Why I beleive Genesis is historic, not merely metaphoric
On one of my favorite cartoon sites, ASBO Jesus, a recent cartoon led to a long discussion, which led to a discussion of the historicity of Genesis. Here’s my summary.
Q: what is it about the writing of genesis that leads you to think it was ever meant to be an actual historic account?
I got a very impressed by the interview and book by Joel Heck, which I briefly discussed in Is Genesis Metaphorical or Historical? As I wrote there:
I was impressed with his answers, and learned some new reasons why Genesis should be interpreted as history, not metaphor, and that Chapter 2 should be seen, not as a recapitulation, but as a detailed examination of the 6th day (the creation of man). His explanation of why the verbs in Chapter 2 should be interpreted as past tense (God ‘had planted’, not God ‘planted’) easily clears up the ‘problems’ with chronologies.
GUIDE: Autosync Android Media to PC / iTunes / AppleTV
Let’s face it – Apple has a superior ecosystem – if your phone, computer, and media extender are all Apple, everything syncs right out of the box.
But what if you don’t want a child-sized screen on your phone, and have an Android phone? And what if you run iTunes on a PC, and maybe have an Apple TV? Well, then your ecosystem is broken. Here’s how to cobble something together for free.
Applying to Seminary (Part III) – Essay: Why Fuller?
As part of my application to seminary, here’s my second essay:
————————————————–
Reflect on how attending Fuller Theological Seminary would complement your present Christian experience and/or help you to achieve your future professional and vocational goals.
Although I am an avid self-educator through seminars, reading, and podcast listening, I am often acutely aware that University training has benefits which are hard, if not impossible to get otherwise. These benefits include
(a) regular, interactive contact and friendship with scholars and thinkers,
(b) access to thoughtfully designed curricula that are modern, holistic, and complete in their coverage of basic pastoral knowledge and skills, and
(c) the provision of an external impetus to complete projects, something which even the most self-motivated person can require periodically.
Applying to Seminary (Part II) – Essay: Spiritual Autobiography
As part of my Applying to Seminary, here’s my first essay:
————————————————-
Reflect on your past Christian experience, including the most significant spiritual event/influence in your life, the role of Christ in your religious experience, the effect your faith has on your worldview, your involvement in Christian service, your perceived gifts/calling for ministry, and your reason(s) for attending your church. (minimum 250 words; maximum 500 words).
One of the most influential experiences of my spiritual journey was my initial involvement with a spiritually abusive Christian college ministry.
I was raised in an agnostic home in which we looked down upon religious people as mentally weak or acculturated into a mythological system that we did not want or need. However, during my senior year of college, I converted to Christianity. Unfortunately, the legalism of the high-vision, Arminian, evangelistic ministry I joined eventually led me to abandon my faith after 8 years of dedicated surrender of my soul to God and the organization.
Applying to Seminary (Part I) – Starting Again
Five years ago, I applied to the M.Div. program at Gordon Conwell Seminary in Charlotte, NC. I took one course, and failed miserably because I had a new baby (or two) and a long commute, and could NOT manage the reading load.
Now, my three kids are in school and my wife is at home and not working, so I am starting up my education again. This time, however, I am applying to Fuller Theological Seminary – slightly more liberal than GC, but I really dig their statement of faith, which includes a really great discussion of inerrancy which I wholeheartedly agree with:
At times, some Christians have become unduly attached to the precise wordings of doctrine-whether of events in the last days, the meaning of baptism, or the use of a catch phrase like “the inerrancy of Scripture.” But it is well to remember that all our formulations of Christian truth must ultimately conform not to some preset statement but to the Scriptures, all parts of which are divinely inspired. Thus, sloganeering can never be a substitute for the careful, patient analysis of what God’s Word teaches, including what it teaches about itself.
GUIDE: Best iPad Apps
Yeah, everyone and their mother has a post like this, and I’m not Engadget. But I keep this list for me, OK? Essential apps have a *. Please note that I am still on an iPad 1, so no really cool movie or photo apps listed here.
Last Update: 12.31.11
Changes: Added a bunch of games
App Management
- * AppShopper – best way to keep a wishlist of apps you would buy if the price changed – it notifies you. Also, good way to see on a daily basis what is hot, what is discounted (many apps go on sale for FREE for a day only). There are others like HotApDeals, AppAdvice ($2), but you might not need them.
- AppStart – this has a nice list of Best of Apps for you.
- Discovr Apps ($2) – great way to find apps related to ones you already know about.
