The clever men at Oxford
Know all that there is to be knowed.
But they none of them know one half as much
As intelligent Mr. Toad!
When Mr. Toad brags about his intellectual attainments, we think it’s funny and we laugh, because it’s only Mr. Toad, a fictional character. But it’s not so funny when the real, live clever men at Oxford and other dives of “higher education” do the same.
Biblical Archaeology Magazine this month is advertising a book, Jesus and After, produced by the savants at University of Massachusetts at Amherst. “What lies at the bottom of the highly stratified Biblical texts from the First Century?” one asks.
Answers Stephen W. Durrant from the University of Oregon:
“The author has accomplished something rare in this outstanding book… Freed from such ‘stumbling blocks’ as the doctrines of blood atonement and bodily resurrection, the original Christian teaching shines forth with simplicity and directness.”
“For the preaching of the cross,” observed St. Paul, “is to them that perish foolishness” (I Corinthians 1:18).
So the doctrines of blood atonement and bodily resurrection are stumbling blocks? Stumbling blocks to what–getting your doctorate in “Religion”? Winning the approval of an unbelieving fallen world?
“Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead,” Paul continues, “how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: and if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain… If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable” (I Cor. 15:12-14, 19).
So these sophomoric twaddlers wish to go back to some supposed “original Christian teaching” that does not provide any cleansing from sins because it jettisons the blood atonement, and does not provide any hope of resurrection–what’s left? “Be nice”? “Sharing is caring”? What kind of shabby excuse for Christianity would that be?
Seest thou a man who is wise in his own eyes? There is more hope of a fool than of him (Proverbs 26:12).
This is the kind of plop that gets taught at our seminaries, and this is why we have “clergy for choice” and “feminist clergy” and all the rest of the smorgasbord of crapola served up by left-wing pseudo-Christianity.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
That ought to make it easy to spot the fools.
These nuts are far worse than a toad; they are the devil’s servants, and I would say, In disguise, but that would be wrong, too. They are as plain and “in your face” as it gets. Why anyone would attend a meeting they conducted is beyond me.
“Freed from such ‘stumbling blocks’ as the doctrines of blood atonement and bodily resurrection, the original Christian teaching shines forth with simplicity and directness.” Uh-huh. And freed from such stumbling blocks as its wetness, water shines forth with simplicity and directness. Furthermore, freed from such stumbling blocks as its definitions of words, the dictionary shines forth, etc., etc., etc.
Tony Hillerman, who’s had great success for his detective novels set in Navaho country and featuring Navaho detectives tackling cases in which the culture of the Navaho plays a key role, once received a rejection from a publisher who said, “These books would be really good if he’d left out all that Indian stuff.”
Stupid smart people strike again.
Stumbling blocks?!?!?! These people are deluded.
BTW, comments are disabled on the Bunny thread.
*Sigh* Now they’re un-disabled. WordPress has added many steps to the posting process–easy to miss one.
Thanks.
It is amazing how large the industry is for pseudo-Christian theologians is when the simple truths of the Bible can be understood by a little child: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved.”