September 2008

A Private Conviction About Murder?

Speaking Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Senator Joe Biden, the Democratic nominee for Vice President, made headlines by stating that he accepts “as a matter of faith” that human life begins at conception, but he would not impose that view on others as a matter of law.

Sen. Biden’s statement is similar in form to those offered by other Catholic politicians like former New York Governor Mario Cuomo.  Nevertheless, what it really represents is far more horrifying than may be recognized at first.

Speaking on “Meet the Press,” Biden responded to a question from Tom Brokaw.  The anchor had asked Biden what he would say if Sen. Barack Obama asked him when human life begins [see video clip here]:

I’d say, “Look, I know when it begins for me.” It’s a personal and private issue. For me, as a Roman Catholic, I’m prepared to accept the teachings of my church. But let me tell you. There are an awful lot of people of great confessional faiths-Protestants, Jews, Muslims and others-who have a different view. They believe in God as strongly as I do. They’re intensely as religious as I am religious. They believe in their faith and they believe in human life, and they have differing views as to when life-I’m prepared as a matter of faith to accept that life begins at the moment of conception. But that is my judgment. For me to impose that judgment on everyone else who is equally and maybe even more devout than I am seems to me is inappropriate in a pluralistic society. And I know you get the push back, “Well, what about fascism?” Everybody, you know, you going to say fascism’s all right? Fascism isn’t a matter of faith. No decent religious person thinks fascism is a good idea.

Biden first calls the issue “personal and private,” an interesting way to introduce a statement about a matter that inevitably has relevance to public policy.  He claims to accept the teachings of his church, but then states that other religions hold to other views, and these believers “believe in God as strongly as I do” and are equally religious.

We live in a pluralistic society, he argues, and it would be improper for him to “impose” his judgment on others, who may be “equally and maybe even more devout than I.”

He then realizes something of the intellectual problem he has just created and argues that, for example, all good religious folk would oppose fascism, and thus we can presumably establish that as public policy.  “No decent religious person thinks fascism is a good idea,” he concludes.  So is the new criterion for public policy to be what a “good religious person” might think?

Brokaw then asked Biden about his support of abortion rights, given what he has just said about his belief that life begins at conception.  Biden answered, “I voted against telling everyone else in the country that they have to accept my religiously based view that it’s a moment of conception.”

Kate Phillips of The New York Times explained Biden’s predicament this way:

In the interview Sunday, Mr. Biden tried to walk the line between the staunch abortion-rights advocates in his party and his own religious beliefs. While he said he did not often talk about his faith, he said of those who disagree with him: “They believe in their faith and they believe in human life, and they have differing views as to when life — I’m prepared as a matter of faith to accept that life begins at the moment of conception.”

Sen. Biden may have been attempting to “walk the line” politically, but a closer look at his actual argument is truly horrifying.

Sen. Biden says, and we must take him at his word, that he accepts as a matter of faith that human life begins at conception.  But, he argues, he is perfectly willing to support a woman’s right to choose to end that human life.

The killing of human life is called homicide. Murder is the willful taking of a human life.  The senator has here stated that he believes abortion to be homicide, but he defends a woman’s right to kill the unborn human life within her because he would not impose his beliefs about human life (and thus about homicide) on others.

In other words, if we take Sen. Biden seriously, he would defer to others who believe otherwise when it comes to the law.

How can he live with this?  There are significant questions about the extent to which some matters can properly be legislated.  But there is no question that the government — any government — must take a stand on the question of human life.  This is why the abortion issue simply will not and cannot go away.  The government takes a side on this question, like it or not.

I believe Sen. Biden to be a serious man, and that is what is most frightening about this.  Can a morally serious man really say that he believes that unborn babies are human beings, but that it should be a protected right to kill them?

By Albert Mohler, Jr. 

Atheism is not a new concept.  Even the Bible speaks of the one who tells himself in his heart, “There is no God.” Atheism became an organized and publicly recognized worldview in the wake of the Enlightenment and has maintained a foothold in Western culture ever since.  Disbelief in God became part of the cultural landscape in the 1960s when TIME magazine published a cover story—“Is God Dead?”—that seemed to herald the arrival of a new secular age.

Nevertheless, atheists have represented only a small (if vocal) minority of Americans.  Surveys estimate that atheists represent less than two percent of the population, even as the larger group of “unaffiliated” includes over fifteen percent.  Atheists have published books, held seminars, presented their views in the media, and honed their points in public debates.  As a worldview, atheism is over-represented among the intellectual elites, and atheists have largely, though not exclusively, talked to their own.

Until now.  Get on an airplane, settle in for a flight, and observe what other passengers are reading.  You are likely to see books representing a new wave of atheism as you look around the cabin.  The so-called “New Atheists” have written best-sellers that have reached far beyond the traditional audience for such books.  Books by Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens have spent weeks and months on the best-seller list published by The New York Times.  Clearly, something is happening.

