Wednesday, August 31, 2005

Heresies in the church - Part 1

On July 26, 2005 I wrote in a blog article called Those who call themselves Christians... the following:
"Something that has been on my mind for some time now seems to have appeared in blogdom. At Pyromaniac, Phil Johnson mentioned the fact that a man like T.D. Jakes made TIME magazine's list of the top most influential evangelicals in the USA. At FROM THE HEAD OF THE MOOR, Jonathan Moorhead blogged two very good and interesting blog messages on T.D. Jakes and also Tommy Tenney.This is a subject that is very dear to my heart. To read a bit more about what I have written about a Oneness pentecostal's views, please visit my article called GWEN SHAMBLIN'S BELIEF ABOUT THE TRINITY: A REBUTTAL.

"It simply amazes me how many churches today, notably charismatic churches, have accepted the books, videos and CDs of both Jakes and Tenney. A very popular singing group--Philips, Craig and Dean (PCD)--is also very popular here in South Africa. A very good article about their doctrine was written by Eric Nielsen at Alpha and Omega Ministries."
Apart from allowing the anti-Trinitarians into the church, the church--especially the charismatic church--has allowed other errors and heresies into its fold to flourish. The amazing thing about this is that this influx of heresies and heretics has gone on without much resistance to it. There is a lot of talk in the charismatic church about discernment, however it is not theological discernment.

Tuesday, August 30, 2005

Infinite worth

Something that I have been thinking about lately is the perception that the self-esteem crowd has of the atonement.
 
Whenever they preach about anything that touches the atonement, almost invariably they will state that Christ died for us because we are so valuable. To them the death of Christ is almost always seen in terms of how much worth each of us has. This is the reason that the Father sent the Son: we are so valuable!
 
The self-esteem crowd certainly has done one thing for the church...; it elevated pride where humility should have been installed!
 
Sure, as Christians we were bought at a price, but that price was as a result of a ransom paid. In modern terms, that price was not market related! It was a price connected to a ransom. If we have to think logically about our own worth and the worth of the Son of God, and if we connect the death of Christ to the value of a human being, then I think God was ripped off! He paid way too much. Sure, God gave man an intrinsic dignity and worth, but that is hardly what the atonement is all about!
 
Rom 3:23-25 ESV for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, (24) and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, (25) whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.
The fact is, we have all sinned, and there was no way we would be able to step into God's glorious presence in that sinful state. God is holy, and we have become evil through the complete fall of man! It is important to note that even though man has great value and Christ died for the elect, the reason for the death of Christ was to turn God's wrath away from man.
 
The ransom had to be equal to the infinite holiness and wrath of God! It is for this reason that blood had to be shed! However,
 
Heb 10:1 ESV For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near.
The sacrifices demanded by the law could not perfect those who came near since those sacrifices could never atone for the sins of the people when an infinitely holy God demanded payment. Only an infinite payment could do that! I am sure you can see the problem now! Nothing that man can ever do, can atone for his sins.
 
Now we see that if an infinitely holy God had become infinitely wrathful against the sins of man, then an infinite payment had to be made. This payment, the propitiation that God himself put forward by the blood of Christ, was the only payment that could be made. Only Jesus could make that payment.
 
Thus, the value of mankind does not determine the value of the atonement. It was God Himself that determined the value of the atonement since it was He Himself that had to be appeased. God, and only God, can appease Himself! Our pathetic attempts to appease God simply draw attention to the fact that in comparison to the infinite wrath of God against our sin, our finite worth can never be the determinant of the atonement's value. 
 
Just thinking...

Monday, August 29, 2005

What should I read next?

Our knowledge of the Bible and of theology is very important. Don't think for a minute that you get enough at church. At most modern churches today a lot is said during the sermon, yet very little of substance is preached.
 
Either very little of the Scripture is used, making it an empty sermon, or a lot of Scripture is used but with re-interpretation. It is difficult to know which of these two types of sermons is the worst.
 
