The Theology of "24"

So Jack thinks he is going to die and he has one phone call. Who does he call? His long lost daughter? The lovely and suddenly single agent Walker? The President? Ghostbusters? No, the Muslim spiritual leader he had met hours earlier. Aside from being sad that it was a Muslim cleric who got the chance to "witness" to Jack, I think there are some great theological implications to the encounter.

First of all, when Jack senses his mortality he has a sense of guilt over the mistakes he has made and a need to make peace. I think this is something that we can all relate to and imagine. So here is this spiritual leader at the bedside of a dying man who clearly expresses his need for forgiveness. Then we hear the prayer, "Help us both to forgive ourselves." What? Did I just hear that? So essentially the theology here is to forgive yourself and die with a clear conscience. While we do need to forgive ourselves, we also need the forgiveness of God. Color me disappointed.

Blind Politicians

For the first time in a long time, more Americans say they are pro-life than pro-abortion. The recent Gallop pole suprised many on the liberal left and conservative right. http://www.lifenews.com/nat5061.html

I think the reason for the turnoaround in the polling is twofold. First, many conservatives are embarrassed by the last election and are seeking to speak out and are more apt to answer surveys etc. Secondly, I believe that the technology inside the womb that has been developed will only cause more people to accept the truth that the unborn is human. 3D unltrasounds are breath taking!

In light of this, why are so many Republican politicians and so called "strategist" seemingly blind to this issue? Republicans have alienated their base as they seek to be more moderate. Maybe some of them will start to wake up when they see the raw numbers. This is a rallying cry issue that unites people across denominational and religious lines.
One can only hope.

Evolutionists and Earth Day

In case you missed it, Earth Day was this past Wednesday. I am joking of course, because of course you knew about it. It was highly publicized. My elementary school age children came home telling all kinds of stuff related to it that was discussed at school. I could not even escape it with my 2 year old watching cartoons. The cartoon was about a "sick cloud" who was in bad shape because of people and their evil cars!

Seriously though, I do not have a problem with Earth Day. I have a problem with many of it's promoters. The vast majority of the people who want to "save the planet" are Naturalists and Evolutionists. They believe that we are morally obligated to take care of the environment. My question is : "Why?" It just does not make sense from their worldview (the way they see the world and our place in it). After all, if we are just the top of the evolutionary food chain, then why should we not dominate and exploit the planet to ensure our own survival? Humans are just the fittest species on the Earth, right?

In fact, we are interrupting the evolutionary process by getting involved. Since the beginning of time animals have gone extinct; it is normal. Death is the norm in this universe. Earth is a haven of life in a vast and inhospitable galaxy. So why would an evolutionist care about the animals or the environment? In the wild do the lions intentionally leave a little for the scavengers? Of course not. The evolutionary process (as they believe in it) is a vicious battle for survival. It simply does not make sense to be so concerned about other species and protect them if you believe in evolution. You certainly cannot say you have a moral responsibility to do it because in that worldview there is no source of where morality comes from. It is simply an opinion.

I will take it a step further. Why would the evolutionists be in favor of cancer or Aids research? Again, by treating diseases we are interrupting the evolutionary cycle. In that worldview, cancer, heart disease and HIV are just the natural ways of weeding out the weak. Of course we don't see any sane person saying that we should not help animals or humans. This is an example of how faulty this worldview is. Beliefs and ideas have consequences. If you take the belief and logic and run with it you will see that these naturalistic worldviews cannot be lived out. In fact, some of the most hypocritical people on Earth fall into this category.

The people who should be concerned about the planet, about humans, and about animals are Christians. In the Christian worldview, God created all of these things and has entrusted us to be good stewards of them. We can also see the beauty in nature and the complexity in creation and be moved to worship and the realization of just how powerful and creative God is. Don't make the mistake of worshipping the creation instead of the Creator. Calling all Christians: Let's take back Earth Day.

Kathy Ireland Speaking the truth on LIFE

Here is a fantastic link where former supermodel Kathy Ireland gives an absolutley stunning case against abortion. She does it in such a graceful way. Check this out:
http://www.foxnews.com/video/index.html?playerId=videolandingpage&streamingFormat=FLASH&referralObject=4347816&referralPlaylistId=3ea39abce958813ed1294227737c0b1eb1f55464

MY FIRST BOOK! (Now avaliable)

My book is actually a curriculum for teachings apologetics (defense of the the faith). The target audience is teenagers but anyone could use it or benefit from reading it. It covers 4 main topics: The trustworthiness of the Bible, the resurrection of Jesus, Cults and false religions, and Ethics.

