On Thursday November 19, 2009, Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort (the banana guy) will be distributing 50,000 copies of Charles Darwin's 'Origin of Species' at universities across America to students for free.
BUT THERE'S A CATCH!!
Each copy will have a 50 page intro about how evolution has never been proven and how Darwin helped inspire the Holocaust.
If this outrages you, then you're not alone. There's something we can do though. We can amass as many of these books as possible, remove the 50 page intro, and then donate perfectly good copies of 'Origin of Species' to schools, libraries, and Goodwill. We can actually make this into something positive.
If you are in college, then you are in a good position to help. Check your campus on November 19th, and if you see a group distributing copies of the book, then get as many as you can. Get a copy for yourself, ask if you can have extra copies for your friends, ask your friends to go ask for copies, and ask other people you see carrying the book if you can have their copy.
This is a shameful thing that Kirk Cameron and the Banana Guy are doing by altering another person's book in order to push their agenda. But we can help to restore the book to how it was intended and keep young minds from being brainwashed by misinformation.
I see nothing wrong at all with Kirk Cameron and his supporters doing this. "Origin of Species" is the first major book of evolution. What is wrong with producing a single volume of it with the other viewpoint? The letter on the internet says that they are pushing a falsehood which is creationism, but I agree with my brother reporting on the Apologetic Front blog, if Dawin's book is so true and so convincing then it should be able to stand against the other viewpoint. Dawin's theories should not need the "help" of suppressing other ideas and thought contrary to it. Could it be that it can't stand up to the evidence?
I'm not sure if everyone knows about this but at a recent baseball game, a man in the stands catches a foul ball, and his little 3 year-old daughter innocently threw it back! I'm sure she thought she was being helpful. "Oh, the poor man lost his ball and we should give it back." is what I'm sure she thought. It's a case of children doing as they are taught. I applaud her parents for teaching her morals: If someone looses something, give it back.
I'm a Christian and I disagree with many of the teachings of Islam when it comes to the identity of Jesus and how do we become acceptable to God. In otherwise - the very heart of the Gospel. Unfortunately, I think that Shabir Alley did a better job arguing in favor of Koran and and against the Bible than Dave Hunt did arguing for the Bible and against the Koran. Shabir Alley was able to win this debate. Thankfully, winning a debate doesn't make you right...just the winner. I disagreed with Alley's attempt to paint the Bible as violent and chauvinistic without proving that the Koran isn't. Alley didn't have to really because Hunt did not challenge him enough.
I admire the work that Walter Martin did while he was alive and active. One of the things that I admire about him is that he was constantly learning and if he found out he thought something that was not true, he publicly changed his position. Some people are too proud to admit when they are wrong. He wasn't. A case in point is that once upon a time, he thought that the Seventh-Day Adventist Church was a cult, but after much dialog and changes to the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, he changed his opinion. My Pastor found the following Debate on YouTube.
This was great! It really shows how we must be careful to allow scripture alone to be boss when it comes to judging matters of faith and practice.
I just heard from Mariano about an apologetic conference called "The Case for Christianity Conference" It will be November 6 and 7 at Calvary Chapel Golden Spring. This is going to be awesome and some of the best apologists we have today!
Here is my next entry in my series of posts answering the charges that many people have leveled on Twitter that Jesus is not unique, but at best Christianity borrowed and at worst, stole, key characteristics from other myths and legends to come up with Christian doctrines about Jesus the Christ. This installment will directly address the character of Apollonius of Tyana. Just how serious of a charge is it that Jesus and Apollonius are similar enough to say that Jesus is a copy of Apollonius? Well, no threat at all.
First and foremost when you look up the records that we have of what was said of Apollonius, anyone must confess that he and Jesus lived very different lives. The details don't just match up. Instead of enumerating each of these, I'd like to instead focus on a very important counter point.
We have only one source for the life of Apollonius written by a man named Philostratus and can't be dated any earlier than 217 AD! That almost 200 years that the Christian Church had been around and more than 100 years since the last book of the New Testament was written, no matter how you choose to date the New Testament. If there had been any borrowing or stealing, I'd say that it was Philostratus taking from Christianity not the other way around! It's far more likely. There are way fewer secular attestation for Apollonius than for Jesus. We can't even be sure that Apollonius was a real person. So what motive would Philostratus have for embellishing Apollonius' life. He was commissioned by an empress, Julia Domna, wife of Septimius Severus, to write a biography for Apollonius most likely to counter the influence of Jesus on Roman civilization. If you want to read the biography of Apollonius it is online.
