I wonder how you respond to the media when they "reveal" the "latest" in scholarly research on Jesus, especially when it contradicts everything Christianity has believed for the last 2000 years?
Darrell Bock has written a short article addressing this issue. Even though it is not an in-depth look at the issues, it certainly gets one thinking.
"Not long ago, topics like textual criticism and the extra-biblical Gospels elicited yawns from my seminary students. I went through the obligatory motions of covering these staples of New Testament study, knowing that no matter how hard I tried, questions would be rare and engagement minimal.
"All that has changed. Topics like the James ossuary and the Gospel of Judas have hit Times Square, not only pricking the attention of seminary students, but also garnering coverage from journalists and culture-watchers, from CBS News's traditional news team to 360 Degrees's Anderson Cooper."
Evangelicals of all stripes revere Charles Finney. However, they probably do not have a clue about his beliefs, and he is just a name out there, a poster boy if you like.
Yet, Finney was one of those über-heretics, but still made it into the evangelical "Hall of Fame."
What a shame that evangelicals have lost its capability to discern evil, dangerous and heretical doctrines.
Some time ago I pointed to an article which highlighted the African church's doctrinal wanderings towards the WOF heresy.
Well, it seems that some help may have arrived in the form of the Africa Center for Apologetics Research (ACFAR). ACFAR has realised the need for solid doctrinal teaching and the battle against the many cults and false teachers in Africa, and as a result they have set up their ministry in Kampala, Uganda.
ACFAR also has a blog to keep up to date with what is going on there.
Pay them a visit. Perhaps you can help in one way or another.
"He took the blade. It was bright silver. He loved the way it glistened. It felt good in his hand. He cut deep into her chest again and again. He showed no emotion, no recognition of her humanity. She lay motionless, her life gone. He made no attempt to cover the body. Later that night over a beer he openly talked to a stranger in the bar about what he had done. The stranger felt ill.
What are we to make of this? Should someone have called 911? Should he have been ar-rested? Is this a Hannibal Lector story? It all depends. To make sense of it, this narrative fragment needs placing in a larger picture or frame of reference. We need to know more.
Now suppose I were to inform you that the setting earlier that night was a back alley late at night and that the woman had been alive but drunk when she entered it, then you would be entitled to think that this is a case for CSI. The man listening to the story in the bar ought to have called the police. However, if I were to say that instead of the alley, the setting earlier that night had been a CSI autopsy room, then the complexion of the event changes your reading of it. The man with the knife is no serial killer but instead a forensic scientist. Maybe he shouldn’t have talked about the details to a stranger over a beer. But if that was misconduct it was unprofessional, not criminal." Continue reading Graham A. Cole's article called "DO CHRISTIANS HAVE A WORLDVIEW?"
[You will need a PDF reader to read this article. You can find one here and here.]
Congratulations Tim Tebow, not just for winning the Heisman Trophy, but for having your priorities straight in your acceptance speech! You are a real winner!
Dr. James R White has been busy. He has been doing a series of videos for television satellite broadcasting into Iran. Here is a short clip from the first day of recording.
My wife, Charlaine, bless her heart, is a teacher for grade 3s, and also head of department for the junior phase (grade 0-3) at her school, Tomorrow's People Primary School, here in Pretoria, South Africa.
It is a Christian school for disabled children of all types. They accept normal children, children with learning disabilities, ADD, autistic, Down Syndrome, and up to children with cerebral palsy. The idea behind the school is to normalise their education as much as possible, and even to get some to progress to the standard of normal schools. Obviously it depends very much on the individual child.
Obviously, schools like these are not cheap to run and they are always in need of one thing or another.
DISCLAIMER: I was not asked or approached by anyone from the school, not even my wife, to garner support for the school. I simply have noticed a need in the school.
A school like this needs finances to buy specialised computers with special software, for those that do not have the ability to write with their hands and therefore needs to be able to do class work on these special computers with special keyboards.
As a Christian school, Biblical principles are followed in their treatment of children. No child is seen as just another student.
My wife had only 6 children in her class this year (2007), as they were the difficult children in terms of abilities and disabilities. So many times my wife came home thinking that she was not making an impact on these children, just to be amazed a few days later at what they actually achieved.
Because one class could have children of such vastly different capabilities, teachers need to be acutely aware of how to handle each child's education. This calls for teachers with special abilities. That, in turn, leads to higher salaries, which the school can't afford, as their budget does not allow for it, since the school tries to keep school fees as low as possible to keep it affordable for the parents.
It would be nice to find sponsors for this school to be able to buy the specialised computer equipment for these special children, and also to be able to attract specialised teachers into the school.
If you have contact with anyone that may perhaps help in sponsorship, it would be greatly appreciated. Simply point them my way, and I will put them in contact with the owners of the school. It really doesn't matter if the sponsorship comes from within or from outside of South Africa.
This is probably going to cause some controversy, but I guess not that much, since I do not have thousands of readers here.
At a local church nearby, there was a member who was known to the leadership as a serial murderer. What was amazing about this church was that there was an organization that was passively condoned by this church, that promoted serial murder as a way of life. One would have to stretch the imagination to its limits to imagine something like this happening, yet here it was. What was even worse than this, is the fact that this church knew about this organization, and that several of its members were part of it, and that there was an actual serial murderer in their midst. Yet, the church passively condoned it all. I say passively, because the church did or said nothing against this organization or those that supported it. On a smaller scale, churches are forever condoning sin by not doing or saying anything against it. We all know of the adulterers and fornicators in our churches, but the leadership in our churches are usually without any backbone and choose not to "offend" these offending church members.
The Bible is very clear about situations like these. Unrepentant people in the church should be treated as unbelievers. However, in the church today, these people are welcomed with open arms, and as such are encouraged (albeit passively) to continue in their sinful ways.
Now, coming back to the story about the church that condoned serial killers and their supporters, I hope you realize that it was completely fictional as the facts stand. However, it is not that far from the truth!
We have people in our churches that do commit murder everyday. We also have people in our churches that even encourage those that commit these murders.
What am I talking about? I am taking about abortion of course! It is nothing short of murder! And, it should be classified as such!
It is time that we confront these people, abortionists and their supporters in our churches. And, if they refuse to repent, we need to treat them as unbelievers.
That means, that when a person actively supports abortion, homosexuality, same-sex marriage, pornography, or those that continue to legalize these abominations, then they should no longer be treated as believers and should effectively be excommunicated from the church.
Here in South Africa, where political parties can literally stand on absolute opposing sides of the coin, it should be much clearer for Christians to know who to vote for, but I guess that Christians here still vote very strongly according to the colour line and do not even think about moral issues.
Here, many who claim to be Christians actively vote for the ANC, who have been the greatest purveyors of immorality and injustice. They are the ones who have forced through liberal laws such as free abortion, pornography, same-sex marriage, etc.
While a Christian party exists, the ACDP, many of these Christians still vote for and assist the ANC with all its immorality. In fact, I know a person who used to be a member of the ACDP, but walked over to the ANC and is expending all his energies in working for the ANC. Yet, while he is actively supporting the ANC (with all its injustices and immoral legislation) during the week, he comes to church on Sundays to raise his hands in worship unto the Lord.
I personally think that the church should start setting the boundaries of its membership and not just see membership as a notch on its belt and tithes in the church coffers.
There are real moral issues at stake here, and many who claim to be Christians in our churches are simply turning a blind eye at the terrible atrocities committed in the name of ANC forced law!
Church, stand up against immorality in the church! Do something about it!
