Muddling Toward Maturity Blog

ROD DREHER AND THE STATE OF OUR TIMES

It's important to keep reading Rod Dreher.  I do not have time to offer additional or better comments on the three posts listed below, but perhaps I can do so at a later time.  Each is important reading.

 --  Here is a post on Trump's evangelical support and it's pervasive pessimism -- which reflects my own thinking.

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/evangelicals-trump-shield-2020/

--  See also this on the religion of the New York Times:  https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/new-york-times-editorial-staff-meeting-racism-oberlin-faculty-senate/

And this on progressive education in California - https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/california-to-become-yugoslavia-ethnic-studies/

FLASHBACK: BILLY GRAHAM ON TV PROGRAM "WHAT'S MY LINE?"

The date was Oct. 9, 1960 and Billy had just concluded a 3-day series of meetings for Spanish speaking people in Madison Square Garden in New York City.   Those of a certain age will find this rerun of great interest.   Ht: GV  Note:  Billy Graham celebrated his 99th birthday on Nov. 7, 2017.  

NICHOLAS KRISTOF INTERVIEWS TIM KELLER, WELL KNOWN NEW YORK CITY EVANGELICAL PASTOR

Keller pastors Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan.  He is known for his thoughtful sermons which attract a large and varied audience.  He has lectured at Google on three occasions that I am aware of (here, here, and here), as well as at Oxford and other universities. Keller is also a prolific author.  Just before Christmas New York Times writer Nicholas Kristof published an interview with Keller titled, "Am I a Christian, Pastor Keller?"   I think it really good, both the questions and answers, and commend it to you.

(Note: I have blogged about Tim Keller several times.  Simply google "Muddling Toward Maturity - Tim Keller" for a list of posts.)

SURVEY: CHURCH-GOING EVANGELICALS PREFER OTHER CANDIDATES TO TRUMP

The narrative that "evangelicals support Trump in large numbers" needs closer analysis.   The Family Research Council offers the following perspective."  (Bolding is my own)

 Very few people have been able to wrap their heads around the "bizarre" relationship between Donald and evangelicals. Part of the reason for the unusual alliance, Peter Wehner speculates in yesterday's New York Times, "is that many evangelicals feel increasingly powerless, beaten down, aggrieved and under attack." But there may be a better explanation for Trump's popularity with this bloc, the Barna Group points out, which is that some of these "evangelicals" aren't evangelicals at all!

If you want to understand where true evangelicals stand, they argue, ask the churchgoers. "Most polls are based on self-identification," the Group has found, "instead of what people do or believe... Reuters and others have found that church attendance distinctly decreases evangelical support for Trump, who has the least-religious supporters among the GOP candidates."

Barna's definition of evangelical is more "rigorous." To qualify, voters have to meet nine key faith criteria ranging from a personal commitment to Jesus Christ to agreement on who God is. Using that filter, true evangelicals, the Group notes, "whose faith hinges on obedience to God's commands, are far more interested in the character of candidates than any other segment." Looking at the election through Barna's lens, the mirage of Trump's broad evangelical support begins to fall away.

"Overall, far more evangelicals view Trump as 'very unfavorable' than 'very favorable," the survey notes. "Researchers found a 38 percentage point difference between the extreme ends of Trump's favorability spectrum... When Barna asked its 869 survey respondents to choose their favorite candidate, evangelicals who identified as Republicans split between Cruz (38%) and Carson (35%), trailed by Rubio (14%) and Trump (11%). Practicing Christians also chose Cruz first (30%), followed by Carson (20%), Trump (18%), and Rubio (15%)."

The liberal media would love to perpetuate the story that evangelicals are abandoning their morals to vote for someone with questionable character. The liberal media would love to perpetuate the story that evangelicals are abandoning their morals.   And perhaps some are. But Barna's research makes it clear -- true evangelicals haven't lost faith in their core values.And perhaps so

QUICK TAKES

    ** On Iraq - Historian Victor Davis Hanson on the Iraq war    The sort of serious analysis and reporting never seen found in mainstream writing (which incidentally throws Trump down from his pedestal)  UPDATE 3/15/16 -  Jay Nordinger's audio interview with Victor Davis Hanson

 

    ** Evangelical leaders on picking a Presidential nominee - Interesting "inside" stuff 

 

    ** Andrew C. McCarthy (the sharpest and most reliable mind around when it comes to Islam and terrorism) writes:  "Why Closing Gitmo is still a terrible idea."

 

    ** Charles Cooke - electing Trump would be "an unmitigated, unalloyed, potentially unsalvageable disaster"  Cooke says Trump must be stopped:  

 

The anti-Trump forces that still make up the majority of the Republican coalition must begin an expedited Manhattan Project, the sole aim of which is to bring down the front-runner piece by unpleasant piece. “If not us, who?” Ronald Reagan asked in the heat of the 1981 budget battle. “If not now, when?” Time to go nuclear, chaps.

ROMAN CATHOLICS AND EVANGELICALS COMPARED SOCIOLOGICALLY

Maggie Gallagher, a serious Catholic thinker and activist, wrote a column yesterday titled, The Catholic Weakness which carries the subtitle, "A large proportion of traditional, Mass-going Catholics don't believe basic Church doctrine. Why not?"

In the course of Gallagher's article she cites statistics from the Austin Institute’s new study, Relationships in America, from which she draws a series of comparisons, including the following:

Fewer than six in ten traditional Catholics who attend Mass regularly believe in the resurrection of the body (58 percent), compared with 75 percent of Evangelicals who attend services at least three times a month.

Catholic teaching says that weekly Sunday Mass attendance is a serious obligation and missing Mass is a mortal sin. Yet just 58 percent of traditional Catholics are at church in a given week, compared with 74 percent of Evangelicals.

When it comes to sexual-behavior measures in this study, traditional Catholics who are regular churchgoers are slightly less likely to use porn than are Evangelicals (29 percent to 21 percent) but also slightly more likely to report having premarital sex with their spouse (64 percent to 57 percent).

As far as attitudes and values, the situation is bleak. Take cohabitation: When asked whether it is a good idea for couples considering marriage to cohabit first, just 48 percent of churchgoing Catholics firmly disagree, compared with 79 percent of Evangelicals. When asked whether it is “okay” for two people to get together for casual sex, 86 percent of churchgoing Evangelicals disagree, compared with just 65 percent of traditional Catholics.

The Catholic Church is unique in teaching that a sacramental Christian marriage is literally impossible to dissolve. Yet when asked whether married couples with children should stay married, just 45 percent of traditional Catholics who attend Mass regularly definitely agree, compared with 58 percent of churchgoing Evangelicals.

