There is No Neutrality

Michael Bull rails against atheists who complain about religious instruction in schools, because their naturalistic philosophy is supposedly neutral.

But as usual, they are blinded by their pride.

In the mean time, our culture itself is eroding, and its all a great mystery why the West is crumbling.

Some quick points from the article:

  • An atheist’s faith relies on their rationality.
  • Our “secular” culture results in great pragmatic wisdom. This has been a blessing in many ways, but if pragmatism is the greatest virtue, you also open the door to horrors unimaginable.
  • When it comes to the tough questions, secular culture is bankrupt.
  • True progress requires the Word of God and the Spirit of God.
  • Our problem is that we want the Word of God to be provable before we act on it. We don’t want to rely on faith.

Tasty Sample 7/15

1. Where are the fathers? A plea from a child born from artificial insemination.

When I was doing college interviews, one of the interviewers told me that he didn’t have any children, but that he had donated sperm while in college because he needed the money. He didn’t realize that he probably is someone’s father, regardless of whether he knows his child.

2. The War Against Girls. More girls are aborted then boys. And this is held up as women’s right. Yet, this is the consequence of elevating “choice” to a public good.

One Indian abortionist tells Ms. Hvistendahl: “I have patients who come and say ‘I want to abort because if this baby is born it will be a Gemini, but I want a Libra.’ “

3. The Best Women’s Ministry is a Robust Men’s Ministry. This was a good read, with some common sense advice to churches.

What every godly wife yearns for is a spiritual leader. It’s a natural desire. Conversely, wives are most frustrated by husbands who occupy the office of leader but refuse to fulfill it.

Tasty Sampler 6/17

1. Calling mere cohabitation what it really is, and bringing back the word concubine.

In the past 40 years, it seems, concubinage has come to light again under a different name. Like ancient concubinage, contemporary cohabitation is a deliberately ambiguous relationship. The partners make no promises and have no legal obligations to one another.

2. Divine or God-directed Evolution? This posits that the church at large will eventually accept some form of evolution, and most already have, and that this is a good thing. The author compares it to birth control and flat earth beliefs, but that’s like comparing the roots of one tree to a single branch of another.  This ignores the inherent culture of death that is permeated when evolution is the overarching foundation story of a culture. There is a reason why this doctrine has been a bloody battleground.  The formal acceptance by the church at large would be a travesty.

What this says to me is that in another generation or two this issue of evolution will become an non-issue to American evangelicals. It is already a non-issue to Catholic believers and Protestants outside of America. Current controversies often disappear in time.

3. Hugh Hefner will die alone.

Hugh Hefner is a perverted old man who used his position and power within the industry of pornography to secure sexual conquests. At present, he’s at the end of his life. Those people at his parties aren’t his friends. Those women around him keeping the king warm in the cold of his twilight could care less. They’re only there because of his money and power.

4. Tips for writers of detective fiction. 24 fun and interesting facts about reality from someone with actual experience.

When a bullet from a Colt’s .45, or any firearm of approximately the same size and power, hits you, even if not in a fatal spot, it usually knocks you over. It is quite upsetting at any reasonable range.

5. Book expert from A Meal with Jesus. Tim Challies adds some of his own thoughts at the end about hospitality.

One of the wisest things Aileen and I did when we first got married was ensure that we had no television in the house. One of the most foolish things we did was introduce one as soon as she got pregnant. More foolish still was eating far too many meals in front of it.

6. Train wreck of math education. The key to a good understanding of math is to teach its history and its integration with other disciplines, and to not teach so much of it so fast.

Mathematics is, in a sense, a religious discipline.

But, then, most disciplines are.

 

Only the God of Shakespeare

The story of Congressman Weiner should remind us that there is a just God.  Only the one who created the mind of Shakespeare could script a story as ridiculous, sharp, funny, and deadly serious at the same time. I mean, this story was filled dialogue like “I can’t say with any certitude that the picture isn’t of me.”

What will He come up with next?

And Douglas Wilson highlights one of the fundamental lies of our current political climate, the separation of public/private.

He wants the voters to know that when it comes to this public sphere over here, he is a man of integrity, who would never knowingly violate a House rule, or an oath of office, whatever, but who, when it comes to the private sphere over there, and the private parts contained therein, he is a liar, skunk, and inept Twitterer.

Politics stinks.  Mainly because its full of skunks.

Tasty Sampler 6/3

1. Advice for Slow Readers. And no, it’s not “learn to read faster.”

For a few years now, I’ve used a reading plan that has helped me get through a pretty good number of books every month, despite my setback of being a slow reader. For the frustrated and overwhelmed readers, here are a few suggestions.

2. Ads can implant false memories.  Another reason not to watch too much TV.

It turns out that vivid commercials are incredibly good at tricking the hippocampus (a center of long-term memory in the brain) into believing that the scene we just watched on television actually happened. And it happened to us.

3. Moses Vs. Hyperpreterism. Michael Bull calls attention to the general outline of covenants in the Bible, and how it speaks against full blown hyperpreterism.

Every Covenant has an element of futurism because the Covenant process is how God directs history and moves it forward. Moses helps us to identify which part of Revelation is yet future. To claim otherwise is to ignore the structure of the entire Bible.

4. Poverty and the Delay of Gratification. This should be read and discussed around the dinner table. Valuable lessons from Eastern Kentucky.

The main difference between rich and poor is not birthplace, or education level, or the area of the country, or the quality of the schools. It’s not the local economy. The main difference between rich and poor is the ability to delay gratification in anticipation of greater rewards down the road.