The New Atheism is not just a reassertion of atheism.  It is a movement that represents a far greater public challenge to Christianity than that posed by the atheistic movements of previous times.  Furthermore, the New Atheism is not just another example of marketing an idea in the postmodern age.  The New Atheists are, in their own way, evangelistic in intent and ambitious in hope.  They see atheism as the only plausible worldview for our times, and they see belief in God as downright dangerous – an artifact of the past that we can no longer afford to tolerate, much less encourage.

They see science as on their side, and argue that scientific knowledge is our only true knowledge.  They argue that belief in God is organized ignorance, that theistic beliefs lead to violence and that atheism is liberation.  They are shocked and appalled that Americans refuse to follow the predictions of the secularization theorists, who had assured the elites that belief in God would be dissolved by the acids of modernity.  They have added new (and very important) arguments to the atheistic arsenal.  They write from positions of privilege, and they know how to package their ideas.  They know that the most important audience is the young, and they are in a position to reach young people with their arguments.

It becomes clear that the New Atheism has exploited an opening presented by significant and seismic changes in prevailing patterns of thought.  In this light, the contributions of philosopher Charles Taylor become especially helpful.  We must acknowledge that most educated persons living in Western societies now inhabit a cultural space in which the conditions of belief have been radically changed.  Whereas it was once impossible not to believe and later possible not to believe, for millions of people today, the default position is that it is impossible to believe.  The belief system referenced in this formula is that of biblical theism—the larger superstructure of the Christian faith.

In terms of our own evangelistic and apologetic mandate, it is helpful to acknowledge that only a minority of those we seek to reach with the Gospel are truly and self-consciously identified with atheism in any form.  Nevertheless, the rise of the New Atheism presents a seductive alternative for those inclined now to identify more publicly and self-consciously with organized nonbelief.  The far larger challenge for most of us is to communicate the Gospel to persons whose minds are more indirectly shaped by these changed conditions of belief.

The greater seduction is towards the only vaguely theistic forms of “spirituality” that have become the belief systems (however temporarily) of millions.  These are people who, as Daniel Dennett suggests, are more likely to believe in belief than to believe in God.

The Christian church must respond to the challenge of the New Atheism with the full measure of conviction and not with mere curiosity.  We are reminded that the church has faced a constellation of theological challenges throughout its history.  Then, as now, the task is to articulate, communicate, and defend the Christian faith with intellectual integrity and evangelistic urgency.  We should not assume that this task will be easy, and we must also refuse to withdraw from public debate and private conversation in light of this challenge.

In the final analysis, the New Atheism presents the Christian church with a great moment of clarification.  The New Atheists do, in the end, understand what they are rejecting.  When Sam Harris defines true religion as that “where participants’ avowed belief in a supernatural agent or agents whose approval is to be sought,” he understands what many mired in confusion do not.  In the end, the existence of the supernatural, self-existent, and self-revealing God is the only starting point for Christian theology.  God possesses all of the perfections revealed in Scripture, or there is no coherent theology presented in the Bible.  The New Atheists are certainly right about one very important thing—it’s atheism or biblical theism.  There is nothing in between.

_____________________

This is adapted from my new book, Atheism Remix: A Christian Confronts the New Atheists (Crossway Books), which has just been released and is available through your local bookstore or by clicking on the link or cover image above.

Pastor Bruce & his fiery side-kick Cindy. ]]> http://ebenezer.reformedblogs.com/2008/08/05/southern-georgia/feed/ http://ebenezer.reformedblogs.com/2008/06/14/fathers-day/ http://ebenezer.reformedblogs.com/2008/06/14/fathers-day/#comments Sun, 15 Jun 2008 03:17:18 +0000 ebenezer http://ebenezer.reformedblogs.com/2008/06/14/fathers-day/ The History of Father’s Day

The first known celebration of Father’s Day was on July 5, 1908 in Fairmont, West Virginia, where it was commemorated at William Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church South – now known as Central United Methodist Church. Grace Golden Clayton is believed to have suggested it to her pastor after a deadly explosion in nearby Monongah in December, killing 361 men.

It was also during a sermon in 1909 that Sonora Smart Dodd became inspired by Mother’s Day. After the death of her mother, Sonora and her siblings were raised by their father William Jackson Smart, a Civil War veteran. Sonora wanted to show how thankful she was to her father and, because William was born in June, she worked to have the first Father’s Day celebrated on June 19, 1910.

In 1924, President Coolidge recommended that Father’s Day become a national holiday. President Johnson designated the third Sunday of June to be Father’s Day in 1966. It was not until 1972 that President Nixon instituted Father’s Day as a national observance.

www.history.com/miniseries/fathersday

The mother answered, ‘God made Adam and Eve and they had children and so was all mankind made.’  

Two days later the girl asked her father the same question.

The father answered, ‘Many years ago there were monkeys from which the human race evolved.’

The confused girl returned to her mother and said, ‘Mom, how is it possible that you told me the human race was created by God, and Dad said they developed from monkeys?’

The mother answered, ‘Well, dear, it is very simple. I told you about my side of the family and your father told you about his.’

