The Foolishness of Materialistic, Relativistic, Humanism (It Leads Us To Crap)

My opinions on this topic are taken from lectures I’ve heard on gnosticism and insights I’ve gathered from the late Francis Schaeffer.

The supposed utopian implications of naturalism are that God can supposedly continue to be justifiably pushed out of the media, the arts, and science so long as Evolution is not openly challenged. As long as Evolution stands un-questioned, naturalism will supposedly remain justified. As long as naturalism is predominant, objective morality, beauty, truth, and meaning will go down the drain. It will be replaced with our invented morality and invented truth which will ultimately end in destruction. The unforeseen downfall to all this is that naturalism inevitably brings about humanism, autonomy, and hedonism in the worst ways. These will become, and have already become the guiding factors of our societies worldview.

Why The Beef With Intelligent Design? (Naturalism Is At Stake)

ID became more popularized in 1985 after the publication of Michael Denton’s book “Evolution: A Theory In Crisis”, and in 1999 after the publication of Michael Behe’s book “Darwin’s Black Box”. You can go to my other thread here and read my responses to commonly raised objections to ID. For the purposes of this thread, however, I want to touch on what I see as being the heart of the matter, or the heart of why ID is so controversial. The heart of the matter is that ID poses a threat to philosophical naturalism (matter is all there is), and where there is a threat to philosophical naturalism, there is also believed to be a threat to methodological naturalism (empiricism is the only way to attain true knowledge).

Around 250 years ago it was primarily the influence of philosopher David Hume whom sparked the modern notion that empiricism (observation via the 5 senses) leads to the truth of the world. This has morphed into many assumptions that atheists currently have, ie. the idea that something shouldn’t be believed unless it can by physically demonstrated. It gives the atheist an excuse and means they supposedly are justified in their rejection of God. They fail to consult God as a prime cause (personal starting point for everything). Nor do they wish to acknowledge God through final causes (purpose and order behind creation), but only wish to limit their inquiry of God to Hume’s 5 senses.

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 Critique Of Today’s Overrated 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?

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 after thinking it over became more convinced. These views are simply my own, and I’m not going to be legalistic about it. I would like to simply share my thoughts and try to point out some important things that we ought to consider. Let us reason together…

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:

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.

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.

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.

Was Jesus $$RICH$$ Discussion

Me:

There is no universal principle in Scripture that says all are to be “wealthy” or “prosperous” in the sense of having easy lives and meeting the modern American middle class standard of living. The NT talks more of suffering then an easy life, but it’s OK because after our 2 seconds of life we resurrect. Also, Jesus was poor at least all of his 30 years of life since his parents had to tithe the cheap offering with the pigeon (Lev 12:8, Luke 2:24).

Tim:

Cam, the scriptures you listed talked about Joseph and Mary being poor and yes they did have to offer a poor persons sacrifice as stated clearly in scriptures, but the thing about that is Jesus was not 30 yrs old when they offered the sacrifice but only a little over a week . That was not at the age of 30. In fact if you turn to the Gospel of Matthew Chapter 2 the wise men brought them gold, frankincense, and myrrh verse 11. Notice they entered a house not a manger which some Christmas stories might say otherwise.

Snake-Crushing Radio

I did a radio show at my college for a few months which I called Snake Crushing Radio. Check it out here, or go to snakecrushingradio.wordpress.com

If you want to know what I sound like in person (which isn’t very impressive), and not just read my thoughts, then listen to some shows. The later shows have better sound quality because I tweaked some things. Jamil is a new Christian who is learning more about the Bible, and I’m a nerd who talks too much. Sorry.

All shows have an atheist segment, a “check yourself before you wreck yourself” segment, and a misc segment. Enjoy!

(12/02/2010)

(11/18/10)

(11/04/10)

(10/28/10)

(10/14/2010)

(10/07/2010)

(9/30/2010)

(9/23/2010)

Is The Apostle’s Gospel “The Gospel”?

