Alred Russel Wallace (Co-Founder of Evolution Turned Theist)

Have you ever heard of Alfred Wallace? I haven’t until recently. He was a 19th century biologist, and co-founder of Evolution with Charles Darwin. At the same time, he is essentially the grandfather of ID. Rather than being a theist whom eventually became a naturalist (as Darwin was), he was a naturalist whom eventually became a theist because of his findings in nature and animals. Contrary to animals pointing him towards naturalism like it did with Darwin, they pointed him away from naturalism and towards intelligence and purpose behind the complexities of nature. Unfortunately, we don’t hear Wallace’s opinions today, but only hear about Darwin’s dogmatic naturalism.

Here’s an excerpt from alfredwallace.org: Both Wallace and Darwin were committed to science, but their conceptions of science were dramatically different: for Wallace science was simply the search for truth in the natural world; for Darwin science must invoke only natural processes functioning via unbroken natural laws in nonteleological ways.

Wallace traveled, documented, classified, and researched far more than Darwin.

Why Do You Believe In Biblical Miracles While Rejecting Other Miracles?

There’s a debate on youtube where college students debate the topic of miracles. When I find it I’ll post it on here because it’s pertinent to this issue.

Often when there are debates on the topic of miracles this question is raised by the naturalistic atheist, namely, why do Christians only nitpick and choose to believe in the Biblical miracles, yet reject all other miracle claims? Is there a double standard going on? Is the Christian behaving inconsistently here and arbitrarily giving the Bible the benefit of the doubt?

Here’s my quick response to this important question:

First we need to define what we mean by a “miracle”. Usually what the naturalist will mean by this is any phenomenon that is not “natural”. I would argue that this is a bad standard because of the fact that morality and logic are not ordinarily accounted for by “nature” alone. I’d argue that morality is “supernatural” behavior. The fact that you’re even reading this or agree that molesting kids for the fun of it is always morally wrong is proof of this. If what “nature” cannot account for is to be considered a miracle then all humans have miraculous behavior. Philosophical Naturalism can only give us “what is”, not “what should be”, and morality and logic say we shouldn’t do certain things and that we shouldn’t contradict.

Giving Attention To Pretention (A Soft Critique Of Today’s Mainstream Youth)

(Above: youthful hipsters live in the moment at a rave party where paint falls from the ceiling and black lights make much of them)

Younger generations view older generations as traditional, stuffy, boring, less-exposed, held-back, less familiar with the latest technology, less hip, less willing to try new things, and a hindrance to future development, etc.

Older generations view younger generations as ignorant, lazy, self-absorbed, confused, spoiled, pretentious, disrespectful, ungrateful, and a threat to future development, etc.

What Should Christians Tell Their Children About Santa?

I don’t actually answer this question in this thread. I’ll leave that up to you. But I will say this. Over the last year I have personally changed my view on Santa Clause, namely, that Christian parents would do well to tell their kids the truth from the get-go. I didn’t come to these conclusions on my own but was challenged, and now after thinking it over some more I am more convinced than ever. These views are simply my own. I’m not going to expect others to believe as I do, and I’m not going to be legalistic about it. I’m simply going to share my thoughts and say I think there are some important things we need to re-consider.

I was listening to a Christian radio station in Seattle today, one I often find exhorting, and the host mentioned that his opinion on the matter is that we should tell our kids that Santa exists. He remembers the fun of it as a kid and doesn’t think other kids should miss out. He also had a balanced view in that we shouldn’t try to control our kids with the idea of Santa, hence, scaring them that he wont give them presents unless they behave, but should welcome it as a fun fantasy.

Here’s the big problems I now have with telling our kids that Santa Clause exists:

Jews, Muslims, Unitarians, Jehova’s Witnesses, and Mormons, Need To Connect The Biblical Dots

I’ve heard Muslims say many times that “the prophets of the OT don’t mention Jesus”. Actually, this assumtion goes against the Jewish quest to find Messianic passages. Granted, many Jews today reject that Jesus is their Messiah, however, how can one escape the clear connection between Christ and Isaiah 53, Daniel 9, etc?

