Christianity – Page 14

Left Behind: A Christian Argument for Abortion?

Last night, we watched the 2014 version of “Left Behind” featuring Nicholas Cage. Cage makes no pretense of being a believer but some folks in his family are working on him. These family members are also involved in film and talked him into being in the movie. Cage takes many roles that would be risky for other actors. I commend him for taking the risk. Ghost Rider to Left Behind covers a lot of ground.

In the movie, Cage is an airline pilot on a transcontinental flight from New York to London. About halfway thru the flight, the secret rapture of Christians takes place.

At this point in the film, I stopped it and said to my ten year old son that all the babies will be taken too. Sure enough, when I hit play, viewers learned that along with the Christians some “other sheep” were also taken. I tried to explain that not just the Christian children but all the Jewish, Muslim, Hindu and all the rest were gone too. Per the movie, no children were left on the planet.

I have a real problem with the theology in this film. Both Premillennialism and Dispensationalism have no Biblical warrant and when married together, it results in some crazy theology. I explained to my son that the reason the children were taken is because in Baptist Theology, they have a doctrine called the Age of Accountability.

Instead of baptizing their children, Baptists—and like-minded Protestant folks—have a baby dedication ceremony. They believe until children are old enough to truly understand right from wrong, that they can never choose to believer or reject Christ, therefore they are innocent until reaching this “Age of Accountability”. Oh, this age is arbitrary for each child; for some seven, others ten, and if they are handicapped, maybe never.

So who should I believe? Paul the Apostle or Tim LaHaye, Billy Graham, and the good folks at Dallas Theological Seminary? Baptists are logically inconsistent on this point.

Do they believe the Scriptures when it says?
• “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”.
• “For all we like sheep have gone astray.”
• “There is none righteous, no not one.”
And other such verses.

Baptists try to simultaneously affirm both positions. Sorry but the Bible knows of no doctrine of the Age of Accountability. The Scripture is clear that Jesus is the Way, the Truth, the Life; no one comes to the Father except by Him.

If all children can go to heaven without going thru Christ—because they are innocent of sin—then why let them grow older and have a possibility of rejecting Christ? Kill them now and insure they do go to Heaven.

I can’t take credit for pointing this problem out but I sure got smacked with it in a very real world way. Here is how it happened.

Back in the day, I used to hang-out with folks involved in a prolife movement called “Operation Rescue.” I met some good people involved in this organization and learned a lot about my faith during this period of my life.

One activity that I went to was a “baby shower” at Gibson Ranch. It just so happened that the local Planned Parenthood group (or other like-minded abortion provider in the area) was having their company picnic at a nearby spot. We all grabbed signs and went over by their activity and began to protest. Seeing our challenge, the people at the picnic came over and exchanged words with us.

One lady and I had an actual discussion in the midst of this. She asked me why I was prolife to which I responded that I wanted to stop babies from being killed. She then asked me if I believed that the aborted babies went to heaven, to which I responded “yes”. Her next inquiry was the very point that I raise in this blog, if these same children were allowed to be born then at least some would grow-up to reject Christ and thus end-up in Hell. Her conclusion was that by aborting the children she was doing them the service of insuring their eternal destiny. I was unprepared to respond to this logic. About all I could say was killing was wrong. It was weak. I had lost.

Thankfully, shortly after this experience, I began a paradigm shift towards Reformed Theology and Postmillennialism. Parting with the Age of Accountability doctrine and embracing a Covenantal understanding of the faith addressed the shortcomings and contradictions that were so painfully illustrated to me by an abortion provider many years ago.

Watching the key moment of Left Behind brought to mind that whole incident. It’s Jesus or Universalism not some crazy cosmic hybrid of both.

Carl Baugh and His Book

Last night I finished reading “Why Do Men Believe Evolution Against All Odds?” By Carl Baugh. We were given a copy by Mr. Baugh when we visited the Creation Evidence Museum in Glenrose Texas. I think when he heard that we were from California; he had mercy on us and figured that we needed the help.

The book was a quick read. It was well documented and logically organized. I have seen similar works in the past but this one seemed more “modern” since it incorporated a section on biochemistry and the function of cells; something that literally didn’t exist too many years ago. See Darwin’s Black Box by Michael Behe if you want the full explanation of why cellular function disproves evolutionary theory.

