Christian Standpoint

Wake-up Time

2012-02-22T10:16:00.010-05:00

Let’s stroll down memory lane. I remember saying the Lord’s Prayer in public school until the Supreme Court banned it. Up until then Christian faith was respected; America was Christian and that was OK.

But the siege had begun. The Ten Commandments were removed from courthouses and crosses were torn from hilltops. Christmas morphed from a celebration of Jesus’s birth into a legal free-for-all as lawsuits to ban Christmas from public schools and crèches from town squares became common. Political correctness dictated we say “Happy Holidays,” and “Merry Christmas“ became an almost subversive greeting. Anti-God ads on buses, subways and billboards slammed Christianity annually.

A “work of art” depicting a crucifix submerged in the artist’s urine got wide publicity. It was distasteful and outrageous, but the media made sure every sentient human being in America could see it. The press promoted stories about unhinged "Christians," like the tiny hate group that picketed military funerals or the obscure preacher who threatened to burn the Qur'an. Splinter groups got the spotlight while the vast majority of Christians observed their faith in quiet anonymity.

Christianity has been relentlessly assaulted and its status chipped away, but we believed the government would protect our rights until the madness passed. Until recently.

The federal government ordered Roman Catholic hospitals, charities, colleges, parochial schools and social service agencies to provide insurance coverage that violated church teachings. In a nutshell, they must pay for abortion pills or face many millions of dollars in punitive fines that will threaten their existence.

The rule isn’t sensible on a few levels. First, these institutions have always been subject to the conscience clause which allows them to avoid complying with such mandates, so this order violates precedent. Second, everything mandated can be obtained by individuals privately without forcing the church to violate its moral standards. If abortion pills, contraception and sterilization are critically important to an employee he can buy them privately or find another job that offers coverage for them.

The third is the most mind-boggling. Catholic organizations play a huge role in our society. Communities across the country will suffer if these institutions are compelled to curtail services or close down.

If they’re financially unstable who will fill the void? Here’s a scary thought: maybe the strategy is to force the church to sell out to private companies. Secularists would get a twofer: the rules would be enforced and Christian outreach slashed at the same time.

This isn’t about contraception; it’s about freedom of religion. It’s triggered a firestorm of protest and the rule may yet be modified. Even if it is, the lesson remains that secularists are willing to go beyond filing individual anti-Christian court cases brought by private citizens to issuing unilateral government commands that limit religious expression.

Our society has trashed God for decades, and now we’re on the cusp of making Him legally irrelevant. History shows what happens when matters of conscience are dictated by whoever has political power, and it is dangerous.

It’s wake-up time.

Photo Credit: bedbathandbeyond.com

Sprituality for Sale

2012-02-08T11:42:00.005-05:00

Karl Marx

Karl Marx, who would’ve made a great shopping mall Santa, said “religion is the opiate (actually, “opium”) of the masses,” seeing it as a fabricated device that comforted naïve, ignorant common folk. Marx’s 19^th century Communist theories were thoroughly discredited in the 20^th century, but somehow he still has credibility among those insulated from reality enough to still think he was onto something.

Communists are atheists for good reason. They need to destroy the moral framework of a society in order to impose their system, and this means repudiating God. And they did, rejecting God’s guidance and implementing a system that eliminated freedom and individual rights. It impoverished entire populations and killed millions around the world.

But it couldn’t kill the thirst for God. Trying to deny man’s need for a higher power is a fool’s errand. Even if people aren’t Christian they still have a God-shaped hole in their hearts and seek ways to fill it with something that provides peace, understanding and hope. In the spirit of Herr Marx, our skeptical culture has tried to marginalize and discredit Christianity, leaving people to seek  answers elsewhere. They don’t have to look far for options.

Books, seminars and websites with enticing hooks claim to fill the void.   Surf the web and you’ll find promises to “shift you into a new magical awareness of your life,””learn the secrets of how our souls work,” give you “a profound understanding of the deepest forces of your essence,” “make you the captain of your subconscious mind,” take you “to a shining place of candid self-realization,” teach “healing that aligns you with the vibration of money,” get the “happiness which is your birthright,” find “the enchanted path of enlightenment,” and “romance the God I AM within.”    Graduates of the last program will have a particularly interesting discussion with St. Peter at the Pearly Gates.

Practitioners offer psychic, numerological, “energy pattern” and astrological readings. Some sell self-hypnosis, Feng Shui, meditation and life coaching help.   There’s probably a fortune teller with a crystal ball out there too.

See any similarities between them? First, they charge handsomely for their advice. Capitalist sages see the opportunity to fill a need and make a buck. But secondly - and more importantly - they all focus inwardly on the self, as if we have the capacity within ourselves to reach spiritual fulfillment. If this were true, mankind would have figured out which therapies worked and weeded out the imposters long ago.

The problem is they’re all imposters.

Unlike followers of the guru du jour, Christians understand their own weaknesses and imperfections, know the source of their strength is outside of themselves, and that it comes from God. When a society practices the lessons taught by Jesus, the result is personal responsibility, sensible decision-making and a moral framework that discourages the rampant social dysfunctions we see today. Our politically correct culture dismisses God just like Marx did, and we're drifting into chaos because of it.

“Spirituality for sale” schemes only misdirect the attention of those who really need Christian faith. And by distracting people one at a time, they impede a return to the Christian values our society profoundly needs.

Photo credit: en.wikipedia.org

The Vilification of JoePa

2012-01-25T10:35:00.005-05:00

Joe Paterno 1926-2012

Joe Paterno arrived at Pennsylvania State College in 1950. It was located thirty miles from the nearest railroad station and you drove there on secondary roads. It wasn’t on a route between population centers, so it wasn’t even a rest stop for travelers. Today Pennsylvania State University enrolls over 44,000 students and is serviced by highways able to move the 107,000 fans who attend Nittany Lions football games.

In 1955 Paterno became the head football coach and turned Penn State into a powerhouse. His teams won two national championships and he holds the major college record for wins. He lived in a modest house on campus and didn’t seek the big money contracts other coaches demanded, preferring to donate millions to the university. In a collegiate sports world where the ideal of “student athlete” is often an oxymoron, Paterno insisted on producing players who earned degrees for 46 years.

Paterno lived by his Christian principles and emphasized the work ethic and the importance of fair play. His integrity imbued the university with a sense of specialness; if you’ve ever met a Penn Stater you know what I mean.   Joe shared his sense of decency widely, whether holding the door for a student, calling an underclassman’s cancer-stricken parent or getting out of his car to castigate a student he saw littering. It was an indelible moment for the litterer, who thought it was like being reprimanded by God.

He earned the endearing nickname “JoePa.”

He was an 85 year-old man who dedicated his long life to his faith and the moral pursuit of excellence. Thousands of kind gestures. Generous donations. Untold lives inspired, improved and turned around.

Then, the week after breaking the record for total wins, a former assistant coach was charged with sexual abuse of a child and Paterno was accused of quashing it. The national media and a chorus of indignant, condescending, shrill voices demanded action against him. Within a week, a stellar reputation was torched and a legend fired in a phone call by trustees who didn’t have the decency to tell him in person. They even removed his name from the Big Ten championship trophy.

In 2002 a graduate assistant told Paterno about an incident he had witnessed but withheld the details from him. Paterno followed procedure and notified university officials. He was pilloried for not doing more, but just what did they expect him to do? Appoint himself judge, jury and executioner on the basis of hearsay?

The Bible tells us it’s not our place to judge, and Paterno responsibly turned the case over to those in a position to investigate.   Nevertheless the media salivated over the chance to ruin a good man and dogged him with video cameras and microphones, today’s equivalent of torches and pitchforks.

Joe Paterno died last weekend, 11 weeks after the scandal broke. History may well vacate the kangaroo court’s decision, but in the meantime the only judge who counts is no doubt welcoming JoePa with open arms.

Photo credit: dailyherald.com

Steve Jobs

2012-01-11T10:34:00.002-05:00

Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs, the intense, creative, groundbreaking, domineering, obsessive co-founder of Apple Computer was the face of cutting edge technology. The world was stunned when he died.