Be that as it may, the point is, many of us need supplemental material. We need spiritual vitamins, since we are under-nourished. Are you planning to add some real value to your spiritual intake, or don't you care that you are underfed?
 
Here are some lists of books you might want to have a look at just to enhance your diet:
 
Just thinking...

Wednesday, August 24, 2005

The worship of money-changers

Last night while I was putting our children to bed, I read them the story of Jesus cleansing the temple. I found it to be a very interesting story. It somewhat relates to one of my previous blogs called Worship at a price.
 
"The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, "Take these things away; do not make my Father's house a house of trade." His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for your house will consume me."" (Joh 2:13-17 ESV)
 
It suddenly hit me. The temple was the place of worship for the Jews. However, they had turned their place of worship into a commercial enterprise. Now, I know we cannot correlate the temple to our own places of worship since Paul explicitly states that while the physical building was the temple in the Old Testament, we as individuals and as the church are now the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 3:16; 6:19). So, while we cannot draw a direct line between the places of worship in the Old and New Testaments, I would like to make a point.
 
While the Jews in reality scrapped worship for material gain in the temple by their commercial endeavours in the temple, I find it very disconcerting that in today's church worship itself has become a major money maker. It is the in-thing for bands these days to be into "worship!" Bands who previously simply attempted to sing the gospel have now suddenly jumped on the worship bandwagon. I suppose money does talk! While today's modern church has not scrapped worship for material gain, it has gone much further and is using worship directly for material gain. Worship music has become a major commercial product for the church. Go into almost any Christian book store, and you will find that worship music has grown in leaps and bounds. And..., almost all of them are marketed either by their superior labels or their superior "worship" leaders.
 
If worship music doesn't exist for financial gain, I wonder why we have to pay such a high price to worship? If the worship music marketing engine has such good intentions, why don't they drop the price on worship music? I wonder why not.....?
 
The fact is, Jesus said in John 4:24 that "God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth." With today's worship bands all over the world, and in many churches, it seems that worship music has become much of a status symbol. You have to be following the right label or worship group. "Have you heard of so-and-so?" "Isn't so-and-so great?" Jesus did not say that "God is a method with an amazingly distinct style with excellent modern rhythms and by this method or that group we must worship!" SPIRIT AND TRUTH! Spirit and truth! What has happened to spirit and truth?
 
All of this is geared towards giving the "worshipper" this amazing feeling which is called the "anointing!" What amazes me is that 99% of the time this anointing comes when the song is good according to modern standards. That means that it may or may not contain truth, but it is "good."
 
It is time the "worship" marketers must re-evaluate their motives and so must those who create the music.
 
Maybe this new commercial "worship" is all part of what PYROMANIAC calls New-model Christianity. Is this worship merely part of the modern Christian's Fad-Driven Life? It would seem so when you walk into such a Fad-Driven worship session! Modern Christians are trying so hard to be relevant to the world with its music and its worshitainment, that there is simply nothing the world needs in the church because they have exactly the same in the world!
 
Christians are not called to be "in," but rather to be separate!
 
Just thinking...

Friday, August 19, 2005

.xxx - Will filth prevail?

There has been a move recently by ICANN--the body that controls internet domains--to create a domain specifically for pornographers. It will be the .xxx domain. It will be working exactly like the .com or.net domains and instead of finding a web address of www.<name>.com one would find www.<name>.xxx. This will make it so much easier for people to find pornographic material on the world wide web! Is that really what we want for a medium that has so much to offer? The US government has asked ICANN to postpone their vote for this domain until September 15, 2005.

Why don't you help by letting ICANN know that such a domain is not welcome on the internet by emailing, faxing or calling them by phone.

Here is the contact information for ICANN that you can also find at http://www.icann.org/general/contact.htm.



Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)

Marina del Rey, CA, USA

4676 Admiralty Way, Suite 330
Marina del Rey, CA 90292-6601
USA

Phone: +1.310.823.9358
FAX: +1.310.823.8649

Belgium

6 Rond Point Schuman
Bt. 5
Brussels B-1040 Belgium

Phone: +32 2 234 7872
FAX: +32 2 234 7848

General Email: icann@icann.org

For questions and comments about the website, webmaster@icann.org
For questions concerning operations and content, questions@icann.org
For comments and submitting community feedback, comments@icann.org
For complaints about accredited registrars, go to the InterNIC website.
For questions about registrar accreditation, email accredit@icann.org



Alternatively, you may go to this webpage to simply fill in a preformatted form and have your say against the .xxx domain.



I wrote a short email to them to ask them to vote against the .xxx domain. Here is that email:

Pornography has become a scourge to the world and not just in the USA. It has been conclusively proven through many studies that almost all rapists commit rape after having viewed pronographic material. This is a serious issue! May the blood of rape victims not be found on your hands. Please do not legitimize this filth by giving them their own domain.

Pornography is abhorrent and not only deprives women of their God-given dignity, but also that of men. We do not want our young men to think that they are merely animals that must act upon their animal, sexual lusts. Yet, that is exactly what pronography does for us. It makes us no better than the dogs in the street. Yet, we have mental and moral capabilities that these animals do not have. Why break down those capabilities by legitimizing pornography through a pornographical domain?

Please, vote against this domain!

Just thinking...

Sex and the Supremacy of Christ - Review

One of the things that I notice these days when I walk through our local Christian book stores is that there is a great concern about sexuality, especially towards teenagers. I can see why. It is all over television, magazines, movies and even the radio.
 
The book Sex and the Supremacy of Christ is based on the brain-child of John Piper, a conference in 2004 with the theme of Sex and the Supremacy of Christ. This book is the result of the messages preached at this conference. John Piper and Justin Taylor are the editors of the book while also contributing four chapters between them, if the Introduction can be counted as a chapter.
 
An added benefit of this book is that 12 very gifted authors wrote the different chapters. I have read some of these authors on the internet via their blogs like Al Mohler and Justin Taylor. It sure has been a wonderful blessing to meet these different authors through this book!
 
The book is divided into 5 parts. Part 1 deals with God and Sex, and the three chapters in this part are written by John Piper and Ben Patterson. Part 2 covers Sin and Sex written by David Powlison and Al Mohler Jr. Part 3 handles the explosive subject of Men and Sex (chapter 6 was written by Mark Dever, Michael Lawrence, Matt Schmucker, and Scott Croftby  while chapter 7 was written by C.J. Mahaney). Part 4 was written by Carolyn McCulley and Carolyn Mahaney and embraces the subject of Women and Sex. The last part, 5, History and Sex, was written by Justin Taylor and Mark Dever. Well, upfront you now know who wrote this book.
 
Apart from being a very practical book, it adds a dimension that I do not see in other books on the subject of sex and the Christian: the supremacy of Christ. It is written on the premise that if Christ is truly supreme in our lives, that life's issues--including the issue of sex--will fall into their proper place resulting in a life that honours God instead of constantly falling at the feet of the modern god of sex. It is only Christ that can give us true satisfaction in life. Piper says it so well on page 30: "...not only do all the misuses of our sexuality serve to conceal or distort the true knowledge of God in Christ, but it also works powerfully the other way around: the true knowledge of God in Christ serves to prevent the misuses of our sexuality. So, on the one hand, sexuality is designed by God as a way to know Christ more fully. And, on the other hand, knowing Christ more fully is designed as a way of guarding and guiding our sexuality." If we are small-minded in the area of the supremacy of Christ in our lives, then other issues, like a depraved sexuality, will become supreme.
 
It is not as if sex is unimportant, it is! Yet, we must learn, like Al mohler says, to speak of marriage when the subject of sex is raised, because that is the only legitimate context within which sex may be found. Sex and the Supremacy of Christ is not just a book about sex and the human problem with sex. It is a book that lays out the theology of sex. It tells us everything from where sex may be legitimately found, to how it should be treated by unmarried people, to finally how it should be enjoyed by married people.
 