My one complaint is that there are several blatant typographical errors in the book. Baugh could use a proofreader before going to press again.

As I prepared to write this blog I took a look at the book on Amazon.com. While Baugh has much praise on the customer reviews of the book, he also has his detractors. The attacks by one reviewer were not on the contents of the book but on the academic credentials claimed by Baugh. On Amazon the author biography reads

Dr. Carl Edward Baugh is founder and director of Creation Evidence Museum, Glen Rose, Texas; scientific research director for world’s first hyperbaric biosphere; scientific research director for water reclamation and energized plant systems; and the discoverer and excavation director of two major dinosaurs: Acrocanthosaurus in Texas and Stegosaurus stenops in Colorado. He holds a degree in theology from Baptist Bible College, a Masters in archaeology, and a Ph.D. in education, both from Pacific College of Graduate Studies.

I tried “Pacific College of Graduate Studies” on both Bing and Google. Surprisingly, this school does not seem to exist. However, I did get a hit on Carl Baugh.

A Matter of Degree: An Examination of Carl Baugh’s Alleged Credentials http://paleo.cc/paluxy/degrees.htm

This article by Glen Kuban eviscerates Baugh’s claims of holding a doctorate from an accredited institution of higher learning. Interestingly, Baugh’s biography on the Creation Evidence Museum makes no claims that he is a doctor. Accreditation is not the be all and end all of higher learning but it does limit where and how the claim of a degree can be used.

I know from personal experience that Texas has an extremely high bar for any college to be accredited. The library requirement alone is ridiculous. (At least 70,000 volumes and fulltime librarian) A decade or so ago, my church moved their Seminary from Louisiana to Texas. To get accredited in Texas would have bankrupted the denomination. Instead they made an arrangement with a college in England to grant some type of degree for theological studies.

I can see that Baugh or any other creationist might have trouble getting a scientific degree from a typical college. Even Baylor—to their shame—will run you off if you believe in a literal six-day creation…at least from their faculty.

Kuban, however, accuses Baugh of granting himself his degree. It’s an interesting read. What caught my attention was the footnote #40. According to the footnote, Answers in Genesis has tried to put some distance between themselves and Baugh. The URL in Kuban’s article was no good but I went to Ken Ham’s website and found this:
AIG discounts the claims that human footprints were found with dinosaurs at Glenrose. They say that it might be true but …

Given the ambiguity of the evidence and the fact that much of what may have once been present is no longer available for study, we do not believe those claims of coexisting human and dinosaur prints are wholly supportable. Dr. John Morris in 1986 reported similar conclusions, deciding “it would now be improper for creationists to continue to use the Paluxy data as evidence against evolution” unless further research brings new facts to light.
paluxy-river-tracks-in-texas-spotlight

I know that these claims pre-date Carl Baugh by several decades. Morris and Whitcomb cite them in Genesis Flood (1961).

While not on AIG website, I did a search on the article mentioned in footnote #40 and found this:

CSF does not defend Carl Baugh or his claims in regard to his qualifications. We do not regard Baugh as representative in any way of the mainstream creation movement.
plimer-book-our-point-by-point-rebuttal p. 145

My conclusion is that Carl Baugh does seem to have overstated his resume. I don’t rely on him for validating my beliefs in creation.

The artifacts that he has at his museum are persuasive. However, I think the Torah display and model of Noah’s Ark are unnecessary. The movie on how The Flood occurred and what brought it about is speculative and I would like more information before I’m ready to support Baugh’s whole framework.

As for his book on “Why Do Men Believe Evolution Against All Odds?” I think he nailed it. All Baugh does is introduce quotes from evolutionists that point out flaws in their theory.

The only thing Baugh lacks is Ben Stein’s interview of Richard Dawkins in Expelled, where Dawkins says life on earth came from extraterrestrials that seeded the planet.

Evolution is not a science issue, it’s a spiritual one.

Glenrose Texas

During our road trip last month, we took the Texas back roads from Abilene to Waco. We went to Glenrose. Glenrose is a tiny town with a creek flowing through it and it has one of the most unique geological features in the world. In the bed of the creek, you can find dinosaur foot prints which is cool but what puts it over the top is that human footprints are also found in the same rock strata.