Joe Wilson has stated that he will not apologize anymore for calling Obama a liar during his speech before congress last week. I don't believe that we should keep asking him to apologize but I think we need to ask what he is apologizing for. Is Wilson apologizing for calling the President a liar at an inappropriate time or is he apologizing for his out burst because the President was telling the truth? Which is it? I want some clarification. When I look at Obama's plan and listen, I can't find any proof that the President wants to extend medical evidence to illegal immigrants. This means that I have no idea what Wilson was referring to.
I have heard that Obama has made off-the-record comment calling Kanye West a "jackass" for interrupting Taylor Swift (who?) acceptance speech. This is what had happened:
I think we need to pray for Kanye West. He is going through
This time Mariano explores the question as to whether Judaism postulates two messiahs or only one messiah that comes twice. This is worth contemplating!
I finally saw a part of the interview on 60 minutes from last Sunday of President Obama talking about his push for Health Care Reform. He even mention Wilson's infamous outburst during that speech. I agree with Obama about the need to maintain civility, the issue is I still want to know what Obama was being accused of lying about and if the allegation is true. From what I heard Fox News says it was true, but I don't trust Fox News any more than I do Lucifer. And I'm still not sure why Obama did not address the issue more in this interview. It seems like he wants to get past this as soon as possible.
I've used this blog as an archive for resources and material that are helpful for me. In preparing for teaching a short class giving the basics on Islam and how it relates to Christianity for next Sunday I realized that everything I would like to cover I have previously posted on this blog.
I like this essay by Mariano. Although people try to show that the Resurrection could not have happened it is important to realize that there is good evidence that Jesus is who He says He is. He did not stay dead but He is alive, never to die again. Because He lives we are reconciled back to God and redeemed from sin! Why would we not serve Him? Check out Mariano's article making use of work done by Norman Geisler. He does a great job showing why Robert Price doesn't have a leg on which to stand.
At my church these days, I have been presenting a few topics during Sunday School. Two weeks ago, I went through Mary Jo Sharp's "Evidences For the Resurrection" presentation and yesterday I did a modified presentation of David Heddle'sIntelligent Design presentation. Next week I will be doing Islam. It's important because Islam is becoming more and more important in our world and muslims make bold claims. Claims that directly contradict what Christianity believes. For this reason, we must be able to answer them. Not just to win arguments and wars, but to genuinely makes sure that Muslims have an opportunity to know Jesus. We also have to make sure that people who have not made a decision between Christianity and Islam are given the facts so that they can make an informed decision. In light of this, I will spend part of this blog recording the process I will undertake to build my presentation for next Sunday.n My goal will be to give thew Sunday School students some basic knowledge on Islam that I have been collecting the past few years and give them some tools that I will hope spur them and me to do more research. I can't cover everything in 90 minutes so I will focus on just the high points.
To start with I want to give a short introduction to the Koran and Islam itself. I found a great post that does exactly this on the Hank Hanegraaf's, the Bible Answer Man, blog. The post is called "What are the contents of Islam?".
Here is a list of thing I want to make sure I include in my presentation 1. Currently, Islam is the fastest growing religion worldwide - 1 Billion adherents 2. Breaks down to 1/5 of people are Muslim 3. Muslim identifies himself by the creed “There is no deity except God, Muhammad is the Messenger of God.” 5. Some quick fast facts for you about Islam:
· Muhammad was born in Mecca (Saudi Arabia) in AD 570
· At age 25, he married a rich 40 year-old widow. This gave him “rank among the notables Mecca” but perhaps more importantly gave him the time he needed to devote to spiritual matters.
· Allegedly one night during the month of Ramadan (which incidentally started on August 22, 2009) he heard a voice which said, “Thou Art the messenger of God, and I am Gabriel.” It was at this point that Muhammad said “he realized his calling and prophetic mission.”
· “In AD 630 Muhammad marched on Mecca with a force of 10,000 men…the inhabitants of Mecca swore allegiance to the prophet and for the first time the ‘Muslim call to prayer’ was heard…two years later Muhammad died.”
