Tag: liberals vs. Christianity

Seminary Prez: Christ’s Resurrection Not ‘Necessary’

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Do they really make you trample on the Bible before they let you be a teacher or administrator at a seminary? Or does it only seem that way?

The president of Union Theological Seminary–that’s one of the biggies–says you don’t have to believe Christ rose from the dead, to be a Christian. Erick Erickson quotes her: “For Christians for whom the physical resurrection becomes a sort of obsession, that seems to me to be a pretty wobbly faith. What if tomorrow someone found the body of Jesus in the tomb?” [They won’t.] “Would that mean that Christianity was a lie?” (https://townhall.com/columnists/erickerickson/2019/04/26/flatearth-christianity-n2545394).

Let’s see if St. Paul can field that question.

Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, 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. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised. And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. (1 Corinthians 15: 12-17)

If Christ is not raised then, yes–the whole New Testament is a lie. And if there’s no New Testament, there’s no Christianity.

Unless this seminary half-wit thinks there’s such a thing as a Christless Christianity, in which salvation comes not from Jesus Christ, but from Science, the state, left-wing politics, and NPR, etc. And Jesus was just a nice guy who got crucified because he was a union man. Or something.

How do sins get forgiven? By voting for Democrats? Who forgives them? Hillary Clinton? And who gets to say what’s a sin and what’s not? The Bible, or some left-wing fat-head in a seminary?

This is why the flatline Protestant churches are dying the death. I can’t find it in my heart to waste tears on them. Those who know their Savior, who know His voice and follow Him, don’t need those churches. Nor those seminaries.

‘An Open Letter to My Critics’ (2013)

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The last time I re-ran this post, it touched off a lively discussion among the readers. I’d like to see it do it again.

An Open Letter to My Critics

Why it should be at all controversial, in a work of fiction, to depict a religious dimension to the characters’ lives and culture, is not easy to explain. Some of those secular fanatics really hate it if you even admit “religion” exists.

It has been suggested that I could be more winsome in my dealings with them.

That much effort, I’ll save for more important things.

When They Banned the Bible

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Here’s another thing I remember, from back when we were citizens: from back before the government learned how to say “Just shut up and pay your taxes.”

In 1962-63 the U.S. Supreme Court suddenly discovered that reading the Bible in a public place–notably a public school–was somehow against the Constitution. Amazing, the things that can dawn on judges after a couple hundred years.

When I went to grade school and middle school, we had a reading from the Bible, the Lord’s Prayer, and the Pledge of Allegiance to start our day. No one complained. The Bible readings were from the Old Testament, for Christians and Jews.

In high school the Bible reading came over the P.A. system, read each morning by my Aunt Millie, who was then the school secretary. But then, in my sophomore year, it had to stop. The Supreme Court said it had to stop. Why? Because of “separation of church and state” or something, which is not in the Constitution and never posed a problem for anyone until a few atheists started complaining in the early 1960s. The Bible readings had to be replaced by “inspirational readings” from strictly secular sources. Frankly, I never find that inspiring.

Here are a few other things I remember about high school, 1963-67, which were different.

No girl had an out-of-wedlock baby.

No school shootings… anywhere. Ever.

No assaults on teachers.

No drug overdoses. No suicides.

No need for guards or special police at any school. No metal detectors.

How was this not better? How are we the better for banning God’s word and replacing it with inducements to try every sexual aberration ever imagined in a fallen world?

But that was when we were citizens. Not subjects.

Freedom–under Our Rightful King

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Jesus said, “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32).

This is why all the wannabe rulers of the world hate Him. It’s even why their pet academics teach defenseless college students that there’s no such thing as truth–there’s only “your truth” and “my truth,” and somehow the professor’s “truth” always wins.

Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is the only ruler whose right is absolute, God-given. As far back as David’s time, three thousand years ago, we are told as much in the Psalms. “The Lord said to my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool” (Ps. 110:1). God has promised to put all things under His Son, whose right it is.

Global government types don’t want to hear that! It’s their right, not His! Because they’re so much smarter than us, so much better connected, so much richer–and who is this crucified Jew, to intrude on their turf?

They’ll find out who He is, in God’s good time.

Christ Jesus is the truth, the Word of God made flesh. He has the power to make us free. We are the sheep of His pasture: to the Godless rulers, we are only prey.

Our King is righteous and loving. The Son and the Father are one. God has the power to make His enemies His footstool, and He will do it.

This is the only world government authorized by God. It’s the only one that will be permitted. The Antichrist will set up something that looks like it’s just about there, but it will never get there. He will come close to wiping out liberty forever–but then it’s into the lake of fire with him.

The Lord has spoken it.

 

‘Piffle Alert: “The Lunar Temple”‘ (2017)

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Do they really have to be such horses’ asses?

Just two years ago, the European Space Agency was babbling about how, when they go to the moon (C’mon, I’d just love to see you find the money for that!), they’re gonna leave bad ol’ “religion” behind and once they’re up there on the moon, they’re gonna build a “temple of contemplation” that won’t have no stinkin’ religion, blah-blah-blah…

Piffle Alert! The ‘Lunar Temple’

That’s okay, though–they can worship the State and Science!

It’s people like this that give fat-heads a bad name.

Idolatry for Dummies

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At a recent rally, in Austin, Texas, for “Beto” (his real name’s Francis) O’Rourke, who wants to be the Democrats’ 2020 presidential candidate, somebody brandished a sign that said: “BETO IS OUR CHRIST” (https://theweek.com/articles/832532/dont-idolize-2020-pick).

This is not the first time leftids have tried to confer godhood on some creepy politician. Remember Obama worship? Remember him being hailed as “the One”? Remember that Newsweak cover showing him with a halo? I do wish I could un-see those things.