Further, how can a Jew who rejects Jesus Christ as Messiah, make sense of Psalm 110? This is one of the greatest Messianic Psalms in all the Torah (OT). Yet, the only way to make sense of this Messianic Psalm is if Jesus, as revealed in the NT, is the Divine Messiah.

This Psalm says two profound things:

Questions For Muslims

In commemoration of 911, I have some theological questions for “radical” and “moderate” Muslims out there.

1. Why don’t you believe in the doctrine of the Trinity? Or at least, why don’t you believe this doctrine to be a possibility, even within your own religion? I’ve heard that Islam holds to a monad view of God, but is this backed by the Quran? To my knowledge, Muslims believe they can’t know any details about Allah’s nature. If so, why can’t it be a possibility that Allah is triune?

Here’s how I’m definig “Trinity”, or “triune”.

2. Muslims believe that Christianity is false because of the doctrine of the incarnation of Christ. It’s believed by Muslims that God could never take on additional human nature. But if Allah is God, and is all-powerful, could Allah if he so chose take on additional nature as a human?

NOW PLEASE TELL ME YOUR THOUGHTS

Suicide (Behind Every Frowning Cloud There’s Always A Smiling Sun)

One of my friends just committed suicide. I haven’t actually seen him since we were kids. We knew each other from 4th – 8th grade. I wanted to see him so bad the last 4 years just to simply catch up on life and talk about the old days. We did everything as kids. At one point we were best friends. We were even blood brothers! Did you ever do that as a kid with a close friend? Where you cut yourself and hold your wounds together?

We skateboarded a lot, smoked, spent the night at each others houses all the time, stole things together, did shenanigans together, saw each other get picked on, stuck up for each other, fought, wrestled, argued, talked about death, sex, religion, and everything else. We even cried in front of each other.

Restore The Gospel

Welcome to my worst-news/best-news blog!

		R.C. Sproul gospel excerpt (3:48 ) Mark Driscoll on “religion” (17:23) Testimony of Johnny Cash (6:49) Andy Hunter Outro (3:25)

What does Galatians 3:6-14 tell us about the real gospel? Answer: What it really is! (click here for more)

Read about the missing gospel here.

Listen to the missing gospel here.

Good luck finding a church today that loves truth and loves the real gospel. The church is plagued with anti-nomianism and legalism…

First, anti-nomianism is a fancy word meaning we either abuse grace by carelessly sinning, or over-emphasize grace by likening God to Barney. Many Christians today act like heretics because they gloss over the doctrine of repentance, which should prevent us from glossing over sins such as divorce, homosexuality, pride, etc. Rather we should be marveled at God’s great beauty in covenant marriage, opposite sex lovers, meekness, etc. Further, there are many churches which over-emphasize grace, such as Joel Olsteen’s and Rick Warren’s. They offer ego-stroking, therapeutic, negative 5% offensive sermons. Mantras like “smile… Jesus loves you” and “God loves the sinner but hates the sin” stem from these types of Disney Channel style Christians who seek to please people more then God. Gandhi said “God loves the sinner but hates the sin”, not Jesus.

On the flip side, the church is plagued with legalism. Legalism is another fancy word referring to those who equate their man-approved traditions with Scripture, or think they are better than you because they minimize their dirty laundry and maximize yours…

Legalism, in the form of man-centered tradition says “don’t get a tattoo”, “don’t drink alcohol (ever)”, or “don’t have a worship style different than ours”, etc. These people are guilty for making Christ seem bitter and as boring as watching paint dry for the sake of making Christ look like them. Others are legalistic because they are self-righteous. They think God daydreams about them and wishes everyone was like them. This is a very un-biblical notion which stems from rotten pride. It comes from people thinking God is less holy then He is and that they are more holy than they are. They think God grades sin on a curve and that they’re somewhere at the top of the list. They forget that God grades only one way – perfection. One sin is enough to separate us from God forever. It took that one person only one sin. I think his name was Adam.