· “The Qur’an is believed to be God’s final and complete revelation to man.”
· “The Qur’an has much to say about Jesus, but the one thing that it emphasizes more than anything else is that He was only a man, a messenger of God, not the Son of God, or God in the human flesh.”
· Orthodox Muslims maintain that Jesus did not die on a cross; they maintain that God made someone look like Jesus and the look-a-like was crucified in place of Jesus.
· Most Muslims believe the Jesus “was bodily taken up into Heaven by God. Most Muslims also believe that He will ‘come again at the last day, slay anti-Christ, kill all the swine, break the cross… He will then reign as a just King for 45 years, marry and leave children, then die and be buried near Mohammad at Medina.’ ”
· “All Muslims believe that Muhammad was the greatest apostle and prophet of all.”
· All Orthodox Muslims believe in a heaven, where true believers will exist forever in a garden of beauty and joy. In this Garden the Qur’an in Sura 55:56-57 and 52:20 says there will be “In them will be (Maidens), Chaste, restraining their glances, Whom no man or Jinn before them has touched” and they will have “beautiful, Big and Lustrous eyes.”
· Salvation is based on good works, “there is no need for a Savior, and in any case God Most High alone can save.”
6. There are 5 "pillars" that guide Muslims: a. “There is no deity except Allah, and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah”. b. The second pray five times a day facing Mecca c. Third fast. d. Give alms. e. The pilgrimage to Mecca, at least one time during one's lifetime..
There is a great post from Apologetics 315. Apparently there was an Apologetics conference at Rick Warren's Saddleback Church. I liked this! There are are six lectures from some of the best Christian apologists alive today. Posted on the blog are links to audio and video files containing the lectures given during the conference.
I found the following article talking about the latest propaganda from Al Qaida. I'm amazed we haven't gotten this guy yet. But it's just more saber-rattling. Bin Laden is not saying anything any different than he has said before. Obama said that one of his goals would be get Osama Bin Laden. I hope that takes place.
Here is a video showing how important it is that we share Jesus with Muslims as much as possible at every opportunity. God turns people's hearts to Himself, the best we can do is to just play our role and preach the truth to them.
The term "prophet" is thrown around very liberally. Prophets are often thought of people who can just tell the future or reveal knowledge from supernatural sources. Biblically, the job of a prophet is much more than that. A prophet was God's mouth piece. He or she (yes, there are a few female prophets in the Bible) spoke the words that God gave them to speak. Here is a documentary about Edgar Cayce.
If you look at the documentary you can see that Mr. Cayce seemed to be a nice and moral christian who was only interested in helping others. He also seemed to advocate the wholistic health practices that are so en vogue today and although this documentary focuses on his medical successes I have seen another documentary talking about his forecasts concerning the future.
So, was the man a prophet or not? The Bible does not tell us to use the fact that a person is nice and moral, or that they perform miracles, or that their predictions always coming true as proof that God sent them. The Bible gives us the criteria to use.
1 If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a miraculous sign or wonder, 2 and if the sign or wonder of which he has spoken takes place, and he says, "Let us follow other gods" (gods you have not known) "and let us worship them," 3 you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The LORD your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 It is the LORD your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him. 5 That prophet or dreamer must be put to death, because he preached rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery; he has tried to turn you from the way the LORD your God commanded you to follow. You must purge the evil from among you.
6 If your very own brother, or your son or daughter, or the wife you love, or your closest friend secretly entices you, saying, "Let us go and worship other gods" (gods that neither you nor your fathers have known, 7 gods of the peoples around you, whether near or far, from one end of the land to the other), 8 do not yield to him or listen to him. Show him no pity. Do not spare him or shield him. 9 You must certainly put him to death. Your hand must be the first in putting him to death, and then the hands of all the people. 10 Stone him to death, because he tried to turn you away from the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 11 Then all Israel will hear and be afraid, and no one among you will do such an evil thing again.
