Out-thinking the Crossed Fingers of Liberalism.

Crossed Fingers: How Liberals Captured the Presbyterian Church

Read and consider what this book might teach us about the struggles against liberalism in any of its various forms.  This should be of interest even to those of my friends who still do not believe (that they believe) in the God of the Bible as they face the fallout of political liberalism every day.

Crossed Fingers is a monograph, fat though it is. It is not a history of Presbyterianism; it is a study of how the liberals captured one Presbyterian denomination: the main one. The story I have written here has not previously been told. There are books on the Presbyterian conflict. There are doctoral dissertations on it. But chronicles are not enough: to know that the liberals captured the Northern Presbyterian Church. Something was missing: a detailed study of how the liberals did it. 

This book partially fills the gap. It was a large gap; that is why this is a very large book. Yet this book only touches the highlights. Furthermore, there is no comparable book for any of the other mainline Protestant denominations, most of which have succumbed to the liberals' strategy of subversion. This void points to the present intellectual condition of American Protestantism. One thing is sure: conservative American Protestantism is not future-oriented. In this sense, it is lower class.  Lower-class people and movements do not shape history; they are carried along in the back of the bus in order to be milked by those future-oriented people and movements that do shape history.

I know, I know.  It's long and sometimes it's dry.  It's important though, and not just for "church people" and Christians (although you should know that I connect the rot of the Church to correspond to -and lead- the rot in society...in this sense, you can see why I think this subject is vitally important).

Don't be like the anonymous pastor mentioned in the beginning, who said,

"If you can boil the story down into a pamphlet, I'll read it." 

Why not?  About such a person, the author says, truly:

His work on earth will leave no earthly trace, and even if it does, no one like him will ever read about it. He who ignores the past expects to be ignored in the future. He is therefore unlikely to commit the personal resources necessary to have a significant effect on the future.

We should learn about the past and apply those lessons, or we should expect to be ignored in the future.

AV: Epicurus and the Problem of Evil

From Rob Slane at American Vision: Epicurus and the Problem of Evil:

Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able?  Then he is not omnipotent. 

Is he able, but not willing?  Then he is malevolent. 

Is he both able and willing?  Then whence cometh evil? 

Is he neither able nor willing?  Then why call him God?

Rob gives us some background on Epicurus, and immediately starts swinging.

Although the riddle is undoubtedly clever, it turns out to be loaded with a couple of erroneous presuppositions: firstly, a flawed presupposition, and secondly, a really flawed presupposition.

I thank God for men like Mr. Slane.  In this article, he addresses these flawed presuppositions well, then bids the doubting Epicurean reader to stand to reason.  He presents the "so what" of the resolution to this "problem."

The grave is empty and the throne is filled. So come, Epicurus, God has found a way to deal with evil and he invites you to join him. Now are you willing to accept?

Many will not.  Their flawed presuppositions about God and evil are too precious.

They have, as Romans 1:18 (NKJV) states, suppressed the truth in unrighteousness.

For too many people, recognizing and coming to know their Creator is too costly and far too painful of an experience.  As John Calvin wrote, the knowledge of man and the knowledge of God are connected.

It is not the knowledge of God itself that is painful and costly to us-

It is the following knowledge of ourselves that many do not want to face.

We are infinitely "not God."

Why Is Lying Wrong?

The non-Christian cannot give an answer to this question that is not arbitrary or does not borrow from the Biblical worldview.

The non-Christian, in fact, can't even define right and wrong in a way that is not completely arbitrary and contradictory to his (professed) disbelief in the God of the Bible.

I recently finished with a business ethics course.  In spite of the fact that I fully rejected the relativistic and humanist course materials and the fact that I chose not to submit an assignment, I managed to squeak a B+ out of the course.  I was surprised, given that the instructor clearly stated that morality is defined by culture (but refused to answer when I asked her if ritual cannibalism was wrong), and that my primary citations throughout the course were from either the Bible or Greg Bahnsen's Theonomy in Christian Ethics.  I even cited Rushdoony's Institutes in my final paper.