Yep, humans and dinos left their footprints together.

Photo from Creation Evidence MuseumIf you needed to see in order to believe that Darwinism and Evolution is BS then this out of the way place should be first on your list. Right down the road from the Dinosaur Valley State Park Dinosaur Valley State Park is the Creation Evidence Museum.
Creation Evidence Museum
Ken Ham is not the only guy with a Creation Museum. This one is smaller but has some neat stuff in it.

Some artifacts in the museum were reproductions of things I’ve seen in books before but some are the genuine article. Reproductions are clearly labeled as such. Typically they are castings.

Besides the human footprints intertwined with dino prints, I got to see the London Artifact. This is a fossilized steel hammer with wooden handle.

London Artifact photo from Creation Evidence Museum

The museum is the work of Carl E. Baugh. Baugh is credited with the first hyperbaric biosphere. He was there when
we visited but I had no idea who he was at the time. His paper Crystalline Canopy Theory (linked on the museum
website) is an improvement on the vapor canopy idea popularized by Whitcomb and Morris in their book Genesis
Flood (1961). Whitcomb and Morris posited the vapor canopy using the research from the International Geophysical
Year (July 1, 1957, to December 31, 1958).
The Baugh paper is an interesting read and attempts to answer the question of what the pre-Flood world looked like.
Genesis makes it clear that prior to Noah it never rained so any explanation of this era must explain how plants were
watered. This circles back to the hyperbaric biosphere.
Some things at the museum I did not photograph due to their shape or lighting. Phone cameras are not great for low
light conditions. Here are the photos that I took.

Inca Burial Stone

Happy Easter

Obama Opines About Ills of Christianity

Obama had a more non-denominational message for the audience that also included prominent leaders of non-Christian faiths. The president said that while religion is a source for good around the world, people of all faiths have been willing to “hijack religion for their own murderous ends.”

“Unless we get on our high horse and think that this is unique to some other place, remember that during the Crusades and Inquisition, people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ,” Obama said. “In our home country, slavery and Jim Crow all too often was justified in the name of Christ.

“So it is not unique to one group or one religion,” Obama said. “There is a tendency in us, a simple tendency that can pervert and distort our faith.”

Obama called for all people of faiths to show humility about their beliefs and reject the idea that “God speaks only to us and doesn’t speak to others.”

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20150205/us—obama-prayer_breakfast-f3b989dcc5.html

Letting President Obama speak at a prayer breakfast is just wrong. This man is openly hostile to Christianity and has appointed likeminded people that choose to wield the power of the State to subjugating people’s religious beliefs to his will. Christianity is the belief that Jesus is Lord; even of the State. Obama on the other hand is a secular humanist that believes that you can believe whatever you like as long as you keep it private and out of the public square and acknowledge the State as Supreme.

Ironically, this is the same conflict that Christians faced in the Roman Empire. Romans proudly proclaimed, “Caesar is Lord” and the Christian belief that “Jesus is Lord” became viewed as treasonous.

Allowing Obama to officiate a traditionally non-denominational Christian event is like the Mormon Chaplain that was on my ship—back in my Navy days—leading the Protestant worship service. We might use similar terms but in fact we were worshipping different gods.

Read the first paragraph quoted above and then read between the lines. What Obama is doing is equating all religions and then saying that anyone who takes their beliefs too seriously is a potential danger to the rest of us.

All religion claims to be the path to Truth. Logically, if religion leads us to Truth and we don’t follow where it leads, how can that be virtuous? The fact that religions contradict each other means that they cannot all be true.

Couple this with Jesus’ statement that “I am the way, the Truth and the Life, no man comes to the Father but by me” (John 14: 6) and suddenly the idea that all religious beliefs are equal can’t coexist with Christianity. Christianity claims to be Truth to the exclusion of all other beliefs.

Obama then invokes the Crusades and Inquisition to prove that Christianity is just as corrupt as all other religions because terrible deeds have been done in the name of Christ. The Church has done bad things and some good ones too over its history. It is the doctrinal and human failures of Rome that led to both the Crusades and Inquisition. Some argue that the Crusades were in part a defensive reaction to Islam but the method of recruiting soldiers employed by the Pope is without biblical warrant. Forgiving sins is Christ’s job not the Pope.