12 If you hear it said about one of the towns the LORD your God is giving you to live in 13 that wicked men have arisen among you and have led the people of their town astray, saying, "Let us go and worship other gods" (gods you have not known), 14 then you must inquire, probe and investigate it thoroughly. And if it is true and it has been proved that this detestable thing has been done among you, 15 you must certainly put to the sword all who live in that town. Destroy it completely, [a] both its people and its livestock. 16 Gather all the plunder of the town into the middle of the public square and completely burn the town and all its plunder as a whole burnt offering to the LORD your God. It is to remain a ruin forever, never to be rebuilt. 17 None of those condemned things [b] shall be found in your hands, so that the LORD will turn from his fierce anger; he will show you mercy, have compassion on you, and increase your numbers, as he promised on oath to your forefathers, 18 because you obey the LORD your God, keeping all his commands that I am giving you today and doing what is right in his eyes. - Deuteronomy 13
Cayce embraced reincarnation and I can find no documentation that he endorsed Jesus as the answer to sin and reconciliation back to God. Truth is, Cayce didn't even describe God as a transcendent being as the Bible does. According to the scripture package I cited there is no way, you can say that He pointed to God. The thing is that Cayce was in a trance when he did his thing and no prophet in the Bible is described being moved by God the same way. I don't think Edgar Cayce is a prophet.
Here is a humorous video of actor Christopher Hayden Church acting the part of an American hunter who is injured in Canada but refuses to be treated by the free Canadian Health Care System. This is hilarious!
doI got the graphic at the left in a tweet from lilhappyheathen. The artist most definitely has a message to convey. With the slogan"Know Your Bible" and a visual aid supposedly depicting the meaning of 1st Timothy 2:11. Unfortunately I don't think the graphic adequately explains what Paul meant when he wrote to Timothy, and people who think it is what the passage means do not know their Bible as well as they think they do. Let's first look at the passage in context (vs 9-15)
I also want women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God.
A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent. 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. But women will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety.
I want to discuss this on two point of views. 1 - let us look at what the text is really saying and who the audience is. 2 - Let's look at what the early church thought about women.
First, in the context of the passage, Paul is writing to Timothy about how a church should run. I won't attempt a full exegesis of the whole passage I quoted but concentrate on the part the image focuses on. If anyone would like to discuss more of other verses, just let me know. The first thing to ask is why did Paul say that women in congregation should "learn in quietness and full submission"? Simple. In the first century literacy was really low for people in general and women in particular and did not receive the same level of education as men. So instead of interrupting services with questions, the teaching here is let women ask questions later.
If you were to take the view that the Bible is saying that women are weaker or dumber than men, then you have Paul conflicting with himself and with Jesus. If you look at 1 Timothy 2:14 clearly agrees with Genesis 3 that Adam was to blame for the failure in the Garden not Eve. She was completely tricked and had no intention of outright rebellion against God but Adam was not tricked he understood what he was doing (Romans 5). Also look at the fact that Jesus had women followers who sat at his feet and learned from Him personally (ie. Mary, Lazarus' (the one Jesus raised from the dead in John 11) sister).
As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!"
"Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her." - Luke 10:38-42
Also don't forget that the first to find the empty tomb were women in a time when women testimony was not taken seriously in the 1st Century. And the first person to see Jesus after the Resurrection was Mary Magdalene.
Some of the named leaders in the early church were women! Dorcas (Acts 9:35-43) was an important church member. Priscilla along with her husband Aquila taught Apollos about Jesus in Acts 18:25-27. Priscilla and Aquila were partners in ministry and life.
If Paul did not think women could be church workers and teach why did he say of a woman:
I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church in Cenchrea. I ask you to receive her in the Lord in a way worthy of the saints and to give her any help she may need from you, for she has been a great help to many people, including me. - Romans 16:1,2
What kind of work do you think she was doing? I'm sure it included teaching not just cooking and cleaning in the kitchen! The Greek word translated in the NIV as "servant" is translated in other translation as "deaconess". Phoebe was a female deacon and "deacon" meant the same thing then as it does today - a church official who supports the ministry and is trusted to teach!
Could a man who is chauvinistic and hate women write the following?
You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. - Galatians 3: 26-29
I don't think it's a fair conclusion that the Bible takes a low view of women. Just let the Bible speak for itself and at least assume that the same author would not outright conflict with himself. I mean if you are coming up with an interpretation that conflicts with another passage the problem is your understanding and you should consider revising it.
