Plantinga on Dawkins

Alvin Pantinga, arguably the greatest modern philosopher, critiques Dawkin's most recent book, The God Delusion, in this months Christianity Today. Here's a brief excerpt:

Richard Dawkins is not pleased with God:

The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all of fiction. Jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic-cleanser; a misogynistic homophobic racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal….

Well, no need to finish the quotation; you get the idea. Dawkins seems to have chosen God as his sworn enemy. (Let's hope for Dawkins' sake God doesn't return the compliment.)

Glenn Beck Confesses Christ

Glenn Beck confesses his faith in Christ while talking about the Jesus Tomb.



Thanks Gary!

starting the day off right

black coffee served hot and thick
folks chat, no bridle or bit
jazz playing
heart praying
Bible convicts to the quick

The Jesus Tomb Refuted

Asbury Scholar, Ben Witherington, refutes the Jesus Tomb in his blog. Witherington is best known for his work on the ossuary of James discovered just a few years ago. Here's a brief list of his refutation of the validity of the tomb being that of Christ's.

1) The names inscribed on the tomb are written in three difference languages - one is written in Aramaic, another in Hebrew, and another in Greek. This suggests a multi-generational tomb.

2) None of the brothers of Jesus listed in the NT are named Matthew. What makes us believe that this tomb is more reliable than the NT?

3) Mary Magdalene is called 'Maria' in the 1st century. She is never referred to as Mariamene as the tomb suggests.

4) Jesus is never called 'son of Joseph' by anyone in the NT. Again, why would we assume that the 'Jesus' inscribed on this tomb is the historical Jesus?

5) The ornamental design of the tomb is meant to attract attention, not exactly helpful for a sect of persecuted Jesus followers who wish to remain unseen.

Sympathetic (& Single) High Priest

Jesus says in Matthew 19:12, "[For] there are Eunuchs who made themselves Eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven."

Perhaps He was referring to Himself.

If so, those who are single and lonely for purity/kingdom sake have a high priest who can relate to their loneliness.

Excuses

We will say anything to excuse our immoral behavior. Why? We do so in order to ease our conscience.

In John 12:18 Jesus prays amongst a crowd of onlookers, "Father, glorify Your name." Then a voice came out of heaven: "I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again." So the crowd of people who stood by and heard it were saying that it had thundered; others were saying, "An angel has spoken to Him."

They excused the voice from heaven in order justify their disbelief in Christ and His will. Hence, the power of the conscience.

O how I'm reminded of the times we have justified our immoral behavior by disregarding the clear voice and will of God. Otherwise our conscience would be burdened.

Someone may justify fornication by responding that the Bible never teaches that we shalt not have sex outside of marriage. So we show them a teaching of Paul clearly condemning fornication.

Then they will respond that Jesus never mentions fornication. So we show them Christ's words condemning fornication.

Then they will respond that the Bible could never be inspired and inerrant since modernity has proven away the miraculous. Why argue with this person any longer? Not even the voice of God could change their mind. (See passage above.)

We will say anything to excuse our behavior, thus showing the power of the conscience.

Prayer: LORD, show me where I have excused sin in my life so that my conscience would remain unburdened. Give me the power to overcome this sin. Then allow me to experience the freedom of a truly guiltless conscience.

Faith & Works

Faith without transformation is like an oyster without a pearl. Both are of little value.

Pleasing God

Do we have a propensity to talk more about accepting God rather than God accepting us? Has the Church spoken so much about whether or not God pleases us, that we have forgotten about whether or not we please Him?

Engineering is Impossible

I've had my fair share of impossible exams as an engineering student. I can't help but relate to some of these "solutions."







Thanks Brandon!

Quote of the Day

beta test, v:
To voluntarily entrust one's data, one's livelihood and one's
sanity to hardware or software intended to destroy all three.
In earlier days, virgins were often selected to beta test volcanoes.

(As a previous engineer, I couldn't help it.)

stable marriage problem

I stumbled upon this today. It's called the "stable marriage problem." Basically, it's a mathematical formula that proves that for any equal number of single men and women, it is always possible to marry everyone one off into stable marriages. Read it here.

I made two observations from this formula. 1) It is mathematically possible that everyone be married. It might very well be our sin that keeps people single. 2) It is mathematically possible that everyone be in a marriage not leading to divorce. Again, our sin is what keeps marriages from being stable.

Therefore, we, as a sinful community, are responsible for loneliness and broken marriages. Come Lord Jesus!

Super Bowl Confession

Tony Dungy, Head Coach of the Indianapolis Colts, shares about the spiritual lessons he has learned from his sons.


PART ONE


PART TWO

Everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven. - Matthew 10:32

Thanks Paula for the link!

UPDATED: Question of the Week

What does one need to know in order to be saved? Please explain your answer.

UPDATE: For instance, must one be told about the dual nature of Christ, the resurrection, the judgment of God, sin, etc. in order to be truly saved?