oddXian: Challenge the Consensus

Started at the Founders blog which lead me to start reading about the Building Bridges conference this blog post from the Baptist Press : The primary weakness of both supralapsarian Calvinism (God decreed to save some men before the fall) and infralapsarian Calvinism (God decreed to save some men after the fall) lies in their inability to explain sin and evil without stipulating God as the cause of them, Keathley said. Molinism better reconciles God and the so-called "problem of evil," he said, and eliminates the charge of God having caused evil. "God controls all things but He does not cause all things," Keathley said. "We must embrace God's permission to avoid having God causing evil." I guess I don't really understand the issue...is seems like the proposition is that unless God somehow did not know that Man was going to sin, He is the author of sin - that is - if He knew Man would sin and did nothing to stop it, He was the cause of sin. I think...

4thruth.net looks like a good, straightforward apologetics site. About Us Apologetics, found at www.4truth.net, is maintained by the Apologetics and Interfaith Evangelism team of the North American Mission Board, an agency of the Southern Baptist Convention. The team, working with a network of partners on the state convention, association, and church levels, seeks to convey factual and reliable information about American and World religions and the truth of Christianity, and to equip Southern Baptists to be effective witnesses of the gospel to all people.

Note the cry of Sudanese Muslims protesting because the Gillian Gibbons did not get the death penalty for allowing her Muslim students to name their teddy bear Muhammed: The protesters called for Gibbons' execution, saying, "No tolerance: Execution," and "Kill her, kill her by firing squad." If this were an isolated incident and performed only by a few, then one might could dismiss it as radicals of a particular religion, but as was witnessed earlier by the response to the cartoon, this type practice is not isolated nor is it performed and condoned only by a few on the fringe; rather it points to the result of a religion whose foundation is tied up in a man, who therefore must be radically protected and defended, rather than in God. My challenge is for Muslims to look closely at what's taking place, examine the reasoning behind what's taking place, and ask the questions: Does it not strike one as odd that rather than the name of God himself or the messa...

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Faith, whether true or false, has consequences. This is seen clearly in the death of a Jehovah's Witness teen who died after refusing a blood transfusion. The belief and practice of Jehovah's Witnesses in refusing blood transfusions based on passages such as Acts 15:19-21 (where James refers to Gentiles abstaining "from blood"), (along with others such as Gen 9:4, etc.) fail to recognize (1) this passage's ultimate focus deals with the question and primacy of relationship between the Jews and Gentiles and the request of Gentiles to give up some liberties for the sake of the common fellowship; (2) this passage deals with the pagan practice of eating blood (or using blood as a food) not transfusing blood [i.e., to abstain from all blood would require giving up one's own blood]; and most importantly (3) the abstaining from eating blood was based on the principle of "LIFE" and of setting a HIGH VALUE on life since "life was in the blood" ... ...

FoxNews reports "Sudan on Wednesday charged a British teacher with insulting religion and inciting hatred, a crime punishable by up to 40 lashes, six months in prison or a fine, after she named a class teddy bear 'Muhammad'" ." Questions: 1. Will the 7 year old boy be charged as well since he initiated the name calling? 2. Will the parents of the 7 year old boy be charged as well since they named their son Muhammed? 3. What hatred was incited by this (except for hatred toward a non-Muslim)? What evidence is there? 4. Are Muslims suggesting there's something different about Muhammed than other humans, or other prophets? Will they impose the same penalty for similar use of names like John the Baptist, Jesus, etc., who according to their doctrine were also prophets? 5. Ever heard or any or many hate crimes for using the name "Allah"? (I'm told in Muslim dominated regions practically speaking it's okay to use Allah's name in vein, b...

From this thread: armourbearer says I liken the two approaches to a man who finds a watch on the beach. He sees the watch, and figures there must be a maker of it, and probably even learns something about the skill of the watchmaker. Throughout this process the man is the master of the opinions he arrives at. But suppose the watchmaker himself comes on the scene, and begins to tell the man how he made the watch, how it works, and what it needs in order to run properly. The man is no longer in control of the facts, but is submissive to and dependent upon the superiority of the watchmaker. The revelational theology of the Bible undoubtedly calls upon us to bow to the sovereignty of God (presuppositionalism), and not to be masters of our own thoughts about God (evidentialism).

Anti-spanking laws continue to surface (See here ). Rather than a lengthy post, consider the simple question: Does (or should) ABUSE of something negate it's PROPER USE? The answer is NO! (This applies to spanking just as it does to alcohol, glue, catnip, love, relationships, property, laws, etc., the list could go on.) You can't remove the authority or means that God gives without causing additional (& often greater) problems. While such problems may be and/or remain masked for awhile, history has proven that while one may abandon, seek to undo, or even legislate against God's will and provisions, such actions cannot be taken without consequence. Wisdom calls for protection of and participation in the duties God sets before us , even for good ... including the right administration of physical discipline, which serves as an effective means of reproof and correction for those who will be trained by it, even reaching the heart and shaping the character and will, wh...