What is the gospel? How should we refer to it? Is it the entire Biblical story or a specific part of it? What does it begin with? What does it end with? Should we explain the gospel message primarily to be God making all which is broken fixed, that God’s purpose for you is to better the world, or a mere proclamation that the Messiah is the risen Lord? Is it that Jesus helps depressed people become happy, poor become rich, losers become winners, and bad people become good people, like many today are advocating to be the “good” of the “good news”?

While I at times refer to the gospel as everything accomplished or purposed by God in Christ, I am increasingly becoming hesitant with this language. The more I look at how the Apostles use the term “gospel” the more I see it as a specific message, NOT an all encompassing story. I see this message being a narrative (specific truths) to a meta-narrative (all of God’s truths). In other words, it is a message by which all other parts of the story get to be carried out and equally cherished.

Are You Scared of This World, Distracted By It, or Both?

As a Christian, are you scared of popular opinion? Especially when you believe something the Bible says that isn’t popular according to popular opnion? Why? Do you have it on your to-do list to “make sure the world approves of me”? Are you afraid that people will be intolerant of your intolerance of silly and evil beliefs? If so, why? Either way, someone is being intolerant, and the truth is always more liberating and freeing. Have you spent any time learning about why only the Christian worldview makes sense so you can be more confident about what you believe and sleep like a baby? If not, why? Let Jesus be the hero of every sermon, the point of every text of Scripture, the answer to all the questions, and the focus of all the lives.

Consider Mat 7:13-14 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”

The Shack (Needs To Be Taken Out To The Shack)

Over the last year this best selling book by William P. Young has created quite a stir among believers. Many praise it and many reject it. Here are my quick thoughts on the book ‘The Shack’:

Pros:

The main character Mack dialogues a lot with God. You can tell that Young would have had to crack his doctrine 101 books about the nature of God, the nature of man, and other important doctrines in order to present this type of dialogue as being Biblically sound (Orthodox). In many parts, Young does a good job of remaining Orthodox and some of the explanations that God gives Mack are very practical and insightful.

I think he does a good job of upholding a Biblical view of free will (page 95), God’s self-sufficiency (pages 98-99), the Trinity (page 101), and even does a beautiful job of explaining why the Trinity is a precondition to something such as “love”, hence page 102 which says “Or maybe worse, you would have a god who, when he chose, could only love as a limitation of his nature”.

Deborah 13: Servant of God

Here are my thoughts on ‘Deborah 13’, a BBC documentary about a young girl named Deborah Drapper who has lived secluded from the outside world and pop-culture her entire life. Deborah is a devout Christian, along with her parents. She temporarily leaves her country side home and gets to experience what life is like on the outside with her older brother Matthew who is in college. Here are my thoughts, for what they’re worth. Keep in mind, I don’t know the big picture with Deborah or this documentary. Please take my assumptions about the documentary with a grain of salt as I lay out my thoughts.

(part 1)

(summary) Deborah and her siblings have no knowledge whatsoever of pop-culture or the “outside” world.

(my thoughts) Many Christians raise their children with no knowledge of pop-culture and wear this fact like a badge on their shoulder. There are some wonderful things which can come about from withdrawing from sinful scenes and situations. However, many of these types of people who are raised culturally unaware become socially awkward. They have little or nothing to add to people’s everyday conversations and are only most comfortable around their families – those who know their quarks and personalities best.

Jesus and the apostles shared the gospel in ways which found common ground with unbelievers. Many times Christians equate holiness to withdrawal from the “world”. Just like the movie ‘The Village’ demonstrates, sin is inside of us, not “out there”. Being able to find commonalities and interests with unbelievers is an extremely biblical and effective way to share one’s faith. For example, if she knew who David Beckham was, she would already have something to talk about with virtually every girl in Britain! Then she could tie it into a spiritual discussion and ask, “do you think famous people are really happy? What do you think makes us most happy? I think it is Christ for this reason…”

Sometimes Christians have the tendency to be people who have all the answers, yet have no questions. We can only converse about what we think is best for people and not offer much else. This is what I call “in-and-out” Christianity where there is little relationship building, that is until an “icky” unbeliever crosses over to looking like us.

Why Is Christ Everything?

