Implications of a Post Christian America

  By Dean | January 27, 2012 - 5:20 pm | Blog, Christian Doctrine
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A few days ago an article was posted from Death Rattle Sports.com entitled, “How Will The Shocking Decline Of Christianity In America Affect The Future Of This Nation?” The article lays out the decline of the influence of Christianity in our nation but doesn’t really ever tell us the implications of this decline. That is what I would like to address in this post.

There has been a long influence of Christianity in our Nation. The early presidents of our country actually attended church services in the nation’s capitol. This tradition was carried on up to the Civil War.

This influence carried on into the early and middle part of the last century. Many people attended church services regularly. Christianity influenced the lives of followers during the week, not just on Sunday. Its influences throughout society were numerous. Old timers remember the stir caused by the use of the first curse word in movies. Gone with the Wind (1939) was the first official movie that someone swore in. The very last line in the movie “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a d@#%.” The very first movie to ever swear was “The Big Trail” (1930) starring John Wayne. It wasn’t as popular as Gone with the Wind hence forth no one really knew about it. “They always told me Women were d@#% funny” was the line. But society didn’t really accept swearing in movies until the 1960s when it became much more numerous and accepted. Today, directors dread a “G” rating and throw in curse words just to avoid it.

Paul actually laid out the progression of the rejection of Godly influence on a nation and its progression can be seen in the United States today. It starts in Romans 1.

Romans 1:20-24  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.  21  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.  22  Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools  23  and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.  24  Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.

Carefully read these verses. God has revealed Himself but mankind rejects God; therefore, God gives them up or over to their sinful desires. Notice who walks away first. It isn’t God, it’s mankind.

The first step is sexual impurity. In our nation this started with the sexual revolution in the 1960s. Phrases such as “free love” and “doing your own thing” were common. Rock music of the era latched on to this theme. Love the One You’re With by Stephen Stills summed up the thought of the era. During this phase the affects on the people are rather muted. Christian influence was still rather strong; nevertheless, the seeds to further decay had been sown.

The first phase is complete. What happens next? (Notice each step of the way people reject God and while He wants to be in relationship with mankind, mankind says no, so God releases them gradually all the while calling for them to come back to Him.) Paul goes on to state:

Romans 1:25-27  They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator–who is forever praised. Amen.  26  Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones.  27  In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.

The sexual revolution leads to further sexual perversion. Mankind rejects God and His ways regarding morality. Sexual perversion becomes accepted.

As my children used to say on a long car trip, “Are we there yet?” Objectively speaking I’d have to say yes. Many of the television sitcoms have gay characters. The lifestyle is applauded and approved. The consequences of the gay lifestyle are intentionally hidden. This article from the Family Research Council lays out many of the consequences. While you may object to the source, the article is heavily footnoted to governmental research sites. The effects range from HIV and other sexual transmitted diseases to cancer and mental illness. It isn’t politically correct to object to someone’s lifestyle but the health risks are enormous. (As a footnote to this thought, if the government was consistent in its thought process, it should adamantly oppose the gay lifestyle for the costs it imposes on the health care system alone.)

Once these two phases occur in society, what happens next? Paul tells us.

Romans 1:28-32  Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.  29  They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips,  30  slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents;  31  they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless.  32  Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

Every kind of evil and wickedness become the norm in society. Society becomes increasingly unstable. I could write many a post on greed alone; the greed on Wall Street to Washington D.C. The out of control spending and borrowing bankrupting our nation is well documented. Our cities are filled with envy and murder. Home invasions leading to murder are common. People become arrogant. They become senseless, faithless, heartless and ruthless. Do you recognize any of these trends in America today? Lawful citizens are forced to protect themselves from increasing violence as the police no longer are able to respond. Even those that do wrong approve of others who practice wickedness and violence.

Laid out before us is the progression of society away from God outlined in three understandable steps. Each step leads to further steps away from God. Each step leads to more instability. The acts listed in verses 28 to 32 will become more and more common as the disease grows and spreads.

There are organizations in our country who reject the tenets of Christianity but desire a peaceful, functioning society where all men are treated equally.  They want do not want the United States to be considered a “Christian” nation. They want to reject God (and salvation through his son Jesus) but still reap the rewards of a society heavily influenced by Christianity. They have the choice to reject God but it doesn’t appear a peaceful society can be maintained without a strong Christian influence, at least not according to Paul.