These statistics bother Maggie Gallagher greatly.  She writes

If the Catholic Church could learn how to do half as good a job as Evangelicals at passing on basic Christian moral and spiritual teaching to the next generation, not only would much suffering be avoided, but American culture would be transformed.

Speaking as an evangelical, I find these statistics sobering.   The state of evangelical Christianity in America is nothing to boast about, but it seems Roman Catholicism is in even more  desperate shape.  Gallagher wrote a previous article based on the same study in which she compared Catholicism with Mormonism.  

BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR (DR. LYNN K. WILDER) LEAVES MORMONISM FOR BIBLICAL CHRISTIANITY

Last fall Dr. Michael Brown interviewed Dr. Lynn K. Wilder, a former professor at Brigham Young University who left Mormonism for Biblical Christianity, and wrote about her journey in Unveiling Grace: The Story of How We Found Our Way Out of the Mormon Church.   The following provides a riveting, fairly comprehensive phone interview.  In it, Dr. Wilder provides excellent, essential information about Mormonism.

 

Following, I've provided the major portion of an excellent and helpful Amazon review of Wilder's book.

. . .  As I began Lynn's book, I was skeptical of where it might go or what her message might be. Many books about Mormonism tend to land very heavily in the apologetics side of the scale, leaving the reader with a negative, almost sterile feeling in their heart about the way people are saved from Mormonism. In fact, after reading most books concerning Mormonism, all you want to do is just stay away from its deception at all costs! Lynn however has been able to skillfully reveal apologetic differences between Mormonism and Christianity by weaving what she learned into her story of salvation. Instead of pages and pages of information on the differences between Mormonism and Christianity the reader gets the story of a person fully living Mormonism and little by little coming to believe in the God of the Bible. As this story unfolds Lynn teaches about Mormon and Christian belief throughout in a way that is personal and heartfelt. Readers get a great picture of real Mormonism; a culturally enmeshed belief system that leaves little room for critical thought stranding its adherents in Zion, blissfully blind. Readers also get a real picture of the one true God found in Christianity; able to save anyone out of their situation through the truth about Christ found in the Bible as revealed to individuals by the "Dancer of grace" (314).

LITERATE, STABLE "MAJORITY WORLD" DEMOCRACIES LINKED TO EARLY MISSIONARY INFLUENCE

John Stonestreet reports "The Truth About Missionaries."  He says:   Download

For the last several generations, missionaries have gotten a lot of bad press. They’re called cultural imperialists or tools of colonial oppression, and in the pages of books such as “The Poisonwood Bible,” or, for an earlier generation, James Michener’s “Hawaii,” they’re presented as paternalistic, ignorant enemies of glorious indigenous cultures.

Even many supporters of so-called “native missionaries” in Asia, Africa, and Latin America suggest that Western missionaries should just “stay home” and “let the nationals do it.” But a funny thing happened on the way to missionary irrelevance: Ground-breaking, peer-reviewed research reveals that the presence of Protestant missionaries is the greatest predictor of whether a nation develops into a stable representative democracy with robust levels of literacy, political freedom, and women’s rights.  [my emphases]

Yes, you heard that right, and you can read all about it in a fascinating and important cover story in the latest issue of Christianity Today. It describes the painstaking work of Robert Woodberry, whose work on the global spread of democracy has turned scholarship on its head.

Woodberry discovered that you can trace a direct link between the presence of 19^th-century Protestant missionaries and a country’s economic and social development.

Why, for instance, does a seminary in the West African nation of Togo have almost no books for its students, while in neighboring Ghana the schools are full of reading material, including much that is written locally? As summarized by CT author Andrea Palpant Dilley, “British missionaries in Ghana had established a whole system of schools and printing presses. But France, the colonial power in Togo, severely restricted missionaries.”

RAVI ZACHARIAS TO SPEEK AT BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY AND THE MORMON TABERNACLE THIS WEEKEND

He speaks at BYU Friday afternoon at 2:00 PM (EST),  and at the Mormon Tabernacle Saturday evening at 8:30 (EST).  Both talks will be live-streamed.  Details here.

BEST BIOGRAPHIES - RECOMMENDATIONS BY NOTABLE EVANGELICALS

From Justin Taylor:

20 Biography Recommendations: Nettles, Haykin, Finn, and Reeves

Tom Nettles is professor of historical theology at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. His most recent publication, years in the making, is a major biography of Charles Spurgeon.

Here are his top biography recommendations:

1. Eric Metaxas, Bonhoeffer.

This is a slap in the face for those of us who are always looking for the politically appropriate [safe] time to say something true.

2. George Marsden, Jonathan Edwards.

For the purposes of seminary class, I use Murray’s biography. To show, however, in a charming but serious-minded way to a secular public how seriously and deeply a Christian can think about issues of ultimate importance, this is the book to loan (you could not give many of them away).

3. Roland Bainton, Here I Stand.

A beautifully crafted story of a rough and resolute man whose discovery of truth so melded itself into his soul that he feared to distinguish between his truth-informed conscience and the final claim of God on his life.

4. Sharon James, My Heart in His Hands: Ann Judson of Burma.

Sharon James gives a sensitive and vigorous unfolding of one of the most intensely important lives of nineteenth-century American evangelicalism. Without Ann Judson, American evangelical foreign missions might never have gotten off the ground.

5. Iain Murray, D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: The First Forty Years, 1899-1939 and D. Marty Lloyd Jones: The Fight of Faith, 1939-1981.

This provides great encouragement and instruction for pastors seeking a ministry given to scriptural and doctrinal edification of the Bride of Christ.

[JT note: see also an updated and revised one-volume abridged edition.]

INTERNATIONAL ADOPTION: IS THE LEFT LAUNCHING AN ATTACK AGAINST EVANGELICALS?

"To many on the left, if you are conservative, there is nothing you can do that is virtuous.  Even the good that you do will be dismissed as cynical or destructive."  So says David French who goes on to  write:

Thanks to the publication of Kathryn Joyce’s new book, The Child Catchers: Rescue, Trafficking, and the New Gospel of Adoption (excerpted here in Mother Jones, and Ms. Joyce is interviewed here at NPR), there’s been an online wave of criticism/examination of Evangelicals’ so-called orphan fever. To some, conservative Christians are incentivizing child-trafficking, engaging in a form of cultural imperialism by yanking children from their native cultures and evangelizing them into Christianity, soothing pro-life conscienses wounded by lack of concern for babies after they’re born, and trying to engage in charity without adjusting underlying world views about social justice and the need for systemic change.  

