Archive for October, 2009
The Wedding Saga: My Dilemma
A couple months ago, an elder at my family church was reprimanded and kicked out for having an “improper hermeneutic”. Apparently he was beginning to question the doctrine of Lordship salvation as he saw that it was being used by the church as an element of control. Basically Lordship salvation holds that a person is not actually saved unless they make Jesus their Lord. This means that a church can, at their discretion, determine whether a member is “making Christ their Lord” based upon the members assessed behavior. Ultimately, this elder was concerned the church was becoming extremely legalistic and un-Christlike in their love towards those attending. Basically, they were using doctrine to be assholes.
Now, step back a few months before. This elder was sitting in an elders meeting in which nearly every elder, except for the pastor, admitted they did not know what “hermeneutics” was. My father is the elder who explicitly said this. They immediately all agreed that they needed to study hermeneutics.
So imagine this elder’s surprise when he is told that he is in a form of rebellion against the church and was being kicked out for having an improper hermeneutic. Obviously, the pastor had a strongarm in this decision. To make a long story short, he was basically told to write his resignation letter or else he would be dismissed that Sunday. He was not allowed to defend himself, his position, or get a clear answer as to what he had done wrong. The most obvious conclusion given the circumstances was that he was the most educated elder besides the pastor and the pastor was beginning to be jealous of the amount of influence he had. The kicked out elder was becoming interested in allowing my brother’s fiance to lead a Bible study and the pastor was basically like “we don’t know who this girl is or what she will teach…”
Continue Reading October 14, 2009 at 1:29 am Joshua 70 comments
WWJD Series: Jesus and Anger Management
Jesus is almost always held up as the great, human example of love. He’s supposed to embody all that the Christian should aspire to (WWJD). When a Christian does something mean, unloving, etc, they often say they messed up and need to be more Christ-like. But since I now can look at the Bible objectively -i.e., without filtering it through a set of presuppositions that demand that it must all be (mis)interpreted so that it “looks good”- I see that being angry, hateful, vengeful, even going on the out and out attack, is really being very Christ-like. It’s just the sort of thing Jesus would do.
In fact, according to the gospels, he seems to have had some problems with anger management.
Let’s look at a few situations to see WWJD.
Fig tree withering:
Matt 21:18-19 “Early in the morning, as he was on his way back to the city, he was hungry. Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, “May you never bear fruit again!” Immediately the tree withered.”
OR
Mark 11:12-14, 20-21 “The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. Then he said to the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard him say it. ….. In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. Peter remembered and said to Jesus, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!”…
Continue Reading October 12, 2009 at 2:16 pm LeoPardus 54 comments
Take this, Transcendental Argument for God’s Existence…
It occurred to me today that probably the core loophole in all of theism is found in the inherent impossibility for God /gods to be described without assuming the universe already exists. Try it! (Friendly reminder, you can’t use any words that assume space and time exist. You know, core words like “in”, “outside of”, “before”, “beginning”, “pre-existing”, “incarnate”, “only”, etc.)
Consider one example: the phrase “God is three in one” or even “God is one”.
Apologist Dr. James White said in a recent debate: “numbers are a part of Creation itself”.
However, if God created numbers then it is idolatrous and irrational to use any numbers to describe God. If God did not create numbers yet has properties defined numerically, then a believer admits there is something more fundamental to reality than God.
Now, to help see how silly all this is, imagine how many people have been killed for not accepting the correct numerical description of God…
Continue Reading October 11, 2009 at 2:49 pm Joshua 12 comments
Holy Political Text, Batman!
I know this news is several days old and, therefore, ancient by today’s standards. Moreover, other bloggers have scooped me on this, but I’ll touch on it anyway. Some of the conservatives at conservapedia have launched the Conservative Bible Project, an effort to rid the Bible of its alleged current liberal biases and restore its original conservative bent. Apparently, the Bible, translated and interpreted correctly, lines up perfectly with contemporary American right-wing Republicanism. Who would have guessed?
Generally speaking, I could care less what Christians do with their holy book. I should think, however, that Christians would care deeply about the matter. At least one conservative Christian commenter at the Washington Post agrees with me:
Does anyone other than me find it ironic that the Conservative Bible Project hijacks a supposedly sacred text and manipulates it for political purposes? Then again, it’s not like that’s never happened before. Still, this strikes me as a disrespectful way to treat one’s holy book. Is it too much to ask conservative Christians to recognize that the Bible is a collection of religious writings? It’s not a science book, or a history book, or a psychology book, or a sociology text, or a political platform. It’s a collection of religious reflections – many of which referred to scientific, historic and other ideas as they were understood at the time – on humankind’s place in the cosmos. Some of those reflections still have value for contemporary humans, others – not so much.
One of the most interesting reinterpretations offered on the Washington Post comment thread was this:
If that commenter’s right, then my guess is that Caesar would have gotten along well with George W. Bush. Hmm. Maybe the Bible is a conservative political text after all.
– the chaplain
Christianity or Islam?
This is just hilariously fun.
Common Sense vs. Christian Perspectives #1
“Despite our very best efforts, despite our tears and prayers, children can still rebel against God. As always our primary need is to turn to the Bible, which has the power to change lives.” – link
Common Sense:
How can you know the Bible is powerful if it can’t even keep your kids from going to hell after having it crammed into their heads year after year for their entire childhood? That isn’t very powerful at all. Maybe the very fact that they can listen to the Bible for so long and never truly experience any power is good evidence to them that what you are teaching about the Bible’s power is bullshit.
In fact, if you cram Mein Kampf into a childs head for year after year it can make him or her turn into a Nazi! Wow, that is true power.
- Cram Mein Kampf: child will probably turn into a Nazi or socialist of some sort. Maybe he will be a liberal Nazi or maybe – horror! – he will reject Nazism altogether.
- Cram Bible: child will probably turn into a Christian of some sort. Maybe he will turn into a liberal Christian or maybe – horror! – he will reject Christianity altogether.
Wow, God’s power looks a lot like psychology, statistics, and brainwashing in action.
Conclusion: the Bible is no different in power than Mein Kampf.
Why not just say that people who believe things act on those beliefs? And if they do not believe they won’t act on it…
Continue Reading October 1, 2009 at 2:00 pm Joshua 40 comments
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