In summary, the Church today remains either un-repentant, embracing therapeutic gospels, clenching pointless traditions, or reeking of self-righteous pride. In reality, every Christian has a bit of all these things in them. Yet, we must go through detoxification, and re-approach Christ for who He really is. Both Christians and non-Christians are not impressed with Jesus Christ because no one dares to see how wild He really is. He is not safe, manageable, or tamable. With all of our anti-nomian and legalistic rigmarole, we cover up Christ and are left with our boring selves.

If you claim to be a Christian does any of this concern you?

What do we do? We must stand up and shout “let Him in!” We must let Christ back into the Church (Revelation 3:20). Then we will begin to see Christ as He really is and see ourselves for who we really are. He is outside knocking. Please let Him in.

There’s much gospel restoring to do. The gospel message needs no restoration itself – it is forever perfect. We must see that it becomes restored as center focus in ourselves and the Church. Please join with me and others to fulfill this seemingly impossible task!

What Should We Assume And Not Assume About TAG? (Clarifications Within Presuppositional Apologetics)

What is TAG? TAG stands for the transcendental argument for God’s existence. It is a form of apologetics under the umbrella of presuppositional apologetics. Presuppositional apologetics examines what a person already supposes or assumes about reality and the world. Just like there can be only one Highlander, so there can only be one worldview which is most consistent with all of reality. Is Christianity it? TAG is a part of presupositional apologetics that shows this to be the case. TAG especially helps show that “naturalistic” atheism can’t be correct because TAG reveals how without God there would be no such thing as thinking or morality. It is a powerful apologetic. It’s usually confusing at first but then begins to make a lot of sense. Thankfully, presupositional apologetics is starting to catch on more in mainstream Christianity.

However, here are some concerns I have with how people use TAG:

(1) Is it sinful to use historical and scientific methods to prove God’s existence like many proponents of TAG claim?

The Bridges of Madison County (Affairs. Are They Really That Wonderful?)

You’re probably thinking “isn’t it a little late to analyze this movie?”. Yes and no. Yes because it came out in 1995, but no because I finally just saw it and there are timeless truths of the fallen human nature found in it! The novel, written by Robert Waller, was published a few years prior in 1992 and sold over 50 million copies worldwide. The notion of women’s self-entitlement to happiness sells!

What’s the story about? Hopefully you’ve read it or watched it by now. In a nut shell, Fransesca (played by Maryl Streep) has a women’s natural wild heart, yet her wild spirit is caged in by her simple, boring, country lifestyle. In addition, she describes her husband as “clean” (meaning faithful, yet non-adventurous). But it isn’t until Fransesca meets Robert Kincaid (played by Clint Eastwood), a charming, independent, traveling photographer for National Geographic, that she questions leaving her husband for the greener grass. There’s no reason her husband deserves to be left, but there is reason for her wanting to, namely, him being really boring.

Martin Luther (He May Not Be Who You Think)

James Swan has a personal hobby of digging up all he can on Martin Luther, not only to learn about the great reformer, but also to help clear up misconceptions about him. There are so many.

Here is a link to 10 common myths about Luther. One rumor he clears up is the one where it’s said that Luther got his solafide epiphany while sitting on the toilet. Swan clarifies that this can’t be the case because Luther was in the tower when he had it and there were no bathrooms in the tower. He also mentions that the language in regard to the toilet wasn’t literal but an idiom meaning he was in a depressed state at that time of his life.

I can’t help but point out that we have the same idiom in English. Haven’t you ever been down in the dumps?!

Here is also a link where Swan exposes more Luther myths. There are 5 radio shows in total to download here. It’s really good stuff!

Here is also a link to Swan’s blog, where he addresses a plethora of other Luther misconceptions. The link I provide dumps you right into the heart of some Luther myths, not the home page. His blog is also a great resource.