Each of the writers had great value to add to this book. In my opinion this book should not just be on your book shelves at home, but should be well-read and well understood. Sexuality has become such an issue in our day, and Sex and the Supremacy of Christ is an amazingly timely book to help us think about the subject of sex with a Biblical worldview. If there ever was a relevant theology that should be understood by Christians today, it would be the theology of sex as found in the Bible.
 
Not only is there such a theology in the Bible, Sex and the Supremacy of Christ proclaims that theology with boldness and joy in the face of our Sovereign Lord, Jesus Christ.
 
In my humble opinion, this is the best book on the subject and it is greatly enriching to those who want to hear the truth!
 
Sex and the Supremacy of Christ can be found at the online bookstore of desiringGod and comes packed with a DVD. It can also be found here.
 
Just thinking...

Thursday, August 18, 2005

The Da Vinci Code - Review

If it weren't so serious and the claims made not so ardent, then it could have been laughed off. Yet, the book The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown can be called a historical novel of some sorts.
 
The Story
 
Most of the book is played out on the backdrop of modern Paris, France. It starts with a gruesome murder of the famous curator (Jacques Sauniere) of the Louvre Museum in Paris. This starts with the search of the murderer and the Holy Grail. The brains behind this search for the Holy Grail is Robert Langdon, Professor of Religious Symbology at Harvard University. With the help of Sauniere's daughter, Sophie Neveu, who happens to work for the French Judicial Police as a highly trained cryptographer, they set out to find the Holy Grail and to reveal the truth concerning the Holy Grail to an unsuspecting world. The problem with this whole scenario is that the police suspects Langdon as the killer, which as a necessity is causing great difficulties for Langdon and Neveu to both remain undetected by the police and to follow all the clues to the Holy Grail left by Sauniere at the murder site.
 
While on this search for the Holy Grail, Langdon starts explaining to Neveu all about the real nature of the Holy Grail. The Holy Grail is not the cup which contained some of the blood of Jesus from the cross. The Holy Grail is all about the blood of Jesus, but not in a cup. Rather, the Holy Grail is much about the descendants that resulted from the marriage between Jesus and Mary Magdalene. In effect, they were searching for the resting place of Mary Magdalene. With finding the final resting place of Mary Magdalene comes the added bonus of finding various documents to prove that Jesus was married to her.
 
Langdon is still not finished with Neveu's education regarding the story of the Holy Grail. With it comes the "true" story of Christianity and how the Catholic Church as the cultural winners through Constantine's declaration of Christianity as the state church subsequently rewrote history to eliminate the true story of Christianity. The result of this rewriting of history by the church was a redefining of the Biblical documents. It was because of the church that we have the current gospels in the New Testament. By preferring these gospels to hide the truth of Christianity the church ordered the wholesale destruction of the true documents of Christianity. These documents, according to Langdon, are the many Gnostic gospels, not what we have in our New Testaments today.
 
The fact is, according to our esteemed symbology expert, that before this male dominated church started ruling with an iron fist, it was the sacred feminine that was the true religion through which connection could be made with the divine by having proper ritualistic sex with a woman, who by the way was so highly esteemed because of her ability to bring forth life from within her, that she was seen as sacred.
 
The Flow
 
I must say, even though the facts of this book are no facts at all, and even though this is such an obvious smear campaign against Christianity, I still enjoyed the book. I suppose it is the conspiritorial nature of the book. I have to admit, there are large sections in which things are being explained to Neveu by Langdon or by Leigh Teabing, another HolyGrail expert. So, it is not a very fast paced thriller. However, by the way Brown wove the explanations into the flow of the story, the unfolding of the so-called "true" history lends itself to an easy read. As a pure literary work, it is good. Not exceptional, but nevertheless worth the read.
 