Originally, the Inquisition was a church trial to prevent heresy and uphold orthodoxy. It was used as a way of suppressing movements viewed as conflicting with Roman doctrine. Typically, I think the Spanish Inquisition is in mind when the “I” word is used.

As bad as these things might be, the number of casualties is nothing compared to the number of deaths just in the 20th Century as a result of socialism. Between National Socialism and international socialism, hundreds of millions of people were killed—many by their own governments.

Slavery then gets blamed on Christianity. Ironically, it was Christian folks that were the leaders of abolition of slavery. Yes, people that thought themselves “good” Christians did own slaves but only because they did not have a proper biblical worldview. Some Christians thought better of slave ownership and freed their slaves but this doesn’t fit the narrative. Blacks in America owed slaves too but again we don’t talk about that.

Slavery in the Bible was only supposed to be for a period of up to seven years. Slaves as property can only be found in Exodus and is not portrayed as a “good” institution. Somehow the fact that Muslims in Africa were enslaving their fellow blacks and selling them to Europeans tends to be overlooked in this discussion. Pardon the pun, but the narrative of slavery in the United States has been “whitewashed” by folks with other agendas.

Christians then get blamed for Jim Crow Laws. Really? Not all those good southern Democrats. It was a majority of Republicans and minority of Democrats that passed the civil rights legislation in the 1960’s but somehow the Democrats always get a pass. It was Democrat Governors and Mayors that used Billie clubs, dogs, and water cannons against Blacks in the 60’s but Democrats get a pass. Sorry Barry, Jesus had nothing to do with Jim Crow Laws, only Democrats.

Obama then opined, “There is a tendency in us, a simple tendency that can pervert and distort our faith.” Yes, it’s called a “sin nature”. Scripture warns us “not to think more highly of ourselves than we ought” and elsewhere says “pride comes before a fall”. We are commended to “love one another as I have loved you”. Only when we lose sight of the fact that all men are created in the image of God do we elevate ourselves at the expense of others.

In the last paragraph, Obama asked that we “reject the idea that ‘God speaks only to us and doesn’t speak to others’”. Wrong again. Christians believe that God speaks thru His word—the Bible. God the Holy Spirit is in our hearts to instruct us in all Truth. Whether we listen to God’s leading is a matter of faithfulness.

Robin Williams

I know that many folks are mourning the passing of Robin Williams; frankly, I’m mystified by much of what I am hearing. From the world’s point of view, he had it all: money, fame, possessions, privilege, and a lifestyle that few people in the world ever achieve. All of this was smoke and mirrors. Williams was a hollow man. He had a God shaped hole in his soul that he tried to fill with transitory junk.

In high school, I remember listening to some of his early material that others snuck into the senior Lounge. To be polite in describing it, Williams was a vile, potty mouthed person that used profanity excessively and like to talk about bodily fluids. It was disgusting.

Then he got a gig doing the Mork and Mindy show. Williams was presented as something he was not. The media tried to make him out as Michael Landon with a sense of humor. In subsequent years, Williams did many film and television appearances but he always struck me as the kind of guy that had a crappy childhood and tried to mask the pain by being a smartass.

That Williams took his life is no surprise. It is tragic but not because pop-culture lost an icon of comedy; no, it’s tragic because Williams gained the whole world and lost his soul.

Suicide is a selfish act and in the old days Roman Catholics called it a Mortal Sin. Williams may be experiencing his eternal reward but based on the life he led, I don’t think anyone can say he is at peace.

Hollywood Nukes Quadriplegic Singer

Well known conservative and sometimes singer Joni EarecksonTada was stripped of her Oscar nomination for the movie song “Alone Yet Not Alone”. Tada’s nomination was revoked after the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences ruled that the person who wrote the lyrics of the song (Bruce Broughton) had violated their rules by personally emailing members and asking for their vote.

Wait until the academy finds out they just dissed the most famous quadriplegic in the world besides Stephen Hawking.

For more see Christian film stripped best song Oscar nomination

Merry Christmas 2013

For unto us a child is born , unto us a son is given : and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor , The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.

