"I put the Force into the movie in order to try to awaken a certain kind of spirituality in young people - more a belief in god than a belief in any particular religious system. I wanted to make it so that young people would begin asking questions about the mystery. Not having enough interest in the mysteries of life to ask the question, 'Is there a God or is there not a God?' - that is for me the worst thing that can happen. I think you should have an opinion about that. Or you should saying, 'I'm looking. I'm very curious about this, and I am going to continue to look until I can find an answer, and if I can't find an answer, Then I'll die trying.' I think it's important to have a belief system and to have faith."
"I think that there is a God. No question. What that God is or what we know about that God, I'm not sure."
The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. - Roman 1: 18-20
"The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 'For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.' - Acts 17: 24-28
The Black Snob Blog: Congress Apologizes For Slavery: So What? Now What?
Rep. Steve Cohen, a Democrat from Tennessee, drafted the resolution. Cohen explains the apology's long journey for Congressional approval and the significance of its timing.
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Atheism is Dead: A. J. Jacobs - Night at the Royal Ontario Museum
Here is an interview of Dr. Paul Vitz from the Apologetics 315 blog. Vitz's work has been featured before on Apolologetics 315 blog and I have found his work extremely interesting! He in no way tries to argue that all atheists have horrible fathers, only there seems to be a correlation between "bad" inattentive fathers and atheism. I for one would not wanna be a stumbling block for children as they seek God. This is extremely interesting!
Fatherhood and Atheism: Paul Vitz Interview MP3 Audio - Apologetics 315
One of my good friends has allowed me to borrow a book entitled What Hollywood Believes by Ray Comfort. It contains quotes and interviews from the biggest stars and creators in Hollywood regarding faith, religion, and their real worldviews. This topic interest me because I know that Hollywood influences and permeates all of human culture today. They control the movies we see, the television we watch, the books and magazines we read, the music we listen to, and even the things we buy. Not to say that this is an aweful thing in every case but it does shine light on why our society is what it is and why it is getting worse. Just what are we competing with for the hearts and minds of ourselves, our children, and the future? For example, many people in the Hollywood elite support same-sex marriage. Do they hold to the same worldview and opinion of who God is and the infallibility of the Bible as I do? If some do, which ones? This book is a great way to view that and look at human pscholhogy. We can explore what makes us human looking at a book like this.Iranian girl , Neda and her father attend a peaceful rally in Tehran before things took a tragic turn.
The girl, known as Neda and thought to be 16, has become both a martyr and rallying cry for those opposed to the Iranian hardline government.
"Neda, your death will not be in vain," reads one message on Twitter, where her name is being used as a call sign for anti-government bloggers and is one of the site's most mentioned words.
The deaths follow threats from Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Friday that fresh opposition unrest would be met with "blood, violence and chaos".
Iranian state television is reporting that 10 people were killed and more than 100 wounded in yesterday's violence in Tehran.
Foreign media are banned from reporting on non-official events in Iran, where the state censors and regulates the information seen by its citizens and those abroad.
But a video clip showing a girl known as Neda, who is thought to have been no older than 16, bleeding to death while frantic attempts are made to save her life has been broadcast across the globe via the internet.
Reports from the country say the teenager had been watching Saturday's protests with her father when she was shot by Iran's militia.
A message posted with the original footage on YouTube alleges she was intentionally shot in the chest.
"I am a doctor, so I rushed to try to save her," the video's poster said.
"But the impact of the gunshot was so fierce that the bullet had blasted inside the victim's chest, and she died in less than two minutes.
"The protests were going on about 1 kilometre away in the main street and some of the protesting crowd were running from tear gas used among them, towards Salehi St.
"The film is shot by my friend who was standing beside me. Please let the world know."
Neda, whose name means "voice" in Farsi, has been hailed as a martyr by those outraged at the brutality of the Iranian government's response to the election protests.
Clashes broke out soon after the presidential election on June 12, which many supporters of Iranian opposition parties claim was rigged to re-elect the hardline Islamist government.
The story of Neda's death has resonated with protesters across the world.
In America, pictures of her face have appeared on posters at protests against the Iranian government, hailing her as a martyr, US media reports.
Anti-government bloggers using Twitter to thwart the authorities' attempts to stop them communicating have started using her name as a call sign, making it one of the most mentioned words on the site.