History
 
It amazes me, that with so much of real history to be found, backed by real historians, that Brown would dig up such falsified claims as he does in his book. From the start of the alleged marriage between Jesus and Mary Magdalene and the sacred feminine to the so-called rewriting of the real history of the church by the Catholics, it is one falsification upon another. Because this book is written so convincingly, it has drawn many people into its snare of false claims and its own rewriting of history, not based on facts, but simply because it is willed to be so. What Brown accomplished in this novel is to simply smear the church with his own reliance upon other so-called factual books. His history in this book is based on so many false premises that it would need a whole book to answer all of the drivel that he has conjured up. Brown himself was caught by an age old attempt to discredit Christianity.
 
Even before the so-called victory of the church, the Romans tried to eradicate Christianity from the face of the earth, but simply could not. Why does Brown think that an obvious falsification of the truth would eradicate Christianity now? I suppose he hopes that everybody would be like him; not willing or able to differentiate between fact and fiction.
 
Conclusion
 
No matter what Dan Brown and those like him come up with, neither he, nor those of the Jesus Seminar, or modern Gnostics can alter history or the future. The very Christ he is trying to remove from real history is still the Sovereign Lord of the universe and nothing (Dan Brown included) can alter that fact.
 
Jesus Christ rules sovereignly and that cannot be changed, no matter what!
 
A book I can recommend is Cracking Da Vinci's Code: You've Read the Fiction, Now Read the Facts by James L. Garlow and Peter Jones. This book and also be found here.
 
To read more good articles about debunking The Da Vinci Code, simply go to Christianity Today and search for Da Vinci Code.
 
Just thinking...

Is Tiger Woods your hero?

At the recently played PGA Championship in Akron, Ohio, Tiger Woods left for his home in Florida with four (4) holes still left of the course for him to play. There was an outside chance if he did well and the front runners did not do well that he could have forced a playoff. However, he decided not to hang around!

Doesn't it seem strange these days that so many sports icons would simply not complete what they are doing since they have no real chance of winning the event. To me this shows lack of character. Simply because we can't win something does not mean we should not complete it or sometimes not compete at all. That would leave most sporting events with a handful of people.

For Woods to simply skip out on the last four holes is not a good message to those who idolize him. "Hey kids, if you can't win, don't bother!" These days character building is not important anymore. Winning has become the all important factor. Like someone once said: "Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing!"

Is this what we want our children to learn, or is there some small space left to teach character, even in sport?

Just thinking...

Monday, August 15, 2005

Worship at a price

I saw a poster yesterday advertising a worship experience with someone called Ross Parsley. At this worship event that is happening this coming Friday, there will also be several "well-known" South African worship leaders. What really bothered me about this poster is that there is a price tag linked to this worship experience. There is an entry fee of R30 (South African money).
 
Do I have to pay to worship God? Admittedly, this is a youth event, so I will not be there anyhow. I find it strange that God nowhere put a price tag on worship in the Bible. At least, not a price that we have to pay out of our pockets. Christ paid the ultimate price so that we could approach God with boldness.
 
We need to worship God in spirit and in truth. It doesn't say that we need to worship Him in spirit and in truth and with money in hand!
 
What seems so clear to me is that this is not necessarily a youth event for worship as much as it is for worshitainment. Thus, I suppose a fee for such worshitainment would be fine. Yet, to coax people into coming by adding a tag of worship to the event, I believe, is misleading! Then, to advertise it as a worship experience makes it very clear that God is not the main focus here, but rather the individual and his modern religious idol, experience! It seems to me these days that what is called worship in the modern church is more worship of self than worship of God! The search for an experience of God has become the ultimate search and God Himself has been sidelined!
 