He gave a commencement speech at Stanford University. An excerpt:

“No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because death is very likely the single best invention of life. It’s life’s change agent: it clears the old to make way for the new. Right now, the new is you. But someday, not too long from now, you will gradually become old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it’s quite true.”

Andy Crouch of Christianity Today saw him as a secular evangelist for technology-generated hope when he “strode on stage with a miracle in his pocket.” But his cold outlook was godless, soulless, self-centered, morally neutral and offered no promise of an afterlife. On 60 Minutes Jobs said “You’re born alone, you’re gonna die alone. And does anything else really matter? I mean what is it exactly, is it that you have to lose? You know? There’s nothing.”

This was consistent with his embrace of Zen Buddhism, which is non-theistic and denies the existence of self.

But impending death challenged him. He told biographer Walter Isaacson “Sometimes I believe in God, sometimes I don’t. I think it’s 50-50 maybe. But ever since I’ve had cancer, I’ve been thinking about it more. And I find myself believing a bit more….. maybe it’s because I want to believe in an afterlife.’

Steve Jobs was consumed with work to the exclusion of many other things, including God. Once his illness slowed him down he seems to have sensed Him and decided there was a better than even chance for an afterlife after all. Shortly before he died Jobs told his sister “that he was going to a better place.”

“Oh wow, Oh wow, Oh wow” were Steve Jobs’ last words. Peggy Noonan, writing in, The Wall Street Journal, thinks they “were the best thing said in 2011.” “What happened there that he looked away from his family and expressed what sounds like awe?”

Noonan told of a friend whose son died at home, surrounded by family. “As Robert breathed his last an infant in the room let out a great baby laugh as if he saw something joyous, wonderful and gestured toward the area above Robert’s head. The infant’s mother, startled, moved to shush him but my friend, her mother, said no, maybe he’s reacting to …something only babies see.” And the dying person experiences.

Monumental wealth, fame and success still leaves one guessing about the afterlife. Steve Jobs learned it exists when he finally met God. It would have been better if he’d been a Christian and known Him long before he died.

Tebow's Viral Prayer

2011-12-28T10:54:00.010-05:00

Tim Tebow "tebowing"

te-bow-ing v. To get down on a knee and start praying, even if everyone around you is doing something completely different.

Our latest word, already included in two dictionaries, originated from National Football League quarterback Tim Tebow’s practice of going to one knee and giving thanks to God. He’s always done this, but his string of improbable last-minute heroics for the Denver Broncos has put the spotlight on “tebowing.”

Tim was born into a missionary family in the Philippines, where his mother suffered a life-threatening condition while pregnant with him. She refused an abortion and gave birth to a healthy child. Mom homeschooled Tim and his siblings even after they moved to Florida, where homeschooled kids can play on high school teams.

At the University of Florida he won two national championships, received the Davey O’Brien Award for being the nation’s best quarterback and was the first sophomore to win the Heisman Trophy, which goes to the best football player in the country.

Sometimes great college quarterbacks don’t make it in the NFL and Tebow was tagged as one of them. According to Jason Gay of The Wall Street Journal, he “runs, but he doesn’t run gracefully. He runs upright and frantic, like he’s stealing a toaster from a mall.” It’s said “he cannot throw a proper pass. He cannot stand still in the pocket” where he’d be protected and “he can’t run a conventional offense,” which reduces his team’s options and exposes himself to dangerous hits.

Another thing he can’t do is “get through an interview without mentioning his faith. Or giving credit to his teammates. Tim Tebow never sounds like he’s full of Tim Tebow."

"He doesn’t even get mad when people say nasty things about him. When people say Tim Tebow needs to improve, Tim Tebow says he needs to improve. Who does that?” “Nothing seems to rattle him. He smiles and doesn’t sulk.”

There’s a website where people post pictures of themselves “tebowing” all over the world in all kinds of places. It’s had over 14,000 photo submissions and 12 million hits. No doubt most of these are just people aping the latest fad, but it doesn’t seem anyone is putting down Tim’s faith by doing it. Is it possible his modest Christian straightness is so refreshing it’s become cool?

The politically correct mob has been so overwhelmed by the explosion of people performing a prayer-based act they’ve been dumbstruck. They know they look foolish denigrating Tebow for now, but they won’t stay in the shadows for long. Daniel Engber in Slate.com summed up the attitude when he said he wants Tebow to cut it out because it’s “making me question my atheism.”

“Tebowing” will probably disappear as fast as it arose. But while it’s popular, participants must at least momentarily consider what the gesture means. Some may open their minds to Christ, and maybe that’s the purpose.

Since Tim Tebow doesn’t think God cares who wins football games, he probably believes exactly that.

To visit the “tebowing” website please go to http://tebowing.com/

Face of Jesus

2011-12-07T11:45:00.005-05:00

Rembrandt's "Head of Christ"

The Philadelphia Museum of Art was the location of a famous scene in the movie Rocky. It’s where Sylvester Stallone, working out in a gray cotton sweat suit and black knit cap, sprinted up its 72 stone steps, turned around and triumphantly raised his arms as he looked down over the City of Brotherly Love. Museum staff members will tell you nary a day goes by without some tourist standing on the spot and re-enacting the scene.

The museum hosted an extraordinary exhibition from the Louvre in Paris featuring Dutch painter Rembrandt van Rijn’s revolutionary paintings of Jesus.

Up until Rembrandt, artists restricted their representations of Jesus to ancient prototypes that portrayed Christ as unemotional, fair-skinned, chestnut-haired, thin-faced and glorified by a halo or other symbols. The traditional image was rigidly followed by artists to avoid accusations of transgressing the Second Commandment injunction against idolatry.

But Rembrandt considered this image to be unlikely for an itinerant Semite preaching in the desert and he challenged it. Historians believe he chose a local working class Jewish man as the model for Jesus. This was likely because many Sephardic Jews had settled in his Amsterdam neighborhood after fleeing the Spanish Inquisition.

Aside from representing Jesus as the Jew he was, the paintings evoke a down to earth demeanor. He’s presented as empathetic, thoughtful, meditative, approachable and…human! No halos here.

God sent His Son to us in a stroke of genius that enabled mankind to relate to him in a personal way. Rembrandt shows us an understanding, compassionate person we can relate to. When we talk to him – or at least when I talk to him - this is the sort of image of Jesus I see myself talking to.

Like many artists, Rembrandt had financial problems and faced bankruptcy in 1656. His large house was overstuffed with hoarded items that were meticulously catalogued in an inventory made for his nervous creditors. The contents were sold to satisfy his debts.

One of the items was a painting listed as “Head of Christ, done from life,” which was found hanging in Rembrandt’s bedroom. Since the artist obviously couldn’t have painted a living Jesus, the title referred to his use of a model. It was shortened to “Head of Christ” in the 19th century to remove any confusion.

Ariella Burdick, writing for the Financial Times, contrasted the paintings with another Rembrandt piece, “The Supper at Emmaus” that depicts “a transfigured being – benign and beatific, irradiated by the light of revelation and glowing in the vast darkness all around. He doesn’t experience doubt, he banishes it.”

Burdick compares Rembrandt’s depiction of the risen savior with his painting of a pre-crucifixion Christ who “fills the canvas with the mournful intensity of a man wrestling with loneliness and doubt.” Jesus is seen struggling with his human condition and demonstrating his sympathy for us.

It showed us a Jesus who was absent from art for over a thousand years. It made him more real – and accessible - than ever.

Boxes of Love

2011-11-23T10:09:00.009-05:00

As a teenager I once delivered holiday baskets to the needy with the pastor. Having parents who provided food, love and a roof over my head, I was amazed at the poverty I saw.

One house stuck in my mind. The paint had peeled off the house years ago, the porch was rickety and when the lady opened the door there was minimal furniture and no carpet on the bare floor. The pastor and I were outside in the chill air and weren’t asked in – probably because she was embarrassed by her home. It didn’t matter anyway because it didn’t look any warmer on the inside than it was outside.