Before I go any further, let me be clear about my biases: I’m the adoptive father of a beautiful girl from one of the countries highlighted in the NPR interview, Ethiopia. My sister has adopted a special-needs child from China, and our church is full of adoptive families, mostly with international adoptions. Many of these kids also have special needs. In short, adoption has been a great blessing in my family’s life, and in the life of our church.  

I have two reactions to the criticisms outlined above. The first, more emotional response, is to reaffirm something I’ve said before: To many on the left, if you are conservative then there is nothing you can do that is virtuous. Even the good that you do will be dismissed as cynical or destructive.  The idea that my friends and family, who love their adopted children more than they love their own lives, have “orphan fever” is disgusting. Given that much of this criticism comes from unapologetic advocates for abortion-on-demand, I’m reminded of the words of Isaiah: “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.”

But my second response must be less emotional — because the critics do have a limited point. It is simply a fact that there have been abuses within international adoptions. There has been child trafficking. There have been lies told to adoptive parents. And there are actual horror stories — not widespread, but horrifying nonetheless (perhaps the most famous recent incident was of the Tennessee mom who inexcusably and reprehensibly sent her seven-year-old child back to Russia, alone).  

"BREAKAWAY" - AMAZING CHRISTIAN STUDENT MOVEMENT AT TEXAS A&M DRAWS THOUSANDS WEEKLY

 Tracy Winborn reports:

COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- Breakaway Ministries began 25 years ago as a small Bible study on the campus of Texas A&M University, but now it's a weekly gathering with thousands of students on fire for the Lord.

Each Tuesday evening, the students meet at the school's basketball arena for worship, prayer and Bible teaching.

"I went to Breakaway on the first Tuesday night, and it completely rocked my world. I have never in my life just instantly felt that close to thousands of people. It was just amazing," sophomore Rachel Fisher said.

Breakaway Ministries is a non-denominational Bible study. It's mission is to introduce college students to Jesus Christ and call them to walk with Him for a lifetime.

Their passion seems contagious, and it's having what you might call a domino effect.

DAVID BRODY - TEAVANGELICALS

David Brody gets on top of stories others miss.  So it is with coining the word "Teavangelical," the subject of his new book,  The Teavangelicals: The Inside Story of How the Evangelicals and the Tea Party are Taking Back America.   He claims at least 50% of Tea Party members are evangelicals.  Here's a report and interview from the 700 Club:

 

In an excerpt from his book, Brody defines "Teavangelical" as follows:

Teavangelical: (noun) a conservative Christian (typically evangelical) who strongly supports the Tea Party agenda or is active in the Tea Party movement (pronounced “TEE-van-GEL-i-cal”)

Brody observes:

When the Tea Party started its political rise, the clear focus was economic -- specifically the U.S. deficit, taxes, and spending. 

Social issues took a back seat, but that didn't stop Christians from joining and strengthening this new movement.

The result was the "teavangelical," conservative Christians who are part of the Tea Party or at least agree with their agenda.

They travel the country calling for a better America, a return to Judeo-Christian principles and economic plans for a deficit-free future.

They come in all shapes and sizes, from the farm, town square, and even Capitol Hill.

DEFINITION OF AN "EVANGELICAL"

Readers of this blog probably already know the definition of an "evangelical Christian," but in case not, Justyn Terry, Dean and President of Trinity School for Ministry in Ambridge, PA, offers an excellent, clarifying understanding:

The word "evangelical" is used in many different ways these days, and there is much debate about its meaning. My preference is for J.I. Packer's six distinctives of evangelicalism, which are endorsed by John Stott and Alister McGrath, all three of whom are prominent evangelical Anglicans.

1. The supreme authority of Scripture for knowledge of God and as guide to Christian living.
2. The majesty of Jesus Christ as incarnate God and Lord, and the saviour of sinful humanity.
3. The lordship of the Holy Spirit.
4. The need for personal conversion.
5. The priority of evangelism for both individual Christians and for the Church as a whole.
6. The importance of Christian community for spiritual nourishment, fellowship and growth.

For an exposition of these points, see Alister E. McGrath, Evangelicalism and the Future of Christianity, Inter-Varsity Press, 1995, ch. 2, "Evangelical Distinctives").

WHY NEWT GINGRICH MAY WIN THE EVANGELICAL VOTE

I have a hard time faulting Ryan Mauro's reasoning.   Richard Land (Director of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission), thinks Newt has a serious problem with evangelical women.   I'm not convinced of that.  Read more. . .

Update 11/19/11:  For the record, the nasty story of Gingrich serving divorce papers to his wife as she lay dying of cancer is untrue.  Click here.

CHINESE IMMIGRANTS FINDING FAITH IN CHRIST (VIDEO)

I found this CBN News story fascinating.

 

NEW YORK - Chinese immigrants travel to the United States to fulfill the American dreams of freedom, wealth, and a new way of life.

Yet, when they reach America's shores, many find something far more valuable than riches.

Chinese worshippers often gather at the Church of Grace to the Fujanese in New York City. Some congregants have traveled from Boston, Philadelphia, and as far away as Ohio and Tennessee to attend the church.

JOHN STOTT LAID TO REST IN RURAL WALES

I appreciated greatly the description Chris Wright gave of the burial service for Dr John R.W. Stott, whom Wright describes as "a man who, like Moses, was one of the greatest leaders God has given to his people, and yet one of the humblest men on earth." I have blogged about John Stott before.   Dr. Wright wrote:

The swallows and martins twittered over our heads, the cattle grazed contentedly a few yards away, and the wind whipped in off nearby West Dale Bay, as we gently lowered the casket of John Stott's ashes into a small grave in the corner of the cemetery in Dale.

Dale, so named centuries ago by the Vikings because it sits in a little valley between the ocean to the west and Milford Haven to the east, is the village in Pembrokeshire, on the very tip of south west Wales, where John discovered the little farm called The Hookses which he purchased in 1954. It was at The Hookses that John wrote almost all of his 51 books over the half century that followed, making himself a much-loved member of the local church and village community in all the weeks he stayed there during those years.

REMEMBERING JOHN STOTT (1921-2011)

The New York Times published an excellent review of John Stott's life and influence.  Back in 2004 David Brooks wrote a much-praised review of John Stott's influence as well.  Both articles cite Michael Cromartie's remark that if evangelicals could elect a pope, Stott is the person they would likely choose.  In a collection of tributes, VirtueOnline included Dr. David Wells' instructive reflections (below). Wells' reflections rightly point out Stott's emphasis on the needful exposition of Scripture from church pulpits around the world. 

