We’ve all heard it from someone or other, I’m sure, “Why is God such a kill-joy?” It’s usually a question asked by someone who wants to partake, or wants you to partake with them, in a sinful behavior. The common perception is that “sin” is fun and that doing right is at best, well, boring. But that is the World’s culture speaking, and as usual it’s wrong. Dead wrong.
In college I remember one class discussion about abortion. I asserted by conviction that abortion was immoral, which was quickly challenged by a classmate. “You don’t know that.” He angrily stared me down. “Just wait until you get your girlfriend pregnant then you’ll see it’s not so black and white.” The class went silent, a lot of people were staring at their desks. “I appreciate this is an emotional issue for you,” I began. “But I can tell you two things. One, I’ll never be in that position because I have convictions about my behavior with women. But assuming I were in that position, we develop convictions about such things first, so that should the time arise we can make the right decision.”
Atheists often accuse religion in general and Christianity in particular of mass murder. In regard to Christianity they usually cite the Crusades and the Spanish Inquisition where 200,000 and (at most) 150,000 people were slain respectively. Author Gregory Koukl stated the following:
“Investigators now think that Lubitz, 27, deliberately flew an Airbus A320 with 150 people on board into a remote corner of the French Alps on Tuesday, provoking a search for answers that is increasingly centering on his health, and his mental health in particular.” —Denver Post, Sunday March 29, 2015
The problem of evil these days is no one wants to call it evil...
Today we’re going a little off the beaten path to a social studies lesson related to thinking Biblically.
The Wall Street Journal reported (Friday, April 14th 215, “Mideast’s Christians Trapped by Extremists”) that the Christian population of Lebanon has been decreasing since 1900. Where at that time Christians made up 80 percent of the population that number has steadily dropped and as of 2010 that number is only a tick above 34 percent. My conjecture is that this drop in the Christian population has directly led to the destabilization of the country.
Last Sunday night a friend of mine and I were talking politics and he mentioned (in relationship to Romney) that “Mormons are more moral than Christians; they have more rules to follow.” We laughed but it’s true that many equate religious rules with morality. If that were true Muslims would be extremely moral people, but as we’ve learned recently Islam excuses lies and murder. So if rules aren’t equivalent to morality, then what is morality?
In this next-to-the-last episode of CNN’s special we are treated to a brief history of the finding and dissemination of the true cross. Their stated goal for this episode is in the form of dramatic narration: “Now for the first time modern science sets out to answer the question, is the true cross a hoax that mocks the crucifixion or the relic of relics?” They may have taken on too much.
For the first time I have to level some criticism at the series “Finding Jesus” airing Sunday nights on CNN. Episode four, “The Secret Brother of Jesus” is a confusing mash of history and conjecturer rolled into a single presentation of the life of James that doesn’t leave room for other, possibly more accurate, understandings of the man’s life. And far too much importance is given to Catholic tradition and pseudepigraphal works. For instance, the program references the three texts below as if they were credible resources, which they clearly are not.
“The Bible contains the most profound philosophy, the most perfect morality, and most refined policy, that ever was conceived upon the earth.” – John Adams
Yesterday we looked at atheist dictators and the sheer amount of bloodshed caused by their ruthlessness. As I pointed out them, not all atheists resort to such methods and many are very kind people, but there is something inside a person who is so bent on denying the possibility of a supreme being. In America such atrocities haven’t erupted from the 0.7% of atheists, but they haven’t been friendly neighbors of Christians either.
In this next-to-the-last episode of CNN’s special we are treated to a brief history of the finding and dissemination of the true cross. Their stated goal for this episode is in the form of dramatic narration: “Now for the first time modern science sets out to answer the question, is the true cross a hoax that mocks the crucifixion or the relic of relics?” They may have taken on too much.
Once again I have nothing but praise for the work of the CNN crew on their series “Finding Jesus”. In the third episode they discuss the person of Judas and 20th century find of the Gospel of Judas. They begin according to their pattern of dramatically telling the story from the Biblical accounts starting with his call to follow Jesus and ending with his suicide before plunging into the origins and story of the ancient text bearing his name. Amazingly, they do justice to both in just 42 minutes.