She broke into a big smile when she saw Rev. Heywood’s box of Thanksgiving fixings. It wasn’t going to feed them for long, but for one day she and her family would feast together. We repeated the scene several times that day.

Churches have lots of differences but some things are common to all of them. Helping those in need is one. In Los Angeles a Christian group called “Here’s Life Inner City” delivered boxes of food for Thanksgiving to the impoverished. Families could avoid going to food pantries or soup kitchens for the holiday meal and enjoy the day together at home. Unfortunately, the bad economy hit Here’s Life and it was forced to cut back.

Enter Pacific Crossroads, a Presbyterian Church. According to Aaron Belz writing in The Wall Street Journal, the congregation “took on the coordination of mobilizing well-resourced churches to fill boxes and deliver them with the help of inner-city churches.”

“Last year, Pacific Crossroads rallied 10 other churches in the L.A. area to assemble and distribute 1,000 boxes – 650 contributed by its own congregation. This year it will work with 15 churches to generate 1,500.” The “Boxes of Love” contain enough food to feed a family of six. It’s a lot of food and a big project.

The process takes about a month “in which church staff print fliers and make public announcements, hand out shopping lists and empty boxes. Congregants, for their part, take boxes home, fill them, ply neighbors, friends and co-workers for help, and bring finished boxes back to church. There, crews of congregants load the boxes into trucks and vans for distribution. Finally, dozens of church members take the boxes to the doors of families in need.”

Jesus calls on Christians to help the needy – and we do. My mom helps cook huge quantities of American Chop Suey for two soup kitchens at her Methodist church, and my Baptist church operates a food pantry. The Morristown, NJ Community Soup Kitchen was started as a local Episcopal program but it's grown involve over 30 churches. It's open every day of the year.

We Christians have our differences but we agree on the fundamentals. Charity is one of these and it’s practiced without fanfare by thousands of churches all the time. At Thanksgiving we should all thank God for motivating Christians to selflessly help their fellow man.

Sagan's Dragon

2011-11-07T10:15:00.008-05:00

Dr. Carl Sagan

Astronomer Carl Sagan used an analogy to disprove God’s existence. It went like this:

"I say “a fire breathing dragon lives in my garage.”

You say, “Show me,” but all you see is an empty garage.

You ask, “Where’s the dragon?”

“She’s right there – did I forget to mention she’s invisible?”

“Maybe you could spread flour on the floor to show its footprints.”

“Won’t work: she floats in the air.”

“We could use an infrared sensor to detect the invisible fire”

“The fire is heatless.”

“How about spray-painting it?”

“The dragon is incorporeal so the paint won’t stick.”

And so on. There isn’t a single physical test that will work.

Sagan asked, “What’s the difference between an invisible, incorporeal, floating dragon who spits heatless fire and no dragon at all? Claims that cannot be tested are worthless, whatever value they may have in inspiring us. I’m asking you to (believe in the dragon) in the absence of evidence, on my say-so. The only thing you’ve really learned from my insistence that there’s a dragon in my garage is that something funny is going on in my head.”

Dr. Sagan’s view of the world is crippled because he’s restricted it to physical evidence that can be tested by the scientific method. His hypothetical dragon was beyond the scope of the scientific method so he dismissed it as a figment of imagination. He uses the same criteria to deny God, but his methods only work for the natural world. God isn’t a natural phenomenon; He’s supernatural and beyond Sagan’s tests. We need to look elsewhere for proof.

Sagan deliberately blinded himself to a large part of reality. If he had a spiritual viewpoint the evidence for God would have been obvious.

God’s “footprints in the flour” would include sensible explanations about where our universe came from and how life began. And the unsought changes that happen within people when they come to faith. And the personal miracles people experience. None of these can be tested by the scientific method but open-minded spiritual people know them to be true.

Another footprint can be seen in our society’s decline since it distanced itself from God’s teachings. Take child discipline. The Bible warns, “spare the rod, spoil the child” but today anyone who dares spank their child is viewed as a troglodyte. But spanking is immediate, effective, short-lived and makes two points:
1. The child knows exactly what got him in trouble and
2. He avoids the behavior so he doesn’t get punished again.
The lesson is taught and life goes on.

Social scientists say “proven” alternative methods like “time outs” work better. But the decline in student discipline this thinking has wrought is one reason our schools are failing. We’ve cast aside Biblical lessons with damaging results. Isn’t this another “footprint” that supports the truth of the Bible – and the reality of the God who inspired it?

We need open-minded spiritual tools to see God. His presence is obvious when we use them. Unfortunately our culture popularizes people who wear spiritual blinders while promoting the idea that skeptics are enlightened.

To view a typical condescending atheist with eyes wide shut please click on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MScdPTR-Y0w&feature=related

The Sandman

2011-10-19T08:03:00.006-04:00

Mariano Rivera

His journey started in a Panamanian village where his father was a fishing boat captain and he was a mate. When he was forced to abandon a sinking boat he decided there were better ways to make a living.

As a child he played baseball using a flattened milk carton for a glove, a tree branch for a bat and a ball made of shredded fish netting and electrical tape. Despite these crude beginnings he found he was good at the game. Leaving fishing, he tried out for the Panama Oeste team as a shortstop. His break came when he volunteered to pitch and was spotted by a scout for the New York Yankees.

In the minor leagues he damaged nerves in his elbow and had surgery, but rehabbed it and then produced two stellar years. He was promoted to the “Show” and soon became the Yankees main relief pitcher.

Now they call him “Mo,” “The Hammer of God,” “The Great One,” “Super Mariano,”and “The Sandman,” the last because he turns out the lights on opponents. When he leaves the bullpen to enter a game, the Yankee Stadium PA system blares out Metallica’s “Enter Sandman.”

Mariano Rivera broke the all-time major league career record for saves last month. It’s an extraordinary story where hard work, dedication and character won out. It’s also remarkable that Rivera’s Christian faith – not baseball or money – is the touchstone of his life. He scared fans a few years ago when he said he was being called to preach, not pitch, and considered giving up baseball.

He stayed with pitching and uses his status and money to practice his Christian beliefs.

The Mariano Rivera Foundation uses church-based programs to help underprivileged children in Panama and the U.S. On a personal level, he sometimes changes into street clothes and helps minor leaguers, something stars don’t do. According to James Traub, writing in The New York Times Magazine, Mariano has a ”soul at peace,” and a calmness that mystifies his peers.

Rivera had a born again experience in his early twenties and told The Times sportswriter Jack Curry: “When God takes control of everything, He’s inside of you and He brings you strength. He has the power to do everything for you. I feel like God is on my side and will help me deal with everything.”

Mariano says his signature cut fastball “simply appeared one day in 1997, like a divine visitation." The pitch “jams a left handed hitter and rides away from a righty,” but it can’t be seen until the last moment. Other pitchers throw cutters, but nobody else’s break 6 to 8 inches like his.

He says the pitch is “a blessing from the Lord” and openly shares his technique. But he also believes “no one without the blessing was going to throw his cutter.”

Mariano Rivera walks the walk: he’s modest, sharing, loving, approachable, even-keeled, giving and faithful to his family and God. An exemplary Christian. And probably the best relief pitcher in history.

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Apocalypse Now?

2011-10-05T11:31:00.004-04:00

A Harold Camping Follower

They waited. Some left their jobs and traveled many miles. Others gave away their possessions and money, knowing they wouldn’t be needed. All were confident that when the clock struck 6:00 PM on May 21, 2011 the earth would be savaged by natural disasters, they would be swept into heaven, those left behind would be killed in a series of scourges and the earth would be destroyed in a ball of fire.

Like most people I was busy and missed the action. It didn’t occur to me until later that the fateful event hadn't occured and that radio broadcaster Harold Camping’s prediction was wrong – for the second time in 17 years. Guys who do this are usually given two chances, with the second prediction explaining the flaws in the first one. Amazingly, they often sell books successfully the second time around.

Camping is going for a record of sorts by issuing a third apocalyptic prediction: now it’s coming this October 21. Apparently all the bugs are out of his prediction model and this time it’s definitely going to happen. If you have any money left, send it in.