So, what do we do with this?

First, individually we must lead Christian lives and raise our children to do the same. The influences of society are heavy but it starts at home.

Second, we must become educated and be prepared to loving teach and share Jesus Christ.

1 Peter 3:15  But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,

This is not a call to hate. It is not a call to disrespect people where they are. It is a call to be open with people and to be approachable with the love of Jesus Christ. If Christians are not approachable, where do hurting and fallen people go when their lives are wrecked by sin? We have to be the conduit to Jesus who saves. If we are mean spirited and angry our witness for Christ is worthless!

If we do these two things, society will take care of itself. Or rather, God will take care of us!

What is the Gospel and How Does it Affect My Life

 

How Will The Shocking Decline Of Christianity In America Affect The Future Of This Nation?

  By Dean | January 25, 2012 - 4:58 am | Apologetics, Blog
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Is Christianity in decline in America?  When you examine the cold, hard numbers it is simply not possible to come to any other conclusion.  Over the past few decades, the percentage of Christians in America has been steadily declining.  This has especially been true among young people.  As you will see later in this article, there has been a mass exodus of teens and young adults out of U.S. churches.  In addition, what “Christianity” means to American Christians today is often far different from what “Christianity” meant to their parents and their grandparents.  Millions upon millions of Christians in the United States simply do not believe many of the fundamental principles of the Christian faith any longer.  Without a doubt, America is becoming a less “Christian” nation.  This has staggering implications for the future of this country.  The United States was founded primarily by Christians that were seeking to escape religious persecution.  For those early settlers, the Christian faith was the very center of their lives, and it deeply affected the laws that they made and the governmental structures that they established.  So what is the future of America going to look like if we totally reject the principles that this nation was founded on?

Overall, Christianity is still the largest religion in the world by far.  According to the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, there are currently 2.2 billion Christians in the world.  So Christianity is not in danger of disappearing any time soon.  In fact, in some areas of the globe it is experiencing absolutely explosive growth.

But in the United States, things are different.  Churches are shrinking, skepticism is growing and apathy about spiritual matters seems to be at an all-time high.

Before we examine the data, let me disclose that I am a Christian.  I am not bashing Christians or the Christian faith at all in this article.  In fact, I consider the decline of Christianity in America to be a very bad thing.  Not everyone is going to agree with me on that, but hopefully this article will help spark a debate on the role of religion in America that everyone can learn something from.

Unfortunately, the reality is that most Americans spend very little time thinking about religion or spiritual matters these days.

Just consider the following quote from a recent USA Today article….

“The real dirty little secret of religiosity in America is that there are so many people for whom spiritual interest, thinking about ultimate questions, is minimal,” says Mark Silk, professor of religion and public life at Trinity College”

This is backed up by the numbers.  For example, a survey taken last year by LifeWay Research found that 46 percent of all Americans never think about whether they will go to heaven or not.

To most Americans, faith is simply not a big deal.  This is particularly true of our young people.  Those under the age of 30 are leaving U.S. churches in droves.  The following comes from a recent CNN article….

David Kinnaman, the 38-year-old president of the Barna Group, an evangelical research firm, is the latest to sound the alarm. In his new book, “You Lost Me: Why Young Christians Are Leaving Church and Rethinking Faith,” he says that 18- to 29-year-olds have fallen down a “black hole” of church attendance. There is a 43% drop in Christian church attendance between the teen and early adult years, he says.

But it isn’t just young people that are leaving American churches.  The proportion of Americans that consider themselves to be Christians has been steadily declining for many years.  Back in 1990, 86 percent of all Americans considered themselves to be Christian.  By 2008, that number had dropped to 76 percent.

Meanwhile, the number of Americans that reject religion entirely has absolutely soared.  According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of Americans with “no religion” more than doubled between 1990 and 2008.

So what is going to happen if these trends continue?

Dave Olson, the director of church planting for the Evangelical Covenant Church, has made some really interesting projections regarding what is going to happen to church attendance in America if current trends continue.

According to Olson, only 18.7 percent of all Americans regularly attend church right now.  If this number continues to decline at the current pace, Olson says that the percentage of Americans attending church in 2050 will be about half of what it is today.

Other research has produced similar results.

According to a study done by LifeWay Research, membership in Southern Baptist churches will fall nearly 50 percent by the year 2050 if current trends persist.