Isaiah 9: 6 & 7

Christmas 2012

Merry Christmas 2012

He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

John 1: 10 -14

Redefined Soon: Dog is Man’s Best Friend

A few years ago, Paul Shanklin did a parody of a man taking wedding vows with his dog. What was a whitty jab at judges changing the definition of marriage a few years ago has taken several large steps toward reality during the first half of this month.

On Monday, a Federal Judge struck down parts of the anti-polygamy laws in Utah.

A federal judge in Utah has struck down part of that state’s law banning polygamy, after a lawsuit was brought by the stars of the television reality series “Sister Wives.” The ruling late Friday by U.S. District Court Judge Clark Waddoups threw out the law’s section prohibiting “cohabitation,” saying it violates constitutional guarantees of due process and religious freedom.
Utah polygamy law

Elsewhere, the decision was explained as striking down the polygamy law because the law limited freedom of association in violation of the First Amendment. Kody Brown and his four wives, who gained notoriety in the reality TV show “Sister Wives,” are challenging Utah’s bigamy statute, claiming it is unconstitutional because it violates their constitutional rights to due process, equal protection, free exercise of religion, free speech and freedom of association.
Judge in Sister Wives case asks for definition of polygamy

OK, so polygamy is now allowed under the First Amendment as a freedom. However, this decision says that a man can still only have one marriage license.

Those of us who support marriage as being between one man and one woman have been saying that the next domino to fall would be prohibitions on polygamy. Clearly, those floodgates are about to burst if they have not already. To decriminalize polygamy is a de facto judicial approval of the behavior.

Next to follow is why limit such loving arrangements to one man and several women. This clearly is discriminatory. What if a women wants multiple men simultaneously? While it might strike at the financial empires of Hugh Hefner and Larry Flint, clearly this is a reasonable corollary once polygamy is allowed. Soon any random assortment of consenting adults will be allowed to play house however they would like.

While this exponential decay of traditional marriage is underway, a second movement is also in the works. When combined to the above discussion, this get really weird because it opens up the possibility of legalizing bestiality.

I would like to introduce the other cutting edge movement that is gaining momentum on the fringe Left; personhood. No sadly, this has nothing to do with recognizing that all the unborn children aborted each year are baby humans. This also has nothing to do with the ethics of euthanasia. Instead the enlightened members of the Ivy League Left are pushing the recognition of the personhood of sentient animals.

Enter Yale University and the “Personhood Beyond the Human Conference” This event held December 6-8, 2013 was described by organizers as:

This historic event will focus on personhood for nonhuman animals, including great apes, cetaceans, and elephants, and will explore evolving notions of personhood by analyzing them through the frameworks of neuroscience, behavioral science, philosophy, ethics, and law. nonhumanrights.net

The event featured the crazy bioethicist, Peter Singer. Singer is the guy who advocates that children that are born should not be declared “human” until they pass rigorous testing. Those children that fail to measure-up as human should be destroyed. “Newborn human babies have no sense of their own existence over time. So killing a newborn baby is never equivalent to killing a person…” Peter Singer In short, Singer is the poster child for the eugenics movement of the 21st Century.

Here is another quote from the abstract page of the non-human rights web site. “Legal personhood for animals would symbolize and institutionalize the intrinsic value of animals and, furthermore, offer significant procedural advantages.” – Saskia L. Stucki

Once whales, dolphins, elephants, and apes are made legally equivalent to humans—which is one of the chief goals of the conference—then it won’t be long before Fido is added to the list. Every movement needs a face people can love to sell the idea to the masses, what better poster being for this movement than the family dog. Yes, Lassie and Snoopy will be the gateway pets to proving the personhood of canines to the public.

Once the ideas of the Personhood conference gain traction and are combined with the definitions of marriage (and family) being developed by the courts then it is reasonable that an animal could be included into the definition of a family. To exclude such sentient beings from being equal partners in our families is “Speciesist”. If things continue as they are, the day is coming soon when a dog will truly be man’s best friend.

Here are a few passages from the “Good Book” that come to mind on this topic.

And God said , Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful , and multiply , and replenish the earth, and subdue it : and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
Genesis 1: 26-28

Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
Romans 1:22-25

Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith: neither shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down thereto: it is confusion. Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you: And the land is defiled : therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants .
Leviticus 18: 23-25.