When a dear friend of mine shared the Gospel of Jesus Christ with me, he knew nothing of my intellectual struggles. There was one thing that caught my attention that night when he talked to me about his faith: "You shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall set you free." And then Jesus adds: "And if the Son sets you free, you shall be free indeed."
Read the full article here.
There was the solution to my problem! I was blind to search for an impersonal Truth, an inexorable, merciless entity that holds the universe in an iron grip. And I was blind to search for Freedom that was focused on myself so much that would make the rest of the world irrelevant -- and make me irrelevant in the process. Truth was possible to know only if it was itself a Person; and Freedom was possible to have only if it was itself a Person. That Person couldn't be a mere man -- or I would be in slavery. He must be a god, or rather, God, the Creator of the Universe. And if the Bible was true, then my problems had one reason: I was a stranger to God, and thus I was a stranger to Freedom, Ethics, and Justice. I had to come back to Him, through the redemption He provided in Jesus Christ. Only then I had...everything.
If He was the Creator, He was the Truth. Knowing Him, I would know the Truth. He was Freedom too: He created my very nature and He knew what I should do to be in harmony with my real nature. And He was Justice for He gave me the rules for a just society that has liberty and justice for all. What all the philosophers wanted but couldn't find, He had it, and He was it.
Therefore I couldn't be a libertarian without Christ. I tried, and it was impossible -- philosophically and ethically. It was self-contradictory, it was against the very nature of things, and it was believing in a set of assumptions that had no discernible connection with reality or with each other. Only in Christ I had them all brought together in a coherent whole. And only in Christ did it make sense to be willing to die for your freedom -- without Him death was the ultimate judge of things, and slavery was preferable to facing death. "Give me liberty or give me death" was folly in a world without Christ -- but now it is divine wisdom in Him.
| 1/30/2010 |
| 9/17/2009 |
This is the time of year when we patriotic Americans like to reflect on our "rights" and what has been done to secure that freedom. Some of us may even pause to read the Declaration of Independence and contemplate just what it means to have certain inalienable rights, such as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
I would submit that we have no rights, at least not in the eternal sense. To argue otherwise is to adopt an entitlement mentality. Sadly, we Americans can't seem to help looking at liberty from the perspective of what we believe we are entitled to. When we complain about government intrusion into our lives, we gripe about "our freedoms" being taken away.
We need to remember that everything we have was given to us. We are entitled to nothing. In fact, the only things we deserve are death and eternal punishment (Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23, 2 Thessalonians 1:9). So, from a Christian standpoint, how do we reconcile our theology with the traditional American view of liberty?
The best way to interpret the concept of "inalienable rights" is to flip it around. When we speak of the right to life, liberty, property, the pursuit of happiness, etc., think of it not in terms of what a person deserves, but what a person isn't entitled to do to someone else. It doesn't mean that I am entitled to life, since that is an undeserved gift from my Creator; rather, it means that you have no right to take my life. The Bible calls that murder (Exodus 20:13). You have no right to take my property. That would be stealing (Exodus 20:15). And so on.
One important thing to note about the Ten Commandments is that in using words like "you shall not," they focus on God's rights, not ours. Since all men are created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27), all men should be treated with dignity, respect, and love -- not because they deserve it, but because God deserves it.
| 6/10/2009 |
| 4/12/2009 |
While trying to stay as active in politics as I can -- we Christians, after all, may not be of the world, but we are in it -- I don't ever want to forget that my mission, first and foremost, is to help spread the gospel. That is where our hope lies.
Just what is the gospel? Nothing more than the good news that Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, died for sinners, taking upon himself the wrath reserved for us. "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23, ESV), but "God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16).
The gospel is the hope for those already condemned. Simply repent of your sin and put your faith in Jesus Christ. There is nothing we can do to earn salvation; we must trust in the finished work of Christ, the only one who lived a sinless life and bore our punishment. The moment we believe, his righteousness is imputed to us. We become new creations, and God now sees us through the lens of what happened on Calvary.
There's more. Christ's resurrection, which we celebrate today, was his triumph over death: "Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ" (1 Corinthians 15:20-23).
My prayer is that our nation will turn and embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the only true freedom we will ever know.
| 3/31/2009 |
| 12/24/2008 |
Labels: Culture/Society, Religion
'Tis the season to be melancholy. Haven't you heard? Christmas is under attack! Christians all across America are being persecuted! You thought Nero was bad? Our most sacred of days is being secularized and no one seems to be doing anything to stop it!