Truth about God is no longer important in modern worship, rather than the experience we have of 'god' which is not the Almighty God, Creator of the universe, but rather the self. In his book, Love God with all your mind, the Christian philosopher J.P. Moreland writes that one of the reasons Christians are not experiencing spiritual maturity is that they are the victims of what he calls the "Empty-Self Syndrome." In my humble opinion, this is a syndrome that is revealing itself more and more in the church these days. Especially when we see things like worshitainment! The fact is we are entertaining ourselves to death by putting more importance on style and rhythms than Biblical substance.
 
The modern church has a disease called self-infatuation where personal fulfillment becomes the goal of life. It has little to live for beyond personal pleasure. In short, it has become a religious version of the world! Simply put, it is religious narcissism. Searching for this constant experience is infantile and shows a deep lack of maturity.
 
The central truths of Christianity are being brushed aside for experiences and what I would call pop-sermons that last long but says desperately little. Again, if this worshitainment and pop-sermons leave us with a good experience, then we are happy. No matter that experiences come and experiences go, and that objective truth cannot be found in an experience in and of itself, this narcissism is deeply entrenched in the psyche of the modern church.
 
It is time for a re-Reformation! Time to return to the Scriptures. Not with pop-ideas already envisioned, but with proper exegesis of the Scriptures, which I find so sadly lacking in the modern church today!
 
Just thinking...

Thursday, August 11, 2005

The Island

The scene is set. The world has been almost completely destroyed through all kinds of contaminants and you are one of several thousand survivors. Every now and again more survivors are found and brought to this facility where you are. Where do they keep on finding these new survivors? Why are they not contaminated?
 
The movie The Island gives us a glimpse of the future if we indeed do allow the cloning of human beings to continue.
 
Michael Bay, the director of the movie has this to say:
 
"Lots of sci-fi movies are much ado about nothing. What I liked about [The Island] is that it's a universal thing: we all want to live longer. But how selfish would you be to achieve that? You could get a liver, a heart, kidneys, essential things. But I wanted to show people going for things that were just so crass, like fresh skin for a face-lift. For some woman who doesn't want to go through the pain of childbirth and have stretch marks, why not have your clone birth for you? How disgusting is that?" (http://www.darkhorizons.com/news05/island2.php)
 
In this facility where all these survivors live, a lottery is run and the winner gets to leave this place to go to The Island, the last inhabitable place on the planet that is not contaminated. What is great for the survivors is that everyone will at some stage win the lottery. That means everyone gets to leave this clinical type facility to go to The Island.
 
This facility is run in a very tyranical way where survivors are constantly monitored by electronic means in order to determine what they should eat, how much exercise is needed and even how close men and women may stand to each other. Questioning the system is not allowed and this can only mean that you need psychological help.
 
One of the people in this facility, Lincoln Six-Echo (Ewan McGregor), stumbles upon a secret that he was not supposed to uncover. The Island is no physical place that lottery winners retire to: it is death! To Lincoln's great dismay, his close friend, Jordan Two-Delta (Scarlett Johansson), is the next winner of the lottery. It is here that the action in the movie starts. Lincoln and Jordan needs to escape, which is exactly what they do. After escaping they find out that they are not real people! They are simply clones. Clones of real people! They are no more than insurance policies for the rich and famous. They have been created to provide replacement parts (new skin, livers, hearts, etc) for real people when the original person needs these parts to survive longer. These clones simply live to be harvested. They are simply products!
 
The Island certainly is not just another sci-fi movie! It has a point to make! It points to the sanctity of human life. This is a very positive point for Christians and certainly can become a talking point around the watering hole at our various places of employment. Surely cloning of human life will end up becoming the oppression of human life! This is clearly shown in The Island. Human beings are not products, no matter how we think they come to existence. A brilliant scientist cannot give life, only God can. So, clone or not, humans need to be treated with great respect.
 
If not pro-Christian, this movie is at least sympathetic to the Christian stance of the sanctity of life. In a scene where the creators of the clones are trying their utmost to destroy these two clones that have escaped, Lincoln and Jordan fall from a very high building, just to be caught by a net close to the ground. The net was right next to a black worker who, after seeing what happened pulls them out and says, "Jesus must love you!"
 