It was my privilege while studying at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School to sit under Dr. Stott's lectures on the Sermon on the Mount, as well as his series of lectures on II Timothy.  A more humble, gracious, or more clear-thinking man one could never hope to meet.  It was also my privilege to hear him deliver plenary Bible studies at the huge InterVarsity Urbana Missionary Convention held on the campus of the University of Illinois.  No tribute can overstate the influence and magnificence of the man.  Books on my bookshelf, if they could talk, would say how privileged they feel to be next to those written by John Stott.

Wells says of Stott:  (my emphases)

CHRISTIAN ORGANIZATION NAME CHANGES

Christianity Today notes that Campus Crusade for Christ is changing its name to "Cru."  In addition:

In 2007, the Interdenominational Foreign Mission Association of North America (IFMA) changed its name to CrossGlobal Link, citing how the words "interdenominational" and "foreign" have changed meanings since its 1917 inception. The mission organization EFMA changed from its original name, Evangelical Foreign Missions Association, to Evangelical Fellowship of Mission Agencies in 1992 to include domestic missions as members. In 1997, it changed its name again to The Mission Exchange. In 2004, the Conservative Baptist Association changed its name to CBAmerica, and in 2008, the Baptist General Conference became Converge Worldwide.

Other organizations have changed names as their reach has broadened. For instance, the mission organization most widely known as SIM (Serving in Mission) was founded in 1893 as Sudan Interior Mission. . .

McConnell led efforts at Fuller to change its School of World Mission to School of Intercultural Studies in 2003, because he found that the term world mission was seen as offensive in the Middle East and Central Asia.

Regarding the dropping of "Crusade," many readers probably know that

in 2000, Wheaton College removed its Crusader mascot and eventually became the Thunder. . .   In 2002, evangelist Billy Graham began using the word "mission" to describe what he always called "crusades." His son Franklin Graham and evangelist Luis Palau call their gatherings "festivals," while Greg Laurie uses "crusade."

RICK WARREN (OF "PURPOSE-DRIVEN LIFE" FAME) IN DIALOG WITH PASTOR JOHN PIPER

This 98 minute video interview reveals a great deal about Rick Warren, his mind, and his theology.  Yes, it's long, but it's worth watching.   John Piper carefully goes through Warren's book The Purpose Driven Life," a book which sold more copies than any other non-fiction book in history, excepting the Bible.   Piper introduces the video below.  These two men show themselves to be humble, serious servants of the Living God.  

Piper:

This 98 minute interview that I did with Rick Warren was recorded on May 1, 2011, during the Desiring God Regional Conference at Saddleback Church. It's the fulfillment of a commitment we made when Rick was not able to come in person to the Desiring God National Conference in Minneapolis in October, 2010.

The nature of the interview is mainly doctrinal. I read Rick’s The Purpose Driven Life with great care. I brought 20 pages of quotes and questions to the interview. You will hear me quote the book dozens of times. With these quotes as a starting point I dig into Rick’s mind and heart on all the issues listed below (with the times that they begin on the video).

My aim in this interview is to bring out and clarify what Rick Warren believes about these biblical doctrines. In doing this my hope is that the thousands of pastors and lay people who look to Rick for inspiration and wisdom will see the profound place that doctrine has in his mind and heart.

Rick is not known for being a doctrinal preacher. One reason for this is his intention to be theologically sound and practically helpful without using doctrinal or theological terms in his public ministry. Inside of Saddleback there is a greater intentionality about building biblical and theological categories into the people’s minds and hearts.

Near the end of the interview, with great respect and appreciation for the stewardship of influence that Rick carries, I exhort him and pray for him that God will make the final chapter of his ministry a deepening one, that leaves a legacy of biblical and doctrinal truth more explicitly and firmly in the minds and hearts of the generations that will follow him.

Rick and I are very different in methodological instincts and inclinations. I take almost the exact opposite approach in preaching—wanting to make the theological categories explicit and to show how I got them from the text. But then I am not even close to the fruitful evangelist that Rick is.

We both have chosen risky ways. There are pitfalls of short- and long-term unfruitfulness. But in the end we do not govern the impact of our lives. God does. We do what the Bible and our hearts call us to do. I believe Rick’s is a faithful heart. Listen to the clarity of his doctrinal commitments and hear the heartbeat of his love for Christ and those perishing without him.

Let this remarkable testimony of faith send you down into the Word of God for a deeper understanding of God and his ways. Here are the topics we tackle and when they begin on the video.

Introduction
3:29  The glory of God.
7:16  David Wells and the weight of God’s reality.
9:00  Would you write the book the same today?
12:00 The sovereignty of God.
18:47 How do you speak of God’s sovereignty in the presence of tragedy?
22:01 How do all things work for bad for those who reject Christ?
24:14 Do you hedge on Larry King?
27:00 Unconditional election.
30:18 The importance of eternity.
34:42 How do you conceive of eternity: in heaven, on earth?
38:53 What is the Gospel?
42:00 What did Jesus achieve on the cross?
43:40 Repentance.
50:50 Why don’t you call yourself a Calvinist?
53:09 Propitiation.
54:39 Prevenient grace.
1:00:01 Total depravity.
1:03:00 Hell.
1:09:10 Eternal destiny of those who never heard.
1:12:40 The extent of the atonement.
1:17:00 Do unbelievers always do the devil’s bidding?
1:18:40 Your view of the Bible.
1:22:40 Expository preaching and doctrinal depth.
1:28:10 Rick Warren’s sacred trust.

BEN WITHERINGTON - VARIETIES OF "EVANGELICALS"

Though I can't say I learned anything new from Witherington's post, I still find his listing of sub-cultures under the umbrella of "Evangelicals" worth posting.  Also his comments concerning the "internationalism" of Evangelical faith hints at a story that is only now beginning to unfold.

Though the term Evangelicalism has come to mean different things to different people  (e.g. to very liberal Protestants it seems to be a term hardly distinguishable from the term Fundamentalism) but what it usually connotes is Conservative Protestants, and more specifically white Conservative Protestants.  In fact many African American Protestants are just as conservative as ‘Evangelicals’  but they do not self-identify as ‘Evangelicals’.    A good litmus test is looking at the membership rolls of a group such as the Evangelical Theological Society.  Not many African Americans of any stripe are members of that group,  only a very small percentage.  Whether we like it or not, the term Evangelical is basically a term used by white Conservative Protestants to self-identify and very often in tandem with the phrase ‘not Fundamentalist’.