If you are a Christian, you should be quite alarmed by these numbers.

But what is happening to the faith of our young people should be even more alarming for Christians.

The American Religious Identification Survey by the Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society & Culture at Trinity College is one of the most comprehensive studies on religion in America that has ever been done.

According to that study, 15 percent of all Americans say that they have “no religion”.

That is up from 8 percent in 1990.

That is quite a change.

But the move away from religion is particularly pronounced among our young people.

One recent survey found that 25 percent of all Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 say that they have no religion.

Obviously the Christian faith is not winning the battle for the hearts and the minds of our young people.  The cold, hard truth is that in America today, the younger you are, the less likely you are to consider yourself to be a Christian.

Large numbers of young Americans that went to church while they were growing up are now leaving U.S. churches entirely.  A recent study by the Barna Group discovered that nearly 60 percent of all Christians between the ages of 15 and 29 are no long actively involved in any church.

But not only have they left the church, our young people have also abandoned just about all forms of Christian spirituality.

Just check out the results of one survey of young adults that was conducted by LifeWay Christian Resources….

•65% rarely or never pray with others, and 38% almost never pray by themselves either.

•65% rarely or never attend worship services of any kind.

•67% don’t read the Bible or any other religious texts on a regular basis.

If this does not get turned around, churches all over America will be closing their doors.  When the survey above first came out, the president of LifeWay Christian Resources stated that “the Millennial generation will see churches closing as quickly as GM dealerships.”

But it is not just church that our young people are rejecting.

The reality is that they are also rejecting the fundamental principles of the Christian faith.

One survey conducted by the Barna Group found that less than 1 percent of all Americans between the ages of 18 and 23 hold a Biblical worldview.

The Barna Group asked participants in the survey if they agreed with the following six statements….

1) Believing that absolute moral truth exists.
2) Believing that the Bible is completely accurate in all of the principles it teaches.
3) Believing that Satan is considered to be a real being or force, not merely symbolic.
4) Believing that a person cannot earn their way into Heaven by trying to be good or by doing good works.
5) Believing that Jesus Christ lived a sinless life on earth.
6) Believing that God is the all-knowing, all-powerful creator of the world who still rules the universe today.

Less than 1 percent of the participants agreed with all of those statements.

That is staggering.

But it is not just young adults that are rejecting the fundamentals of the Christian faith.

Even large numbers of “evangelical Christians” are rejecting the fundamental principles of the Christian faith.

For example, one survey found that 52 percent of all Americans Christians believe that “at least some non-Christian faiths can lead to eternal life”.

Another survey found that 29 percent of all American Christians claim to have been in contact with the dead, 23 percent believe in astrology and 22 percent believe in reincarnation.

Without a doubt, the religious landscape of America is changing.

Over the past several decades, church attendance has been steadily declining, the percentage of Americans that consider themselves to be Christians has been going down, and the number of people that hold traditional Christian beliefs has been dropping like a rock.

So what does all of this mean for the future of America?

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Founders En Masse Advocated Christianity

  By Dean | January 24, 2012 - 1:26 pm | Apologetics, Blog
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Another outstanding article from Apologetics Press.

Dave Miller, Ph.D.

Popular propaganda spouted for half a century or more claims that the Founders and Framers of America were deists and largely irreligious men who sought to establish a secular society that celebrates all ideologies, religions, and philosophies as equally valid. This sinister “diversity” myth has inflicted untold damage on American society, bringing the nation literally to the brink of disaster.

The failure of the average citizen to examine the facts and assess the gravity of the situation is inexcusable. In reality, the religious orientation of the architects of American civilization, and their view regarding its importance to the establishment and perpetuation of the Republic, is easily ascertainable. Rather than wade through the myriad pages and books that purport to depict American history accurately, all one need do is simply reread the organic utterances issued by the Founders as they orchestrated the founding.

Though not including all those who rightly wear the appellation “Founder,” nevertheless, the Continental Congress comprised a substantial portion of those men, and they may clearly be designated quintessential Founders (see Miller, 2009, p. 3). They certainly constitute a representative cross section of the men who brought the Republic into existence. Consider one sample among many in which the Continental Congress en masse issued a proclamation to the entire population of the country on March 19, 1782:

The United States in Congress assembled…think it their indispensable duty to call upon the several states, to set apart the last Thursday in April next, as a day of fasting, humiliation and prayer…that He would incline the hearts of all men to peace, and fill them with universal charity and benevolence, and that the religion of our Divine Redeemer, with all its benign influences, may cover the earth as the waters cover the seas (Journals of…, 22:137-138, emp. added).

