Religious Stew


Excerpt:

Many people think of God like they think of ice cream, not like they think of insulin. In other words, they choose religious views according to their tastes, not according to what is true. The question of truth hardly even comes up in the conversation.

More than that, the question of truth is somewhat of a confusing, almost incoherent issue to them. How can you test something like a religious claim to determine if it's true or not? Religious truth is what you believe. It's that leap of faith you take. It has nothing to do with reality, ultimately. It is not anything you can test or measure. It is something you have to believe and hope against hope that it's true. It becomes a kind of wishful thinking, a religious placebo of sorts.

Why is cultural relevance a big deal?

Jewish Rabbi: Vibrant Christianity in America is the West's Only Hope

When the grace of God gets in the way

There is a new post from Dave Burchett today about when God's grace intervenes in our lives. I think it is just amazing to see how the grace of God can interrupt the wrong path we can take our lives down. However, it is up to us to accept that grace that God gives out through faith in Christ.

In Dave's post he quotes Paul:

You, however, did not come to know Christ that way. Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body. "In your anger do not sin": Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold. He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need.

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
Eph. 4:20-32 NIV

This instruction from Paul is not easy. If one trys to do this on their own they will fail. It is by the grace of God through the Holy Spirit that we can offer the same grace to others that God has offered to us.

Mental Health and Abortion

An article by Chuck Colson that discusses the linke between mental health and abortion.


Full Article

Excerpt:

During the thirty-fourth anniversary of Roe v. Wade, you heard a great deal about the victims of abortion. That phrase—for obvious reasons—nearly always referred to the tens of millions of unborn children who have been killed as the result of Roe.

But there is another group of victims whose plight receives much less attention: the women themselves. And the fault for this lack of attention can be laid at the feet of those who claim to be defending their “right to choose.”...

The Negation of Love: Abortion and the "Culture of Me"

Greg Stier is going to open a store

This has to be one of my favorite post by Greg

Heresy Unlimited Inc.

Children of Men

An article by Chuck Colson about the book and the movie .

Full Article
Excerpt:

...It was a great book.

I wish I could say as much for the new movie version of Children of Men. Its story and themes are so completely different, it’s just like somebody set out to make a movie of Adam Smith’s famous The Wealth of Nations, the conservative book, and wound up making instead Karl Marx’s Das Kapital.

The premise is the same between P. D. James’s book and this movie: For no clear reason, infertility strikes the entire world. The story is set among what appears to be the last human generation, until one woman inexplicably finds herself pregnant and has to flee to protect her child.

But there all similarities end...

Can a Christian Deny the Virgin Birth?

The very short answer is no. However, just saying "no" to this question brings up the next question. Why?

The why is a very important question we must have an answer to. R. Albert Mohler, Jr. gives a very concise and detailed answer to both of these questions in the article linked below.

Excerpt:

Attacks upon the virgin birth emerged in the aftermath of the Enlightenment, with some theologians attempting to harmonize the anti-supernaturalism of the modern mind with the church's teaching about Christ. The great quest of liberal theology has been to invent a Jesus who is stripped of all supernatural power, deity, and authority.

Full article



*R. Albert Mohler, Jr. is president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.

The “new atheists”

by Ken Ham, president, AiG–USA

We’ve warned you about them before on our website—but now they’re on a much more aggressive march all across America. No longer are they just staying in their classrooms or writing books and articles in the comfort of their offices. They are “the new atheists,” and they are aggressively going after your children, your liberties, and your faith!

According to the print media and websites, the new atheists say “evangelism is a moral imperative” to spread their “good news” in “persuading people of the virtues of atheism.” They are “drawing on evolution,” and are vocally “hostile to religions,” especially “fundamentalist Christianity and Islam.” They are “feeling a real need to convert people,” and preaching an “un-gospel.” In one media report, it was stated that “at some point there is going to be enough pressure that it is just going to be too embarrassing to believe in God.”...

Entire article

Senator Obama and the Social Gospel

Here is a very interesting article written by Dr. Dan E. Phillips. Dr Phillips is is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Mercer University School of Medicine in Macon, Georgia.

Social Justice or the Great Commission?

See what Greg Stier has to say here

Excerpt:

There are endless debates raging in Seminary hallways and the theological blogospere about which view is right and which view is wrong, but the purpose of this blog is not to try to solve that brainy debate. The purpose of this blog is to ask a simple question to youth leaders…which should we be focusing on: social justice or the Great Commission? In other words, which is more important- feeding the poor or saving a soul? Now before you accuse me of positing a false dichotomy, please hear me out.

Happy New Year!

May the Lord bless you and yours this year.