Even within this swath of Protestantism it takes only a little scrutiny to discover there are a whole series of Evangelical sub-cultures.  There are Reformed Evangelicals and Arminian Evangelicals.  There are Pentecostal Evangelicals and Dispensational Cessationist Evangelicals.  There are pietistic Evangelicals and social-action Evangelicals.  There are Mainline Church Evangelicals and conservative denomination Evangelicals.  There are high church Evangelicals (see the new Anglican Church in America) and there are profoundly low church Evangelicals such as the Salvation Army or the Evangelical Friends.  There are Evangelicals from an Anabaptist tradition (including Mennonites)  and there are various Paedo-baptist Evangelical traditions, and of course there are the Southern Baptists, who, while no longer entirely a breed apart,  only mingle with the larger world of Evangelicals in some respects.  Even just within the Baptist sphere, the Texas Baptists are certainly different from many of the Southern Baptists, not to be confused with the National Baptist Convention, which my colleague Craig Keener was ordained in.

MANY IN THE UK BANKING INDUSTRY MOVING TOWARDS CHRISTIAN FAITH

Alex Preston wrote an interesting article titled,  "UK:  God's bankers: How evangelical Christianity is taking a hold of the City of London's financial institutions"   (HT: VirtueOnline)

Many young workers in the UK banking industry are moving towards Christian faith and thereby a grounding in ethics.   They feel it necessary to keep their developing faith hidden from colleagues.  At the same time they are making new acquaintances among like-minded people.   Read the whole thing...

"GLOBAL THEOLOGY IN EVANGELICAL PESPECTIVE" - AUDIO & VIDEO FROM WHEATON CONFERENCE

The 20th annual Wheaton Theology Conference concluded April 9, 2011.  The college has now posted video and audio of each lecture and Q&A as well.  I was privileged to attend this conference and came away with a broadened and deepened perspective on worldwide Christian faith.  I may well put up some additional posts related to the conference as I have occasion to re- listen to the lectures.

THE RELIGIOUS LEFT INDICTS GOV. WALKER FOR HIS EVANGELICAL FAITH

Mark Tooley, President of the Institute on Religion and Democracy (www.theird.org), writes: 

                        "Scott Walker: A Bad Christian?"

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is a bad Christian for standing up to government unions, according to the Religious Left.

Religious Left author Diana Butler Bass, writing for The Huffington Post, is the most explicit in faulting Walker’s ostensibly simplistic evangelical beliefs.  Butler revealed that Walker belongs to a nondenominational church with “boilerplate” evangelical theology about sin and salvation, with apparently none of the statist political demands that the Religious Left believes are more central to faith.

Bass derisively described Walker’s one-time testimony to Christian businessmen in which he shared the Gospel story of the Apostle Peter sinking into the water because of doubt.  She also mocked his favorite hymn of “Trust and Obey.” According to Bass’ breathless analysis, Walker believes only in blind “obedience,” just like the terrifying “evangelical spirituality” of George W. Bush, which resulted in two wars.  “In this theological universe, hard-headedness is a virtue, compromise is the work of the Devil, and anything that works to accomplish God’s plan is considered ethically justifiable,” Bass explained.  Walker is listening only to Jesus and ignoring the wise spiritual voices on the Religious Left he should heed, Bass fretted. “Jesus speaking directly to him,” she alleged.  “God, evidently, has directed him on his current path.”  And not just Jesus, but also Libertarian philanthropist David Koch,” Bass sarcastically quipped.

JOHN STONESTREET - "YOUNG EVANGELICALS: ARE THEY A LOST CAUSE IN THE CULTURE WARS?"

Click here for an excellent hour video presentation by John Stonestreet. Stonestreet is the Executive Director of Summit Ministries in Manitou Springs, Colo. and a Fellow of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview, a division of Breakpoint. 

EVANGELICALISM UNDER REVIEW: TWO ANALYSES (BYRON JOHNSON; DAVID FRENCH)

Writing in First things, Byron Johnson says "Evangelicalism isn't shrinking and the young are not becoming liberals." 

Evangelicals have not lost members. This was confirmed by the Baylor Religion Survey, an in-depth study of American religious beliefs and practices using data collected by the Gallup Organization. 

One must read the article to learn how this survey (using more accurate methodology) substantially corrects other findings.  It reveals that

"... the unaffiliated are currently 10.8 percent of the population rather than the 14 percent or 16 percent claimed by other surveys; 3) that many of those typically identified as “unaffiliated” are not only affiliated with congregations but also attend evangelical churches; and 4) that America is considerably more evangelical than prior studies have found.  . .   [more . .]

The other article, "As Evangelicals Falter, Catholics and Mormons Lead," is written by David French, the director of the Alliance Defense Fund Center  for Academic Freedom.  Regarding the pro-life cause and the marriage issue, French writes:

[...] As devout Catholics and faithful Mormons step forward boldly, evangelical Protestants appear in cultural disarray. The most popular of the new generation of evangelical pastors—Rick Warren and Joel Osteen—stay out of the cultural fray. Evangelical youth may have orthodox opinions on marriage or life, but they're increasingly reluctant to voice those opinions, lest they appear "divisive" or "intolerant." In fact, at times it appears as if much of the evangelical world has retreated into a defensive crouch, eager to promote its universally-loved work for the poor while abjectly apologizing for the cultural battles of years past.

He goes on:  (my underlinings)

FRANCIS SCHAEFFER LECTURES

Francis Schaeffer lectures can be found here and here.   YouTube videos can be found here. 

Update:   J.I. Packer (via "Between Two Worlds") lists Seven Things that Francis Schaeffer did for Evangelicalism.

First, with his flair for didactic communication he coined some new and pointed ways of expressing old thoughts (the “true truth” or revelation, the “mannishness” of human beings, the “upper story” and “lower story” of the divided Western mind, etc.).

Second, with his gift of empathy he listened to and dialogued with the modern secular world as it expressed itself in literature and art, which most evangelicals were too cocooned in their own subculture to do.

REPORTS FROM THE THIRD LAUSANNE CONGRESS ON WORLD EVANGELIZATION - CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA

See my earlier posts on the Lausanne Congress here and here.  The Lausanne Movement is a worldwide movement that mobilizes evangelical leaders to collaborate for world evangelization. www.lausanne.org

Headlines from Assist News:

-- 10-24 Lausanne Congress calls for a ‘Second Reformation’ leading to a Church that resembles Christ   [This article reports on the Lausanne's rejection of "prosperity gospel" teaching.]

-- 10-24 African-American Churches Called on to ‘Confront Low Participation in World Missions’

-- 10-23 Third Lausanne Congress Challenged to Focus on Unengaged, Unreached People Groups

-- 10-22 Faith Meets Global Action, Cape Town 2010

For more information on Cape Town 2010, The Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization, go to www.capetown2010.com.  See especially the YouTube Lausanne channel

 

 

Chris Wright, International Director of Langham Partnership International, challenged Christians to confront the idols of power and pride, popularity and success, and wealth and greed. He called the Church to repentance and simplicity.  Wright, author of The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible's Grand Narrative, is a scholar whose work I respect highly.