I'm not trying to argue that western civilization has not subjugated or persecuted women. And the Church is guilty of crimes against women and in trying to use the Bible to validate those crime - but I find no evidence that the 1st Century church did that and that the Bible condones it. Blame the people who did the evil, not the Bible because the Bible condemns us for it. It's not on God but people.
On September 9, 2009 President Barack Obama spoke to both houses of Congress about the plan he is advocating to reform our Health Care system. His speech was great. I thought that he was as articulate, intelligent, and gracious as always. I also thought he did a great job explaining his points and debunking the lies his opponents are pushing such as "death panels", insuring illegal immigrants, and covering abortion. Here is the video
Unfortunately there was an event during the speech that may overshadow what the President was actually trying to communicate. When Obama categorically denied that he was suggesting that illegal immigrants should have universal health care coverage, South Carolina Republican Rep. Joe Wilson shouted "You lie!" in the middle of the President's speech.
I was shocked and appalled. These are supposed to be professionals. How could he disrespect the President of the United States that way? Second, how could he be that ignorant to think that Obama's plan would include covering illegal immigrants. I think that if Obama were white, Wilson would never have done that. Today, Wilson apologized but I don't believe it. I don't think that it from the heart at all, just going through the motion to protect his career.
This video is based on a book by Karen Armstrong. I read the book several years ago and I was extremely disappointed. Karn Armstrong approaches the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, and Koran are all nothing more than human products. She disavows a personal God who intervenes in history and the lives of people. I think that Armstrong thought this because she failed to personally encounter God as a Catholic nun (read her introduction). I don't know why she did not meet God. I'm not qualified to judge her honesty or her experience, But I can testify that if we reach out to God we will find him. It seems like she was looking for an experience like those of the Catholic saints and the Biblical prophets instead of seeking her own unique experience.
I was reading through my Twitter stream and I came across a link to a video someone made in attempt to dismiss the Bible's teaching on the character and nature of God by attempting to show logical inconsistencies. The author uses the idea of a checklist which God uses to keep track of His purposes and goals. The author and I agree on what Christians believe about God. He does indeed have purposes and goals and He does interact with humanity throughout history. As unbeliever the author has the audacity to think he knows what the plan of God is and what God's purposes are. I think it's worth looking at his checklist and see if it is the same checklist we see in the Bible. I will make his checklist bullets blue and my comments will be in black. This will be in 2 parts. The second part will cover the video after 5 minutes and 6 seconds.
14. Declare that until further notice that the way only for these cognitive beings to rectify their sinful nature while on Earth is to perform ritual animal sacrifices and other acts of senseless violence. Additionally, when certain sins are committed by any one of your cognitive beings, demand that the surrounding community kill that being themselves. Check!
Why must there be blood sacrifice? The principle is substitution - life for life. Sin is a debt that can only be paid by blood because sin is truly that bad...that awful...that the only way sin can be atoned for is that someone has to die. Unfortunately the blood of animals is not enough for final and complete cleansing. To argue against the public execution of law breaker in ancient Israel is to come against capital punishment and the death penalty. Many folks today reject the death penalty, but just because you yourself don't see any crime worthy of death, doesn't mean that God sees the world that way.
15. In the mean time perform many epic miracles for all to see, and intervene often with your physical creations; stop the sun in the sky, part the Red Sea, turn rivers into blood and women into pillars of salt, give men superhuman strength, speak to the thousands with a booming voice from Heaven, etc. But, before these cognitive beings become advanced enough in the areas of science and communication that they could actually document, share, playback, and verify these epic miracles, make sure you stop performing them all together. Check!
God has not stopped performing miracles altogether. There have been several documented cases of miracles happening even today. I myself know of God healing power when He healed me of arthritis, not to mention other cases. What about holding reality together? As near as we can tell, there is no reason why reality retains the qualities it does have. If quantum mechanics is correct then there is some ultimate observer determining everything we measure and observe. It this isn't miraculous than I don't know the author's definition. Check that.
16. Decide at some point that the most pressing of your objective moral prescriptions are not as obvious to these cognitive beings as you once thought. Take this opportunity to chisel your top ten moral concerns into two tablets of stone and commission one of your cognitive beings to deliver these tablets to the masses. (Note to self: Roughly half of these moral concerns should center around pleasing you, praising you, and remaining loyal to you.) Check!