Why I’m Not, And Never Will Be, A Roman Catholic (Reason 4 – Luther, History, and Solafide)

It is commonly assumed by Roman Catholics that solafide was invented by Luther for having added the German word “allien” to his German translation of the Vulgate. Here is a debate by James Swan where he seeks to clear up some false Catholic assumptions in regard to Luther. Not only was Luther not afraid to retract the word, but Luther was within the realm of reason to add it in the first place since even some Catholic NT translations prior to Luther also included “alone”, i.e. the Nuremberg Bible (1483), “allein durch den glauben” and the Italian Bibles of Geneva (1476) and of Venice (1538) say “per sola fede.” Source

In defense of his translation, Luther also claimed that others before him included the word “alone”. They may not have interpreted it the same (or they may have), but the word is there. That’s the point. Thomas Aquinas is one example. He said, “Non est ergo in eis [moralibus et caeremonialibus legis] spes iustificationis, sed in sola fide, Rom. 3:28: Arbitramur justificari hominem per fidem, sine operibus legis” (Therefore the hope of justification is not found in them [the moral and ceremonial requirements of the law], but in faith alone, Rom 3:28: We consider a human being to be justified by faith, without the works of the law).

Wake Up America! Your Gospel Has Nothing On China! (At Least From This Church)

I’m writing this from 3 major standpoints. (1) “Intellectual” circles I’ve ran across assume the Chinese are babies in their theology and oh so need their apologetic prowess, (2) the fact that many of us Americans are comfortable and water down the gospel, and (3) my exciting experience of going to a church in China that beautifully proclaims the gospel. My heart in this is really for God’s gospel to be championed by his church. If/when I come across too abrasive, please keep in mind that this is my real intention.

I went to an “underground” church in China today for the first time. It’s not really “underground” as that term can simply refer to a church gathering outside an “official” church building.

Someone met us and took us to the church. They were extremely friendly and were immediately telling the unbelievers with us about the gospel. They turned to me and asked me (with my wife translating) “are you a good person or are you sinful?” Since the gospel is my biggest passion in the world I gave what I could conger up to be the most Biblical answer (and would say the same thing at gun point), “I’m extremely sinful!”

“You Have Heard It Was Said”, NOT “You Have Heard It Was Written” (What’s going on in the beatitudes?)

Many people assume that in Mat 5 when Jesus says “you have heard it was said” that this means “you have heard it was written“. Thus, it’s assumed that Jesus is trumping the OT law with his superior teaching. This isn’t what’s going on. Jesus is actually trumping false assumptions and abuses of the OT law and is giving the correction.

For example, on divorce he says, “It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.”

UPDATE!!! Harold Camping Says Christ Is Returning on May 21st, 2011 (He’s Nuts)

UPDATE!!! Well we’re all still here. The end of the world is appealing because we all yearn for perfect justice and to finally see our risen Lord as he is. But Biblically speaking, we aren’t supposed to know the DATE! That’s why those fools are now recorded in the news as being “surprised” that it didn’t happen.

What we need to do now is:

1. have this be another reminder, out of the million times this has happened in the past, that we shouldn’t date set!

2. We need to pray for the fools to repent and not think that Christ has abandoned them, but realize that they were sinning in trying to date set (since Mat 24 says no one knows, not even the Son). Those that are truly saved should still anticipate Christ’s return, but not date set!

3. We need to focus on the gospel. That’s the purpose of this blog. So many idols exist in the church today, rather than Christ and his message of hope. We need to emphasize the gospel more than TAG and more than the return of Christ. We need to emphasize Christ more than we emphasize implications of Christ, otherwise that reveals our idols.

4. All those Camping followers need to go back to their jobs, or get re-hired after foolishly quiting, and do what God has called them to do. They need to learn how to anticipate Christ’s return, but also do the work of an ambassador for Christ while they’re still here, not just whine about how bad the world is and date-set.

5. All of Camping’s followers, and all true believers who are zealous for the return of Christ (as we should all be in a way) need to deliberately remind themselves that no only is the world evil “out there”, but is also evil “in here”. We are all evil in our own ways, we all still sin, and perfection wont come until Christ returns. Christ hasn’t taken us out of the world yet for a reason. He wants us to share his gospel in the world while we’re still here. Believers need to be reminded of it daily too so that we can live as though we’re changed by it in this world. Christ has not chosen to take us out of the world. Stop trying to make him take us out before he says it’s time. He doesn’t want you out yet! You’re here for a reason until you die and God can use you while your still here for his purposes.