“Beto” told Vanity Fair that he was “just born to be in it”–in the presidential race, that is. But at least one jidrool out there thinks “Beto” was born to be something very much more than that.

This is idol-worship, and it’s as old as the hills. When people turn away from the true God who created them, and redeemed them through Jesus Christ, His Son, they wind up worshiping false gods.

“And the Lord shall scatter thee… thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone.” Deuteronomy 28:64. He always warns us, and we never listen.

Our false gods are beyond wood and stone. Now they’re made of plastic, or of flesh and blood. Like “Beto.” Just some guy, no more fitted to be anybody’s god than the person standing behind you in the supermarket checkout line.

This always turns out badly. Go ahead, tell me of one time when it didn’t.

There are those who think this only happens because America’s Christianity is evaporating, leaving a religious vacuum to be filled by Science, the state and its minions, celebrities, electronic doodads, sports, money, and whatever else they can think of. But this is not so: the sin of idolatry goes back to the beginning of time. It is inherent in our fallen nature. One of those things we need a Savior for.

And that’s Jesus Christ. Not “Beto.”

How come none of these pseudo-messiahs ever breathes in enough sanity to say, “Whoa! It ain’t me, babe!”?

Foolishness doesn’t get any more foolish than this.

How Come It’s Not ‘Hate’ When Libs Do It?

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“Not appropriate in this school”

A fourth-grade public school teacher in Utah seems to be pleading ignorance as her excuse for forcing a 9-year-old child to “wipe off” the Ash Wednesday cross from his forehead last week (https://www.foxnews.com/us/utah-teacher-apologizes-for-ash-wednesday-cross-incident).

She thought it was “dirt on his forehead,” she claims. Uh, she is now on “administrative leave.” The boy tried to explain what it was, but says she wouldn’t listen–and she is also supposed to have said the Ash Wednesday cross was “not appropriate in this school, go wipe it off.”

When a public uproar ensued, the teacher apologized. “My whole life has been centered around respecting diversity,” she said. And, “I had no idea it was a religious symbol.”

Really? You really didn’t know? What do we get if we believe you?

Is there anyone who still doubts that the public education establishment is actively hostile to Christians and their faith? This is what you get when you send your Christian children to a public school. I mean, how many hundreds of incidents do we have to report before you get the message?

The only thing sacred to the teachers’ unions is Far Left politics and societal engineering. In John Dewey’s words, schoolteachers are “change agents.” Their job is to change America into God knows what. An anthill with Far Left crazies in charge of it all.

And if someone is honestly so ignorant as not to know about Ash Wednesday, what’s she doing “teaching” in the first place?

‘So You Think the Fight is Over?’ (2014)

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Remember this? In 2014 the lesbian mayor of Houston–shame on you, Houston–seeking to stifle opposition to her “transgender” bathroom ordinance, demanded that all pastors send her their sermons and other writings so she could vet them for “hate” or whatever.

So You Think the Fight is Over?

This flagrant, off-the-wall insult to religious liberty and free speech earned her the loud disapproval of practically the whole nation, so she deemed it the better part of valor to withdraw her demands. It seems nobody thought a pastor ought to have his sermon approved by the mayor before he delivered it.

I wonder what they’re thinking now.

Methodists Reject ‘Gay’ Agenda

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There’s wailing and gnashing of teeth in liberal-land: yesterday the General Conference of the United Methodist Church stood up tall for Biblical morality and rejected “gay” clergy and same-sex “marriage” (http://news.trust.org/item/20190227000549-5u92j).

“The practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching,” ruled the conference–recommending that anyone who couldn’t live with that ought to find another church.

Our profoundly dishonest nooze media tried their best to spin this decision as some kind of hateful aberration engineered by fiendishly clever conference delegates from the Philippines and Africa–because of course enlightened American Methodists love homosexuality and think the Bible really missed a trick by not supporting it. “About half of U.S. Methodists support same-sex marriage,” according to Reuters. In your dreams, sunshine. Even Californians didn’t support it, when they were allowed to vote.

But the nooze media should have paid closer attention to the news. Two weeks ago, a poll taken by the United Methodist Church found 44% of UMC members identifying themselves as “theologically conservative,” versus only 20% calling themselves liberal ( https://www.christianpost.com/news/conservatives-greatly-outnumber-liberals-in-the-united-methodist-church-poll.html). So for all the pissing and moaning over how all the “hate” and “bigotry” is gonna alienate members and drive huge herds of them out of the church–because really, they just can’t live without “gay” clergy–very probably the church honchos themselves read their own poll and knew which way the wind was blowing.

Not that that should’ve mattered. Right is right and wrong is wrong no matter what anybody’s poll numbers say.

And this time the UMC was right.

‘Survey That Says Christianity is Failing Gets Failing Grade from Critics’

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Lent is just around the corner, and then Easter; and we can expect our fat-head nooze media to come out with their annual announcement that Christianity is just about finished in America.

Here’s how they tried it back in 2009.

https://chalcedon.edu/resources/articles/survey-that-says-christianity-is-failing-gets-failing-grade-from-critics

This is a “survey” which Dr. Rodney Stark at Baylor University described succinctly as “Baloney!” The nooze media, though, elbowed each other for room on the bandwagon.

Also covered herein is the exercise in shabby liberalism known as the 2009 National Pastors Conference. “The truth is that almost everybody believes in God,” says Dr. Stark. But libs within the church are trying hard to steer that belief away from the true God of the Bible toward some kind of wifty-pifty idol they’ve invented.

There’s no doubt at all that the usual suspects will be up to their usual tricks again this Easter.

And this is our opportunity to speak up loud and clear, for all the world to hear: Jesus Christ is Lord of lords and King of kings, now and forever, and the one and only Savior. Get ready, take a deep breath… and let ‘er rip.