Is this a foreshadowing of the coming Great Tribulation? Are we about to see the fulfillment of Revelation 13:17? Will we wake up one morning and discover that we cannot buy Christmas presents for our loved ones unless our hands or foreheads bear the mark of the Beast? Surely we must be living in the End Times!
Okay, back to reality...
Yes, I believe there are assaults on the tradition of Christmas, just as surely as the world rails against anything associated with Christ and his church. But given the state of our secular, hedonistic culture, it really isn't all that surprising when some people are offended when you wish them a "Merry Christmas."
It goes both ways, however. Many Christians are just as offended when they are greeted with the words "Happy Holidays" or "Season's Greetings." "How dare you take Christ out of Christmas!" they shout, as they claw, punch and bite their way through a gaggle of shoppers for the last Xbox 360 on the shelf so that they and their spoiled children can properly celebrate the Savior's birth.
Don't get me wrong. Despite the fact that, after all this time, I still have not received a Red Ryder carbine-action, 200-shot, range model air rifle, I love Christmas. It is a time set aside for fellowship with friends and family. It is also the time of year during which we focus on the birth of Jesus Christ. While that does make Christmas a significant holiday, there isn't anything especially holy about it.
Debate continues even within Christian circles about the origins of Christmas. "Its roots go back to the pagan rituals of ancient Rome," some will argue. "No," others reply. "Christmas is a distinctly Christian celebration and should be embraced." Whatever your particular view may be, the fact remains that Christmas is a man-made holiday.
Romans 14:5 says, "One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind." That is not to say that traditions aren't important or that churches shouldn't have special days on their calendars. But considering that the only celebration in remembrance of Christ that is called for in scripture is the Lord's Supper, can we really justify getting worked up simply because we don't see the word "Christmas" in a store display?
My point is that many of us have a tendency to overreact when we see things we don't like. That is especially true at Christmastime. We're geared up for a fight, and when we hear the jingle bells ring we come out swinging.
Alistair Begg, pastor of Parkside Church in Cleveland, Ohio, once noted in a sermon that the weapons of the believer are "prayer and the proclamation of the Word." Those are the weapons we should be using. "As soon as we lay down the two weapons given by our Commander," Begg continued, "we will be forced to take up the weapons that are present in our culture. And so we become just another marching special interest group..."
The result is a boycott here and a lawsuit there in the hope that an unbelieving world will relent and allow us to express our Christian beliefs. Of course, what usually happens is that we end up looking every bit as shallow and selfish as the very ones we believe are out to get us. We forget to exhibit Christ's love in a fallen world.
Is that how we want to be seen? Is that what we are called to do? Is our dedication to the defense of the gospel of Christ defined by how ferociously we defend a particular holiday? Will our petty complaints about society's disregard for the "true meaning" of Christmas help us reach lost souls?
This Christmas, may we be less offended by the "secularization" of a man-made holiday and be more focused on living as examples of the One whose birth we're celebrating. The world doesn't need Christmas; what it does need is Christ.
| 10/22/2008 |
In a case that has illustrated Afghanistan's drift toward a more radically conservative brand of Islam as well as the fragility of its legal system, an appeals court Tuesday overturned a death sentence for a student convicted of blasphemy but sentenced him to 20 years in prison.
The student, Parwez Kambakhsh, 24, ran afoul of Afghan authorities last year when he circulated an article about women's rights under Islam after downloading it from the Internet. He was studying at the time in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, where he also worked as a part-time journalist for local newspapers.
Arrested by security police and initially held without charges, he was eventually tried on blasphemy charges, convicted and sentenced to death.
Tuesday's ruling by a three-judge appeals court panel was a blow to human rights groups and advocates of press freedom who have championed Kambakhsh's cause.
International organizations, including New York-based Human Rights Watch, said the case pointed to a troubling lack of respect for freedom of speech and individual liberties in Afghanistan, nearly seven years after a U.S.-led invasion toppled the Taliban fundamentalist Islamic movement.
| 8/26/2008 |
Labels: Party Politics, Religion
As Dr. David Alan Black notes in his latest essay:God's will hic et nunc is not to improve the American Way of Life. Politics is a false god if ever there was one. God or Mammon. Jesus or Julius. We must simply decide.
"The transforming power of the cross." Talk about change we can believe in!
Jesus tells us, "Make disciples of all nations." I don't know about you, but I'll stick with the transforming power of the cross, which alone can lay the foundation for "real change," a "new beginning," or whatever other slogans the candidates and their parties will hype this election year.
| 8/22/2008 |
They call themselves the Matthew 25 Network. Here is their mission statement:
The Matthew 25 Network is a community of Christians -- Catholic, Protestant, Pentecostal, and Evangelical -- inspired by the Gospel mandate to put our faith into action to care for our neighbor, especially the most vulnerable.