It’s A Beautiful Day

I had a dream last night that U2 was giving a concert and the crowd wasn’t listening. Ha! That proves it’s only a dream of course! The band was trying to play the song ‘It’s A Beautiful Day’ but the crowd wouldn’t quite down and poor U2 couldn’t start the song. I went up to Bono and told him, “just tell them something important”. Then as I walked away I thought of another thing. I quickly turned around and went back to him and said, “but makes sure it’s from the heart”. He said “OK”.

Then as I walked away and re-entered the crowd I could hear him talking over the mic. He said, “Jesus Christ took the wrath that we deserve, and therefore, it’s a beautiful day”. In my dream, I wasn’t even expecting him to say that. Touched by the humbling and powerful words, everyone in the crowd quieted down and many were crying as the band lead into the song. I was in awe and remembered it vividly when I woke up! I thought I’d share it on here just for kicks.

Why I’m Not, And Never Will Be, A Roman Catholic (Reason 3 – Ambrosiaster, Solafide, and McGrath’s ‘Iustitia Dei’)

These excerpts are found in Ambrosiaster’s commentary on the book of Romans. It is believed that he wrote the commentary in the 4th century around 370 A.D. Also, according to the prologue, “it is certain that by the end of the 4th century Ambrosiaster’s commentary had become a standard work of Latin biblical study and that it retained its influence even after the publication of Jerome’s new Vulgate translation”.

In other words, what we need to point out to Roman Catholics, who only view history through the lens of Sola Ecclesia, is that 1. “solafide” wasn’t an invention in the 1500′s by Luther, thus 2. justification by works righteousness WASN’T the “unanimous consent” of the early church fathers (which Trent and Vatican I allude to in regards to the derivation of Rome’s official teachings), and 3. Ambrosiaster wasn’t considered to be teaching heretical things back then (yet Trent would anathematize any who believe solafide today). On the contrary, his commentary was widely used, even after the printing of the Vulgate. Note: I’m not saying that any early fathers were proto-Lutherans, but that allusions to solafide are there. I get into this a little more below when I clarify Catholic misunderstandings of Alister McGrath’s ‘Iustitia Dei’.

Why I’m Not, And Never Will Be, A Roman Catholic (Reason 2 – Inconsistent Interpretations of James 2)

I have been curious about Robert Sungenis’  arguments in regards to James 2. Sungenis is an affluent Roman Catholic apologist. I figured if I really want to make sure my interpretation of James 2 is a solid one, I better hear the best arguments the other side can possibly offer. After reading it I decided to post my review of the book on Amazon. This thread is the same as my review, however, for the purposes of this blog I want to provide an even more in-depth critique of the book. Therefore, I went back and added some clarifications and additional insights which are in green. Also, Sungenis responds to the reviews on Amazon here and I’m looking forward to dialoging with him about it if the opportunity presents itself. Overall, if you’re after consistency, I think you’ll find that his interpretation is off and is ignoring many important components.

Is God Tricking Us With “Naturalism” Or Is “Naturalism” Tricking Us With God?

I’ve heard it said so many times in Evolution debates, and always on the part of the Evolutionary naturalist of course, that if there is a God then he must be tricking us because all scientific inquiries just scream unintentional processes and purposelessness. The quintessential example is when someone will say “junk DNA has no purpose, so that proves there’s no intelligent designer”. Luckily, God gave me a brain and I’m able to think way beyond this myopic reasoning unto his glory.

Why I’m Not, And Never Will Be, a Roman Catholic (Reason 1 – No Unanimus Consent of Ultimate Authority)

This is the first of many reasons to come as to why I am not a Roman Catholic and why I reject the official teachings of the Church. The major reason is because their gospel has not only changed, but is outright heresy – which I will get to on another post. I plan on having many of these be simple segments as to what I, and many others, find to be gigantic theological, historical, and practical inconsistencies on Rome’s part.

The first reason is the issue of ultimate authority. Is it Scripture, which is God-breathed, or also a Magisterium and Papacy made up of finite, sinful, humans whereby the Pope is only infallible when conveniently speaking in ex-cathedra mode?