Thursday, September 4. 2008
My wife and I thoroughly enjoyed the speeches at last night's RNC. We share the values and principles that were being declared so effectively. What we heard made us glad to be conservative, traditional Republicans. We were especially impressed by Sarah Palin! She was marvelous and conducted herself very, very well. I recommend all the articles in today's issue of National Review Online about Ms Palin and the Race. They are spot on and significant. http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NDc4Mjk1ZmJmYmQ5MThmNTdhOGQ1M2NiNGE2OGExMTk=
Wednesday, September 3. 2008
Follow-up on the study of the Attributes of God
The short study I posted [below] two days ago, about the attributes of God, comes out of a larger study and concern I have about Open Theism, as well as the changes I see in Theology among advocates of the Emergent and Missional church movements, which in turn are rooted in, or greatly influenced by, Post Modernism. I like the challenge and admit I have had to rethink some basic convictions I have held. This is good. The study itself leads to questions about God and Evil, the Trinity and Christology. Today’s Essay (post) is a work in progress, as I think out loud about these things. The prior study is the jump off point and I build on it. This, of course is not final or definitive. We are, after all, dealing with mysteries with seeming paradoxes or contradictions and things that don’t make sense logically.
God is a spirit (non-corporeal) Being, a self-conscious, self-determining, free and self sufficient, immutable Person. He is essentially unlimited or infinite in relation to time and space. In relation to the created natural world, He is altogether Other, separate, holy or transcendent. We are made in His Image. Exactly how do we image such a Person?
Continue reading "ATTRIBUTES OF GOD, continued"
Monday, September 1. 2008
Who is the God the Psalmist talks about? Whom does he seek, for whom does He thirst? You may assume you know or that every Christian will answer the question in the same way. Of course, we all know who God is! This is actually difficult to answer.
God created our world and us. He is complete without us. He is totally other than us. So how can we describe Him? This is normally done by describing, or trying to describe, attributes about Him (and sometimes it is done by describing things which people believe God is not). The most common attribute, the one that is probably the most popular today is simply Love. If God is anything, many say, God is love. The very essence of God is Love. Love is what God is [literally] all about. This statement is emphatically not Biblical!
Continue reading "ATTRIBUTES OF GOD (Part 1)"
Friday, August 29. 2008
Isaiah 16:18 I am coming to gather all nations
Psalm 2:7 [speaking to Christ, God says] ‘You are my son; 8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. 9 You shall break them with a rod of iron, and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.’ 10 Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. 11 Serve the Lord with fear, with trembling 12 …or he will be angry, and you will perish
Daniel 2:20 ‘Blessed be the name of God from age to age, for wisdom and power are his. 21 He …deposes kings and sets up kings;
Luke 1:49 the Mighty One has done great things …51 He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. 52 He has brought down the powerful from their thrones
The kings of Judah and Israel were all responsible, as kings, for ruling their countries according to the principles within the Law of God. God expects this of all pagan Rulers as well. Failure to keep either or both Tables of the Decalogue brought ruin to that king and, often, to that nation. Conversely, obedience brought blessing. See Deuteronomy 28 and dozens of verses elsewhere. What follows here is a summary based on those texts [adapted to the reality of our modern, pluralistic society]
Continue reading "HOW GOD JUDGES AMERICA and ALL THE NATIONS"
Thursday, August 28. 2008
Here is an excellent reality check about certain issues we are hearing a lot about these days. The Democrats and their nominee are seriously misleading the American People. Check out Mr Obama’s acceptance speech by the criteria in this article today by George Will
Thursday, August 28. 2008
Barak Obama is not a Black man. We hear much about the importance of keeping “Race” out of this coming Presidential election. We hear much about building unity and bridging the gaps and bringing down the barriers between different racial and ethnic and social economic groups in this country. And yet, the headlines are trumpeting that the nomination of Barack Obama is historic for one reason: his Race. African Americans being interviewed are exultant: one of their own is the Democratic Party nominee. Every where people are heard celebrating the arrival of a Black Man at the highest level on the national scene.
Continue reading "BARAK OBAMA'S MOTHER WAS WHITE"
Monday, August 25. 2008
There is a Protestant Chapel Community at the University of Rochester, NY. The President of this student organization, a Senior, wrote the following in the Protestant Piece newsletter about last year.
“The Church consists of people who are intrigued by Jesus’ teachings to act in a loving manner towards our enemies, the poor and the rejected.” “We have had several opportunities to learn from the experiences of people who have followed through with ideas consistent with Jesus’ teachings.” [There follows a list of various social action projects, like helping at a local soup kitchen] “We have gained valuable inspiration and insight regarding ways to become involved in the world outside of our campus bubble”.
Continue reading "COLLEGE STUDENTS OF TODAY ADOPT LIBERALISM OF YESTERYEAR"
Monday, August 25. 2008
I was reading a news story about the recent war between Russia and Georgia. No one is sure, apparently, how many were killed or by whom. The line that caught my attention was “Whether or not all these stories are true does not, in a way, matter. They are believed by the people who hear them, and they are becoming part of Georgia's history.” How often this very concept is repeated on the subject of Religious belief. Thus, it doesn’t matter whether or not the physical resurrection of Jesus is true, it is believed anyway and has become part of the history of Christianity. Likewise the virgin birth, the incarnation itself, and of course, the Creation Story. What difference whether it is really true or not? What is important, we are told, is that people believe it to be true.
Continue reading "TRUTH or CONSEQUENCES"
Monday, August 25. 2008
The State of Florida now mandates that all students will be taught Evolution (as a bone to critics, the phrase “the scientific theory of” was added to the mandate, but will be ignored in practice). Proper answers to exam questions about Evolution will now be required for a student to graduate from High School. Have Christian families or Churches prepared their children to deal with this?
Creation of the natural world by God, by divine fiat’ (by His Word), is an important and absolutely essential doctrine of the Christian Faith. That all things, including time, space, energy and matter, own their very existence to God and that He holds them all together 24-7 is essential Biblical Teaching. The belief that God is directly and immediately involved in the creation, preservation and governance of all that exists is not negotiable. It is the Doctrine of Providence. The concept of concurrence, in which God is said to act concurrently and cooperatively in all natural processes, is essential to a Biblical Philosophy of Science.
Continue reading "FLORIDA, EVOLUTION AND SUNDAY SCHOOL"
Saturday, August 23. 2008
A good candidate for President should support basic human rights as defined in the Bible. These are the rights to life, marriage and family, work, ownership of property, privacy, due process when accused of crime (a fair and honest trial) and freedom to worship God. Any politician who endorses or enables oppression, cruelty or unwarranted violence* or who would deny anyone their basic human rights should not themselves be endorsed.
* I believe the federal Government has the right to wage a just war in the protection of its citizens, as well as to administer capital punishment to confessed and convicted murderers. All this would be warranted violence.
Continue reading "FOR WHOM SHOULD WE VOTE? Biblical Guidelines"
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