 

LAUSANNE CONGRESS IN SOUTH AFRICA BRINGS TOGETHER THE MOST ETHNICALLY DIVERSE GROUP OF CHRISTIANS IN HISTORY

I posted below a short video-talk by Joseph D'Souza given at the Lausanne Congress taking place in Cape Town, South Africa.  But I need to introduce the congress to those for whom it is new.  David Virtue, of VirtueOnline, is onsite and posting articles on this historic congress.  He writes:

In Cape Town more than 5,000 men, women and youth have come from 198 nations - literally from every tribe and language and people group. They have one single objective - to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ to every person on earth. We are now living in the age of the global church.

There are more languages being spoken here than at Pentecost. This is a gathering of people who are not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ or to tell the truth about Jesus, preaching Good News to Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Jews, unreached people's and unengaged (no known missionaries) groups, both old and young. There are 469 out of 639 people groups representing 550 million people who have only recently been reached by mobilizing Christian agencies.. .

The congress is being linked through 700 global link sites in 97 countries reaching 100,000 people in eight languages. The Book of Ephesians is the guiding Biblical document uniting this congress. . . Fully a third of all the participants here at the Lausanne Congress on Evangelism are young people in their late 20s and early 30s. . .

THE CHRISTIAN HISTORY OF THE YMCA

The YMCA is now calling itself the "Y".  This triggered John Murray's reflections in Wall Street Journal: (excerpt)

And herein lies the challenge that began when the YMCA moved away from its evangelical mission in the 1930s and continues today—what to do with the C in the YMCA. Speaking to the national council of the YMCA in the 1970s, evangelist Billy Graham said that to change society was to "change men's hearts first." Take, for example, the conversion experience of Cornell student and future Nobel Peace Prize winner John Mott. . .

In his book "The Soul of the American University," Notre Dame professor George Marsden demonstrates the impact of the YMCA in an era when more than 3,000 of the American missionaries who went aboard from 1899-1915 were products of the YMCAs and YWCAs. "By 1921, the YMCAs reached their numerical peak with 731 chapters on the approximately 1,000 [college] campuses in the country; they had enrolled well over 90,000 members, or about one in seven, in a student population of about 600,000."

TIME MAG: CHANGING FACE OF YOUNG EVANGELICALS

Ethic of service and concern advancing in new directions.  Click here.

THE FAITH OF FLORIDA QUARTERBACK TIM TEBOW

Mark Earley reports:

There’s a reason you’ll find cover stories about Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow. And it’s not just his football prowess.

America’s largest church has a capacity to hold 16,000. But while Tim Tebow may not be a preacher, when he runs into the University of Florida’s football Stadium—affectionately known as “The Swamp”—his congregation numbers just over 90,000. And you can bet they’re hearing Tim’s message.

It’s not just that this University of Florida quarterback wears Bible verses etched into his eye black on game days. Tim Tebow has been making headlines for more than simply his Heisman Trophy win as a sophomore and his two national championships. This summer the New York Times, GQ, and Sports Illustrated all covered the quarterback’s strong Christian faith.

TWO NEW BOOKS WORTH NOTING

--  Chris Castaldo is the author of a new book, Holy Ground: Walking with Jesus as a Former Catholic, to be published by Zondervan next month.  Looks very good.  Justin Taylor posts lots of blurbs.  Here's a sample:

"Because the accounts of a number of high-profile Evangelicals converting to Roman Catholicism have hit the press, we sometimes overlook the fact that statisticians tell us that in America, Catholics are becoming Evangelicals faster than the reverse by a ratio of about three to one. What do these converts find? How do they cope? How do they—how should they—relate to their Catholic families and friends? This is the best book I have read that chronicles such pilgrimages. And it is full of godly commonsense."

                   -D. A. Carson, Research Professor of New Testament, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

-- Hunter Baker. The End of Secularism, is now available. "A number of folks are hailing this as the sequel to Richard John Neuhaus's The Naked Public Square."  (HT: Between Two Worlds)

Available online:

• The table of contents
• Introduction, Chapter 12
• You can listen to a recent interview on Moody's Prime Time America.

EVANGELICAL GROUPS EXPERIENCING GREATER COOPERATION

Charles Colson's Breakpoint offers news I hadn't known before:

. . . leaders from 100 ministries gathered recently in Washington to discuss strategic alliances. I was overwhelmed by the response.

Me: I find this news encouraging.   Read the whole thing.

PSALM 127 - "QUIVERFULL FAMILIES"

NPR published an even-handed account of large families, the parents of which (no surprise) shun birth control.   (HT: HotAir)  From the article:

. . . Those in the Quiverfull movement shun birth control, believing that God will give them the right number of children. It turns out, that's a lot of kids.  (More . . .) 

Me:  But there seems to be more to it than the NPR article indicates.  The article, to its credit, mentions two books:  Nancy Campbell, Be Fruitful and Multiply and  Kathryn Joyce, Quiverfull: Inside The Christian Patriarchy Movement.  The latter evaluates the evangelical patriarchy movement that remains under the radar screen of many, including probably most conservative Christians.  I didn't know of it until very recently.  I learned of it through a friend who encountered it in his small church.  Vyckie Bennett offers a major Amazon review of the latter book.  Her review mentions other books and authors associated with the movement.

Eric Metaxas and "Socrates in the City"

What a fascinating article!   It explains how "New York Christians speak the language of the city to reach a lost tribe: America’s cultural elites."  Readers will find this article by Marvin Olasky interesting and eye-opening, maybe encouraging and challenging as well!  (HT: Justin Taylor)

Dr. Albert Mohler on Young Evangelicals - "They Do Not Work Hard at Understanding the World"

Talk show host Hugh Hewitt, in a wide-ranging interview with Southern Baptist Theological Seminary president Dr. Albert Mohler, probed Mohler on the views of young evangelicals.  I thought Mohler's response to one of Hewitt's questions disturbing and worth noting:

Hewitt: Okay, last couple of questions. Do they care about the war? I mean, you’re just back from Turkey, where creeping Islamization is happening, and not so subtle, that it’s becoming much more fundamentalist in its orientation. Does Christians, do Christians within America have any general sense of alarm about the way the world is going?

Mohler: I think they have an enormous blind spot there, Hugh.  I think this is one of the greatest issues of Evangelical ignorance.  Evangelicals simply do not work hard at understanding the world, and I think the worldwide challenge of Islam is the greatest challenge before us, but most Evangelicals are just blissfully unaware of that challenge. If they went elsewhere in the world, they’d have to wake up to it fast.