""The film is shot by my friend who was standing beside me. Please let the world know."
Neda, whose name means "voice" in Farsi, has been hailed as a martyr by those outraged at the brutality of the Iranian government's response to the election protests.
Clashes broke out soon after the presidential election on June 12, which many supporters of Iranian opposition parties claim was rigged to re-elect the hardline Islamist government.
The story of Neda's death has resonated with protesters across the world.
In America, pictures of her face have appeared on posters at protests against the Iranian government, hailing her as a martyr, US media reports.
Anti-government bloggers using Twitter to thwart the authorities' attempts to stop them communicating have started using her name as a call sign, making it one of the most mentioned words on the site.
There is a great series of 10 posts coming out every Tuesday over at Apologetics 315. Each post will define a different term from Apologetics jargon. This week's term is "Theodicy" and it's the first term defined. Check it out. I can't wait to see what next week's term will be! I'm looking forward to expanding my vocabulary
So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, "It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared."
| Hazakim - Genesis ... |
Apologetics 315 has published the following quote:“Truth is so obscured nowadays and lies [are] so well established that unless we love the truth we shall never recognize it.”
- Blaise Pascal
For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
"Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets – Matthew 7:7-11
Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. – Ephesians 6:4
Sons are a heritage from the LORD,
children a reward from him.
Like arrows in the hands of a warrior
are sons born in one's youth.
Blessed is the man
whose quiver is full of them.
They will not be put to shame
when they contend with their enemies in the gate.
Pslam 17:3-5
because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children.
On the Apologetics 315 blog there is a great sermon by William Lane Craig. He discusses about where is God when we fail. It was pretty good. He points out that God's purpose of our individual lives could include experiencing failure and suffering. It made me think. I thought about when it comes to how God leads us and guides us, Craig sounds very Calvinistic. He does not have a problem with the idea that God is in control of our live and bring about everything according to His will and purpose. Human free will does not enter in. To which I readily agree. My question is when it comes to personal salvation and being reconciled back to God he runs back to Human Free Will Why? Brian always shares cool stuff on his blog. He linked the audio and video to his blog. Please go check it out.
Where is God in Failure? MP3 Audio by William Lane Craig - Apologetics 315
The writer of the Atheism is Dead blog. Mariano, has been invited to write an essay defining Atheism, and why it isn't reasonable. His work is always great to read and I highly recommend the article! Read it at http://www.google.com/coop/cse/
In Willard's article, Jesus the Logician, he writes:
'In understanding how discipleship to Jesus Christ works, a major issue is how he automatically presents himself to our minds. It is characteristic of most 20th century Christians that he does not automatically come to mind as one of great intellectual power: as Lord of universities and research institutes, of the creative disciplines and scholarship. The Gospel accounts of how he actually worked, however, challenge this intellectually marginal image of him and help us to see him at home in the best of academic and scholarly settings of today, where many of us are called to be his apprentices.'"
Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.
Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit. - 1 John 4:11-13
This is where we get the song's hook which points out that the preceding verses are true, however we have several recorded instances where the patriarchs see or physically experience God, so they ask the question, "Who was that they saw?". Many scholars and theologians answer the question the same way the song does: the pre-incarnate Christ. We know that God becoming a man is not out of nowhere because of Abraham and Sarah's experience in Genesis 18 as well as from other passages in the Old Testament. We also know this about Jesus:
No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known. - John 1: 18
Here is the audio for the song
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In my opinion the song is most definitely an Example of Gospel Music!
In his third article spotlighting Jesus as the ultimate intellectual evidenced by his apologetic and logic, Chad announces a new book by Norman Geisler and Patrick Zukeran called The Apologetics of Jesus. This article is an awesome book preview. Chad has also given us the honor of providing a link to an interview of Patrick Zukeran and an article written by Zukeran on this topic. Great stuff!!!