People are drawn to apocalyptic messages. William Miller produced a famous one when he calculated the Second Coming would happen no later than March 21, 1844. When it didn’t occur he reset it to October 22, which also passed uneventfully. This was called “The Great Disappointment” and Miller withdrew from the leadership of his church.

Many followers left the movement, but those who remained believed a misunderstanding had occurred and that Jesus had returned to heaven and not earth. The group remains intact as the Seventh-Day Adventists and they no longer predict the time of Jesus’s return.

The phenomenon isn’t limited to Christians. The new-age group “Heaven’s Gate” believed the planet was about to be “recycled” and the only way to survive was to free their souls to ascend to a spaceship that followed Comet Hale-Bopp. In 1997 thirty-nine of them “survived” by consuming arsenic and cyanide. There’s been no word back from the spaceship.

We’re now told the ancient Mayan calendar expires on December 21, 2012 and this signals the end of the world. It’s spawned books, television shows, a movie and attention that dwarfs Christian predictions. The hype has overpowered the assessment of archeologists who say the date is a milestone, like the millennium that started on 1/1/2000, and that the Mayans actually computed dates 72 octillion years into the future. Even so, some people will fasten their seatbelts late in the day on December 20 and then rush out to buy the explanatory books a few weeks later.

You’d think people would have figured out that nobody can predict the end of the world, if only because so many have tried and failed. Christians, especially, should understand the date can’t be known because the Bible tells us so.

That’s why the vast majority of Christians saved their money, kept their possessions and enjoyed the day the Lord had made on May 21, 2011. Unless Mr. Camping gets really, really lucky and his new date coincidentally turns out to be the day God chose, we'll be able to enjoy October 21st as well.

Moist Meat

2011-09-21T12:03:00.012-04:00

Professor Lionel Tiger

Lionel Tiger is an anthropology professor at Rutgers University who wrote a piece in The Wall Street Journal titled Is the Supernatural Only Natural? He thinks God is brain chemistry.

Tiger believes faith in God is the result of “links between social behavior and brain chemistry.” He notes that social interaction causes secretion of serotonin, an opiate-like hormone, and asserts “… religion is a natural system that replaces what we call “brainpain,” with its antidote, “brainsoothing.”” In other words, religious social interaction triggers serotonin to soothe our souls (or whatever it soothes, considering that Tiger doesn’t believe in souls).

Another observation: “Religion tastes sweet to the brain – especially the remarkable idea of an afterlife that holds people accountable for their sweaty and ambiguous earthly lives and rewards or deprives them elsewhere.” Tiger thinks the afterlife is a ridiculous idea and “… research concerning the moist meat in our skull” shows brain function is the source of religion, not the supernatural.

He thinks religion depends “more on the imaginative and deeply felt assertions of thinkers and advocates than on the kind of tough evidence, for example, required in a legal trial for fraud.” Let’s ignore the smugness and look at what he’s saying.

His claim that faith can't produce trial evidence is a cheap shot because Tiger's position on religion wouldn’t pass muster in court either. The question is, “What does the evidence support?” whether it's usable in court or not. He claims the brain produces religious experience. If so, why does this ability exist at all? Isn't it more plausible to believe man is deliberately wired to experience a real God than to think it's just there for no particular reason?

Tiger believes “very few people are convinced by theology”. It’s anybody’s guess why he thinks this, since there are questions that can only be answered by faith. For instance, where did our highly organized universe come from? Tiger probably thinks it magically “appeared” while the faithful see the hand of a Creator, just like Einstein did.

And how does he account for verifed out-of-body experiences or personal miracles that can’t be chalked up to coincidence? There’s more to these than serotonin.

Tiger rejects the idea of reward and punishment in an afterlife. But the prospect of divine judgment is a practical incentive to live by the Golden Rule. Without God’s influence, why would man behave morally? If we’re just soulless “moist meat” we’re merely self-absorbed critters– which is the way many have been behaving.

Our society has developed major problems after flouting God’s teachings and this decline demonstrates the rightness of God’s direction. It’s a vindication of His teachings and further proof of His reality.

It’ll be hard for Tiger to convince a jury in his “legal trial for fraud” that serotonin even comes close to explaining it all.

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Faulting Fans

2011-09-07T11:17:00.009-04:00

The U.S. Open

When a tennis ball is hit out of bounds it’s called a fault. Out of bounds fan behavior has finally reached the
esteemed US Open.

I’m not a tennis fan but I do know it’s got to be quiet during play. To the uninitiated it’s amusing to watch thousands of intent but silent people sit cheek by jowl moving their heads in unison. Left to right, right to left, left to right……

The sport is dignified – except maybe for John McEnroe back in the day – and respects time honored traditions. Tennis was one place where splashy self-centeredness was usually held at bay.

Everything a player sees and hears is important: crowd movement, conversation, flash photography and cell phones are banned to enable concentration. Players need to hear the sound of the ball coming off an opponent’s racket to help determine their return. Plus, the umpire’s rulings can’t be heard above chatter.

But even tennis has been affected by the societal coarseness that’s metastasized over the past forty years. It happened at the U.S. Open. According to Karen Crouse writing in The New York Times, “a women’s singles match was being played, but in a midlevel suite two men and two women, drinks in hand and backs to the court, carried on as if they were at a cocktail mixer.”

“On one point, their peals of laughter caused the server to catch her toss and the chair umpire to call for silence. The suite holders were so oblivious, they did not know the scolding was directed at them. The match ended, and they kept talking.”

“Last year, fans were shouting between serves” said Daniel E. Doyle, executive director of the Institute for International Sport at the University of Rhode Island. A “fan approached the offenders and told them to be quiet.” Peace was restored when an usher got involved. According to Doyle, “It was as if they were oblivious to the protocol. They were more important than the athletes who were on the court competing.” Doyle described the “disintegration of fan etiquette as “the biggest threat to sportsmanship.”

Sportsmanship used to teach kids to play fair, be courteous to other players, not to gloat in victory or be a sore loser. Professional athletes were expected to publicly embrace these concepts even if they were less than perfect in private life, while the fans generally emulated and promoted the sentiments. We’ve lost this informal social compact as intrusive, crude behavior became a normal part of spectator behavior. It mirrors changes in society at large.

The decline of sportsmanship coincides with attacks against Christianity and its values. After all, what’s the essence of sportsmanship if it’s not “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you?

Rampant offensiveness nourishes the moral relativism that brought us to this point. If we’re to restore civility - which we need in everyday life even more than in sports - we need a resurgence of Christianity. Is there anything else that can do it?

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Church with Jimmy Carter

2011-08-24T09:30:00.006-04:00

President Carter, Mrs Carter and me

It was a hot July morning in Plains, Georgia when we pulled into Maranatha Baptist Church. The modest brick building is set back from a country road and is like many other small churches except for the bomb-sniffing dog who circled our car and the Secret Service agents who examined the contents of our pockets and scanned us with a wand before we entered.

Maranatha is former President Jimmy Carter’s church and he teaches Sunday School classes here regularly. This was his 551st class. It started promptly at 10:00 AM when Mr. Carter walked in with a noticeable limp. He’d recently had knee replacement surgery and was scheduled for another in a few weeks.

Around 120 people attended the service, mostly people who came to see Jimmy. The previous week’s attendance was 31 – including seven guests - but it balloons when Carter teaches.

President Carter asked where the attendees were from. We answered California, Massachusetts, Idaho, Texas, Michigan, Kentucky and more. A cross-section of America attending church together in the middle of nowhere in a town so tiny you could miss it if you blinked your eyes while passing through.

Carter briefly explained his current humanitarian and political involvements, including the Carter Center’s work to eradicate tropical diseases and supervise foreign elections. I envisioned him hanging out with other locals on the seats that still set outside brother Billy’s old Phillips 66 station. After discussing the price of peanuts, a straw-chomping farmer might lean back and casually ask, “So Jimmy, what’re you up to this week?” To which Carter might reply, “I’m going to Pyongyang to free some detainees,” or “I’ll be supervising the Palestinian elections.”

