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Autonomy Gone Amuck
autonomy (ô-tŏn’ə-mē) n., 1. Quality or state of being self-governed 2. Self-directing freedom and especially moral independence The first definition seems to be in line with biblical principles (self-controlled and responsible). However, the second definition seems to be how our culture defines autonomy. The culture’s definition echoes the repeated phrase in Judges, “everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Jud 21:25). The book of Judges displays the chaotic and evil outcome of everyone doing right in their own eyes…autonomy gone amuck! Several contemporary thinkers aid in discerning the issues involving autonomy. Philip Rieff(1922-2006) wrote of the triumph of the therapeutic self which is defined as when “the…
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The Humanist Manifesto, the Religion of Leftism and Progressivism
“Children, it is the last hour, and just as you heard that the antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have appeared” (1 John 2:18). Few seem to realize that much of the division in the United States and the West is a clash of religions: It is the clash between the remaining vestiges of the Judeo-Christian worldview and the rise of godless Humanism. I will not try to argue that America is a Christian nation; it is not. If it were, we would not have aborted 60 million of our own children and sacrificed them to the gods of self and sexual “freedom”.[1] If America were a Christian nation,…
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Book Review: “The Rage Against God” by Peter Hitchens
“In the names of reason, science, and liberty they [have] proved, rather effectively, that good societies need God to survive and that when you have murdered him, starved him, silenced him, denied him to the children, and erased his festivals and memory, you have a gap that cannot indefinitely be filled by any human, nor anything made by human hands…. [Yet] A new and intolerant utopianism seeks to drive the remaining traces of Christianity from Europe and North America. This time, it does so mainly in the cause of personal liberation, born in the 1960s cultural revolution, and now inflamed into special rage by any suggestion that the sexual urge…
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What Did the Philosophers Know and When Did They Know it? Part 1
“I should be much more afraid of being mistaken and then finding out that Christianity is true than of being mistaken in believing it to be true” (Blaise Pascal).[1] While revisiting a book entitled “The Great Philosophers: From Socrates to Foucault”, a short synopsis of many of the best known philosophers, I was struck by thoughts of meaninglessness. For thousands of years philosophers have been discussing questions like, “How do we know what we know?” “How can we know anything?” “How do we know we exist?” etc. What futility it is not to believe in God and to disbelieve in the possibility of life after death, to believe everyone eventually…
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The Giants Are Going And The Pygmies Must Take Over
Recently one of my former students sent me an e-mail about a current article in Christianity Today on Karl Barth, one of the most influential theologians in the early part of the twentieth century who had an adulterous relationship for much of his married life. The article was revealing, penetrating, and distressing as it spoke of such terrible sin in the life of one of the most significant thinkers in the past one hundred years. My former student, now a man with thirty years ministry experience and a key theological thinker in one of the largest evangelical countries in the world, reminded me of a time when he came to…
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A Date Which Will Live in Infamy
“Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people” (Proverbs 14:34). The word “infamy” is defined by Dictionary.com as “extremely bad reputation, public reproach, or strong condemnation as the result of a shameful, criminal, or outrageous act”. Thus one year ago today, June 26th, 2015, the day the Supreme Court of the United States declared that homosexuals had a Constitutional right to marry, is a date of infamy. The Court based their decision upon… well… upon philosophic talk that was devoid of wisdom. After all, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom” (Proverbs 1:7, NIV 1984). The word “fools” describes…
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God’s Not Dead (The Movie)
“Whom are you worried about? Whom do you fear, that you would act so deceitfully and not remember me or think about me? Because I have been silent for so long, you are not afraid of me.” – God (Isaiah 57:11). I remember the apprehension I felt when I registered for Philosophy 150, World Religions Class. I knew what I was potentially getting myself into. (Out of the frying pan and into the fire.) I expected to be tried and tested in that class, but I signed up anyway. Thus six months ago, when I saw the preview for the movie “God’s Not Dead”,[1] I was very interested in seeing…
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Downton Abbey: A Technicolor Story Enfolds a Black and White World
Like it or not, millions of Americans are giving up Downton Abbey for Lent. Or at Lent. The final episode aired Monday. “Keep calm and wait for September” the Facebook icons reassure. You wouldn’t expect to find such a cool set-must see TV-water cooler buzz-show on PBS, but Masterpiece Theater has struck gold (four Emmys) with its story of Lord and Lady Grantham, their three Jane Austinesque daughters and the downstairs intrigue of butlers, valets, footmen, ladies maids and cooks. What hooks millions of viewers all over the world? A world of daily candlelight dinners, beaded Chanel gowns, side-saddle hunts and Christmas pheasant shoots is rocked by World War I,…
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A Christian Conservative Goes to College, part 1 (Introduction)
In the last year I have talked to several friends, Christian parents, who were concerned about the “education” their children are receiving in college. After all, conscientious Christian parents work all those years to raise their child in the discipline and instruction of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4, Deuteronomy 11:19, etc.), then send those children off to a secular college or university where that instruction will most likely be attacked on every level. When this happens, the child may begin questioning everything about Christianity and everything the Bible teaches. They may begin retreating from parents, Christian friends, church, and Christianity while the parents become sick with worry and wonder how in…
