When error comes, it always rides in on the wings of truth.[1] Nikita Khrushchev (1894–1971), Premier of the former Soviet Union, described a time in the Communist republic’s history when a wave of petty theft was sweeping through the government-owned plants. To curtail the stealing, guards were placed at factory entrances to watch the laborers as they entered and departed. At the Leningrad timber [...]
According to Exodus 18, civil magistrates represent God in a delegated and limited capacity, similar to the way Aaron represented Moses to the people with Moses as “god” (elohim): Then the anger of the LORD burned against Moses, and He said, “Is there not your brother Aaron the Levite? I know that he speaks fluently. And moreover, behold, he is coming out to meet you; when he sees you, he will be [...]
H.G. Wells (1866–1946), author of a number classic science fiction works, most notably The Invisible Man (1897), The Time Machine (1895), The First Man on the Moon (1901), and The War of the Worlds (1898), was not what one would describe as a religious man. He reports in his autobiography that he lost his religious faith when he was about 12 years old. He was an outspoken advocate of Darwinism, so [...]
On our way to see War of the Worlds last week, my wife and I noticed an advertisement poster for the 2006 release of The Da Vinci Code. It’s sure to be a blockbuster with Ron Howard directing and Tom Hanks starring in the lead role. The Da Vinci Code has sold nearly 10 million copies, and it’s still in hardback! Books about the book have been published as well as books against the book’s quirky th [...]
John C. Danforth, an Episcopal minister and former Republican Senator from Missouri, has weighed in on Christian involvement in social issues. He begins his article on “Moderate Christians put love first” by arguing that since not all Christians agree on issues like stem cell research and homosexuality that there can not be any dogmatism. Danforth writes that “Moderate Christians are less certain [...]
July 7, 2005—7–7—was an unlucky day for Britons. Islamic terrorists had planted bombs on their transit system killing dozens, injuring hundreds, and bringing transportation and financial markets to a standstill. While rockers were singing their guilty and hypocritical hearts out at “Live 8” to bring awareness of Africa’s poverty plight and debt load to a fed up world, and the world’s superpowers w [...]
There will certainly be a battle for the next Supreme Court appointment. All types of questions will be asked on current social issues. Views on abortion and homosexual marriage will dominate the discussion. These are peripheral issues. They are meaningless without a anchor point. Why even ask such questions if there is no God watching our decisions? Ted Kennedy will lead the charge and will objec [...]
A lawyer asked me to respond to some arguments raised by another lawyer who claimed Jesus did away with the death penalty in the NT. The objections against the death penalty are in bold. My commentary follows**:** In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said you have heard it said an eye for an eye, but I say to you turn the other cheek, etc. Therefore Jesus repudiates capital punishment, and it is the [...]
The United Church of Christ is about to sanction homosexual marriages, if the president of the errant denomination gets his way. The Rev. John H. Thomas, addressing about 200 UCC delegates, made an emotional appeal that called for “full civil and religious equality for same-sex couples.” The article reports that many “of the people in attendance wept during Thomas’ speech.”[1] I went to the UCC we [...]
“Shots rang out across the city Saturday night and Sunday morning—from the Far North Side to the Far South Side—with preliminary reports of nearly two dozen people shot. The overnight tally—which is unofficial—included two shootings on the same corner, a fatal shooting near the Taste of Chicago and several on the West Side, where detectives were swamped. ‘We’re just spinning up here,’ one de [...]
Will America suffer the same fate as Europe and the rise of what Karen Armstrong calls “secular fundamentalism”? We seem to be headed in similar direction with the secularization of our schools and courts. Christianity in America, like Christianity in Europe, is under attack. We see it every day. Judges are being scrutinized for their religious beliefs, especially on abortion and homosexuality, an [...]
American Vision must be doing something right. We have been targeted by a number of anti-Christian groups because of our stance on homosexuality. We find ourselves in the company of Focus on the Family, American Family Association, Alliance Defense Fund, Coral Ridge Ministries, Concerned Women for America, Family Research Council, Family Research Institute, and other pro-family groups. The Souther [...]
Dick Durbin, a Democrat Senator from Illinois, has compared the prisoner-of-war conditions at Guantanamo to Pol Pot’s murder of about 1.5 million Cambodians, Adolf Hitler’s genocidal madness that left 9 million dead throughout Europe, and Stalin’s Gulag where about 20 million met their death in order to bring about a more equitable society. These were not enemy combatants hell-bent on destroying A [...]
Ed Hindson, writing in the May 2005 issue of the National Liberty Journal on the topic of “The New Last Days Scoffers, states that “The basic assumptions of preterism rest on passages that refer to Christ coming “quickly” (Revelation 1:1), or ‘this generation will not pass’ (Matthew 24:34). [Preterists] insist these must be related to and limited to the first century. By contrast, premillennialist [...]
Ed Buckner, the Southern director of the Council for Secular Humanism, writing in the Marietta Daily Journal, attempts to use the Bible to prove that a pre-born baby is not a human being.[1] This is a rather curious way for an atheist to argue his case. If he makes his point, he has to claim that the Bible is authoritative for his case to be valid. If the Bible is valid on the issue of personhood, [...]
It seems that Jesus is alive and well at the Air Force Academy. For some people’s tastes He’s too alive. Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen writes that there is “a culture of militant Christianity, of intimidation and outright bigotry” at the Academy. One former chaplain called it a “‘systematic and pervasive effort’ at religious proselytizing in which both students and faculty participated.” [...]
There are some Christians who take themselves out of the battle over worldviews by using the Bible to make their case. They believe the Bible teaches that Christians should stay above the fray of social involvement. I’ve dealt with many of the arguments for this position in Myths, Lies, and Half-Truths.[1]A pastor in Auburn, Alabama, takes an approach that secularists have used to silence the chur [...]
Those who demand that people with religious views should keep their beliefs personal and private are inconsistent in the way they apply the principle. I’ve noted on various occasions how the anti-slavery and civil rights movements grew out of Christian political involvement. The self-righteous left praised ministers and congregations who led the way to overturn unjust segregation laws. But now tha [...]
I received the following in an email message from someone who does not like the idea that laws have a religious foundation: Scott: “What 2 people do in their bedroom is not my business or yours.” Dear Scott, I don’t know anybody who wants the state to invade the bedroom in all cases. (Rape, incest, and even murder take place in bedrooms, so obviously there are some exceptions.) As long as ho [...]
I know you’re as shocked as I am that the Pentagon confirmed for the first time that a U.S. soldier deliberately kicked a Guantanamo prisoner’s copy of the Koran—the Muslim “holy book”— in violation of the military’s rules for handling the “sacred” text. Personally, I can’t believe that many Americans are concerned about this. The usual suspects in the media are stoking the flames in o [...]
