exterminating ants?"

[qtd. in Time Magazine: “The Nation: A Clearer Voice?” (Sept 21, 1953)]

Rome burns football idolatry

You've probably seen the commercials of the guys who have "never missed a super bowl."  If not, check it out here:  Bob, Tom, Larry, & Don.  Sports commentator Jim Rome surprisingly takes them to the shed in his typical cut-to-the-chase style.   Check it out:



For the record, I need to hear Rome's rebuke as much as these guys do.   As one who has allowed his weekend to be ruined by what a bunch of 20 year olds do on the grid iron, I need to be reminded of what is truly important as well. 

How prone is the heart to call this into question...

Memorable words from Jedi-master, Jonathan Edwards,

“There is no one thing whatsoever more plain and manifest, and more demonstrable, than the being of God. It is manifest in ourselves, in our bodies and souls, and in everything about us wherever we turn our eye, whether to heaven, or to earth, the air, or the seas. And yet how prone is the heart of man to call this into question! So inclined is the heart of man to blindness and delusion, that it is prone to even atheism itself.”

From Man's Natural Blindness in Religion
Qtd in James Spiegel's The Making of an Atheist, p. 9