I would not say that morality is defined by culture, as there are absolute rights and wrongs that stand as valid regardless of cultural and legal norms.  There are many cultures that accept practices that are morally wrong.  

Some cultures have practiced child sacrifice (many still do, sacrificing children to the god of self, upon the altar of personal convenience, with the ritual dagger of "choice").  Some have practiced ritual cannibalism.  Because a culture accepts and normalizes something does not make that something right "for that culture."

Without an absolute, objective standard of morality, there can be no logical and coherent basis for morality.  Under a subjectivist worldview, everything boils down to arbitrary opinions, and basing law and morality on arbitrary opinions can only lead to rule-by-force.

But keep on thinking that America can be free without objective standards of right and wrong upon which to base its laws.

Keep on wondering why the Constitution is not seen as objective and binding.

Keep on hoping for freedom without a culture converted to Christ and ruled by God's Word.

Don't hold your breath though.

Anyway, all this was kicked around in my head when I saw the below cartoon.

In our relativistic culture, lying is generally only seen as wrong when it hurts someone.  Our culture and its relativism has no basis from which to condemn lying, other than by its consequences.

The problem with that view is that we often can't even predict immediate consequences, much less secondary and tertiary consequences and beyond.

Only God can do that...

That is why God has said that lying is wrong.

Here's the cartoon.  See if you see what I see in it.  

This cartoon isn't just attacking the media.  It is attacking (although I doubt this was the intent) a subjective view of morality that recognizes no objective moral standards.

I pity this culture more than anything.  It is (rightly) upset about actions and consequences that are completely consistent with its Christ-denying worldview.  It tries to "fix" itself through methods spawned by the exact same worldview that has brought us to where we are today.  It's like watching a patient with severe blunt force trauma to the head trying to fix his problem by smacking his head with a hammer.

It is so obvious where the answers are not to be found.  They're not found in legislation, political parties, rallies, elections, executive orders, more taxes, less taxes, more government, or less government.  

They are not found in any worldview or action that is lacking Christ at its center.

This seems so obvious to me now, but for many years it was not.

So, American...

Why is lying wrong?

Playing Catching Up

I'm playing catch up today after a few days on the road in western MN.  I am many emails behind so please be patient if you sent something!

I was lucky to be able to stop by a Cabela's store (I've never been to one) on the way back, and I picked up some heavy PRVI HPBT match  for the AR Pistol.  The AR's 1:7 barrel likes the heavier stuff out to 200m, and it's been very hard to find any around here in western ND.  Prvi isn't the best stuff out there, but it's very good for the money (especially in this inflated ammo market), and will ring steel all day long.  The ARs have been on a starvation diet lately due to ammo prices.  I used to shoot too much; now I rarely get to shoot.  That's market forces for you.  Cabela's five box limit didn't help all that much, but 100 rounds is better than nothing...

Once my ankle heals (I all but destroyed several tendons in my ankle a week and a half ago playing frisbee- at least I caught it!), I'll be out shooting again.  Until I run out of rounds, that is.  ;-)

The Philosophy of the Christian Curriculum

Here is a free book on education from the Chalcedon Foundation:

It is The Philosophy of the Christian Curriculum, posted on Scribd by Chalcedon1





If you read nothing else from this book, read the first paragraph on page 11- the first paragraph in Chapter 1: Religion, Culture, and Curriculum.  

We should teach our children to think, to learn, and to reason completely and consistently as Christians. In Christ are all of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge- there is no excuse for our children to be given deficient or anti-Christian educations.  I am convinced that the failure to deliberately educate children in the context of a distinctively Christian worldview is a grievous error on the part of the parent.

It should also be said that education should not be limited to the classroom.  Every bit of life should involve the deliberate education of our children.  All the time.


Deuteronomy 6:4-9

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord:And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.  And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:  And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.  And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.  And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.

Deuteronomy 11:18-21

Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes.  And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.  And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates:  That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth.