Since cloning is the big rage in the world, this movie is indeed a timely movie to show what the results of this type of science would be.
 
I have read two other Christian reviews of The Island. One at Crosswalk and the other at Christian Answers. I must say, I find the one at Crosswalk a bit superficial whereas Christian Answers really dug into the different nuances of the film to find almost hidden meanings to explain the film. However, it would be good to read both.
 
As for me, it was an enjoyable movie that also makes a point. Too many movies that come out of Hollywood these days preach the usual liberal drivel that we see too often in the political and academic domains. It is good that there is now at least one other movie that has a more conservative perspective of a subject that should be dear to our hearts in these advanced scientific days.
 
Just thinking...

Friday, August 05, 2005

Reading List

I love reading. I wish I had more time for reading and I would at least get to the books I am going to list here. I believe that reading helps us think better, not just about the subject at hand, but in general.


Here on my blog, on the right hand side, I have three headings: Books I am reading now, Books I am reading next and Books on the shelf. The lists of books under these headings will change as I read through the books listed there.


I decided to take a look at my library of books to see how many books I have waiting for me to read. Well, I was shocked! I really did not expect so many of them! I am a bit of a book junky. So, perhaps I should stop buying new books and first read the ones I will be listing next. These are the books that I haven't read yet and plan to read as I finish reading the books under the three headings mentioned above.


The books here are listed by author (last name) and title.


Adams, Jay, Competent to Counsel
Alcorn, Randy, Pro Life Answers to Pro Choice Arguments
Ankerberg & Weldon, Ready with an Answer
Batten, Don, The Answers Book
Boice, James Montgomery, The Glory of God's Grace
Bruce, F.F., Paul: Apostle of the Heart Set Free
Bunyan, John, Grace Abounding
Carson, D.A., Sermon on the Mount
Carson, D.A., The Gagging of God
Chapman, Gary, The Five Love Languages
Colson, Charles, Kingdoms in Conflict
Colson, Charles, How Now Shall We Live?
Colson, Charles, Burden of Truth
Coplestone, F.S., Jesus Christ or Mohammed?
Cruz, Nicky, Run Baby Run
Davis, John Jefferson, Evangelical Ethics
Dostoyevsky, Fyodor, Crime and Punishment
Duriez, Colin, Tolkien and the Lord of the Rings: A Guide to Middle Earth
Edwards, Jonathan, Religious Affections
Erickson, Millard J., Introducing Christian Doctrine, 2nd Ed.
Fowler, Paul, Abortion
Geisler, Norman L., Christian Ethics
Groothuis, Douglas, Truth Decay
Ham, Ken, The Lie: Evolution
Harris, Joshua, I Kissed Dating Goodbye
Kistler, Don, Feed My Sheep
Kohn, Bob, Journalistic Fraud
Ladd, George E., A Theology of the New Testament, Rev. Ed.
Lahaye, Tim & Noebel, David, Mind Siege
Lewis, C.S., Surprised by Joy
Lewis, C.S., The Great Divorce
Lewis, C.S., The problem of Pain
Lewis, C.S., Selected Books (5 in one volume)
Lloyd-Jones, D. Martyn, Puritan Papers, Vol One
Lloyd-Jones, D. Martyn, Knowing the Times