The group takes its name from Matthew 25:40: "I tell you the truth, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me." I find this ironic given the fact that Senator Obama is rabidly pro-abortion and stands behind Roe v. Wade 100%. Try as I might, I just can't imagine supporting someone who sees the infanticide going on in this country (49 million dead and counting) and thinks there's nothing wrong with it.
The election of our public officials, and the politics they stand for, are a reflection of our core values. We believe that those elected to public office carry an important trust, as their decisions have a profound impact on our nation and our world.
We believe that people of faith should actively participate in the political process as an important avenue for social change. We are called by our faith to engage in the world as it is, while we seek after and hope for God's Kingdom.
Therefore, while no elected official will be without flaw, we come together as individuals to support candidates for public office who share the values of the Matthew 25 Network: promoting life with dignity, caring for the least of these, strengthening and supporting families, stewardship of God's Creation, working for peace and justice at home and abroad, and promoting the common good.
To be fair, Republican Christians aren't off the hook either. Their candidates of choice -- George W. Bush, John McCain, and every other "conservative" who believes in waging preemptive war on civilian populations -- are anything but pro-life.
| 8/10/2008 |
Though you probably never learned it in school, Nagasaki was the center of Christianity in Japan at the time, and home to the largest Roman Catholic cathedral in the country. The city was, ironically, a haven for Christians who had escaped persecution in other parts of Japan over the centuries.
Any "point" the United States government sought to make about its newly devised military power, whether to the Japanese or to the Soviets, had already been made all too well by its devastating explosion of an atomic bomb over Hiroshima three days earlier. The decision to drop the second bomb must be condemned by every decent person as a gratuitous criminal act. The U.S. armed forces had already killed hundreds of thousands of Japanese civilians by fire-bombing the highly flammable houses and other structures in which the people lived and worked. To kill another huge number of people -- men, women, and children, prisoners of war, foreigners, and other innocent persons in the city -- was a war crime, plain and simple. That many Americans continue, even today, to defend this senseless and flagrantly brutal act is shameful.
| 8/06/2008 |
Labels: Religion
And yet I still hear people praise God for putting a man of faith in the White House.
| 5/22/2008 |
Labels: Elections, Party Politics, Religion, Statism
Rod Parsley's state-based theology is every bit as dangerous as Jeremiah Wright's race-based theology.
| 5/05/2008 |
Labels: Foreign Policy, Imperialism, Religion, War
"The War Prayer" is a short story that was written during the aftermath of the Philippine-American War by Mark Twain and published after his death. In 2007, Markos Kounalakis, the president of The Washington Monthly, adapted the text for this animated short film.This could easily have been written in response to the current "war on terror." We really haven't changed all that much.
Consider how many churches display the American flag prominently in their pulpits. Is it any wonder why we seem to have such a hard time drawing a distinction between loyalty to Christ and loyalty to country?
A couple of months ago, I heard a comment that saddened me deeply. In the context of discussing how the brutality of bin Laden and other Muslim thugs may be turning people away from Islam, someone mentioned that it's good for Christianity to have the U.S. military involved in the Middle East, and that having Christian GIs in Iraq will help spread the gospel.
Oh. Is that why we invaded Iraq and killed hundreds of thousands of people? It was all part of furthering God's kingdom?
What we did was commit a naked act of aggression against a sovereign nation that neither attacked nor threatened us. Our "liberation" of Iraq has since given rise to terrorist groups that weren't there before and has resulted in a great amount of bloodshed. It has also displaced thousands of Christians who now face violent persecution from militant Muslims. Do American Christians now feel we must justify the actions of our government on the basis that it will help spread the gospel?
My friend Dave Black asks, "How is that we have allowed the Christian Right to be defined by delusional idealism and religious zeal? How is it that American evangelicals not only approved but actually glamorized the war as a form of Christian 'mission'?"
As a Christian and a Calvinist, I understand that God controls all things and does ordain evil for good (Genesis 50:20). But we as Christians should never equate the spreading of the gospel with the use of military force. We are fighting a spiritual war (Ephesians 6:12-13) and our weapon of choice is the "sword of the spirit" (Ephesians 6:17). We should be prepared to give our own lives for the sake of the gospel (Matthew 16:25, John 12:24-25), not to take the lives of others.
| 4/22/2008 |
Labels: Environment, Religion
Genesis 1:1
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
Genesis 1:26
Then 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 birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."
Deuteronomy 32:1
"Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak, and let the earth hear the words of my mouth."