The “Divine Redeemer” is Jesus Christ. Calling for Christ’s religion to “cover the earth as the waters cover the seas” is a direct allusion to two Old Testament passages—Isaiah 11:9 and Habakkuk 2:14.

 The Founders insisted that the stability of the Republic depends on the Christian religion, with its moral principles and spiritual framework. They felt that though other religions may certainly be tolerated in America, the peculiar doctrines and practices of those religions must not be allowed to alter the laws and institutions of the nation. Nor must those doctrines and practices do any physical harm to Americans or violate Christian morality (e.g., polygamy, homosexuality, and abortion). The Founders would be horrified at the notion of “political correctness” and its corrosive, destructive influence. They would have difficulty believing that Americans would ever even consider allowing Sharia law to be included in our courts, schools, or government. The Founders never asked that Hinduism cover the Earth, nor Islam, Buddhism, or Atheism. Rather, they begged God to cover the Earth with the religion of Christ as thoroughly and completely as the waters cover the oceans of the world.

REFERENCES

Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789 (1904-1937), ed. Worthington C. Ford, et al. (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office), Library of Congress, http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lwjc.html.

Miller, Dave (2009), Christ and the Continental Congress (Montgomery, AL: Apologetics Press).

Eighty Four Confirmed Facts From Acts

  By Dean | January 22, 2012 - 10:26 pm | Blog, Christian Doctrine
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The post courtesy of Truthbomb Apologetics:

Scholar and historian Colin Hemer has identified 84 facts in the last 16 chapters of the Book of Acts that have been confirmed by historical and/or archaeological research.

They are as follows:

1. the natural crossing between correctly named ports [Acts 13:4-5]
2. the proper port [Perga] along the direct destination of a ship crossing from Cyprus [13:13]
3. the proper location of Lycaonia [14:6]
4. the unusual but correct declension of the name Lystra [14:6]
5. the correct language spoken in Lystra-Lycaonian [14:11]
6. two gods known to be so associated-Zeus and Hermes [14:12]
7. the proper port, Attalia, which returning travelers would use [14:25]
8. the correct order of approach to Derbe and then Lystra from the Cilician Gates [16:1; cf. 15:41]
9. the proper form of the name Troas [16:8]
10. the place of a conspicuous sailors’ landmark, Samothrace [12:14]
11. the proper description of Philippi as a Roman colony [16:12]
12. the right location fro the river [Gangites] near Philippi [12:13]
13. the proper association of Thyatira as a center of dyeing [16:14]
14. correct designations for the magistrates of the colony [16:22]
15. the proper locations [Amphipolis and Apollonia] where travelers would spend successive nights on this journey [17:1]
16. the presence of a synagogue in Thessalonica [17:1]
17. the proper term ["politarchs"] used of the magistrates there [17:6]
18. the correct implication that sea travel is the most convenient way of reaching Athens, with the favoring east winds of summer sailing [17:14-15] 19. the abundant presence of images in Athens [17:16]
20. the reference to a synagogue in Athens [17:17]
21. the depiction of the Athenian life of philosophical debate in the Agora [17:17]
22. the use of the correct Athenian slang word for Paul [spermologos, 17:18] as well as for the court [Areios pagos, 17:19]
23. the proper characterization of the Athenian character [17:21]
24. an alter to an “unknown god” [17:23]
25. the proper reaction of Greek philosophers, who denied the bodily resurrection [17:32]
26. Areopagites as the correct title for a member of the court [17:34]
27. A Corinthian synagogue [18:4]
28. the correct designation of Gallio as proconsul, resident in Corinth [18:12]
29. the bema [judgement seat], which overlooks Corinth’s forum [18:16ff.]
30. the name Tyrannus as attested from Ephesus in first-century inscriptions [19:9]
31. well-known shrines and images of Artemis [19:24]
32. the well attested “great goddess Artemis” [19:27]
33. that the Ephesian theater was the meeting place of the city [19:29]
34. the correct title grammateus for the chief executive magistrate in Ephesus [19:35]
35. the proper title of honor neokoros, authorized by the Romans [19:35]
36. the correct name to designate the goddess [19:37]
37. the proper term for those holding court [19:38]
38. use of plural anthupatori, perhaps a remarkable reference to the fact that two men were conjointly exercising the functions of proconsul at this time [19:38]
39. the “regular” assembly, as the precise phrase is attested elsewhere [19:39]
40. use of precise ethnic designation, beroiaios [20:4]
41. employment of the ethnic term Asianos [20:4]
42. the implied recognition of the strategic importance assigned to this city of Troas [20:7ff.]
43. the danger of the coastal trip in this location [20:13]
44. the correct sequence of places [20:14-15]
45. the correct name of the city as a neuter plural [Patara] [21:1]
46. the appropriate route passing across the open sea south of Cyprus favored by persistent northwest winds [21:3]
47. the suitable distance between these cities [21:8]
48. a characteristically Jewish act of piety [21:24]
49. the Jewish law regarding Gentile use of the temple area [21:28] [Archaeological discoveries and quotations from Josephus confirm that Gentiles would be executed for entering the temple area. One inscription reads: "Let no Gentile enter within the balustrade and enclosure surrounding the sanctuary. Whoever is caught will be personally responsible for his consequent death."]
50. the permanent stationing of a Roman cohort [chiliarch]at Antonia to suppress any disturbance at festival times [21:31]
51. the flight of steps used by the guards [21:31, 35]
52. the common way to obtain Roman citizenship at this time [22:28]
53. the tribune being impressed with Roman rather than Tarsian citizenship [22:29]
54. Ananias being high priest at this time [23:2]
55. Felix being governor at this time [23:34]
56. the natural shopping point on the way to Caesarea [23:31]
57. whose jurisdiction Cilicia was in at the time [23:34]
58. the provincial penal procedure of the time [24:1-9]
59. the name Porcius Festus, which agrees precisely with that given by Josephus [24:27]
60. the right of appeal for Roman citizens [25:11]
61. the correct legal formula [25:18]
62. the characteristic form of reference to the emperor at the time [25:26]
63. the best shipping lanes at the time [27:5]
64. the common bonding of Cilicia and Pamphylia [27:4]
65. the principal port to find a ship sailing to Italy [27:5-6]
66. the slow passage to Cnidus, in the fact of the typical northwest wind [27:7]
67. the right route to sail, in view of the winds [27:7]
68. the locations of Fair Havens and the neighboring site of Lasea [27:8]
69. Fair Havens as a poorly sheltered roadstead [27:7]
70. a noted tendency of a south wind in these climes to back suddenly to a violent northeaster, the well-known gregale [27:13]
71. the nature of a square-rigged ancient ship, having no option but to be driven before a gale [27:15]
72. the precise place and name of this island [27:16]
73. the appropriate maneuvers for the safety of the ship in its particular plight [27:16]
74. the fourteenth night-a remarkable calculation, based inevitably on a compounding of estimates and probabilities, confirmed in the judgement of experienced Mediterranean navigators [27:27]
75. the proper term of the time for the Adriatic [27:27]
76. the precise term [Bolisantes] for taking soundings, and the correct depth of the water near Malta [27:28]
77. a position that suits the probable line of approach of a ship released to run before an easterly wind [27:39]
78. the severe liability on guards who permitted a prisoner to escape [27:42]
79. the local people and superstitions of the day [28:4-6]
80. the proper title protos tes nesou [28:7]
81. Regium as a refuge to await a southerly wind to carry them through the strait [28:13]
82. Appii Forum and Tres Tabernae as correctly placed stopping places on the Appian Way [28:15]
83. appropriate means of custody with Roman soliders [28:16]
84. the conditions of imprisonment, living “at his own expense” [28:30-31] [1]

With these facts in mind, it seems reasonable to conclude that the author of Acts [who I believe was Luke] was an eyewitness of the events recorded or at the very least had access to reliable eyewitnesses.

It is also of interest that in the Book of Acts, the author records 35 miracles.

1. The facts are as listed by Norman L. Geisler and Frank Turek in I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist, p. 256-259.

Say No to Girl Scout Cookies

  By Dean | January 21, 2012 - 12:09 pm | Blog
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This article comes from LifeSiteNews.com. The entire article can be found here.