The books are only $15 and can be purchased by contacting me. I hope you enjoy it and thanks in advance!

He Rose? Really?

Each year at Easter we hear Christians proclaiming that Jesus rose from the dead. How do we know if it really happened or not? Let’s look at a few more facts as we continue to investigate. For starters, Jesus’ tomb was empty. Not only did the women and the disciples make this claim, but his enemies did as well. When faced with the knowledge that the tomb was empty the people who had him killed came up with an alternative. They began to say that the disciples had somehow got past the soldiers and stolen the body. Think about it, if Jesus’ body was still in the tomb, all they would have had to do was go and get the body and parade it for all to see. That would have put an end to Christianity in a hurry. Truth is they did not know where the body was and the tomb was indeed empty.
In any trial or court case, the best evidence you can get is from credible eyewitnesses. In the case of the resurrection of Christ, there are many such witnesses. Many people claimed to have seen the risen Christ. People like the disciples, the women, Paul, Stephen, the multitude on the mountainside, and many others. In 1 Corinthians 15 Paul gives a list of those who claim to have seen the risen Lord. He also tells the Church that most of the witnesses are still living, as if to encourage them to seek them out and ask them.
So what about the disciples? Maybe they did just steal the body and make the whole thing up? But why would they do that? What did they have to gain? In fact, they all gained violent deaths for their efforts. Historical and non-Christian sources outside the Bible tell us that the disciples claimed that Jesus had risen from the dead and they died for that belief. You may be thinking, “well so what? There are martyrs in every religion. What about the terrorists from 9/11?” Huge difference! You see the suicide bombers did not claim to be eyewitnesses of Allah, they merely believed in his existence. In contrast, the disciples died because they claimed to have seen something with their own eyes. They were in a position to know for sure whether or not they were telling the truth. Either they saw him or they didn’t. History tells us that liars make poor martyrs. These are the same guys who were denying and hiding when Jesus was killed. Now they were preaching from the rooftops that Jesus was alive. There are no accounts in history that say any of them ever recanted this belief.
In addition to all this there are the conversions of Paul and of Jesus’ brother James. Paul was an enemy of Christianity and then became its biggest proponent. During Jesus’ lifetime none of his brothers believed he was the Messiah. Yet history records that his brother James was the leader of the early Church. What can account for the change in these men and in the disciples? Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15 that they saw the risen Jesus. Next time we will conclude by destroying the arguments skeptics make against the resurrection of Christ. Have a great week!

Greatest Hoax or Greatest Miracle?

What is the difference between believing in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and Jesus? The answer of course is that one is real and the other two are not. But how do we know that? How do we know whether something in history happened or not? After all, we were not there. The answer of course is evidence and there is a ton of it that substantiates the claims that Christians make about Jesus. As Resurrection Sunday (Easter) approaches, I will share some of that evidence with you.
Believe it or not, there are some today who claim that Jesus never existed, that he is a mythical figure. This is a position that no serious scholar or ever skeptic can hold. Within 150 years after his death, Jesus was mentioned by at least 42 different sources. That number was probably greater but the 42 are the writings that survived. 9 of those 42 sources were totally non-Christian ones. In comparison, only 5 sources survive that mention Julius Caesar and his military conquests; yet we all believe, “I came, I saw, I conquered.” Jesus definitely lived.
We also know a great deal about his death. All four gospel writers in the New Testament report that he died by crucifixion. However, you don’t need the Bible to know that and many more details about his death. The Roman historian Tacitus wrote in his Annuls that “Jesus suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilate.” The Jewish historian Josephus, also not a Christian, wrote in his work Antiquities that Jesus was crucified at the hands of Pilate.
So Jesus lived and died, but who was he? Many believe that he was the long awaited and promised Messiah. One reason for this belief has to do with the prophecies made in the Old Testament that predated him by hundreds of years. Jesus fulfilled hundreds of these prophecies including 61 which are considered the “major ones.” Mathematicians have calculated the probability that any human would fulfill just 8 of them. The result: one chance in one hundred million billion. That is a one with seventeen zeros behind it if you are counting.
Many of the prophecies he had no control over and could not have possibly manipulated. Prophecies like Micah 5:2 which says he would be born in Bethlehem. Isaiah 7:14 that says he would be born of a virgin. Psalm 41:9 says he would be betrayed, Zechariah 11:13 says he would be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver. Zechariah 12:10 says his side would be pierced and Isaiah 53 describes crucifixion centuries before it was invented. Indeed, the whole chapter of Isaiah 53 is a prophecy that Jesus alone fulfils.
Next time we will look at some of the abundance of evidence that Jesus indeed rose from the grave. God Blessings be with you!