Read more
Why the Evil God Challenge Fails
In The Evil God Challenge – Flipping Arguments, I attempted to outline Stephen Law’s argument against the existence of a good God. In this post, I present the arguments that undermine Law’s argument. Enjoy.
1. Theodicies are NOT arguments FOR a good God.
In the EGC, Law is not debating any of the traditional philosophic arguments FOR the existence of God (though he does argue against the Moral Argument elsewhere).
Instead, he takes the theodicies created to defend Christianity against the Problem of Evil and flips them to show that in many instances, they show an equal possibility of an evil God. The problem here is that these arguments are not meant to show that a good God’s existence is probable, only that it is logically possible that an all good God and evil could logically exist.
The Evil God Challenge – Flipping Arguments
In a recent, highly publicized series of debates in the U.K. between William Lane Craig, Christian philosopher and apologist, and a series of atheists, resulted in some very interesting outcomes.
One new emphasis that came from the seemingly exhausted subject of God’s existence was what atheist and philosophy professor Stephen Law calls “the evil god challenge.” He discusses it at length in this episode of the Unbelievable Podcast (worth listening to).
As I understand it, the Evil God Challenge is not a challenge to the existence of God, per se, but to the arguments supporting a GOOD God. That is, Stephen feels that, for this argument, you don’t have to defeat the arguments for theism, but only for the Christian version of a Good God.
Specifically, Stephen argues that if the arguments for an omnipotent evil god are as a likely as those for a good god, then both arguments can be dismissed as spurious, since accepting one or the other would violate the Law of Non-Contradiction – or at least, you would have no real reason to say that a good God is more likely.
Read more
The Weaknesses of Atheism
Making headlines in atheist circles is the fact that one of the former members of John Loftus’ team over at Debunking Christianity has left atheism and ‘reconverted’ back to Christianity. In Autobahn To Damascus, Darrin Raspberry outlined some of his reasons for reconversion, and those reasons lead me to make the following observations.
1. All world views have weaknesses
Can Christianity satisfactorily answer all ultimate questions? I don’t think so. There are many issues which apologists and theologians have wrestled with over the centuries, and many of these are still disputed, having no absolute or complete answers.
Podcast: The Practice of Christian Silence
This Sunday sermon contains the following points:
- Why we avoid silence
- Scriptures on silence
- The Benefits of Silence
To download The Practice of Christian Silence, please subscribe to our podcast feed.
GUIDE: Android Battery Conditioning
Want 20% better battery life on your Android phone? Here’s what, why and how. But let me give you this caveat – a 20% increase on a battery that is giving you 3 hours isn’t much – probably not worth it. I mean, if you currently get 5 hours, you’ll only get maybe 1-2 more hours max. However, if you have an extended battery, 20% might be worth it.
Me, I doubled the life of my Thunderbolt battery (1400mA) by replacing the battery with the exact same size replacement battery for the HTC Rezound (1620mA) – from 3 to 7 hours of battery life, no rooting or conditioning required. But of course, I want MORE! So here’s the directions.
GUIDE: Rooting Your Thunderbolt Android Phone
There are lots of great sites that tell you how to root your phone and install a ROM (links below). I’ve created this quick guide for myself so I don’t have to keep looking it up.
WARNING: You can brick your phone if you don’t do this exactly right. Do your homework and read the links at the bottom first, I am not an expert, just a guy who roots his own phone.
I am still experimenting with ROMs, so don’t have any recommendations.
Last Update: 11/28/2011
Read more
Hallucinogens as Angels of Light
I was going to get to bed early tonight until one of my Facebook friends linked to this article: I went to Mexico and took Tabernanthe iboga (Ibogaine) just to see what it was like. It is an interesting read about one young man’s decision to experience a powerful hallucinogenic drug, and what he experienced.
It reminded me of when I was 20 and decided to take LSD (in my pre-Christian days). But what has spurred me to write is not to argue with any of his experience, but to explain what is missing from it – yea, and from ALL such explorations – the knowledge of God, and the understanding that such revelatory experiences are actually and often spiritual deceptions leading us towards death, or at least AWAY from eternal life.
For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light.
~ 1 Corinthians 11:14
GUIDE: Best Podcasts for Christians
I have subscribed to many podcasts over time, and most of them fail to enlighten significantly. However, a few have stood the test of time, and I enjoy them regularly. You’ll note that most of them are weekly rather than daily – because less often usually means better content.