January 17, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) – When our sweet little neighbor in her brown camp uniform came knocking on our door this year, we had to say no. I told her mother that I didn’t want to hurt Katie’s feelings, but I couldn’t support the Girl Scout cookie sale anymore because I’d learned too much about the organizers’ agenda, primarily their support for abortion and partnership with Planned Parenthood.

I worried that my “political” stand would cause uneasiness between us, but her response put me at ease: “Well,” she said, “they do use unpaid child labor to make their sales, and the troop only gets 10 percent of the revenues anyway.”

True. According to the Girl Scouts’ website, the lion’s share of the money goes not to the troop but to bureaucrats up the chain of command in multicounty councils. The national office gets a piece of the pie, too, in the form of royalties based on gross annual sales volume – about 200 million boxes per year.

It’s a sacrifice, because I love the cookies and the cuties who sell them, but enough is enough.

I remember the Girl Scouts being flaky way back in the early 1970s. When I was a Brownie, I was told to recite some chant and step over a mirror. If I had known the word, I would have called it “pagan.” Even an unchurched girl of 7 could smell a rat.

Last year, the Girl Scouts decided to admit boys who dress as girls. When asked to admit a cross-dressing 7-year-old boy, a Colorado troop leader demurred, explaining to his mother, with tact and irrefutable logic, that her son couldn’t be a Girl Scout because he has “boy parts.”

The troop leader was chastised by the mom as being insensitive and promptly was overruled by the Girl Scout top brass, who, in a statement said, “If a child identifies as a girl and the child’s family presents her as a girl, Girl Scouts of Colorado welcomes her as a Girl Scout.” Perpetuating this cruel charade on the little boy and forcing little girls to participate in it is “inclusiveness” to the Girl Scouts. To others, it’s child abuse.

But it shouldn’t be surprising: The Girl Scouts have a cross-dresser in the front office.

Please click on the link above to read the rest of the article.

Christians in Syria targeted in series of kidnappings and killings; 100 dead

  By Dean | January 20, 2012 - 12:18 pm | Islam
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Damascus: January 19, 2012. (Barnabas Aid) The Christian community in Syria has been hit by a series of kidnappings and brutal murders; 100 Christians have now been killed since the anti-government unrest began.

A reliable source in the country, who cannot be identified for their own safety, told Barnabas Aid that children were being especially targeted by the kidnappers, who, if they do not receive the ransom demanded, kill the victim.

And the source provided detailed information ¨C some of which cannot be made public for security reasons ¨C about incidents that have taken place since Christmas. Two Christian men, one aged 28, the other a 37-year-old father with a pregnant wife, were kidnapped by the rebels in separate incidents and later found dead; the first was found hanged with numerous injuries, the second was cut into pieces and thrown in a river. Four more have been abducted, and their captors are threatening to kill them too.

Please click here to read the rest of the article.

Pastors and Evolution

  By Dean | January 19, 2012 - 11:57 am | Apologetics
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The pastors have weighed in.  At least those participating in a Lifeway Research survey of 1,000 Protestant pastors.

*72% do not believe God used evolution to create people.  Of those, 64% categorized their disbelief as “strongly agree.”

*82% believe Adam and Eve were literal people, of which 74% categorized their belief as “strongly agree.”

Interestingly, the figures were split down the middle as to the age of the earth.  When asked to weigh in on the statement, “I believe the age of the earth is approximately 6,000 years old,” 43% disagreed, and 46% agreed.

So evolution “no,” Adam and Eve “yes,” young earth “maybe.”

None of this was particularly surprising to me.  It shows that pastors are overwhelmingly creationists, in one form or another, and well they should be.

And they are not terribly out of step with mainstream culture.  A 2010 Gallup poll found that 40% of all Americans believe God created humans in their present form, 38% say God used evolution to do it, and only 16% think man evolved without any help from (a) God.

So 78% of all Americans believe in, at the least, a theistic process.

But here is what stood out to me: 1 out of every 5 pastors surveyed admitted that most of their congregation believes in evolution.

Translation?  Even in the relatively inoculated culture of the typical church, a lot of people aren’t buying the party line.  Even more interesting:  only a third of pastors (36%) teach on creation and evolution with any frequency, and an equal number (38%) teach on it rarely, if at all.

This must end.

The relationship between science and religion is easily one of the more pressing issues of our day, and pastors must engage the conversation with knowledge and wisdom.