He spoke about what it meant to be a Christian, taught that all of us are called to share the word of God, and advocated daily Bible reading. The Carters take turns reading out loud to each other a page or two at a time, usually in Spanish so they can practice the language.

After a break the regular parishioners arrived, including Rosalynn Carter who came in with her husband. They sat toward the front on the right side next to an aisle. The preacher was Dr. Dan Arail, a retired minister filling in for the regular pastor. He spoke about how truth is hard to come by. The sermon was entertaining because the reverend relished being irreverent. At one point he asked “What do you call 1,000 lawyers at the bottom of a lake? A good start!”

The Carters stayed for photos with visitors. Due to the President’s recent surgery, both he and the former First Lady sat in chairs at the front of the church. We lined up, gave our cameras to church members, greeted the Carters and had our pictures taken. When I shook his hand I was surprised by its size and strength. But more impressive was his gracious dedication to sharing Christian faith in a venue that others in his position would consider unbefitting.

For the 551st time.

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Tanya's Dilemma, Part 2

2011-08-10T11:56:00.009-04:00

Tanya

At 24, Tanya has six children, no husband, no high school diploma, no GED, and no job.Situations like hers are common in a society that withholds moral judgment on unwed childbirths and then subsidizes them.

Single parenthood can occur because of a spouse’s death, justifiable divorce or other reasons. These people deserve love, respect and help. This article isn’t about them: it’s about those who heedlessly burden themselves and the rest of us with self-centered bad decisions. Think “Octomom.”

According to columnist Mona Charen, there are enormous ramifications to the decisions made by an army of Tanyas. These single parents are often in a bind because they “find it much more difficult to be autonomous self-supporting individuals.” This used to be a minor problem, but now over 40% of American births are to unwed mothers.

The government assists single parents at a huge cost, but the money isn’t the big issue. Any single parent can tell you how stretched they are and how they wish they could devote more time to the kids. The result is less parental love and direction while latch-key kids are “educated” by their peers. There’s also the loss of interaction with the father, denying children the chance to observe and understand the differences between the sexes.

And that’s not all. Writer Kay Hymowitz says “marriage patterns are creating a caste system in a country that had traditionally enjoyed relative equality.” The well-educated have stable marriage rates and they’re “rearing their children in orderly, supportive environments in which kids are taught to study hard, delay gratification and plan for the future. But 54% of the children of high school dropouts are illegitimate. Their parents’ lives are marked by financial distress, conflict and turmoil.”

“The outlines of a permanent caste system become visible, with the educated raising children who have the tools to become successful themselves and the poor and lower middle class continuing to give birth under circumstances that virtually condemn their children to poverty. Unless we find a way to discourage unwed childbearing and revive marriage, the chasm between the classes will continue to grow.”

As marriage becomes increasingly anachronistic the price gets higher. Kids no longer see a commitment between parents that transcends individual wants and instead learn that “looking out for number one” is the ultimate good. This isn’t healthy for either the individual or the community and it certainly isn’t Christian.

We’re in this fix because we’ve ignored God’s will, suspended common sense and encouraged reckless single parenthood. We – and Tanya – should learn that flouting biblical teaching leads to destructive consequences.

We can only right this if we discourage irresponsible behavior and stop promoting it. Manmade laws have put us on this path, it’ll take a higher authority to offer a way back, and a resurgence of Christianity may be the only way to re-weave our shredded moral fabric. The effect our faith can have in the here and now, not to mention eternity, is a powerful reason to evangelize.

Photo Credit: Michael S. Gordon, The Republican

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Tanya's Dilemma, Part 1

2011-07-19T22:21:00.007-04:00

Tanya

The Republican in Springfield, MA sometimes does heart-rending stories about people down on their luck. Nancy Gonter reported about a 24 year-old woman named Tanya who lived in a state paid motel room with her 2 year-old son.

It’s a tough life: they can’t sleep because of noise at night and fighting in the parking lot. Other women in the same situation sometimes help “but other times they (don’t) get along and (cause) trouble for each other.” She doesn’t have a high school diploma, GED or a job but she does have six children, “three daughters who live with her mother and two sons who have been adopted by other families.” No mention of any father(s).

Tanya doesn’t have a car and finds it difficult to get to her therapy appointments. Given her straits, it’s not surprising she needs professional help. But wouldn’t it have been better to avoid this in the first place?

Births to unwed mothers skyrocketed to 41% in 2010. Some theorize that when contraception and abortion put control of pregnancy in the hands of women, men eschewed responsibility for it and women were left to deal with the consequences on their own. Others blame overly generous welfare benefits that encourage childbearing while discouraging two-parent homes. Still others believe a shortage of jobs for the less educated created a drop in the number of marriageable men. These rationalizations all miss the point.

Decades ago Tanya’s first pregnancy would have brought shame. Shame is “a painful emotion caused by a strong sense of guilt, embarrassment, unworthiness and disgrace.” It powerfully discourages destructive behavior, but it only works if society sets standards.

Couples who “got in trouble” would either marry in a shotgun wedding or the woman would remain single and give the baby up for adoption. Society’s interest was in raising the child in a stable two-parent structure and the consequences of unwed pregnancy encouraged prudence. It’s the reason the illegitimacy rate was only 5.3% in 1960 – well before effective birth control was widely available.

The Bible says we should reserve sex for marriage, which made sense for lots of practical reasons including child-rearing. Although not universally observed this teaching informed moral standards that were overwhelmingly embraced by society.

Today words like “shame” and “illegitimacy” are politically incorrect, and we don’t seem to believe society has the right to judge any individual behavior short of killing (and even then we try to blame everything but the murderer).

Society has strangled biblical teaching about marriage in the name of personal freedom. But it’s freedom to stunt children’s chances in life while burdening society with inadequately educated children, the costs of supporting the avoidably financially strapped, higher crime rates and the perpetuation of destructive morays into yet another generation.

Christian tenets are flicked aside as unrestrained individual choice chips away at any sense of personal responsibility. Spurning God’s guidelines obviously has consequences but an oblivious society refuses to see it.

The next Christian Standpoint will look at some of these.

Photo credit: Michael S. Gordon The Republican

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Image of God

2011-06-29T20:45:00.007-04:00

Heston as Moses

God is all-powerful, all-seeing and the creator of everything. But He’s accessible to people, wants to give them individual support and desires to be as close to you as your actual father. He’s also the hard-nosed judge who’ll determine where you spend eternity. Millions know Him intimately but nobody can confidently visualize Him.

There have been stabs at it, like George Burns in Oh, God and Morgan Freeman in Bruce Almighty. These comedies put a contemporary spin on Him, unlike one director who tried to remain true to the Bible.

Legendary film director Cecil B.DeMille had a prolific, successful career that made him a film industry icon. He was raised in a devout family and was a life-long Christian. He moved to Los Angeles where he rarely attended church but never gave up his faith.

His faith showed in films like The Godless Girl that was critical of a girl who rejected God. DeMille was thrilled when the American Association for the Advancement of Atheism protested it.

His best known production may be The Ten Commandments starring Charlton Heston as Moses. DeMille felt the hardest part of the production – in a film that required massive sets and 8,000 people – was deciding on the voice of God. When God first spoke to Moses, DeMille used Heston’s recorded voice, which he slowed down and deepened. The idea was to evoke Moses’s father’s voice, thinking God may have actually done this to make it more familiar and less frightening to Moses.

DeMille changed his mind later when God gave the Ten Commandments to Moses. The director used the voice of a friend instead and didn’t even list his name in the credits out of reverence for God.

Moviegoers associated Heston with Moses from then on, but this image glossed over Moses’s personal challenge. The man God chose to lead Israel struggled with a speech impediment. This wasn’t important to God and His attitude should be inspiring to stutterers, who constantly work to control their speech. In fairness to DeMille, it probably would’ve been awkward to address this in the context of a Hollywood blockbuster.

