The Blind Leading the Blind

Ex-Traffic Cop in Siberia Says He's Jesus! Click here to read and watch this story. Take notice of how emotionally driven the followers are and how cliche this "Jesus" is.

The Good, The Bad, and The Controversial

If you are reading or thinking of reading or are just curious about the popular best seller The Shack, listen to this panel discussion with Pastors Jeff Miller and Brian Gross, and professor Michael Burer. They present fair, balanced, and cogent arguments for the good, the bad, and the controversial issues raised in the book. It is approximately an 1 hour and 44 minutes but is worth listening to.

Books for the Woodshed

Truth Decay

About 5 years ago I was privileged to sit under Christian philosopher, apologist, preacher, writer, Douglas Groothuis who was the interim at my church for 6 months. He was instrumental in introducing me to the life of the mind and a love for apologetics.

"Truth Decay, Defending Christianity Against the Challenges of Postmodernism" was the first book I read from Groothuis. In it he gives a brief history of Modernity to Postmodernity, demonstrates the biblical view of Truth, critiques various postmodernist philosophers, and provides apologetic ammo for facing the challenges of Postmodernism. It will enkindle you to defend Truth both biblically and logically in the "vital areas of theology, apologetics, ethics and the arts."
This is a must read for every Christian serious about engaging the culture for Christ!

To delve even deeper on the subject, you can also listen to a classroom lecture setting on topics included in "Truth Decay." It will take quite a while to listen to every lecture, given that each runs around 10 minutes to 1 hour and 20 minutes, but it is worth the task.

Nature of Apologetics, 1
Nature of Apologetics, 2
Developing an Apologetic Mind, 1
Developing an Apologetic Mind, 2
Worldviews, Truth, and Knowledge, 1
Worldviews, Truth, and Knowledge, 2
Truth and Knowledge
Conventionalism
Testing Worldviews.
Apologetic Role Playing
Religious Pluralism and Exclusivism
Brief Comments on the Medium of Video

"What's So Great About God?"

If you live here in Colorado make sure to attend this debate! Christopher Hitchens (Atheist) will be debating Dinesh D'Souza (Christian) Monday, January 26, 2009, 7PM at CU, Mackey Auditorium.

Some Thoughts on Martin Luther, Christianity, and Spirituality

I recently watched the movie Luther. It is of course about Martin Luther and the Reformation of the 16th century which began out of protest to the heresy of the Catholic church's use of "indulgences." "Roman Catholic theology stated that faith alone, whether fiduciary or dogmatic, cannot justify man; and that only such faith as is active in charity and good works (fides caritate formata) can justify man. These good works could be obtained by donating money to the church." Luther's contention against "indulgences" led him to write "the 95 Theses" which in turn began the Protestant Reformation. The Protestant Reformation was a defining moment of The Church.

What a reminder that many, throughout the centuries, have suffered, sometimes to the point of death, for the preservation and proclamation of the gospel. This is still happening around the world today. For example I have friends who journey to China once a year to smuggle bibles into the country. The Church there is confined to meet in secret, usually in homes. In some countries, either political ideologies (such as communism) or religious theocracies (Islam) prevent the freedom to worship openly as one chooses. Here in America pluralism affords us the freedom to worship freely and openly, a freedom we often take for granted.

While we do not have "indulgences" as in the 16th century, our own postmodern ethos vexes the church with new challenges. Take for example, how many churches today, in an effort to reach "seekers" watered down the message of the gospel by giving into methods of modernity. Often times method overshadows the message. Pushing the antithesis between Christianity and the alternative is critical for the Church in a time when "being spiritual" is cool; never mind the "sacred/secular"split. The Church also needs to be more than just "people of faith"! "Faith" seems to be such a buzz word these days. "Faith" in what? Christianity mustn't be obscure. It must stand apart from the hodgepodge of "spirituality" so popular in todays culture. The fluff of "faith" (in the Christian world) can especially be seen in recent books.

To be sure, take note of such cultural phenomena's in books like "The Purpose Driven Life", "Your Best Life Now", or "The Shack." The spreading of the Gospel may be the intention of these books, although orthodoxy could be called into question with two of the books mentioned. But what have they done to set Christianity apart from "spirituality"? How do they provide epistemic warrant against Oprah Winfrey? What sets Family Christian Stores apart from my local metaphysical book store in respect to some of the books they sell? Do we, like Martin Luther, long for the purity and the simplicity of the gospel to be preached? Unadulterated and untarnished?

Just as Luther stood up for the gospel in his day so too, we must also stand up for the gospel. We must unabashedly deliver it in our churches, convey it in our apologetic discussions (found in the presuppositional method), choose books that help us love it, and most of all "we must get into the Word of God and get the Word of God into us so that when a counterfeit looms on the horizon we will know it instantly."

In the 16th Century Truth mattered to Luther. In the 21st Century Truth should matter to us. We should be ready to defend it and present as set apart in an culture of "spirituality." We must push the antithesis.

Thoughts

"... the current evangelical disposition to shuck off its cognitive structures and minimize the practical place of revealed truth in the life of the Church means that it has brought itself to the edge of a precipice. It is a precipice precisely because as evangelical faith has chosen to minimize itself in these ways in order to become attractive to postmodern seekers, it is losing what makes it distinctive from all of the other postmodern spiritualities. Today, it trembles on the edge of becoming just one of many spiritualities in the marketplace even as the liberal Protestants much earlier diminished Christianity by making it out to be just one among many religions better than the others, perhaps, but not unique." -David Wells, Above All Earthly Pow'rs,Christ in a Postmodern World