Stephen J. Drain's blog

Okay, I understand that each episode of THE BIBLE, the epic mini-series, began with a disclaimer which read as follows: “THIS PROGRAM IS AN ADAPTATION OF BIBLE STORIES. IT ENDEAVORS TO STAY TRUE TO THE SPIRIT OF THE BOOK.” But some of the synonyms for “adaptation” are “altered copy, revision, reworked copy, variation, alteration, and adjustment.” Such a word can be problematic when it comes to the Bible. When I first saw the disclaimer I hoped what it meant was “We took some artistic license with the texts, in order to provide a bit more dialogue and we had to leave some things out because of time limitation.” In some cases I think they made mistakes, even made major errors. For examples of those negatives, my dislikes and disappointments, please see my column entitled, “THE BIBLE miniseries: my perspective, part 1.”
    
But let me now turn toward the positive.
 

“I tell you the truth,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!” (John 8:58).[1]
 
The World Religions’ Professor’s assignment read as follows: What’s the best word to describe Jesus? Prophet, Avatar (of the Hebrew God), or Bodhisattva?
 
Well, I was not going to be forced into the professor’s definitions....
 

“…knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel…” (Philippians 1:16, NIV).
 
When asked, “How can we foster the encounter of people with Jesus Christ?” C.S. Lewis replied as follows:

“You can’t lay down any pattern for God. There are many different ways of bringing people into His kingdom…. As Christians we are tempted to make unnecessary concessions to those outside the Faith. We give in too much. Now, I don’t mean that we should run the risk of making a nuisance of ourselves by witnessing at improper times, but there comes a time when we must show that we disagree. We must show our Christian colours [sic], if we are to be true to Jesus Christ. We cannot remain silent or concede everything away.”[1]
 

"He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end" (Ecclesiastes 3:11, NIV).

“For those who guide this people are leading them astray; And those who are guided by them are brought to confusion” (Isaiah 9:16, NASB).
 
It was verbal professorial blitzkrieg. Seven weeks of World Religions Class with a textbook that listed seven major world religions, but the professors had spent at least four weeks trying to dismantle the Bible, the God of the Bible (i.e. the only true God), and Christianity. They attacked and attempted to undermine from every angle, appealing to feelings, to subjectivity, to modern “understanding”, etc. They questioned everything, led the witnesses, and sat as judge and jury. They prosecuted, but never defended.
 
And I was still stunned and overwhelmed. I was not yet prepared or ready to jump into the debate. I saw how the professors played the game. I saw how they took cheap shots in jest, then dodged, got serious, moved in and out of the subject matter, asked questions out of left field, etc. I was  like a child watching and timing their verbal game of jump rope, trying to get the timing right in order to jump in. Yet I was fully aware that I am a much better communicator and debater on paper, than with the spoken word. The time had not yet come, but it would.
 
 

At the very least, I hope these columns challenge Christians to think. You can disagree with me and my opinions. You can disagree with my approach. I’m certainly fallible. But for your own sake think, study, seek understanding and pray for wisdom (Proverbs 3:13, James 1:5). After all, all truth is God’s truth.

Having said that, I think this column will be challenging.

In my last column, a general review/overview of Carl W. Wilson’s book Our Dance Has Turned to Death, I wrote: “[Be] forewarned—men, women, Christian, secularist, leftwing, and right wing—you will probably be offended in some way; no matter what group you identify with, Carl W. Wilson will confront and challenge your conventional wisdom.”

Of course, talking about the specific roles which God has ordained for men and women is offensive and controversial in this day and age, but Wilson’s book launches some even more controversial topics for conversation: Christianity and Capitalism, are they compatible? Is there anything wrong with putting children in Sunday School? Is abandonment of the death sentence for crimes, abandonment of Christianity? Have the feminists considered how their agenda has completely backfired on women? These are some of the topics that I touch on below. Topics to get your synapses firing, your blood boiling, and hopefully topics to get your fingers flipping through the pages of your Bible.

“But [as always] examine all things; hold fast to what is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:21).

“[The main thesis of this book] is that the family, with traditional religious roles for men and women in a life-long monogamous marriage relationship, is the abiding natural foundation for social order, happiness and stability. When that view is abandoned for selfish individualism the society will collapse and die.” – Carl W. Wilson, Our Dance Has Turned to Death.[1]

Carl W. Wilson’s book, Our Dance Has Turned to Death, examines the causes and effects of the disintegration of the American family. Published in 1979 (Yes, 1979!) it stands today as a prophetic voice from the not-too-distant past. This social theory still stands because it is well within a biblical framework. Not all is biblical, much is theoretical.  No matter which side you might prefer, it is still a good read. Drawing on a wide range of sources, from anthropologists, sociologists, psychologists, and historians, as well as the Bible, Mr. Wilson’s book touches on a vast array of topics, including slavery, the industrial revolution, woman’s suffrage, feminism, sexuality, homosexuality, politics, economics, the military, etc. But be forewarned—men, women, Christian, secularist, leftwing, and right wing—you will probably be offended in some way; no matter what group you identify with, Carl W. Wilson will confront and challenge your conventional wisdom.