You may often think about your problems, your needs, and your desires. You’re a human being. Of course you and I will spend much time thinking about all this. But what about Christ and His needs and desires? What about His love for Himself, His justice, and His glory? All this ties into the real story that God is the author of, namely, the gospel. The gospel is an eternal story. Here is where it begins:

1. Have you loved God and others perfectly every day of your life? (Mat 22)

2. If not, then you deserve to be eternally separated from a holy and righteous God. (James 2:10, Gal 3:10)

3. You are not a good person in trouble with a bad God, but a very bad person in trouble with a very good God. (Isaiah 6:5)

4. The wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23)

5. Cling to Jesus Christ and receive Him as Savior and Lord (Boss).

6. He lived the life you couldn’t live, died the death you deserved, and rose to prove it all satisfactory.

7. He is returning to judge everyone that has ever lived and sinned, including you.

8. Are you ready to meet Him in the next world?

9. Know you are ready.

10. Change your life and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

11. We were created to know, see, and experience Jesus Christ… forever! He is the eternal solution to our hearts eternal longing.

Charasmaniacs, Tongues, and Hypnotherapy

I had not known what the difference was between hypnotherapy, hypnosis, and meditation. I realize now that hypnotherapy is somewhat shorthand for being in an altered state of consciousness. Apart from the dangers that alcohol and drugs may have on one’s conscious state, we can experience alternative states of consciousness which are normal and healthy. This can be in the form of daydreaming, laughing hysterically, adrenalin rushes, listening to a motivational speaker, etc.

Hypnotherapy is often mistaken for hypnosis – commonly referred as  hypnotism. In other words where you have no conscious “veto” power over your mind and actions where someone or something is in total control of you. However, hypnotherapy is different. You have full control of your mind and actions but your sub-conscious self is being catered to more then your conscious faculties. You’re in more of an emotional or experiential state then in a mentally focused state.

This proper knowledge of hypnotherapy helped me all the more understand what I now believe to be some truths about the Christian Charismatic movement, which I came out of about 5 years ago.

The North American Christian Pop-Culture’s Idol – Sensationalism

Sensationalism – subject matter, language, or style producing or designed to produce startling or thrilling impressions.

An epiphany hit me today while I was driving and listening to the Christian radio station-which I hate listening to. I decided to listen for a moment just to see if its cliche lyrical content was still in tact, which it was of course. So there I was, listening to those sexy, overtly inspirational, making out with “God”, Disney Channel style songs when all of a sudden it dawned on me… the North American evangelical Christian sub-culture suffers greatly from worshiping the idol of sensationalism.

Foo Fighters – Come Alive

Happy Easter!

Here is my Scriptural commentary on this awesome song. This is not a Christian band or a Christian song. If it were it might run the risk have having a boring 4 for 4 timing, use all major chords, have an overtly uppity beat, have lyrics with no depth, have lyrics for Christians only, have lyrics that are painfully cliche, have lyrics which sing about 1% of God’s character and 0% about everyday life.

So for our purposes we’re going to look at what non-Christians have written through a Christian lens because they actually aren’t afraid to talk about real life struggles. They don’t have a sub-culture telling them that it’s “unspiritual” to sing about everyday life or live in fear that “God” may get out his wooden spoon if they do.

Seems like only yesterday
Life belonged to runaways
Nothing here to see, no looking back

Every sound monotone
Every color monochrome
Life began to fade into the black

Ecc 1:2-3 “Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.” What does man gain from all his labor at which he toils under the sun?”

Such a simple animal
Sterilized with alcohol
I could hardly feel me anymore

Gen 9:21 “When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent.”

Obama’s First Signing

It seems as though if Obama were to even move his left foot that many people would praise it. It kind of makes me think about his very first signing of a law as President.

Photographers take pictures of Obama’s very first Presidential signing:

Photographers take pictures of toilet after Obama’s very first #2 in White House:

There wasn’t even a stink!

Do You Dream of Californication?

This song definitely has lyrics that are worth pondering for a bit. Consider the chorus “I dream of Californication”. When I first heard this song, I thought this phrase somehow meant “I dream of a united California” or something similar. However, what I found is that “Californication” is a play on words which is basically saying that California is perverted in its great influence, hence the term “fornication”. The lyrical content greatly backs up this notion.