Addendum -

This young woman finally made it home, though for just a short time, before she went into eternity. I never got to speak to her again. How I hope she realized her sinfulness and looked to Christ as her savior before she passed on from this life.

ba

Jesus is the only hope!

I visited today [09-04-07] a young lady (young compared to me) in the hospital. She is suffering from a very aggressive cancer. Her outlook is not that great. I spoke to her concerning spiritual matters. The usual comment from her, “I believe in God.” I then spoke to her about her need (as well as all of us) of Christ. I spoke to her about her possible pending death and that she would either face eternity in Christ or on her own. I encouraged her to think about these things, prayed and then soon left.

Believeing in a soverign God sometimes makes it hard not to just grab someone and shake them and say to them, “Don’t you understand!” “You may soon be gone from this world - do not leave it outside of Christ!” Sometimes they do not understand. Yet we are still to warn and leave the understanding in God’s hands. This is when we need to trust the Lord emphatically. The young lady is hoping to go to her house soon (she has been in the hospital for 2 months now). I am hoping that the young lady will soon see her need of Christ as her Savior. May the Lord be pleased to bless in that manner.

ba

Regional Association Minister 

 I received an email today from Judson Press promoting Jeremiah Wright’s sermons. I am not sure what this extension - “the publishing arm of the National Ministries, American Baptist Churches USA” and its publisher, Laura Alden, hopes to accomplish by promoting any published works from this gentleman’s pen! It may be that only “sermon bites” are being used in the media, but that does not negate the fact that it was Jeremiah Wright who was making those offensive and very divisive remarks concerning this country and her citizens in the name of religion while in the church’s pulpit. 
 
As a Christian, I was highly offended by Jeremiah Wright’s irreverent remarks when taking God’s name in vain! As an American, I was highly offended by Jeremiah Wright’s unpatriotic remarks when he blamed our government for the destruction brought about on 9-11! As a stepfather, who’s stepson is serving in the US Air Force, I can assure you that Jeremiah Wright’s right to his freedom of speech is being protected by young men and women like him who serve despite those individuals like Jeremiah Wright who disrepect the uniform that my stepson wears! As a man of a different race than Jeremiah Wright, I am highly offended that he has the audacity to accuse me, someone he does not know, as being a racist bigot who owes him because he is of a different race than I. Truly, somewhere this man - “of God” - has forgotten the second of the greatest commandments - “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Jeremiah Wright’s actions show little love displayed at all towards those who are different than he.    

As a pastor of an American Baptist Church and with their consent, I urge you as our Regional Association Minister of the Indiana-Kentucky Region Association and the Association to strongly condemn Judson Press and its publisher, Laura Alden, of their untimely and uncalled for promotion of such.   
 
 
Pastor Bruce Allen
Underwood Baptist Church
Underwood, Indiana 47177

Judson Press Offers Jeremiah Wright Sermons of Hope, Joy, Strength

In the wake of negative media attention surrounding the “sermon bites” of Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright Jr., Judson Press offers the more contextualized Good News! Sermons of Hope for Today’s Families and What Makes You So Strong? Sermons of Joy and Strength from its backlist.The larger context of Wright’s preaching can be placed in what Temple University Professor Molefi Kete Asante has called Afrocentrism (i.e., Africentrism). Wright, and other Africentrists, seek to bring together Christian theology and African culture in a meaningful way. (See Africentric Christianity: A Theological Appraisal for Ministry by J. Deotis Roberts, Judson 2000). Contained in What Makes You So Strong? is “The Audacity to Hope,” the sermon from which presidential hopeful Senator Barack Obama drew the title of his recent best-selling book.     Jeremiah Wright has long been part of a well-respected and leading group of African American preachers and authors associated with Judson Press, the publishing arm of National Ministries, American Baptist Churches USA.  For a complete list of African American Christian resources from Judson Press, visit www.judsonpress.com.

Media requests for review copies of Jeremiah Wright Jr.’s books can be sent to: publicity@judsonpress.com Judson PressLaura Alden, Publisher800-458-3766

I have decided to move to another host site. I have renamed the blog  “Pilgrim’s Keyboard” located at:  www.pilgrimskeyboard.blogspot.com.

I have enjoyed the interaction among some of the bloggers here with reformedblogs.com. I trust you will come by the new site  |  still under some on-going construction  |  and visit for awhile.  

Bruce

I will put my trust in Him.

If you put your trust in banks you could lose all your money. If you put your trust in Christ you will gain everything.

An excellent summary statement of the range of the Spirit’s work is Galatians 5:25, which speaks so plainly about the Spirit as the Source from which we are to live our lives: “If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.” The Spirit thus undergirds and empowers the entirety of our lives as Christians. To paraphrase John 15:5: apart from the Holy Spirit, we can do nothing of any true eternal value.

–Michael A. G. Haykin, THE GOD WHO DRAWS NEAR: AN INTRODUCTION TO BIBLICAL SPIRITUALITY, Webster, NY: Evangelical Press USA, 2007, xix-xx. ISBN-13 978-0-85234-638-9. www.evangelicalpress.org

[Gleaned from WQOTW@wqotw.org, downloaded 02/05/08]