Check this. Obviously the Ten Commandments are not obvious because we break them all the time. Breaking one, breaks them all. Only 4 out of 10 of them center around our relationship with God. The other 6 deal with how we treat one another. Funny how the author tries to insinuate that God is cruel and selfish.
17. After several thousand years, impregnate one of these cognitive beings so that she gives birth to your son in physical form, who also happens to be you at the same time. Check!
"Impregnate" is pregnant with the meaning of sexual intercourse and God did not have sex with marry to conceive Jesus Christ. While the Bible does teach that Jesus is God, incarnated in human form, it's important to really understand what is being said because the author makes it sound like Christians are confused. The Trinity is not a confusion. God is one being...existing as three divine, co-equal, and co-eternal persons. It's confusing because today we treat "being" and "person" as the same thing but they are not. "Being" describes what an entity is, but "person(s)" describes who entities is/are. Also given our finiteness its hard to grasp how God could be one being but three persons since we think of ourselves as one being/one person. Why would an infinite being be bound to that? Simple. God isn't.
18. Allow this cognitive being who is your son but also you to grow up and make several revisions to you/your son’s original standards of morality. Then arrange for other cognitive beings to torture and kill you/your son. Authorize this sacrifice of yourself to yourself as a means of granting all other cognitive beings immunity to the consequences of their sinful nature, which you allowed them to be born with in the first place. Check!
Jesus made no revisions to the standards the Jews were already given. He only pointed out that thoughts are just as bad as the actions themselves and when asked what the greatest commandment is.
Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." - Matthew 22:34-40
Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18.
In addition, because Jesus is the perfect sacrifice for our sins, we no longer need to offer sacrifices and again God allowed us to be born in sin for reasons we don't fully understand yet. But God is making something awesome and beyond wonderful and we can't see it all yet.
19. Do not however, make this sacrifice free. Establish that none of these cognitive beings shall be eligible for the benefits of this sacrifice unless they actively believe that it happened. In other words, despite the quality of their intentions, any cognitive being henceforth who finds themselves unconvinced that these events actually took place is unwittingly designating themselves for the endless suffering of Hell. Check!
The author presupposes that in and of ourselves a human being is capable of living up to the standards of holiness and purity that God has set. The author thinks that it's unfair that good people could suffer for eternity in Hell and the only thing they failed to do was not to believe that Jesus is the only way to God. The author is wrong. No one is that good or that moral that they meet the standard. Because all have sinned and fallen short of the ideal, the only way to be reconciled back to God is by riding Jesus' coat-tails. On our own, apart from Jesus, everyone of us deserve to go to Hell. Check that.
20. That established, be sure to refrain from making it clear and knowable to the rest of the world that these events actually took place. Ensure that no cognitive being born after the first century has the luxury of witnessing your son (Who is also you) say or do anything to indicate that he was a living god. Again, make sure that all of this occurs before the advancements in science and technology are available to verify it for those who aren’t present. Check!
This is one of the reasons why the Resurrection is so important. Jesus died really and for true, however He did not stay dead. He is alive and anyone who desires to have a personal relationship with Him can have it. You can experience the same Jesus that they did in the first century because Jesus can live through you in a union even closer than the apostles and His followers enjoyed when they were with Jesus as ministered on earth. It's hard to explain to one who has never experienced. We can categorically say that if you make the attempt to reach out to Him, you will find Him and experience what I'm talking about. The author is wrong, you can witness the power of God today and know Jesus for yourself!
21. Arrange so that the only surviving record of these events will be authored anonymously, by non-eyewitnesses, translated to a language different from the one you/your son will speak, and written no earlier than thirty years after you/your son performs these miracles and makes these claims. However, do make sure that these records feature the precept that believing in something without evidence is morally superior to investigation and verification. Check!