Here is Chad's next article examining Jesus fr0m the point of view of Jesus being a master intellectual. It features a lecture by Dallas Willard called Jesus as a Logician and Apologist.Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that we all possess knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know. But the man who loves God is known by God. - 1 Corinthians 8:1-3
Truthbomb Apologetics: Featured Audio: Jesus as a Logician and Apologist
RE-Do. About two weeks ago, I read a post on the Apologetics 315 blog and now I can't find it! I hate it when that happens especially since I wrote quite a bit. Here is my attempt to re create it. Here is the quote:The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen. - Romans 1: 18-25
Sunday Quote: J.P. Moreland on God's Existence - Apologetics 315
Chad is starting a series on his blog Truthbomb Apologetics in which he provides resources and astute commentary regrading Jesus from the point of view of Jesus as an intellectual and apologists. I agree with Chad that Jesus is not just the best and perfect man who ever has ever lived but also the most intelligent. He was constantly intellectually challenged by the skeptics of His day and He pawned all of them. This is a series worth checking out to learn more about who Jesus is.
Truthbomb Apologetics: The Greatest Apologist Who Ever Lived: Jesus Christ
TurrentinFan has posted a great post quoting early Christians concerning what they believe about the atonement. I thought that I could comment on each quote in red. Thank you, TurrentinFan!"Then the LORD answered Job out of the storm. He said:This is straight from Job 38:1-3. The song continues with much of the same imagery and language used in Job when God answered Job and us when we ask the question "Why is this happening to me." I believe that this is as close as an apologetic we get from God in the Bible. On top of that the song exalts God and talks about His omniscience, His omnipresence, and His omnipotence. The song points out that omnipresence is not just being present everywhere at once but at all times also. As the song says"Who is this that darkens my counsel
with words without knowledge?Brace yourself like a man;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me. "
I am with Gideon as he fights Midianites [sword clashes] and at the same timeI am in this Millinium right now!
It's awesome thought. Gideon is in the book of Judges before 1000 BCE! He's with Him and us right now at the same time! Of course this means thinking of Time as a constant where past, present, and future exist at the same time although we don't experience them at the same time. Who says God doesn't see it that way since He created time and space themselves and transcends both of them.
| Hazakim - Brace Yo... |
The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. - Romans 1:18-20The passage truly explains that we have no reason for not recognizing God's existence and we are fooling ourselves thinking otherwise.
But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement,[i] through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. - Romans 3:21-26
So when you, a mere man, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God's judgment? Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance?But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. - Romans 2:3-5
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, whohave been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. - Romans 8:28 - 30
Recall that God chooses our genetics and place of birth, we don't.
"The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.' Acts 17: 24-28
Martha answered, "I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day."Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" - John 11:24-26
A manifesto against all expectations and a criticism of all moral certainty, IN DEFENSE OF EVIL is a biting dissection of popular American ethics and the exoneration of society's so-called villains.
To those who say, "Let God hurry,
let him hasten his work
so we may see it.
Let it approach,
let the plan of the Holy One of Israel come,
so we may know it."Woe to those who call evil good
and good evil,
who put darkness for light
and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter.Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes
and clever in their own sight. - Isaiah 5:19-21
Christianity was born into a greco-roman world, and the first Christians accepted the structure of Roman marriage. Marriage was monogamous and heterosexual, but divorce was possible and the husband might have a concubine before marriage. Marriage and procreation were considered civic requirements, and Augustus found it necessary to legislate marriage for Roman citizens.By the time of Imperial Rome, marriage was relatively fair to women, who were able to control their property and most aspects of their life. In light of this, it’s probably not surprising that rich wives and widows were able to contribute financially to the early church, and that some women could preach and lead rituals.
People who based their lives and worldview on the Bible cannot fit the the points that were made could not agree with the point: "divorce was possible and the husband might have a concubine before marriage." Jesus said in Matthew 19:3-12 the following.
Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?"
"Haven't you read," he replied, "that at the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female,' and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh'? So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate."
"Why then," they asked, "did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?"
Jesus replied, "Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery."
The disciples said to him, "If this is the situation between a husband and wife, it is better not to marry."
Jesus replied, "Not everyone can accept this word, but only those to whom it has been given. For some are eunuchs because they were born that way; others were made that way by men; and others have renounced marriage because of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it."
The church even today allows divorce easily. But that is not what Jesus said.
Just because a person is a Christain does not mean that he or she knows everything correctly. The author cites some quotations from Christian "fathers" however they they fly in the face of what the Bible says.
The sentence of God on this sex of yours lives in this age: the guilt must of necessity live too. You are the devil’s gateway: you are the unsealer of that (forbidden) tree.
But the Bible says:
For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. 1 Timothy 2:13,14
For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous. - Romans 5:19
I praise wedlock, I praise marriage, but it is because they give me virgins.