1st Chronicles 16:31
Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice, and let them say among the nations, "The Lord reigns!"
Psalm 24:1-2
The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof,
the world and those who dwell therein,
for he has founded it upon the seas
and established it upon the rivers.
Matthew 24:35
Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
Romans 8:19-22
For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.
1st Corinthians 10:25-26
Eat whatever is sold in the meat market without raising any question on the ground of conscience. For "the earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof."
Revelation 21:1
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.
| 3/14/2008 |
Labels: Free Market, Party Politics, Religion
The White House estimates that faith-based and community organizations have received $7.5 billion in government grants since 2003, while secular nonprofits have received $25 billion. In January's State of the Union address, President Bush called on legislators to permanently extend laws making federal funding available to religiously affiliated social services.
President Bush's unconstitutional faith-based initiatives merely allowed the federal bureaucracy to get its foot in the church door. Christian organizations foolish and greedy enough to accept federal funds (i.e., taxpayer dollars confiscated through brute force) need to wake up to the fact that the time will come when they will be expected to dance to the government's tune.
The next President will face several challenges in continuing the faith-based office's work, however. One is the unresolved debate over whether faith-based organizations can discriminate in hiring based on applicants' religious beliefs, a nonnegotiable for many Christian social-service providers. Perceptions of partisanship and questionable success in distributing funds have also clouded the office's achievements.
| 3/10/2008 |
Labels: Foreign Policy, Religion, War
How is that we have allowed the Christian Right to be defined by delusional idealism and religious zeal? How is it that American evangelicals not only approved but actually glamorized the war as a form of Christian "mission"? ... It is more than an embarrassment for the evangelical church in America that we have gone forth into the world with gun and Bible, flag and cross.
It seems most Christians have forgotten that "we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 6:12). If we Christians would focus as much energy on fighting the real war as we do on chasing phantom threats to our national security, we might actually see the world change for the better.
| 3/04/2008 |
| 2/02/2008 |
Labels: Culture/Society, Nanny State, Party Politics, Religion
Anderson, however, tacked on a correction at the end of his article after Pastor Warren wrote to say that he disagrees with Wallis's "big government approach." Warren also claimed to be a fan of Von Mises.
Why do I have a hard time believing that? Oh, right. I remember now.
Warren was one of the signers of the Evangelical Climate Initiative. In fact, his name appears just below that of Jim Wallis on the ECI web site. As you may recall, the ECI calls for federal legislation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through "cost-effective, market-based mechanisms." Of course, as we all know, having government involved means it will be neither cost-effective nor market-based.
Dr. Anderson, there's no need to apologize to Rick Warren. I admire you for trying to rectify what you saw as a mistake on your part, but I think your initial assessment was correct. Warren most definitely falls in with the statist crowd.
| 12/30/2007 |
Here is the video in question:Shocking, isn't it? I can see why atheists would be scurrying for the hills.
Please. Atheists have nothing to fear from Ron Paul. In fact, he is perhaps the best friend atheists have in politics. He is a Christian who actually believes in the Romans 13 command to submit to governing authority -- in this case, the Constitution of the United States. And that means he would not use government to impose his religious beliefs on the masses. In other words, he wouldn't push the teaching of creationism in public schools because he views a federally controlled, taxpayer-funded education system as unconstitutional in the first place.
But then that's the real problem atheists have with Paul, isn't it? Atheists have relied on a federally controlled, taxpayer-funded education system to force their agenda and beliefs down the throats of American children for decades. Perhaps they are afraid someone will finally neutralize the most effective weapon of proselytization in their arsenal.
| 11/23/2007 |
Had Toni Vernelli gone ahead with her pregnancy ten years ago, she would know at first hand what it is like to cradle her own baby, to have a pair of innocent eyes gazing up at her with unconditional love, to feel a little hand slipping into hers -- and a voice calling her Mummy.
This is an example of "ecofeminism" at its worst.
But the very thought makes her shudder with horror.
Because when Toni terminated her pregnancy, she did so in the firm belief she was helping to save the planet. ...
... At the age of 27 this young woman at the height of her reproductive years was sterilised to "protect the planet".
Incredibly, instead of mourning the loss of a family that never was, her boyfriend (now husband) presented her with a congratulations card.
While some might think it strange to celebrate the reversal of nature and denial of motherhood, Toni relishes her decision with an almost religious zeal.
What I find interesting is that people like this have no problem sacrificing their children to "save the planet," but they never seem to think of sacrificing themselves or their sex lives. They aren't environmental heroes; they're sick, twisted, selfish individuals who are practicing child sacrifice in an effort to appease their pagan god.
