Tag: www.chalcedon.edu

God’s People and ‘Nature’

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Mark Rushdoony wrote “Man and the Earth: Environmentalism vs. Kingdom Responsibility,” as a Chalcedon editorial in 2009. It seems to be more on target today than it was ten years ago.

https://chalcedon.edu/magazine/man-and-the-earth-environmentalism-versus-kingdom-responsibility

Environmentalism “is based on evolutionary assumptions about the most fundamental aspects of man’s being,” Mark wrote. As a result, “nature” gradually replaces God in the minds and hearts of the worldly.

Is it necessary to observe that the very same people who are always yammering about “green this” and “green that” are also the very first to pave the green over, if they think it’ll net them another 25 cents or another vote? Anyone who thinks Democrats “protect the environment” needs to tour New Jersey.

In the long run, Mark writes, “the sin is not against the earth, but God.” And God will use the earth to punish the sinners.

My Interview with the President of the Biblical Archaeological Society (2005)

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Hershel Shanks at work

When I interviewed him in 2005, Hershel Shanks was president of the Biblical Archaeological Society, which he helped to found, and editor-in-chief of its print magazine, “Biblical Archaeology Review.”

https://chalcedon.edu/resources/articles/biblical-archaeology-an-interview-with-hershel-shanks

I’ve been a BAR subscriber for many years, and it was a kick for me to interview the man who launched it and served as editor until his retirement last year. BAR has been notable for its coverage of all the liveliest controversies in the field of Biblical archaeology–most of which spilled over into the “Letters” column.

Two of the controversies covered in this interview were “Biblical minimalism” (he didn’t support it) and the purportedly ancient ossuary (bone box) that bore the inscription “James, brother of Jesus”–which the Israeli authorities had branded a modern forgery, but which Mr. Shanks felt ought to be studied further, and more deeply, by an international team of experts.

There is, unfortunately, a great deal of material in BAR by “reputable Bible scholars” who don’t believe a single word of Scripture. Readers have to learn to ignore them.

One thing Mr. Shanks did as editor, though–he kept things lively. I haven’t seen that, so far, from his successor.

‘Reoriented Towards God’

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Paul’s conversion on the road to Damascus

Today’s Chalcedon editorial gives us an answer to the world’s craziness.

https://chalcedon.edu/blog/reoriented-towards-god

The answer is “Faith,” which takes us out of ourselves and makes God the center of our lives. Examples are listed in Hebrews 11, one of my favorite chapters in the Bible: “the faith Hall of Fame.”

All power comes from the Lord, not man, not man’s institutions. Faith must shape our lives and works; and God is always looking for faithful men and women to accomplish His work in the world. As His servants, that’s why we’re here.

‘The Christian and the Cultural Wars’

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I have to go vegetate in the veterinarian’s waiting room, but first let me post this Chalcedon editorial by Mark Rushdoony, from 2004:

https://chalcedon.edu/magazine/the-christian-and-the-cultural-wars

Christ’s command to “Occupy until I come” (Luke 19:13) should have been the church’s watchword–and ours, too, individually.

Because we didn’t occupy, the ungodly came out of the woodwork and occupied our culture; and we’re having a very hard time holding on to the little bit they’ve left us.

Work harder. Pray harder. Sing louder. And proclaim the truth.

‘The Battlefield Ahead’

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Christian school–way more dangerous to the bad guys than it looks

In this Chalcedon editorial, Mark Rushdoony reminds us to keep our eye on the ball, as it were–the ball being the need to re-Christianize our society from the ground up, starting with ourselves and our families.

https://chalcedon.edu/blog/the-battlefield-ahead

We need to win battles in the culture war, but we have to get out of having to fight all the battles on ground chosen by the enemy. Christian families, Christian schools, Christian neighborhoods and fellowships, and even Christianized workplaces–these are the kind of developments that are well within our scope to create.

And their creation will give the bad guys fits.

My Interview with Lee Strobel (2005)

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Lee Strobel

I thought you might enjoy my 2005 interview with Lee Strobel–lawyer, former legal affairs editor and reporter for the Chicago Tribune, former atheist… and now, for many years, a servant of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

https://chalcedon.edu/resources/articles/case-for-a-creator-author-makes-prediction-belief-in-god-will-prevail-over-darwinism

Mr. Strobel was about to go skiing when I phoned him, and he said he could give me 15 minutes. But we hit it off, and wound up talking for an hour and a half.

In this interview, shortly after the publication of his book, The Case for a Creator, Mr. Strobel predicted that science itself would help lead us to belief in God and away from Darwinism. But unlike some Intelligent Design proponents, he doesn’t stop there. Science may teach us that there is an intelligent design that governs the universe, but we need the Bible, and faith, to tell us of the Designer.

If You Want to Order Books…

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If you’re looking to order any of my books directly from Chalcedon (the publisher), be advised that for the next few days the Chalcedon office will be cut off from electric power–so you won’t be able to phone in your order. The power company in California, coping with a risk of fire, has cut off power to millions of customers as a preventive measure.

You can still place your order via email. Or buy through amazon.com.

Christmas is coming, folks, and my books make great presents. Ask anyone who’s read them.

‘Reconstruction for Life’ (Chalcedon Editorial)

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Humanism is dying, as we can see by its fervent embrace of such cruel follies as abortion, sexual anarchy, socialism, censorship, assisted suicide, and the incessant growth of government. There is no leftist project that does not bear the stink of death.

This Chalcedon editorial, published today, meets this crisis head-on.

https://chalcedon.edu/blog/reconstruction-for-life

Christians do know what they’re against, but they’re not so clear about knowing what they’re for. This is what needs to be changed.

We do need “a new civilization,” founded on God’s law and God’s word; and the good news is that we, all of us, can start building one now. Right now. New schools, a re-commitment to the family, new science, and new churches. New everything.

We pray that God will equip us for our service to Christ’s Kingdom.

The ‘Gender’ Nightmare, 2011

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Yep–it came to America, all right. Lucky us.

When I wrote this article for Chalcedon in 2011, a few of my colleagues refused to believe that any such things could ever happen in America. I wish I had been wrong instead of they.

https://chalcedon.edu/resources/articles/gender-free-children-the-newest-fad-in-public-education

The article focused on what was then a new handbook intended for use by the British Columbia Teachers’ Federation, dedicated to weeding out “gender conformity”–like that was bad or something. The depth of inanity and foolishness in that document was truly profound. “Two-spirit persons…” Feh.

The article also contained a link to a video of “gender instruction” in a California public school, with a captive audience of kindergarten children being “taught” by a big fat mutant. It wasn’t that such things couldn’t happen in America. By 2011 they already were happening.

This is culture-killing. Be warned: kill the culture, and it will kill you back.

‘A Walking Law’ (Chalcedon Blog, Sept. 28)

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If the people are lawless at heart, you can station a policeman on every street corner and you’ll still have crime.

This is why God has devised a new covenant to be written on our hearts and lived out in the world–for everyone to see.

https://chalcedon.edu/blog/a-walking-law

The problem with the Old Covenant was that God’s people couldn’t keep it. Again and again they rallied back around the law, and again and again they fell away from it. So God made a better covenant, and sent His Son to establish it. A covenant of grace. A covenant of the law written not on tables of stone, but on our hearts.

Do God’s laws and God’s grace clash with each other? St. Paul has answered that question.

“Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law” (Romans 3:31)