In the next paragraph Mohler says "This is a generation that reads a lot, absorbs a lot, thinks a lot. . ."  Apparently young evangelicals are awake to issues within American culture, but not much beyond these shores.

Pastor Mark Driscoll Featured on ABC's "Nightline"

I first posted on Mark Driscoll on January 11th after the New York Times did a major article on him. He's obviously a hot property right now since ABC"s Nightline featured him on last night's program. It's clear the secular world finds Driscoll fascinating.  I suggest you click through to watch the Nightline segment on Driscoll.  It's 7 minutes and 21 seconds long.

Me:  From the Nightline video, it seems to me that, on balance, Driscoll is doing a great job.  He's clearly bringing people into his church that would never attend a more traditional church.  And yet he has not diluted his message in the least.  It remains unvarnished, uncompromising and biblical -- with a bit of sanctified tang and zest thrown in.  Preaching always comes through a personality, and Driscoll's personality is undeniably interesting!

The NY Times Reports on Seattle Pastor Mark Driscoll

I'm not sure what to make of Mark Driscoll since I have no firsthand knowledge of him or his church.  Nor am I sure what to make of this NY Times article on Driscoll.  But "Allahpundit" responded to the article saying:

"Having watched a few of his videos on YouTube, I think the Times gave him a bad rap. . .  If you want to hear him discuss masturbation or oral sex, poke around here. The Times gives the impression that he’s some sort of heretic or shock jock, but every lesson I saw was entirely conventional. More interesting are these two vids. [Click through to the Allapundit post].  The first deals with predestination, which seems more mundane as he explains it than I thought it would be . . .   [more . . .]

Update #2 - 1/13/08 - Christianity Today magazine reports very favorably on a new book by Driscoll (co-written with theologian Gerry Breshears, Death by Love: Letters from the Cross. The C.T. review is well worth reading. 

Update #1:   Justin Taylor reports that Dr. Don Carson recently spet a weekennd preaching and teaching at Mars Hill Church.  Audio and Video of the talks are available here.  They include Session #1: “The Center of the Whole Bible” (Romans 3:21-26); Session #2: “The Strange Triumph of a Slaughtered Lamb” (Revelation 12); Session #3: “A Miracle Full of Surprises” (John 11); Session #4: “Why Doubt the Resurrection of Jesus” (John 20:24-31); Session #5: “The Ironies of the Cross” (Matthew 27:27-51)

Richard John Neuhaus (1936-2009)

- Update 1/23/09 - Kathryn Jean Lopez published an outstanding interview with Robert P. George of Princeton, on the life and legacy of Neuhaus.  When asked what he would recommend to Neuhaus newcomers, George said:

I would suggest beginning with some of his great essays, such as “A New Order of Religious Freedom,” “The Idea of Moral Progress,” “ ‘Salvation is from the Jews,’ ” “How I Became the Catholic I Was,” and “We Shall Not Weary, We Shall Not Rest.”

- Update 1/22/09 - Chuck Colson remembers Neuhaus and offers comments on "Evangelicals and Catholics Together."  A valuable bibliography appears at the end of his remembrance.  1/23/09 - Christianity Today engaged Colson in an insightful interview on Neuhaus and the future of "Evangelicals and Catholics Together."

- Update 1/13/09 - Three minute video of Neuhaus on manliness and marriage

- (Original Post) Richard John Neuhaus has passed away.  I feel bereft.  The world has become an emptier place, and a certain sadness fills my soul.  The world has lost a towering figure, a penetrating thinker, a noble man -- not to mention an elegant writer.  Yes, he was a Roman Catholic, but we Protestants benefited enormously from his perspectives on the world, and he understood  us as well, since he had been a Lutheran.  He was a pioneer in "Evangelicals and Catholics Together."  See the National Review editorial for a fine summation (albeit with a few minor inaccuracies) of Neuhaus' contribution to the world.

John Podhoretz in his tribute called Neuhaus

"perhaps the most important and influential religious intellectual in the United States since the passing of Reinhold Niebuhr. . ."  In 1984, he wrote the book for which he will be remembered, "The Naked Public Square" — a concise masterpiece about the role of religion

RICK WARREN'S SADDLEBACK CHURCH TO HOST OBAMA & McCAIN THIS WEEKEND

Update #2 --  8/17/08 - For an example of MSNBC's biased print coverage, click here.

Update 8/17/08 - My reservations and concerns about the dialog at Saddleback Church proved unwarranted.  The contrast between Obama and McCain in both demeanor, verbal acuity, and philosophical substance on major issues could not have been more dramatic.  The transcripts of the interviews can be accessed here.   Byron York of National Review has provided an excellent summary of the evening's answers and significance.  I think Rick Warren did a truly estimable job, evidenced, to cite but one example, by his probing question, “At what point does a baby get human rights, in your view?”

What I am waiting for is an enterprising person to splice together each person's answer to the same question and put it on YouTube for the world to see and hear.  Maybe it's already been done.

What many viewers don't realize is the troubling slipperiness demonstrated by Obama.  See Hugh Hewitt's post here.

- A friend has sent me a link to a Christian Science Monitor article on this weekend's event.

The event, back-to-back one-hour interviews at Mr. Warren's California megachurch, will be broadcast live on CNN and streamed on the Web [8-10:00 pm Sat.]. It also represents the emergence of a new style of evangelical leadership on the national stage, which is not tied to a single party and has broadened its social agenda beyond that of the religious right.

"This is absolutely a changing of the guard, and it suggests that the new guard of the evangelical movement is able to generate the attention and focus of both parties," says D. Michael Lindsay, a sociologist at Rice University and author of "Faith in the Halls of Power: How Evangelicals Joined the American Elite."  [more . . .]

I am not enthusiastic about this excursion by Warren into American politics.  I hope it will prove better than I anticipate.  Hard questions need to be asked, and it remains to be seen whether Rick Warren will ask them.  I fear he won't.  Without the hard questions, the evening  could turn out to be an opportunity for candidates to mislead the American people.

"An Evangelical Manifesto: The Washington Declaration of Evangelical Identity and Public Commitment"

Alan Jacobs offers trenchant comments on the new "Evangelical Manifesto," seeing it weak and colorless and, as it stands, of questionable value.  He writes as an insider, not an outsider.  He is an evangelical himself, a professor of English at Wheaton College, Illinois.

The Associated Press covered the announcement here.  Warren Davis sees it representing a power struggle amongst evangelicals.  So many of the "Christian Right" were neither consulted nor asked to initially sign on.  That would include Dr. James Dobson and Dr. Richard Land, to name but two. 