Wow - just listening to the Way of the Master radio - a program contrasting the "feel good" message with the "total depravity" message. Paul Washer (God bless him!) is the subject of the latter - one thing he sid really resonated with me. "Lot's of people come to me saying they have a new relationship with God. My response is, "DO you have a new relationship with sin? Because if you don't have a change in your relationship to sin, then you don't really have a relationship with God." Incredible!

According to a New York Times piece entitled "The Dance of Evolution, or How Art Got Its Start" , some researchers suggest human artistic impulses "arose accidentally, as a byproduct of large brains that evolved to solve problems and were easily bored." Another argues that "the creative drive has all the earmarks of being an adaptation on its own. The making of art consumes enormous amounts of time and resources ..., an extravagance you wouldn’t expect of an evolutionary afterthought. Art also gives us pleasure, she said, and activities that feel good tend to be those that evolution deems too important to leave to chance." This latter expert goes on to suggest that "the tightly choreographed rituals that bond mother and child look a lot like the techniques and constructs at the heart of much of our art." "Perhaps the most radical element of Ms. Dissanayake’s evolutionary framework is her idea about how art got its start. She suggests tha...

For anyone who thinks that modern science is completely devoid of metaphysics, just look at how far from reality this article takes us. "Forget about the threat that mankind poses to the Earth: our very ability to study the heavens may have shortened the inferred lifetime of the cosmos." Read More... Not only is mankind the all-powerful enemy of the planet, but now he has the ability to destroy the universe!!! What frontiers will we conquer next? This also caught my attention. Has the science of Astromony adopted the religion of Hinduism? Parallel universe proof boosts time travel hopes

Skeptical of Al Qaeda, who beheaded an Iraqi couple in front of their children for being infidels because they "wore western trousers" and did not pray. Determinations based upon the make or material of one's clothes rather than the faith and beliefs of one's heart are the result and display of legalism (in this case, resulting from cultural/religious bias & brainwashing), not spirituality. Not only that, but based on "wearing western trousers" being part of the criteria for proving oneself an infidel, would not the 9-11 high-jackers be infidels (or partial infidels, or at least participating in the practice of infidels), not to mention scores of Muslims living in the West today! 1 Cor 2:12-13 "We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in ...

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Today is Thanksgiving, a day set apart for giving thanks...that is: Thanks to God our creator, the one who is the ultimate source of every good and perfect gift, and the one from whom all blessings flow, the one apart from whom there is not life or purpose or hope or confidence or fellowship, but separation, wandering, lostness, destruction and death. Today is also a day for giving thanks to others, who according to the pleasure and wisdom of God have been created with a living soul and a personal will able under the sovereignty and providence of God to make choices and affect our lives and our welfare. Today is a day for reflecting upon the mercies and grace that have been shown to us as well as the good that we have received and enjoy. Today is a day of thanksgiving, a response and an act that has historically and continues to be recognized by humanity as not only a character trait, behavior and expression that is right and becoming but one that displays the best in a person and ...

Skeptical of the Equity in Saudi Courts : Some rapists get "light" sentences while a female found in a car with males who were not her relative gets six months in jail plus 200 lashes. Which do you consider the greater "crime"? Compare this injustice and inequity with what is said of the Lord and his kingdom: Isa 32:1 "See, a king will reign in righteousness and rulers will rule with justice. " Isa 9:7 "Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this." ... How bright the glories of the Lord are when contrasted with the fallenness of this world.

I tell ya the material naturalists are creative! "Masse’s biggest idea is that some 5,000 years ago, a 3-mile-wide ball of rock and ice swung around the sun and smashed into the ocean off the coast of Madagascar. The ensuing cataclysm sent a series of 600-foot-high tsunamis crashing against the world’s coastlines and injected plumes of superheated water vapor and aerosol particulates into the atmosphere. Within hours, the infusion of heat and moisture blasted its way into jet streams and spawned superhurricanes that pummeled the other side of the planet. For about a week, material ejected into the atmosphere plunged the world into darkness. All told, up to 80 percent of the world’s population may have perished, making it the single most lethal event in history. Why, then, don’t we know about it? Masse contends that we do. Almost every culture has a legend about a great flood, and—with a little reading between the lines—many of them mention something like a comet on a collision cou...