Hollywood has taken artistic license (to put it mildly) in the Burns and Freeman films. Sometimes they teach valid lessons, like a scene where Bruce grants everyone’s prayer requests, only to find out they all prayed to win the lottery - which then paid pennies to each winner. It’s a great illustration of why God’s answering all prayers is unworkable. But God’s majesty is sacrificed and it’s hard to imagine either Burns or Freeman parting the Red Sea.

How can we get a handle on this? Try Jesus. He is God, in a form we can relate to. His presence here, in a man's body, is part of God’s genius in reaching out and helping us to have a personal relationship with Him.

Think about it. You can’t “see” God the Father, but I’ll bet you can instantly envision Jesus and easily sense His comfort, love and holiness.

Dr. Death

2011-06-15T20:39:00.014-04:00

Dr. Jack Kevorkian

Janet Adkins reclined in the back of a rusted 1968 Volkswagen van with a man she had recently met. Her companion plugged in an EKG machine and set up a “suicide machine” made from parts bought at flea markets. He inserted an IV and directed her to push a button that released thiopental, inducing unconsciousness. Then the machine automatically switched to potassium chloride, causing cardiac arrest and death.

When the EKG flatlined, Dr. Jack Kevorkian called police and told them what he had done. Within 24 hours the gaunt, cadaverous looking doctor was a household name.

His appearance was fitting. One hospital terminated his residency after he suggested using death row inmates for medical experimentation. At the next he raced to dying patients, taped their eyes open and photographed their corneas at the moment they died; co-workers nicknamed him “Dr. Death.” His reputation eventually shut him out of hospital positions.

He assisted 130 suicides, at least 70% of whom weren’t dying and 5 who weren’t even ill. His hobby put him in prison for almost 10 years. Another pastime, painting, revealed a macabre obsession with death. Surreal severed heads were a favorite motif.

Kevorkian had big ideas. His book Prescription Medicide – The Goodness of Planned Death promoted the establishment of “obitoriums” where people would go to die. Doctors were to anesthetize patients and do experiments on their living brains and spinal cords before euthanizing them. Legalization of euthanasia was needed to enable Dr. Jack to perform human vivisection.

Is it surprising he didn’t believe in God? His actions could happen only if God was rejected. Kevorkian obscured his contempt for life by portraying himself as a purveyor of mercy. This worked because there are cases where assisted suicide seems justified.

What’s a Christian to think? Suicide is self-murder and is against the will of God. This standard recognizes that life can be really tough but our self-worth is enhanced by gutting out difficulties and surviving as stronger, more faithful people. The strength it reveals is respected by others and makes a statement about the power of God.

Besides, suicide leaves survivors feeling guilt, grief, helplessness and outrage while giving them tacit permission to follow suit, creating a recipe for intergenerational dysfunction. No wonder the Bible forbids it.

But shouldn’t the secular state allow it for those who don’t believe? Here’s the problem: governments tend to expand whatever they legalize. Before World War II the American eugenics movement – which sought to improve society by eliminating defective genes in the population – succeeded in legislating involuntary sterilization and prohibition of interracial marriage. American eugenicists also suggested lethally gassing those deemed to have inferior genes. In the end Hitler - who tracked U.S. eugenic legislation – massively implemented this and showed its horrific potential. State involvement in euthanasia puts us on a dangerous slippery slope.

Suicide is the one sin you can’t repent of. Anyone contemplating it needs spiritual support and counseling as a child of God, not the cold-blooded ministration of a Jack Kevorkian.

For a disturbing insight into Kevorkian’s psyche, see his art at
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/kevorkian/aboutk/art/war.html

Photo credit: Carlos Osario, Associated Press

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The Supernatural Bowl

2011-06-02T14:15:00.022-04:00

David Tyree

David Tyree was a hero in Super Bowl XLII. His team, the New York Giants, was down 14-10 to the undefeated New England Patriots with less than a minute to go. Quarterback Eli Manning was swamped by defenders and barely got off a throw. Tyree was closely covered but leaped, pinned the ball to his helmet with one hand and fell to the ground – still in control. The catch set up the winning score seconds later.

It’s been called the best play in Super Bowl history and it put him in the spotlight.

Number 85 had a checkered past. He attended Syracuse University on a football scholarship and was a wild man: trysts, parties, drinking himself into blackouts. In his junior year he impregnated his girlfriend and showed up drunk for his son's birth. He continued to be promiscuous, contracted an STD and transmitted it to his son's mother.

He was drafted by the Giants and named to an All-Rookie Team despite drinking, traffic accidents and fines levied by the coach for missing meetings and serial tardiness. To replace the money paid in fines he sold drugs and was thrown into jail. His out of control behavior got him temporarily committed to a hospital psychiatric ward.

Some hero.

The old David Tyree hasn’t been seen in years. He came to Christian faith, gave up his vices, married the mother of his child – with whom he’s had three more children - became a solid family man and continues to serve as a good example on and off the field. The new Tyree is the guy who made the catch.

I love this story partly because I’m a die-hard Giants fan. I grew up watching them in the early ‘60’s and still regard the former Boston Patriots as interlopers. Lots of people here in Western Massachusetts feel this way: the Giants are telecast from Connecticut and we watch them instead of New England.

Picture the scenario: the Giants barely made the playoffs and had to play every game away. They beat Tampa Bay, barely hung on to beat the Cowboys and then won the NFC Championship in Green Bay - at night, with a -23 degree wind-chill, in overtime. The reward was a trip to the Super Bowl where they were supposed to be crushed by the invincible Patriots.

The New York press called it the Blue Miracle and Tyree thinks the name is apt. He believes the improbable events leading to his fame were designed to help him witness to others. He finds himself in venues and conversations that couldn’t have happened otherwise, and he uses them to share his Christian faith.

Try this: put on a helmet, have someone throw you a forty-yard pass, leap as high as you can, pin the round ball to your round hat with one hand and fall to the ground with a 220# defender hanging on your arm. If you maintain possession it’ll be a miracle.

Just ask David Tyree: it’s why he calls it the “Supernatural Bowl.”

To see the play go to
www.youtube.com/watch?v=27XeNefwABw

Photo Credit: www.giants.com

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One Day, Two Stories

2011-05-18T17:54:00.011-04:00

Albert Pujols

The Sunday Parade Magazine ran a story about Bethany Hamilton, a promising surfer who lost an arm in a shark attack. Just weeks after the tragedy she got back in the water and learned how to balance her suddenly asymmetrical body on the board. She turned pro in 2007 and now travels the globe on the professional circuit.

She’s also “published five nonfiction books that reflect her strong sense of spirituality.” According to AnnaSophia Robb, who plays Bethany’s part in the film Soul Surfer, “Bethany looks at the attack as a blessing because she’s been able to do so much through it. She could have been a one-week news story, but now she’s inspiring millions.

After the tsunami in Thailand she led 50 children into the water. She says, “Helping them to overcome their fear of the ocean was a great opportunity. There aren’t a lot of good role models out there, so it’s cool that I could be one.”

The amazing 21 year-old is focused on others. She says “I realized that telling my life story could change people’s perspectives on hard times they’re going through.” And so she does.

*****************************************************************************
That evening, 60 Minutes ran a segment about Albert Pujols, the stellar baseball player for the St. Louis Cardinals. Each year in his first 10 years of major league play he’s batted over .300, hit at least 30 home runs and knocked in over100 RBI’s. It’s a record unequaled by anyone, ever.

But the story wasn’t about baseball prowess. It was about the big heart of a guy with boundless compassion and love for people. Pujols sponsors a prom for kids with Down syndrome each year. They walk down a red carpet in tuxedos and gowns for a night of dancing and fun. Pujols and his wife Deidre attend and stay for the evening. The boys are thrilled to be around him and Albert never declines a chance to dance with the girls.

Each year he travels to the poverty stricken shanty towns of his native Dominican Republic. In places where new clothes and shoes are “like gold,” Pujols finances medical care and provides for other needs. He intends to expand his help to more towns, saying it’s his passion.

