From T.S. Eliot's essay, "The Idea of a Christian Society": A wrong attitude toward nature implies, somewhere, a wrong attitude toward God. Grace and Peace
Category: Christianity
Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2011
Martin Luther King, Jr. is celebrated in the United States for his vision and leadership in the civil rights movement. In my previous post, I argued that Christianity provides a much more solid foundation for human rights than secularism, and Martin Luther King's Biblically-based arguments for equality illustrate this nicely. He did not argue that …
The origin of human rights, or “Is napalming babies culturally relative?”
Timothy Keller, in chapter nine of The Reason for God, discusses the origin of human rights. Do humans intrinsically have unalienable rights, or are these rights something that we have arbitrarily come up with? Keller outlines three possible answers to this question, following Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz: Human rights come from God. God has …
Continue reading The origin of human rights, or “Is napalming babies culturally relative?”
Around the web 12/30/2010
Eurypterids in the petting zoo? -- Eurypterids---the giant, scorpion-like arthropods of Ordovician to Devonian seas and lakes---may not have been the terrors of the waters that most have assumed. From FoxNews: Ancient 8-Foot Sea Scorpions Probably Were Pussycats. Some may have been vegetarians or scavengers, though the researchers acknowledge that species other than the ones …
Reading the Bible in 2011
Many make a New Year's resolution to read the Bible more consistently than they have in the past, and many don't stick to that resolution. Here's what works for me. Rather than using a reading schedule, with a daily listing of what chapters to read, I usually use a Bible reading checklist: The GeoChristian Bible …
Consider atheism? I don’t think so
The American Humanist Association is launching an ad campaign, urging us all to "Consider Humanism." This campaign uses a familiar atheist technique: Focus on the evils done in the name of religion; ignore the evils done by atheists. The graphics I've seen have this format: What some believe -- a verse from the Bible or …
Man
"Whatever else is true of man, man is not what he was meant to be." -- G.K. Chesterton.
Last night: Missouri Association for Creation — How Scriptural is Old-Earth Creationism?
I attended the monthly meeting of the Missouri Association for Creation last night, and promised here on The GeoChristian that I would report on it. John Chaikowsky (a friend of mine) spoke on the topic "How Scriptural is Old-Earth Creationism?" Falling in line with Answers in Genesis, John cannot fathom how a Bible-believing Christian (such …
The ESV Study Bible on creation — Introduction and Introduction to Genesis
The ESV Study Bible is a theologically conservative Evangelical work, and is certainly one of the most comprehensive study Bibles ever produced. It has been out for only three years, but it looks like it will be a highly influential reference work for decades to come.One potential positive impact of the ESVSB relates to its …
Continue reading The ESV Study Bible on creation — Introduction and Introduction to Genesis
Martyrdom
From Yahoo News/Associated Press: Baghdad church siege ends with 52 dead. Within Christianity, a martyr is someone who is killed because they are a Christian. These believers were peacefully gathered together for worship. Al-Qaida in Iraq has threatened to "exterminate Iraqi Christians." Within Islam, a person who is killed because they are a Muslim would …
Ken Ham and I are in complete agreement
I believe the Earth is about 4.6 billion years old, and that the Bible doesn't say much one way or the other about biological evolution. I believe that young-Earth creationism is neither necessary Biblically nor valid scientifically. Ken Ham is president of Answers in Genesis, and believes the Bible requires an approximately 6000-year old Earth …
October 31st — Reformation Day
Forget Halloween; October 31st is Reformation Day! On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses on the doors of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. The 95 Theses were Luther’s arguments against the selling of indulgences, which were documents declaring forgiveness of sins granted by the church as a result of some act …
The books that have most influenced me
Here are my "top 10" books that have had an impact on my life. Some of them have impacted millions of other people; a few may not be on the "top 10" list of anyone else on the planet. I would put the Bible as the #1 book, but it needs to be on its …
Christ-centered creation care
Why should Christians be interested in the health of the environment? Is it only for some pragmatic reason, such as "clean air is good for us" or is there a Biblical support for stewardship of the environment? Many believers are put off by the new age-iness of some "tree huggers;" is this sufficient reason to …
Three Piper quotes
Here are some quotes from pastor and author John Piper: Sheer existence is, perhaps, the greatest mystery of all. What God has made is like a toy compared to the complexity and depth of who God is. All the sciences that scratch the surface of the created universe are mere ABCs compared to Christ's exhaustive …
Dietrich Bonhoeffer — Life Together
I spent the weekend at a retreat in the St. Francois "Mountains" in southeastern Missouri with the members of my church, Christ Community Church in St. Louis. Our speaker was Glandion Carney, an Anglican priest and conference speaker with Renovaré. The theme of the retreat was All in: "All in" for discipleship and spiritual formation, …
Stephen Hawking’s mistake
When Stephen Hawking writes a book, people pay attention. His latest volume, The Grand Design, coauthored by Leonard Mlodinow, has made a media splash because Hawking, who used "god language" in his earlier works, has come to the conclusion that there is no need for any sort of god to explain the origin of the …
The Reason for God — the open-mindedness of Christians
A common misconception among skeptics is that Christians are narrow-minded and ignorant, and that skeptics and atheists are open-minded "free thinkers." Perhaps these generalizations are true in some cases, but it was my pleasure Sunday morning to spend an hour with a group of fifteen Christians who certainly don't fit the narrow-minded stereotype. Yesterday at …
Continue reading The Reason for God — the open-mindedness of Christians
“Apologetics Study Bible for Students” on the age of the Earth
I recently paged through the Apologetics Study Bible for Students from the Southern Baptist B&H Publishing Group, and was pleased to see a balanced approach to the questions of the age of the Earth, the extent of the flood, and even somewhat on the role of biological evolution. Here's the section on the age of …
Continue reading “Apologetics Study Bible for Students” on the age of the Earth
A liberation theology of the right
Arrrrgh. I'm writing about politics again. Or am I writing about religion? Here is a section from "God, the Gospel, and Glenn Beck" by Southern Baptist pastor/seminary professor Russell Moore: It’s taken us a long time to get here, in this plummet from Francis Schaeffer to Glenn Beck. In order to be this gullible, American …
GeoChristian 