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In Moscow, psychologists are negotiating with some doomsday cult members, who have sealed themselves in ...a cave or a bunker... waiting for the end of the world. No doubt Hitchens and others will point to this incident and suggest that "RELIGION" is a problem (i.e., "God is Not Good: How Religion Poisons Everything", religion is the cause of so many troubles in the world, etc.). However, it should be pointed out that "RELIGION" is on both sides of this issue(/incident). The point being, it's NOT "RELIGION" which is the problem, but "FALSE RELIGION"! Failure to distinguish and lump the two together is made by those who possess no more discernment than to look at examples of "FALSE SCIENCE" and it's effects and then conclude that science is a problem and poisons everything. Note - it makes no difference how loud, how often, how popular, how persuasive, how arrogant, or how hateful one makes such claims, it does ...

The supreme court has tipped their hand and showed us some of the criteria they use to determine whether or not causing intentional death is justified. ...... On October 30th, the Supreme Court blocked the execution of a Mississippi murderer. There was no doubt about the guilt of the killer. In a capital punishment case the prosecution MUST prove guilt beyond the shadow of doubt. It would be a sad tragedy indeed to put an innocent person to death. The high court, in the case of this murdererer, blocked the execution until it concludes an ongoing review of lethal injection. The conclusion of the review should come about next year sometime and until then, there will be a moratorium on executions. The primary question is whether lethal injections constitute cruel and unusual punishment. In other words, do they hurt? It’s true the method used now is not the same as that used to euthanize a pet and perhaps an improvement can be made in the kinds of drugs used. I’m not unhappy with...

From here “Eight people were killed when a teenaged gunman opened fire at a school in southern Finland on November 7, 2007 hours after a video was posted on YouTube predicting a massacre there. The gunman was a pupil at Jokela High School, a teacher who witnessed the attack told Reuters, and had walked through the school firing into classroom after classroom. . . . The YouTube video, entitled ‘Jokela High School Massacre—11/7/2007,’ was posted by a user called ‘Sturmgeist89.’ ‘I am prepared to fight and die for my cause,’ read a posting by a user of the same name. ‘I, as a natural selector, will eliminate all who I see unfit, disgraces of human race and failures of natural selection.’ Sturmgeist means storm spirit in German.”2

Science ... getting closer to discovering the origin of life on earth. Impressed, Anyone ?

According to today's news, Mohsen Yahyavi admits that Iran believes in the death penalty for homosexuality. A few comments: 1. There's evidence & testimony here that even unbelievers recognize that homosexuality is "against human nature." 2. The complete wide range of views by unbelievers ("against nature" & "deserves torture/death" by Yahyavi versus "it's natural and should be accepted & promoted" by some in the U.S.) shows that apart from an absolute, unbelievers have no ultimate authority or agreement for their positions or response (regardless of whether as unbelievers they look to religion [false] or to any other ground, even that resulting from the desire to justify personal behavior). 3. I imagine the greatest number of people lurking to see the responses to this will be those who participate in homosexuality, not simply because they have an interest involved, but because their conscience is alerted to anythin...

New book out by Tim Keller : The Reason for God Table of Contents PART ONE The Leap of Doubt 1. There can't be just one true religion 2. A good God could not allow suffering 3. Christianity is a straitjacket 4. The church is responsible for so much injustice 5. A loving God would not send people to hell 6. Science has disproved Christianity 7. You can't take the Bible literally PART TWO The Reasons for Faith 8. The clues of God 9. The knowledge of God 10. The problem of sin 11. Religion and the gospel 12. The (true) story of the cross 13. The reality of the resurrection 14. The Dance of God Epilogue - Where do we go from here?

I find HUMOROUS the fact that the Council for Secular Humanism would in a press release use statistics from those who when polled about their religious beliefs responded by stating "they would prefer not to say" or "they are unsure" in order to try to finagle their numbers to be higher than that of Roman Catholics (which they refer to as the largest single belief group in America). CONGRATULATIONS, by hook or crook, you reached the 27% needed to be higher than the 26%!

Science is often touted as the "Be All & End All" of humanity's problems. Evidence this is not the case is showcased in a statement by Henry Louis Gates Jr. (Dir. of the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard University) in a NYTimes piece entitled "In DNA Era, New Worries About Prejudice" where he states " “We will all be walking a fine line between using biology and allowing it to be abused.” As expected, advancement in technology, while it doesn't cause jealousy, rather than eliminating all problems within humanity, can and will serve to provide new opportunities for humanity's root problems(those centered in sin)such as jealousy and prejudice to continue and to prosper and grow with even greater potential and capability. For clarity, let me emphasize I'm not stating there is anything wrong with science itself, but that because science and morality are on one level independent ... such that imm...