In 2010 he joined an elite group by hitting his 400th home run. He quietly took the bat to Texas Children’s Hospital and presented it to a boy with a malignant brain tumor. No press was there – just a “real happy” thirteen year-old hanging out with the best baseball player in the world.

****************************************************************************

These extraordinary people are both dedicated Christians who live their faith, but somehow the word “Christian” wasn’t mentioned in either story. No doubt it would have figured prominently if they burned a Quran or picketed a military funeral like the bogus “Christians” who get hyped.

But it’s typical of a media that likes to unfairly cut our faith down while ignoring its nobility.

To view a trailer for Soul Searcher, a movie about Britney please click on

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnSrETbfd5Q&feature=player_embedded

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Happy Birthday KJV

2011-05-04T11:24:00.015-04:00

William Tyndale

The King James Version of the Bible is celebrating its 400th birthday. Its lyrical, poetic quality has endeared it to generations and it’s the third most popular English version of the Bible today. The KJV’s timeless appeal belies its bloody heritage.

This is history. I know .... it can be dry and boring. But hang in there for a few paragraphs – it’s an interesting story and there’s no quiz afterward.

No English translation of the Bible was available until John Wyclif got involved. Wyclif believed people should read the Bible themselves rather than having it distilled through the clergy. The Bible and mass were in Latin, which wasn’t understood by most people. This kept the keys to salvation firmly in the hands of a priesthood unwilling to have its teachings questioned.

Wyclif’s followers, who backbiters nicknamed the "Lollards" (meaning “mumblers who talk nonsense”), translated the Latin Vulgate Bible into English but it was banned by the Church. Luckily for Wyclif, he died before being condemned for his work. The Church posthumously charged him with heresy, dug up his remains and burned them.

Enter William Tyndale over a century later. The Vulgate was found to have flaws in its translation from the original Hebrew and Greek texts. Tyndale was a gifted linguist who made it his life’s mission to accurately translate the Bible directly from the original languages into English. His version corrected the distortions in the Vulgate-based Lollard edition.

The Church again disapproved and pushed Tyndale into exile from England. In the meantime, Henry VIII asked the pope for an annulment of his first marriage (this was before he figured out it was more expedient to trump up charges against his wives and behead them). The pope wouldn’t cooperate, so Henry broke the English Church away from Rome and Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer granted the annulment.

Unfortunately, Henry was as opposed to a vernacular Bible as the Roman Catholic Church. His agents tracked Tyndale down in Brussels and turned him over him to authorities who imprisoned him for a year before burning him at the stake. In an act of mercy his executioners strangled him before lighting the fire.

But Tyndale had already completed the New Testament and the Pentateuch, and the texts were smuggled into England. Archbishop Cranmer ultimately included it in an English Bible that Henry required every parish in England to buy, apparently without realizing he was promoting Tyndale’s work. 19 years later Henry’s daughter - “Bloody Mary” - became Queen and reinstituted a Catholic hierarchy that burned Cranmer at the stake.

England eventually reverted to Anglicanism and in 1603 King James of Scotland sought to reconcile Protestant factions by commissioning an “Authorized Version” to be used by all. Much of it is Tyndale’s work, and it was published in 1611.

The KJV was completed in peace by sanctioned clergymen. But they’re indebted to Wyclif, Tyndale and Cranmer, intrepid pioneers who were burned for striving to make the Bible accessible to everyone.

Image credit: docfennes.com

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Fashion Sense

2011-04-20T09:08:00.017-04:00

Today's Teens

Author Jennifer Anne Moses wrote a piece in The Wall Street Journal about rearing her adolescent daughter. She describes 12 and 13 year-olds “dressed in minidresses, perilously high heels and glittery, dangling earrings, their eyes heavily shadowed in black-pearl and jade.” Having already abetted this for two years, she anticipates the fashions to come: “plunging necklines, built-in push-up bras, spangles, feathers, slits and peek-a-boos.”

She asks, “Why do so many of us not only permit our teenage daughters to dress like this – like prostitutes, if we’re being honest with ourselves – but pay for them to do it with our Amex cards?” Ms. Moses is a mom swept up in the popular culture. But she’s taken a step back from reflexive conformity to think about it.

She has a theory. “It has to do with how conflicted my own generation of women is about our own past, when many of us behaved in ways that we now regret. A woman I know, with two mature daughters, said “If I could do it again, I wouldn’t have even slept with my own husband before marriage. Sex is the most powerful thing there is, and our generation, what did we know?'"

“We were the first not only to be free of old-fashioned fears about our reputations but actually pressured by our peers and the wider culture to find our true womanhood in the bedroom. Not all of us are former good-time girls now drowning in regret… but that’s certainly the norm among my peers.” “I don’t know one of them who doesn’t have feelings of lingering discomfort regarding her own sexual past.”

“Now, with the exception of some Mormons, evangelicals and Orthodox Jews, scads of us don’t know how to teach our own sons and daughters not to give away their bodies so readily. We’re embarrassed, and we don’t want to be, God forbid, hypocrites.”

Moses honestly changed her mind and she’s not pushing views she doesn’t hold, so she’s not a hypocrite. She’s just wiser, and passing on wisdom is laudable. She wonders if her peers will teach their children not to make the same mistakes. It’s not that there’s a lack of awareness: it’s an absence of will. When people learn from their mistakes they usually share the knowledge with those they care for. Why not this?

Her generation acted as though the birth control pill changed human nature. With a self-centeredness that deliberately ignored faith, it’s hardly surprising hurt would result.

Quick pleasures don’t last, but regrets do. The friend who discovered “sex is the most powerful thing there is” could have saved herself some hard knocks if she hadn’t jettisoned lessons from the Bible. It’s replete with teachings about the wonders and dangers of sex.

Jennifer’s daughter may well see her mom’s new position as an ethical quick-change that justifies the hypocrisy charge. If Moses needs support from an authoritative, objective source to trump the skepticism about her newfound scruples, she can still find it in the Bible.

Photo Credit: The Wall Street Journal

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Surly Skeptic

2011-04-06T14:36:00.019-04:00

Leonard Pitts Jr.

Leonard Pitts is a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for The Miami Herald. He wrote about a vicious attack on a reporter in Egypt and commented that the victim was “deserving of our compassion, our empathy and our prayers.”

The “prayers” part elicited a vehement response from an atheist reader. Elements of her criticism included “Please stop the superstitious nonsense,” don't “keep the public naïve and stupid,” and “An atheist is absent of belief and willing to change their position when evidence is presented. When you mention prayer, you are acting as an evangelist promoting an irrational act.”

Strong words for someone who’s wrong on all counts.

Atheists rely on the scientific method for knowledge, which requires evidence that’s quantifiable and repeatable. It’s limited to natural phenomena and can’t prove whether God exists or not. Because it can’t, our rude friend should understand that she depends on faith in “no God” at least as much as believers do “in God.” Unlike skeptics, Christians have additional sources of knowledge that support their faith.

Spirituality lets us experience things that are out of the reach of science. Here’s an example: Christians know there’s a “God-sized hole in their hearts” that needs to be filled. It’s real, but can science determine its configuration, measure its size or describe the essence that fills it? Of course not. But because it can’t, the concept is beyond the grasp of skeptics.

This self-restricted “thinking” deprives them of answers. Let’s say the Big Bang Theory is correct. For skeptics the question of why it occurred resists sensible answers. Albert Einstein believed God is the creator while today’s skeptics say it “just happened.” But order doesn’t just happen: destructive accidents do. Skyscrapers, space shuttles and universes need planning.

There are two views. One is open-minded and sees God filling in the missing blanks left by science. The other closed-mindedly confines itself to a scientific paradigm that can’t answer the big questions. Skeptics need God’s answers but their stunted worldview requires them to ignore Him.

It’s as though atheists denied the existence of radio waves and then tried to figure out how a radio worked. It would be unexplainable – because they rejected the essential element up front – and they’d be left with implausible theories. If someone suggested invisible waves were necessary, they'd condescendingly be called “stupid,” “superstitious,” “naïve,” and “irrational.”