MacArthur, John, Our Suffering in Christ
MacArthur, John, Hard to Believe
MacArthur, John, Ashamed of the Gospel
MacArthur, John, How to meet the Enemy
Mays, Willie, Say Hey
McGrath, Alister, Understanding the Trinity
Nicole, Roger, Our Sovereign Saviour
Packer, J.I., Puritan Papers, Vol Two
Packer, J.I., Puritan Papers, Vol Three
Philip, William (Ed), The Practical Preacher
Piper, John, The Justification of God
Piper, John, A God entranced vision of all things
Piper, John, Counted righteous in Christ
Piper, John, God's passion for His glory
Piper, John, Life as a vapor
Piper, John, Seeing and savoring Christ
Piper, John, When I don't desire God
Reymond, Robert, Paul: Missionary, Theologian
Ripken, Cal Jr., The Only Way I know
Sarfati, Jonathan, Refuting Evolution
Schaeffer, Francis, The Complete Works of Francis A. Schaeffer, Vol 3
Schaeffer, Francis, The Complete Works of Francis A. Schaeffer, Vol 5
Sproul, R.C., Chosen by God
Sproul, R.C., Faith Alone
Spurgeon, Charles, The Triumph of Faith in a Believer's Life
Spurgeon, Charles, A Passion for Holiness in a Believer's Life
Spurgeon, Charles, Grace abounding in a Believer's Life
Spurgeon, Charles, Holy Spirit Power
Spurgeon, Charles, Second Coming of Christ
Spurgeon, Charles, Being God's Friend
Spurgeon, Charles, The Key to Holiness
Stott, John, The Incomparable Christ
Strobel, Lee, The Case for Christ
Strobel, Lee, The Case for Faith
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Tinker, Melvin, Wisdom to Live by
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Zacharias, Ravi, Deliver us From Evil
Zacharias, Ravi & Norman, Geisler, Who Made God?
Zimbalist, Andrew, Baseball and Billions



Just thinking...

Tuesday, August 02, 2005

The gene and homosexuality

The other day I was pondering the so-called "facts" of the homosexual gene. Now, if one believes in evolution (I personally do not), then it follows that homosexuality (if indeed it is caused by some mysterious gender-confused gene) is an aberration from nature and a non-beneficial mutation!

If the idea behind evolution is for genes to perpetuate and replicate themselves then homosexuality is the greatest blunder of evolution! Homosexuality cannot perpetuate itself and is therefore self-defeating! The fact that homosexuals still need women, and lesbians still need men to replicate themselves point to the fact that homosexuality is a deviance from the natural norm! That means that if homosexuals and lesbians do not cross-polinate with straights they cannot perpetuate their genes and therefore the so-called homosexual gene should be eliminated within a generation or so!


However, I expect that most of us (if not all of us) know that homosexuality and lesbianism are indeed aberrations. Most simply find it convenient to ignore their consciences by shouting very loud in the public arena that these conditions are normal!

The fact is that the highest authority, higher than countries' laws and judges, has spoken out on this issue. God has declared homosexuality and lesbianism sinful.

In Rom 1:18 the apostle Paul writes that "the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth." There is definitely a lot of suppressing going on in the homosexual (for lack of a better word) community. Paul continues to write that there is no excuse for people not to know about the existence of God since God made it clear in the creation of the universe (vv19-20).

People who continue to claim that either God does not exist or who claim He is different to what He really is, become fools (vv22-23). It is because of their own foolishness that "God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever!" (vv24-25) Aberrations like homosexuality are a direct result of idolatry! Because of this idolatry, the apostle Paul writes quite emphatically that it is for "this reason [that] God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done." (vv 26-28)

Notice that homosexuality is not the only result of such a debased mind, even though it is highlighted and made to stand out apart from the general list! Paul carries on to mention several more sins (undoubtedly not an exhaustive list in verses 29-31), "They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless." Verse 32 warns us that though "they know God's decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them."

It is very convenient for many of us to stop reading this passage at verse 28 and then to conclude that homosexuality is a vile sin and will be punished in hell! The fact is that all sin, homosexuality as much as any other sin, deserve to be punished before a Holy God! God is an exacting God and any aberration from His holy standard must be judged as inferior and punishable by eternal death.

Yet, even though God hates sin and all wicked people (which includes all humanity!), because of His grace and mercy He sent Christ to die for His people as a propitiation to turn away the wrath of God for those that believe in Jesus Christ!

Even though we are beset on all sides with sin, there is a way; and that way can only be found in Christ!

Continued at The gene and homosexuality - the sequel...

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