Most discussion between unbelievers and believers over the issue of persecution center around the crusades, the spanish inquisition, and the like... examples done under the Christian name "regardless" of whether specific motives and/or actions were in keeping with foundational Christian truth and principles. That matter aside, what is not discussed is the extent and degree of persecution of Christians both throughout the world and throughout the ages. One day when the truth is known, the greater picture regarding persecution of Christians will show unapologetically that the discussions and press of today fail miserably in representing the truth and situation as it actually is. The true picture will reflect that which Scripture foretells. Chuck Colson's article "Where Were You?" touches on the issue, but...why not documentaries? Where are the humanitarians? Why the absence, & silence, & neglect? But praise be to God for He has warned his people, He equ...

“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel-- not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.” ( Galatians 1:6-9 ) Also see Difficult Questions for Mormons

While many in the world today point to tsunamis, earthquakes, aids, disease, death, etc. (or even to issues like the length of time God allowed before providing a Savior) as reason to denounce the graciousness of God and to lay charge at his being evil, wicked, pitiless, and the like; the case can be (and has historically been) made that the opposite is true. Apart from God and his covenantal faithfulness (which results in his being gracious both to believers - and unbelievers (though to a different degree)), none of us as sinners, having fallen short of his righteous requirements, merit ANY good, and so the very fact that we all are not left destitute and given over to death at present, REVEALS the graciousness of God! In fact, tsunamis, earthquakes, aids, and the like should serve both as warning to those who content themselves with living in opposition and rebellion to God, as well as to stir up our appreciation and admiration for the graciousness of God. What's interesting is ...

Folks, please welcome Brian Lanier to the Christian Skepticism team! I have had the opportunity to participate with Mr. Lanier on the PuritanBoard , where he has been a regular and outstanding contributor. His love of apologetics and philosophical theology, among other things, make him an excellent addition to Team CS. Take a look at his blog over in the right menu bar - strong stuff! :) Welcome, Brian! SDG, -JD

An Iranian judge, in regard to a Christian woman who was beaten and threatened with death for participating in evangelism, declared her persecutors were "within their rights TO ATTACK HER." Will American Muslims who claim they stand for "freedom of religion" speak out against the practice of their fellow Muslims? HOW LONG has this type practice taken place? HOW LONG will it continue and HOW LONG must Christians suffer without MUSLIMS condemning it? HOW LONG will it be said that Islam is a "religion of peace"? My sympathies and prayers go out to the many who suffer daily in these ways even if not mentioned in the courts or reported in the press. May the mercies and blessings of God rest with each of you who are persecuted for his name's sake.

Dinesh D'Souza is doing some excellent work lately. His latest article refutes the ultimate in 20th Century Historical Revisionism, the ridiculous idea that Adolph Hitler was a Christian. “Embarrassed at the murderous legacy of atheist Communist regimes in the twentieth century, leading atheists seek to even the score with believers by portraying Adolf Hitler and his Nazi regime as theist and specifically Christian. Atheist websites routinely claim that Hitler was a Christian because he was born Catholic, he never publicly renounced his Catholicism, and he wrote in Mein Kampf, “By defending myself against the Jew, I am fighting for the work of the Lord.” Atheist writer Sam Harris writes that since “the Holocaust marked the culmination of…two hundred years of Christian fulminating against the Jews,” therefore “knowingly or not, the Nazis were agents of religion.” How persuasive are these claims?” Read More… Nice try Sam, but we don't want him. Hitler is all yours. Nazism was far...

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Well - this was an interesting thread over on the Puritanboard and should give folks a good idea that even though we are Calvinistic, we still "work out our own salvation" and the practical application of our doctrine. It's not always pretty...or simple...or "sweet baby cakes" loving, but it is the truth. Bottom line - how can we trust that God is not cruel? Why doesn't He save everyone? You can trust God, because you can trust Christ. Christ displayed the character of God in that He showed an abundance of love toward His children, even asking forgiveness for those that crucified Him , yet was ruthless toward those that dishonored the Father. If you don't trust Christ, you are a son of the devil and deserve the fate of the enemy of God. Mercy's preciousness is measured by it's rarity, otherwise there is no true justice. That is why not ALL are saved. Remember, cause 1 - Man's rebellion - everyone WAS saved - WE screwed it up - and if you t...

Response to this thread: Oh No! You're a member of the Puritanboard! Well, I must say, this is an interesting thread. I have wrestled quite a bit about my involvement with the PB and publicly discussing my faith in general on the Internet, both from my personal walk as well as the potential ramifications in my professional life. I work for a large company and I have opportunities to represent that company in ways that my name is likely to be published and associated with on the Internet, so anyone googleing me (and it has happened) are more likely to see interactions on my faith than my professional activities. The struggle is that I desire to "be not ashamed", so I have decided to not go through the motions of disguising my identity here or elsewhere. Primarily, I pray that I am not dishonoring to my Lord because I have resolved that I am certainly willing to suffer for the sake of His righteousness. That being said - permit me to digress - recently I had a good opportun...