Check this: I don't have time to go over textual criticism or explaining how we got the Bible, but I totally disagree with the author. In terms of ancient documents, any document recorded 30 years after the events it describes is like an eye blink of time and could have easily been an eyewitness as tradition holds. I think its arguing from silence saying that Jesus only spoke Aramaic. Recall that on a few occasions Jesus spoke to Gentiles and to Pilate. How do we know that He spoke only Aramaic to them and a good case could be made that Jesus could read Greek (the Septuagint, from which Jesus quoted, is the Greek translation of the Old Testament). In addition, just like today educated and intelligent people spoke multiple languages. I'm sure that He at least spoke Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Latin. Who would be more intelligent than Jesus - The Logos incarnate? I disagree that faith mean believing something without evidence. That's not the definition of Biblical Faith and if you read Luke and Acts, then you know the author says the he carefully researched and investigated the facts and wrote them down. Even if you disagree that the one who wrote them was Luke, you cannot deny the following passages:
Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught. - Luke 1:1-4
In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. - Acts 1:1-3
22. Be sure that after only a few decades the only accounts of these events in existence are copies of copies of copies of copies, which will be verifiably altered and added to in historically and theologically significant ways from generation to generation, sect to sect. Do not preserve the original copies of these accounts, do not protect them from revision, and do not set in place any mechanism for protecting them against being interpreted in hundreds upon hundreds of ways, most of which being heretical, and therefore punishable. Check!
Again, I don't have the time to go into textual criticism and how the Bible was transmitted, but I will recommend the King James Only Controversy by James White and his Debate with Bart Ehrman if you want to fully understand why the author is completely off base. God did preserve his Word - Both testaments whether you like the way he did it or not.
23. Do not bother to employ your omniscience in such a way as to discern which of these cognitive beings are truly rebelling, and which simply don’t know how to distinguish you from other versions of God which do not in fact exist, but which are attributed the same claims of exclusivity. Check!
God does know who is rebelling and who can't distinguish the truth. The thing is that we are accountable. No one will ever to be able to say to God, "I rejected Christ because I could not tell who was telling the truth." We all make choices and will have live with the consequences.
24. Do not make it clear to these beings that you’re even here. Allow for your very existence to remain an easily debatable, easily questionable, and easily doubtable proposition. Allow for billions and billions of souls to be unthinkably tortured for all of eternity regardless of their character, integrity, bravery, responsibility, or conduct, because they had not correctly assumed that the right set of propositions were true by the time their lives on Earth were over. Check!
It is clear to every honest person that God exists. People rationalize and contort and squirm but deep down we all know that there is a creator - one whom we are all ultimately accountable to. No one has a high enough character, brave enough, honest enough, responsible enough, or even remotely good enough to deserve heaven. We all deserve to go to hell.
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 1:18-20
So, wanna re-think that item on the check list? You should. No way would it be on it.
25. And finally, when all is said and done, demand that you be praised for this plan. Check!
I do think that this one is on the checklist. God demands our worship because He deserves it. If you don't believe that creating all of reality by speaking it out of nothing into existence and holding it together by His will is enough to worship and serve Him, then let's make it personal: every single breath you take - every thought you are allowed to think - everything good and decent about you - you owe Him. Still not enough to praise Him? Fine. One last point: God is not obligated to save anyone. He could have chosen to save everyone, no one, or some of us. He'd be perfectly in his rights to do either. He chose to save some of us when we did not now we needed to be saved, did not want to be saved and did not love Him. He takes our rebellious and sinful hearts and free us from sin and its consequences. He make it available to all who believe! If that is not worth praising Him for, then you have no idea how horrible of a condition you are really in.
I don't get it. If you are not aware there has been a huge hoopla since last week because Obama planned to address America's children broadcast to classrooms around the country. The speech was delivered Tuesday, September 8, 2009. It has been insane! People have said it was inappropriate for the President to address children in a speech without their parents knowing exactly what he will say. Apparently they were afraid that Obama would try to convince children (who can't vote nor direct public policy) that his agenda concerning health care reform and bailing out banks and industries contrary to the wishes and values of the offended parents. All Obama did in the speech was encourage our children to study hard and take responsibility for their education. Hardly controversial. It seems simply fear. Obama's opponents are so afraid of his ability to inspire people that they don't want children directly exposed to his ideas. Pathetic. The funny thing to me is that every President since FDR in the 1930's have used mass media to address all Americans including children. I'm also amazed about the parents who thought that keeping their children out of school will keep them from hearing the speech considering that the the speech is being carried all over television and the Internet. Here is an interview I found from CNN where Anderson Cooper really ripped into the Florida Republican Party Head Jim Greer over his remarks concerning President Obama
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