Atheists like to think they’re open-minded and sophisticated. But it’s not open-minded to ignore answers that work, and sophistication loses its value when it prevents you from using common sense. Maybe this narrowness is why they turn to insult, the last defense in a losing argument.

Pitts’s critic claims a willingness “to change (her) position when evidence is presented”- as long as it fits her preconceived notions. Skeptics may alter views within their limited framework, but their spiritual blinders consign them to an incomplete – and incorrect - view of reality.

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Mrs. Ireland

2011-03-24T10:40:00.009-04:00

Mrs. Helen Ireland

Fifty years ago I was a fourth grade student at Fausey School in West Springfield, MA. My teacher, Mrs. Ireland, was new to the school system, a seasoned professional, and black. When she introduced herself to the class I remember thinking she was the only colored Irish person I had ever seen (give me a break – I was only 9).

The town is nicknamed “West Side” because it’s on the west bank of the Connecticut River, across from the City of Springfield. The river was a cultural boundary: the minority population was in the city while West Side was white. There weren’t any minority students in the school system and Mrs. Ireland was the first black teacher hired there.

Mrs. Ireland lived in Springfield with husband George on a well-kept, tree-lined urban street occupied by families who looked out for each other. If a kid strayed and a neighbor spotted him, it was acceptable and appreciated by the parent if the neighbor straightened him out. Church was a big part of life.

She had traveled overseas, including three trips to the Holy Land, and filled her classroom with displays that piqued curiosity in an orderly environment where learning was fun – and expected. She had a no-nonsense approach, but it didn’t conceal her love for the kids. She was a great teacher.

I always wanted to tell her the impact she had on me, but never did. There was no excuse for this and I regretted not following through. But I got a reprieve. One day the newspaper showed Roderick Ireland being sworn in as Chief Justice of the state Supreme Judicial Court. His mother - Mrs.Helen Ireland, age 92 - held the Bible.

I visited her the next day. She gets some help but cooks, walks, attends church and is sharp as a tack. When I mentioned she looked great at 92 she was quick to correct: “91.” She wears a glove on her weak left hand, but says she took karate lessons and “can still pack a wallop with the other one.”

She was raised down South with 9 siblings, all of whom graduated college. The family “lived at church” and God has always been central in her life. It shows: she and George put four unrelated kids with unsupportive parents through college.

She says “You can do anything you put your mind to and work for.” I asked why she came to West Side, thinking civil rights was the reason. But it wasn’t: she “applied for it because it looked like a good job.”

She’s seen lots of changes. Her street isn’t safe at night, the houses have deteriorated and “we’ve got children raising the parents instead of the parents raising the children.” She and George saved all their lives, so she “doesn’t need money or ask for it, so the younger folks think I’m rich.” She asked, “Do I look rich to you?”

Actually she does. Her life story and faith make her wealthy.

Photo Credit: Masslive.com

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Abortion Activist

2011-03-10T16:13:00.008-05:00

Dr. Bernard Nathanson

Dr. Bernard Nathanson was on the front lines of the abortion debate in 1969 when he helped found the National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws (NARAL). The gynecologist became a NARAL spokesman and pushed for passage of an act in the State of New York to legalize abortion. It became law and Nathanson became director of the Center for Reproductive and Sexual Health (CRASH) in Manhattan. He called it "the largest abortion clinic in the western world" with ten operating rooms, 35 doctors and 85 nurses. It was open seven days a week and handled clients from all over the Eastern United States, performing 120 abortions daily.

The doctor estimates he was directly or indirectly responsible for 75,000 abortions, including his own child. In his book The Hand of God Nathanson reflected on it. "I swear to you that I had no feelings aside from the sense of accomplishment, the pride of expertise." "You ask if perhaps for a fleeting moment or so I experienced a flicker of regret, a microgram of remorse? No and no. And that, dear reader, is the mentality of the abortionist: another job well done, another demonstration of the moral neutrality of advanced technology in the hands of the amoral."

But ultrasound technology changed things. Nathanson wrote, "For the first time, we could really see the human fetus, measure it, observe it, watch it and indeed bond with it and love it." He performed his last abortion in the late 1970's and did an about-face, lecturing and writing for the pro-life side. In 1985 he narrated The Silent Scream, a film that graphically detailed the aborting of a 12-week-old fetus.

He wasn't the only one to undergo a metamorphosis. Many have come to know the psychological price paid by millions of women who've had abortions. Feelings of guilt, shame, worthlessness and anger are common and long term. This emotional blowback gives lie to the idea that the procedure simply removes an inconsequential clump of cells or that a developing fetus can't feel pain so it's OK to terminate it. The mother knows better and carries emotional burdens because of it.

Proponents try to justify abortion by claiming there's no definable moment when the fetus becomes "life" until actual birth. This ethic - if the word "ethic" can be applied here - condones even partial-birth abortion. But the sophistry defies common sense: as columnist Peggy Noonan once put it, "Anyone who's ever bought a condom knows when life starts."

The doctor described himself as a "Jewish atheist" who found himself burdened by "heavy moral baggage." He eventually found Christianity and said "the New Testament God was a loving, forgiving, incomparably cossetting figure in whom I would seek, and ultimately find, the forgiveness I have pursued so hopelessly, for so long." He was baptized in 1996.

Nathanson died recently at age 84 after a controversial, brutally self-examined and tormented life. Like others who repent, he undoubtedly finally found peace with God in heaven.

Photo Credit: NYTimes.com
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School of Life

2011-02-23T10:19:00.013-05:00

Seneca: Anger management guru?

Alain de Botton is a Swiss philosopher and author who doesn't believe in God. But at least he sees a loss to humanity when people think God is absent.

In a Wall Street Journal piece he lists some of the things Christian faith provides that are lost in today's secular education. They include how to "find meaning, understand themselves, behave in a moral fashion, forgive their fellow humans and confront their own mortality," as well as "advice on how to choose a career or survive the end of a marriage, how to contain sexual impulses or how to cope with the news of a medical death sentence."

Continuing de Botton's list, teaching "emotional or ethical life skills: how to love our neighbors, clear human confusion, diminish human misery and leave the world better and happier than we found it." Dealing with anger and "understanding the tensions of marriage" are others on a representative but incomplete list.

De Botton laments that "our universities have never offered what churches invariably focus on: guidance." It's probably because most colleges embrace moral relativism. This is a squishy framework in which moral judgments are subjective and up to the individual. Its corollary is since there are no objective standards everyone should tolerate behavior that others have decided is moral. How can universities provide guidance when there are no common standards of right and wrong?

No God, no Christianity, no moral framework, no guidance. To attack this void de Botton and other writers, academics and artists have started a "new kind of university" in London. It's called the "School of Life" and it uses "novels, histories, plays and paintings" for guidance. Dostoyevsky's Anna Karenina teaches about marriage, The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion about death, Emily Dickinson's Selected Poems about filling the God-shaped hole in your heart, and ancient philosopher Seneca speaks of anger management.

Seneca's formula is a hoot. He believed anger resulted from a person's failure to achieve optimistic expectations. The solution: before you get out of bed, think of everything that might go wrong that day. Then when they happen you won't be surprised and - voila! - you won't get angry! Pessimism is the key. Who knew?

Maybe this works, but pessimists tend to be negative, hopeless and no fun. Pessimism (borderline depression?) is a high price to pay in service to an egotistical conviction that there's no God.

De Botton believes mankind has an inner drive to invent God. If he suspended his condescension and substituted "seek" for "invent" he'd be onto something. He could then accept biblical guidance that's worked for thousands of years. Instead, he relies on cultural works, which still doesn't eliminate morally subjective decisions - it just passes them along to whoever designs the curriculum at the School of Life.

It's good that de Botton recognizes the void left by rejection of God. But it's remarkable he doesn't see it as evidence that He exists and knows mankind well enough to effectively guide us.

See what Seneca’s daily pessimism looks like in practice: click on

http://sophrosyne.radical.r30.net/wordpress/?p=6032

and fast forward to 16:40. The guy is Alain de Botton.

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Photo credit: imagi-nation.com