Book Review: The Prince's Poison Cup

Some time back, I reviewed The Priest with Dirty Clothes by R.C. Sproul.  While children's books aren't the usual fare here,  I do have six children, and reading children's books is something with which I have a fair amount of experience.  We enjoyed reading that book as a family.  As a father interested in his children's spiritual growth, I enjoyed going through the questions in the back of the book that provided for quite a bit of question-and-answer interaction.  When I was given the opportunity to review another similar book by RC Sproul, I was glad to do so.

The Prince's Poison Cup is a book that begins with a common childhood predicament- having to drink "yucky" medicine.  I remember doing that as a child, and I recall the involuntary shivers that "yucky" medicine caused.  During the course of events, grandpa comes over and proceeds to tell young Ella a tale that puts the story of atonement and redemption well within the grasp of even the younger readers.

In grandpa's tale, which (to me at least) had echoes of John Bunyan's The Holy War, the subjects of a king, who live in a beautiful kingdom created for them, eventually rebel against the king in disobedience, in a sequence that bears a strong resemblance to the Biblical account of the Fall, complete with an appearance by the King's "archenemy."  When they disobeyed, their hearts were turned to stone, and they no longer wanted anything to do with the King.  They left the park the King had created for them and built themselves a city- the City of Man.

In following pages, the story of the King's Son unfolds, and we follow him through his travel to the City of Man, and watch the trials he undergoes as he seeks to undo the damage that the people's rebellion had done.  The King's Son was to go to the City of Man and fill up his golden cup with poison- and drink every last drop.

The Prince goes to the City, offers his cup to the King's archenemy who had led the people in rebellion, and watches as his golden cup is filled to the brim with poison.

Then, in an act of incomprehensible love towards a people who hate him, he drinks every last drop.

Now, maybe I am overemotional when it comes to this analogy, but I have to admit to you that Dr. Sproul did a very good job of conveying the Prince's struggles, the treachery of the betrayal, and in general, the unspeakable tragedy of the entire story.  This story brought a tear to my eye as I read it aloud, and I am not ashamed to have let my children see it.

What an unspeakable love Christ showed us.  What unthinkable mercy.

Throughout the book, I found that the illustrations added greatly to the general mood of the story, and had a unique feel to them (sample pages are available here).  The book and story would perhaps not have been the same without them, and I think that both Dr. Sproul and the illustrator, Justin Gerard, have produced a piece of art in more than one way.  I don't know if either of them will ever read this, but I think that this book has blessed me just as much -if not more- than it has my family.  I am thankful to both of these men personally for what they have done in crafting this story and its illustrations.

The book is available here at Reformation Trust / Ligonier Ministries in epub format and hardback, or you can get it on DVD in an "animatic" movie format.  Also available is the "animatic"/book + DVD combination.  I have not seen the book's animatic format, but I can highly recommend the electronic version, as well as the hardcover. Reading a good story to my kids out of an old-fashioned hardcover is something I greatly enjoy.

If you're looking for a good children's book that is not too long and is good "bedtime story" or devotional material, I highly recommend this book.  I was provided with a free copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review, but I definitely intend to buy more to give as gifts to nieces and nephews. 

Meat Machines

If we are meat machines and our brains are meat computers, then it’s not illogical to conclude according to partial birth abortion “doctor” LeRoy Carhart that an unborn baby is like “meat in a Crock-Pot.” The long-term consequences of brains, bodies, and babies is that in the end that we are nothing more than meat machines that have no intrinsic value. If this is so, and science tells us as much, then in the future there will never be a valid moral argument against genocide.

If we are meat machines and our brains are meat computers, then it’s not illogical to conclude according to partial birth abortion “doctor” LeRoy Carhart that an unborn baby is like “meat in a Crock-Pot.” The long-term consequences of brains, bodies, and babies is that in the end that we are nothing more than meat machines that have no intrinsic value. If this is so, and science tells us as much, then in the future there will never be a valid moral argument against genocide.

Read more at: http://americanvision.org/7933/meat-machines-brains-bodies-and-babies/ | The American Vision