At Meck, we recently completed a series titled “Mythbusting,” playing off the popular Discovery channel series “Mythbusters,” where we invited attenders to go online and vote on the subjects they most wanted to see examined in light of the Bible and external evidence.

We offered a number of ideas from which to choose, as well as the opportunity to “write-in” votes.  We then took the top six to examine, working our way from the sixth most requested to the #1 most requested topic of all.

Here’s how the voting ended:

6.      Does God really answer every prayer?

5.      Could a boat really hold two of every animal?

4.      Can God really forgive anything?

3.      Can there really be an antichrist and worldwide tribulation?

2.      Does evolution disprove God?

1.      Do Christians go to heaven, and everyone else to hell?

It was a fun series (if you’re interested, you can get hold of it on the Message Downloads page of ChurchandCulture.org).

But when asked to explore their questions, our church (which experiences well over 70% of its total growth through the unchurched) were interested in evolution and God – second only to heaven and hell.

I won’t presume to try and persuade you how to teach on this matter, but I will challenge you to teach on it.  It’s decisive for our day, and integral to the spiritual search of many in your church.

I will, however, offer what I believe are some of the key discussion points, beginning with the four basic questions that people need covered, which are:

*What does the Bible specifically say about the creation of human beings?

*What is the relationship between science and religion?

*What is the heart of the tension between evolution and belief in God?

*If evolution is true, does it automatically disprove God?

Next, help them process the issues with a clear sense of the playing field, regardless where you/they land.  Namely this fourteen-point playing field (please note, these are not listed in order of importance):

1.   The Bible is unambiguous in its declaration that we were created by a Creator (Genesis 1, Psalm 139).  Whatever the creative process entailed, it was supernaturally generated and guided by God.

2.   Genesis 1 and 2 tell us that God did it, but not how.  It is not, nor does it pretend to be, a scientific treatise.

3.   In terms of the age of the earth, whether young or old, the Hebrew word for day (“yom”) is not overly specific.  And the text itself would seem to be more phenomenological than literal.  As many have pointed out, it would be difficult to assume precise, twenty-four hour solar days when the sun and the moon were not even created until the fourth day.

4.   You can believe in an old earth and not embrace evolution.

5.   The Christian has nothing to fear from science because the God of the Bible is the God of creation.  All true scientific discoveries simply illuminate the world God has made, which is why modern science began largely as the result of a Christian worldview.  There were rules, laws and governing principles to be discovered because of a Creator.

6.   Modern science is based on empirical evidence and testable explanation, but not everything falls into that category.  If it is beyond our five senses to tangibly examine, then you cannot use something like science and the normal rules of “proof” to either prove or disprove.

7.   The real conflict between science and religion is not science, but philosophy.  The religion of modern science is what is known as reductive naturalism.  “Naturalism” is the idea that nature is “all that is.”  “Reductive” naturalism is the idea that all that can be known within nature is that which can be empirically verified.  So a reductive naturalism contends that what is real is only that which can be seen, tasted, heard, smelled or touched; then verified, meaning able to be replicated in a test-tube.  All of knowledge is “reduced” to this level of knowing.  If it cannot be examined in a tangible, scientific manner, it is not simply unknowable; it is meaningless.  So the philosophy behind modern science is simple: any appeal to God must be rejected to explain the workings of nature.

8.   As to evolution itself, don’t confuse macro-evolution with micro-evolution.  Micro-evolution is the idea that many living animals can be observed over the course of time to undergo changes so that new species within that particular line are formed.  For example, from the horse family there can come Arabians, thoroughbreds, Morgans, and so forth.  No one disagrees with this.  The issue is macro-evolution, the theory that all the living forms in the world have arisen from a single source, which itself came from an inorganic form. That from a pool of primordial soup, a combination of time, chance and energy began life, and from that single cell came all of the life we experience.

9.   You can certainly be a Christian and believe in theistic evolution – meaning that God created, and chose evolution as the means (or at least as part of the means). People who believe in God simply point to the idea that naturalistic evolution – meaning an evolutionary process not helped along by an outside and guiding force – is highly improbable.

10.  You can embrace theistic evolution and a literal Adam and Eve at the end of the process, or as an addition to it.

11.  If evolution is ever proved beyond a shadow of a doubt to even the most skeptical of minds, it does not disprove God.  Instead, in many ways, it would be a significant pointer toward the necessity of God.  Evolution, by itself, doesn’t explain the intricate design of the human body, much less the “humanness” of humans.  The process also has what can only be called God-sized gaps that cry out for an intelligent Designer guiding and helping the process.