Last Updated: 11.09.11
————————————-
SOURCES
- Lightsource.com – a vcast site for Christian ministries (I don’t vcast much, but there you go)
- Oneplace.com – this site is a clearing house for podcasts for thousands of popular ministries. Want to find your favorite radio preacher or show? Try here.
Setting Up A New Windows PC – Updated
I seem to build or rebuild a Windows hard drive regularly (like again today), so here’s my updated list of what to install.
Last Update: 01.18.2012
Changes:
- added Backup services
OWS – Right Diagnosis, Wrong Prescription
I’m a political and religious conservative, but I like to be in conversation with the evangelical left, since they keep us on the right from drifting into fanatical, judgmental, or extreme positions. Not that I believe in the logical fallacy of the argument to moderation, but I do like to keep my mind open even when I have drawn conclusions.
But today I got a money raising email from the Evangelical left publication Sojourners, which displayed to me the assumptions and logical mistakes of leftist logic regarding our economic woes and solutions for it. I have to discuss!
OWS vs. Tea Party Protests
Let’s put it plainly – the OWS protests are nothing like the Tea Party events. Despite the possibility of valid grievances, their “tear down the system” socialist radicalism is anything but constructive.
It’s hard to pin them down on any one issue, not because of their sophomoric egalitarian approach to decision making, but because every liberal frustrated at losing the public arguments in the political arena is now joining in and acting out like juveniles in a gleeful rebellion against authority. Yeah, we all did that in college, then we grew up – well, some of us.
What’s even more shameful is the main stream media’s support for this foolishness, as well as the Administration’s. Pathetic.
Let’s catalog just a few of the less than fringe occupations at the occupations, as nicely discussed in IBD’s editorial ‘Occupy’ Protests Dump On America:
- Lawlessness
- Childishness
- Violence
- Arrests
- Anti-semitism
- Terrible Messes
- Drugs
- Rapes
Good luck with that.
A summary of my contentions regarding Islam
I’ve written much on Islam over the past years, and thought to summarize it.
The Real History of the Crusades
For starters, the Crusades to the East were in every way defensive wars. They were a direct response to Muslim aggression – an attempt to turn back or defend against Muslim conquests of Christian lands.
With enormous energy, the warriors of Islam struck out against the Christians shortly after Mohammed’s death.
Can Islam Live in Peace With Other Religions?
It’s history and current events flatly say “no.”
Islam’s religious intolerance starts from it’s inception, and continues to this day, not because of fanatics who pervert its teachings, but because its foundational teachings are violent, racist, and produce a culture of oppression and control through fear, not of God, but of mortal violence from other “believers.”
If Islam is evil, why are there nice Muslims?
When I contend that Islam is inherently racist and murderous, I often hear the counter that if I am right, why are there so many nice Muslims? I certainly confirm that the Muslims I know and work with are gentle, beautiful and sometimes pious people. So what could explain these seemingly contradictory evidences?
There are simple answers to why there are nice Muslims despite the violent and hateful teachings and life of Mohammed:
1. Mohammed copied in many positive morals from Judaism and Christianity – so to some extent, any good found in Islam may not have arisen with Mohammed. In fact, since it claims that Abraham, Moses, and Jesus were prophets, this is to be expected.
2. Mohammed began with positive teachings, but digressed into hateful, murderous teaching as he was persecuted and as his power as a warlord grew. This mix of teaching allows Muslims to choose to ignore or hide his more hateful acts and teachings and convince themselves (and some others) that Islam is peaceful.
3. Here’s the main reason – people are born with a conscience, and their own humanity teaches them that certain acts and perspectives are evil. Most Muslims, like most humans, want to live in peace and in harmony with their neighbors, and anyone with a little maturity realizes that our perspectives change over time, and we want to give others the freedom to choose that we ourselves would want.
So most Muslims are nice, not because Islam lacks violent and hateful tenets, but because their humanity causes them to want to avoid and ignore these things.
The only way one can adopt the total perspective of Mohammed is to (a) give themselves over to hate and murder against their better judgment, or (b) convince themselves, as many Germans did under Nazism, that what they are doing, like killing Jews or non-Muslims, is good for society and mankind, or good because Allah commands it.
GUIDE: Safe, effective online shopping
There are many steps to finding and purchasing items at the best price online. And there are a growing number of great tools to help. Here are my tips for safe, effective, online shopping.
Last Update: 10.05.11
- Added slickdeals.net, tanga.com, The Tracktor, tflcar.com,