Other commentators are more positive.  I personally have not had time to study the document and expect to blog further in due course.

IT'S A MYTH THAT EVANGELICALS ARE HEAVILY INVOLVED IN POLITICS

Joe Carter sets the record straight by noting:

. .  . The Family Research Council (FRC)--the premier lobbying organization of the Christian right in Washington, D.C.--has been attempting to collect signatures on an online petition asking President Bush to approve new Title X regulations ensuring that no taxpayer money goes to subsidize the abortion facilities of groups like Planned Parenthood.

To date, almost one million emails have been sent to Christians asking them to do nothing more than add their name. This is about as minor a level of commitment or involvement as it gets yet only about 3% have done so. More Christians voted for the 5th place contestant on last week's American Idol than have petitioned to defund abortion mills.

EVANGELICAL CHURCHES FEELING RENEWED BY ADOPTING ANCIENT WORSHIP PRACTICES

This is a fascinating article that appeared today in the Washington Post.  My own journey towards the Anglican Church enables me to identify with the hunger which this article describes.  I had to leave the Episcopal Church in the United States some years ago, but I deeply appreciated much of my worship experience there.  Sometime I will have to write more about that.

Update 3/9/08 - I got around today to reading my misplaced Christianity Today magazine for February, 2008 and came across the cover story on the same subject, "The Future Lies in the Past."  It is comprehensive and illuminating.  Also appearing, in the same issue, the sidebar, "Monastic Evangelicals: The attraction of ancient spiritual diciplines," which mentions a number of recent books.

MILLIONS OF SINCERE CHRISTIANS SEEK ALTERNATIVES TO CHURCH

So says Mike McManus in a recent article:

George Barna's latest poll indicates that "a major shift in people's spirituality is underway in America."

"For decades, American Christians, who comprise more than four out of five adults, assumed that they had one legitimate way to practice their faith: through involvement in a conventional church," Barna writes.

"But new research shows that this mind set is no longer prevalent in the U.S. The latest Barna study shows that a majority of adults now believe that

100 CHRISTIAN BOOKS THAT CHANGED THE CENTURY

William J. Petersen and Randy Petersen wrote 100 Christian Books that Changed the Century back in 2000. The Petersens present their book as a conversation piece, knowing that their selections will occasion disagreement. In their preface they caution that their selections do not necessarily represent the best books, but those that have significantly shaped people, thinkers, and movements. They offer two pages of commentary on each title.

1899 - In His Steps - by Charles Sheldon

1900 - The Evangelization of the World in This Generation - by John R. Mott

1901 - Quiet Talks on Power - by S.D. Gordon

1901 - Up From Slavery - by Booker T. Washington

1903 - The Crises of the Christ - by G. Campbell Morgan

Ferment in the Evangelical World: Darryl Dash Takes Notes on Tim Keller's Assessment

Click here.   (HT: Smart Christian)   

Evangelicals,the Environment, and the Democratic Strategy to Garner Votes

Jay Richards notes that the major media now pays plenty of attention to evangelical views on the environment, especially since  86 evangelical leaders signed the "Evangelical Climate Initiative (ECI), although many others refused to sign it. There are powerful political reasons for this new attention to evangelical environmental views and I urge readers of this blog to click through to Richards' article and read it in its entirely.  Some notes follow (underlinings are my own).

Richards distinguishes between "theological principles" and "prudential judgments", saying that on theological principles, evangelicals are in agreement:

Human beings, as image bearers of God, are placed as stewards over the created order. We bear a responsibility for how we treat and use it. We are part of the creation, as well as its crowning achievement. God intends for us to use and transform the natural world around us for good purposes. Proper use is not misuse. But as fallen creatures, we can mess things up. No serious Evangelical thinker questions these basic principles.

Well and good.  But prudential judgments are something quite different.  Richards says we need to recognize at least four separate questions with regard to global warming.

(1) Is the planet warming?

(2) If the planet is warming, is human activity (like CO2 emissions) causing it?

(3) If the planet is warming, is it bad overall?

(4) If the planet is warming, we’re causing it, and it’s bad, would the policies commonly advocated (e.g., the Kyoto Protocol, legislative restrictions on CO2 emissions) make any difference and, if so, would their cost exceed their benefit?

He goes on to say:

Tough questions all, and theology doesn’t provide much help in answering them. To answer (1) and (2), one must consider a wide range of scientific evidence, theorizing, and speculation, drawing on disciplines as diverse as meteorology, astrophysics, geology, and probability theory. And the very nature of the questions and the evidence means answers will always be tentative and uncertain.

To answer (3) and (4), one must do careful economic reasoning. As a result, Evangelicals who agree disagree on how to answer these questions (the application).

The problem with the chief defenders of the Evangelical Climate Initiative is that they haven’t thought through these four questions, at least not publicly. What they have done is label

Video: Evel Knievel Testifies of His Newfound Faith in Christ. Don't Miss It!

Update 11/30/07 - Evel Knievel dies at 69.

**
This is one of the most moving services I have ever seen.  It makes available to everyone the telecast at which Evel Knievel testified of his newfound faith in Jesus Christ.  I don't speak often of the "presence of the Holy Spirit" in a church service, but when I first saw this program on television some months ago (4/22/07), I recognized at once how extraordinary it was.  The presence of the Spirit is powerfully evident as streams of people come forward after Evel's testimony to profess faith in Christ and be baptized.  If you watch this video, you will see that there was no manipulation, just an amazing moving of the Spirit of God.

I suggest you not only watch Evel Knievel's testimony, but then click the little picture below to see everyday, ordinary people, coming forward to profess faith in Christ and be baptized.  What's so extraordinary about all this, is that it takes place in the Crystal Cathedral in California, a place where such things are anything but routine, to say the least.  Finally, click the picture of Dorothy Benham (Miss America, 1977) to see and hear an energetic, magnificent solo of  "Ride On, King Jesus."   This, too, is extraordinary!  What a video!

Jungle Tribe Apologizes to Missionaries for Past Acts of Cannibalism

As Mark Tooley says:

Apologizing for the sins, real and contrived, of Western Civilization, is suffocatingly trendy among the West’s cultural elites. It fits their ideological assumption that the West and its religion have ceaselessly victimized benign indigenous cultures around the world.

But this fad was tossed topsy turvey, recently, when Papua New Guinea tribesmen apologized for their ancestors having cannibalized Methodist missionaries 129 years ago. Thousands of villagers attended the apology ceremony in East New Britain province and listened to words of praise for the English missionary who had brought the Gospel to their region.    - Read the whole article