12.  The real “age” issue isn’t whether the earth is young, but how a naturalistic view interprets the age of the universe.  If the age of the earth is about 4.6 billion years, which is the current, best estimate of science, and we have evidence of abundant and complex life 3.5 billion years ago (which we do), then that means that there was only about 170 million years for the earth to cool from its initial formation and all of evolution to have taken place.  That simply isn’t enough time apart from some form of external intervention.

13.  There should be a sense of holy agnosticism to many scientific issues where the Bible is silent.  Did God create?  Yes.  Was evolution what God used?  In truth, we don’t know.  But God could have created us any way He wanted.  I believe the Bible teaches a literal Adam and Eve – a first man and a first woman – but whether they were created from scratch, or infused with soul and spirit and made fully human by God at the end of an evolutionary process – we do not know.

14.  Whether you believe in hominoid evolution or not, there is no ultimate need for concern.  However it happened, God was in it, through it, directing it, and guiding it.  The real problem is with those who say He didn’t.  People who get very hot over creation vs. evolution make a tactical mistake.  It’s not creation vs. evolution, because God could have used evolution to create.  It’s theistic creation or non-theistic creation – it’s either God as Creator or “Time + Chance.”

Some may disagree with how I’ve marked out the playing field for discussion.  That’s fine.  The point is that pastors must engage this issue for the sake of those they serve and the culture in which we live.

And regardless of where you land, we must do it with knowledge, wisdom and biblical fidelity.

James Emery White of Church and Culture Blog

Sources

“Evolution: Pastors unconvinced, LifeWay survey shows, but they’re split on earth’s age,” David Roach, Baptist Press, January 9, 2012. Read online

My body did all that today? No wonder I’m tired!

  By Dean | January 18, 2012 - 11:07 pm | Apologetics
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There are two ways of explaining the existence of our bodies. One is to say that we are the product of blind forces and that we are simply a gigantic accident. Julian Huxley said it this way, “We are as much a product of blind forces as is the falling of a stone to earth or the ebb and flow of the tides. We have just happened, and man was made flesh by a long series of singularly beneficial accidents.”

The other view is that we are the result of design and planning. C. S. Lewis had this answer to those who believe we are merely accidents:

“If the solar system was brought about by an accidental collision, then the appearance of organic life on this planet was also an accident, and the whole evolution of Man was an accident too. If so, then all our thought processes are mere accidents — the accidental by-product of the movement of atoms. And this holds for the materialists’ and astronomers’ as well as for anyone else’s. But if their thoughts — i.e., of Materialism and Astronomy — are merely accidental by-products, why should we believe them to be true? I see no reason for believing that one accident would be able to give correct account of all the other accidents.”

We believe that the human body exhibits evidence of design, not accident. Here is a list of randomly selected facts that scientists have learned about your body which we believe show design. As you examine this list, ask yourself this question: “Can I rationally believe that the incredible complexity of my body is the result of mindless forces, or does it indicate design?

You possess 3,000,000,000,000 (three trillion) nerve cells all coordinated by the brain.

You have 30,000,000,000 (thirty billion) working sections in your brain.

You have 131,000,000 photoreceptors in your eyes.

You have 24,000 hair-like cells in your inner ear which react to sound and convert it to nerve impulses.

Your small intestine has a surface area of 970,000 square feet.

Your heart beats 100,000 times and pumps 2,000 gallons of blood every day.

Your liver manufactures more than 1,000 different enzymes, each controlling a different chemical reaction.

You have 60,000 miles of blood vessels in your body.

You breathe 438 cubic feet of air each day.

There are 35,000,000 gland cells in your stomach to allow it to break down food without digesting itself.

Your kidneys have 40 miles of tubing and clean 500 gallons of your blood every day.

Every cell has 1,000,000,000,000 (one million million) bits of data in it. (That is as much information as 10,000 encyclopedia-sized books.)

Your body has 639 muscles that must work together.

Our joints must move 25,000,000 times in our lifetime without wearing out.

There are 30,000,000,000,000 (thirty million million) cells in our body with 10,000 functions.

Obviously these numbers are averages, but they indicate the incredible complexity of our bodies. Do you believe these factors all came together by accident, or is this another Dandy Design?