“Then the Lord said to me, ‘When you tell them all this, they will not listen to you. When you call out to them, they will not respond to you’” (Jeremiah 7:27).

“Although they see they do not see, and although they hear they do not hear nor do they understand. And concerning them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says: ‘You will listen carefully yet will never understand, you will look closely yet will never comprehend. For the heart of this people has become dull; they are hard of hearing, and they have shut their eyes, so that they would not see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them” (Matthew 13:13-15).

“The superiority in judgment and diligence which you are going to attribute to Biblical critics will have to be almost superhuman if it is to offset the fact that they are everywhere faced with customs, language, race-characteristics, class-characteristics, a religious background, habits of composition, and basic assumptions, which no scholarship will ever enable any man now alive to know as surely and intimately and instinctively as the reviewer can know mine. And for the very same reason, remember, the Biblical critics, whatever reconstructions they devise, can never be crudely proved wrong. St Mark [for instance] is dead. When they meet St Peter there will be more pressing matters to discuss.” - C.S. Lewis

The assigned textbook for the seven week World Religions Class was Huston Smith’s The Illustrated World Religions. The book listed seven major religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. Seven weeks, seven major world religions, one week for each religion, right? Wrong! We spent the first two weeks with Professor Yu making a joke of Christianity, Judaism, and the Bible, confusing and mangling the facts… Then we students sat in class for the next two weeks as the professor attempted to deconstruct the Bible, Judaism, and Christianity. Four out of seven weeks spent attempting to erode Christianity and its foundations? Does this sound like a World Religions course or something else?

Huston Smith, we have a problem!

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil…. For this reason, take up the full armor of God so that you may be able to stand your ground…. by taking up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one” (Ephesians 6:12-16).

“I don’t think a just God would punish people eternally for their sins.” Have you ever heard or said such a thing?

I use as an example something written by USA Today columnist Oliver “Buzz” Thomas:[1]

“I can guarantee if one of our daughters turned out to be a murderer, neither [my wife nor I] would respond by setting fire to her. We wouldn’t torture her for a second, much less… eternity”.[2]

“[From] the moment students set foot on the contemporary campus, their Christian convictions and discipline are assaulted. ‘Faith is just a crutch,’ they hear from friends and teachers. ‘The Bible is just mythology.’ ‘Christianity is judgmental and intolerant.’ ‘Morality is different everywhere.’ ‘Everyone must find his own truth.’ ‘I can be good without God.’ ‘Jesus was just a man who died.’ No wonder so many lose their faith!” (J. Budziszewski, How to Stay Christian in College).[1]

Drip, drip, drip. I witnessed the constant attack on Christianity, Christian beliefs and morals, while I was in college. At times I felt totally alone. Many times I wanted to fight. Many times I just stayed quiet, silent, while within my blood boiled. Oftentimes I argued with myself about responses or lack-thereof. I was sometimes so spiritually oppressed (Ephesians 6:12) that I needed some time of refreshing. I needed my tank refilled, needed a good influence, needed to be reminded how I could answer the enemies of Christ and the cross (Philippians 3:18). And then, by the grace of God, I ran across J. Budziszewski’s How to Stay Christian in College at an online Christian bookstore.

“A blind man cannot guide a blind man, can he? Will they not both fall into a pit?” (Luke 6:39, NASB).

Welcome to World Religions class, already in progress:

“No sex before marriage? In top-down religion, the rule is already decided for you,” said Professor Yu,[1] “but in eastern tradition and other religions you work to figure it all out for yourself. No sex before marriage? Try it…” he said the last line with a laugh as if he was only joking. “God says, ‘No sex before marriage’? How do you know what’s best until you try it for yourself?”

“What wonderful advice,” I thought to myself. (Yes, even in my own head I can be sarcastic.) I thought about saying, “Would you say that regarding suicide?” but I bit my tongue. I could have been a wise-acre, done my best imitation of him, and said, “God says, ‘Don’t murder. Do not rape.’ How do you know what’s best unless you try it for yourself?”[2]

“For although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or give him thanks, but they became futile in their thoughts and their senseless hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools” (Romans 1:21-22).

I knew that in taking World Religions (Philosophy 251) as a general elective, I was probably jumping from the frying pan into the fire.[1] In World Religions Class, I certainly felt as though I was in a place “where Satan has his throne” (Revelation 2:13, NIV).

“Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you” (Hebrews 13:7, NASB).

I will answer the question first by telling you some things about my childhood:

My mom tells me that Dad began reading the Bible to me the day I came home from the hospital. I know all my years growing up, until the very day I moved out of the house a month before my marriage, Dad either read or recited a verse of the Bible to me every single day. That was Dad’s way of being obedient to the biblical injunction to “Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds…. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up” (Deuteronomy 11:18-19, NIV).

Most of us who believe in God believe the following three things:

1. God is all good.
2. God is all powerful.
3. Evil exists.

Some critics and skeptics, however, argue against the above by saying it creates a contradiction of sorts. They respond with an argument that, more or less, is as follows:

Premise 1: If God is all good and God is all powerful, evil should not exist.
Premise 2: Evil exists.
Conclusion: Therefore God is either not all good or not all powerful.

On Saturday, May 21st, 2011, Jesus did not return.

“Harold Camping "flabbergasted" by non-Rapture” was the headline of one CBS/AP news story the following Monday.[1] But being flabbergasted did not stop the 89 year old Harold Camping who, only two days after his failed prediction, said, "[The] Bible clearly teaches that [on October 21st, 2011]  the world is going to be destroyed altogether."

As Ronald Reagan once said, "There you go again..."

“Some have strayed... turned away to empty discussion. They want to be teachers…, but they do not understand what they are saying or the things they insist on so confidently” (1 Timothy 1:6-7).

“Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20, NASB).

I have mentioned how the Critical Thinking Class seemed geared towards attacking conservative positions and Christian beliefs; in particular, one of the major assignments was for the class to read two major pro-abortion arguments, A Defense of Abortion by Judith Jarvis Thomson and The Moral and Legal Status of Abortion by Mary Anne Warren.[1] My last column was a minor critique of Thomson’s argument, but should I leave Ms. Warren to her own devices? As the Apostle Paul often wrote: “May it never be!”

“These men turn night into day; in the face of darkness they say, ‘Light is near’” (Job 17:12, NIV).

In my last column in this series I mentioned how our Critical Thinking (Philosophy 111) Class seemed geared towards attacking conservative positions and Christian beliefs. In particular, one of the major assignments was for the class to read two major pro-abortion arguments, A Defense of Abortion by Judith Jarvis Thomson[1] and The Moral and Legal Status of Abortion by Mary Anne Warren.[2] It was at least mentioned that there was a famous counter argument by American bioethicist Baruch Brody; though I could not find his work online.

“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but I do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so that I can remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away everything I own, and if I give over my body in order to boast, but do not have love, I receive no benefit” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).

“[To] quench my thirst they give me vinegar to drink” (Psalm 69:21).

In my opinion some of the subjects of old should be mandatory in schools today. Logic is one of those subjects. Thus I took Critical Thinking as my advanced humanities elective. Our textbook that semester was entitled Introduction to Logic, so I felt I was in the right place.

“The discerning person acquires knowledge, and the wise person seeks knowledge” (Proverbs 18:15).

“I would like you to give me five of the greatest Christian books of all time.”

This was what I told my dad in response to his asking me to provide Christmas gift suggestions for him and Mom about fifteen years ago. Of course, in this case I meant books other than the Bible, as I understood that the Bible contained 66 of the greatest and most influential books from throughout Christendom’s history.

“How long will you simpletons love naiveté? How long will… fools hate knowledge?” (Proverbs 1:22-23).

“A fool keeps on babbling. No one knows what will happen; who can tell him what will happen in the future?” (Ecclesiastes 10:14).

Recently someone left a tiny note/tract on my wife’s car in a parking lot: “Christian Bible Truth, world’s end! END = 10/21/11.”

“I am certain that in passing from the scientific point of view to the theological, I have passed from dream to waking. Christian theology can fit in science, art, morality, and [it can explain] the sub-Christian religions. The scientific point of view cannot fit in any of these things, not even science itself. I believe in Christianity as I believe that the Sun has risen, not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.”[1]

“Can you fathom the mysteries of God? Can you probe the limits of the Almighty? They are higher than the heavens—what can you do? They are deeper than the depths of the grave— what can you know?” (Job 11:7-8, NIV).

“God is both further from us, and nearer to us, than any other being” (C.S. Lewis). [1]

“Who has put wisdom in the heart, or has imparted understanding to the mind?” (Job 38:36).

“[T]he world existing at that time was destroyed when it was deluged with water. But by the same word the present heavens and earth have been reserved for fire, by being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly” (2 Peter 3:6-7).

“If only you would keep completely silent! For you that would be wisdom” (Job 13:5).

Rabbit trails. That’s what a pastor friend of mine named Ian calls it when his sermons veer off in multiple directions, and that’s what I call it when my biblical studies lead me from one thing to the next to the next.

In the last year I have talked to several friends, Christian parents, who were concerned about the “education” their children are receiving in college.