Death Marks An Anniversary Have We Learned Anything?
Has America learned anything about the sanctity of human life over the past twelve months?
There are signs that Americans may actually be resigning themselves to the inevitability of euthanasia and the Culture of Death. In the aftermath of Terri Schiavo's death, a wave of commentary appeared, offering the suggestion that what Americans should have learned from the controversy was that personal autonomy should triumph over all other moral concerns and priorities. Beyond this, others have been quick to point accusing fingers at political figures, including George W. Bush, who attempted to intervene...
Fathomable Zealotry Islam & The Clash Of Civilizations
On Wednesday, Mark Earley reported the good news about the release of Abdul Rahman, the Afghan Christian who was facing execution for “apostasy” from Islam. As I record this, Rahman is free from jail and has fled to Italy—a smart move since prominent imams are calling for him to be killed for his profession of Christ.
As outrageous as extra-judicial killings are, a government executing someone for religious reasons is even worse. And that remains a very real possibility in Afghanistan and other parts of the Islamic world.
After all, Rahman was set free only because he was judged to be insane. That adjudication reminds me of the Soviet Union: If someone was a Christian or other kind of dissident, they were called insane and put in an institution. It was a way of punishing and controlling the Church—the stuff of tyrants.
And tyranny is still what we have in Afghanistan. Even after the Taliban was driven out of power, Afghans are not free to exercise their conscience. Their constitution says that Afghanistan will be governed by sharia law—the same law that makes conversion a capital offense. For our foreign policy to have credibility, we must demand not just that Rahman be set free, but also that Afghanistan and Iraq, countries we are liberating, respect basic human rights.
The events of the past week have taught us lessons about the nature of the foe we face in the global war on terror. As columnist Richard Cohen wrote, “The murder of a person for his religious belief ought to be inconceivable.” But it’s not, and Cohen, more than some other commentators, understands why.
As Cohen wrote, the threat to Rahman’s life doesn’t come from a “few crazed governments,” a “rogue government,” or even “a solitary crazy prosecutor.” It comes from “an entire society. It is not a single judge who would condemn [Rahman] but a culture.”
Specifically, it’s a culture shaped by an Islamic worldview. Sadly, what’s true of Afghanistan is true of much of the Islamic world. As Investor’s Business Daily editorialized, Islam “mandates warfare against unbelievers.” Now, this puts the lie to the mealy-mouthed proclamations of many politicians that Islam is just a “religion of peace.”
Thankfully, most Muslims “do not act out on [Islam’s] violent commands.” But Islam sees itself in a state of war with Western civilization, which was shaped by the Judeo-Christian tradition.
The incompatibility of this worldview led Harvard professor Samuel Huntington, in his 1990s book The Clash of Civilizations, to predict that the clash between Islam and the West would be the great struggle of the twenty-first century. He is a prophet.
The question is, as with all prophets: Will we listen? Will we acknowledge that we are in the midst of a life-and-death struggle between two hostile worldviews? To listen to America’s politicians say we have to bring the troops home, three years is long enough to fight, is tragically comical.
For nothing in Islam’s fourteen-hundred-year history suggests that it is prepared to declare a truce. I’ve written and spoken about this at length. You can call us here today (1-877-322-5527), and we’d love to send you a transcript of a speech I gave on the clash of civilizations—because you and I need to understand the true conflict we are in: It is a war of worldviews.
Last week, Chuck Colson told you about Abdul Rahman, the Afghani Christian who faced death for converting from Islam. Since then, there have been positive developments in this case, which we'd like to share with you—not only because we can all use some good news, but also as a reminder of what Christians can accomplish.
As you will recall, Rahman converted to Christianity sixteen years ago while working for a Christian group that helped Afghani refugees. After he returned to Afghanistan, a custody dispute with his parents brought his conversion to the attention of the authorities. Under Islamic law, the punishment for his conversion to Christ is death.
The idea of a Christian being executed in a country where three hundred Americans had died to rid the people of an Islamic theocracy was intolerable. Chuck and others throughout the Christian community asked you to let our leaders know that "Abdul Rahman's execution must not take place."
You heard us, and our government leaders, in turn, heard you. After a shaky start, public pressure yielded results. President Bush courageously said that he was "deeply troubled" by Rahman's case and added that he expect Afghanistan to "honor the universal principle of freedom."
Afghani officials initially resisted Western pressure to free Rahman. They were worried about the kind of sentiment expressed by one Kabul resident to the BBC: "If [president] Karzai listens to them, there will be jihad."
So, instead of releasing Rahman on grounds of religious freedom, they dismissed the case on technical grounds. They cited "a lack of information and a lot of legal gaps in the case" and expressed doubts about Rahman's sanity.
"BreakPoint" listeners and readers should be happy and gratified that their efforts paid off. The events of the past week are a powerful reminder of the difference concerned listeners and readers like you can make.
Still, we shouldn't celebrate too much or too long. While Rahman's release saved his life, the grounds on which he was released still leaves the door open for similar prosecutions. As if to underscore this fact, his release was greeted by demonstrations where protesters chanted "death to Bush." There have been calls for similar protests across Afghanistan.
What's more, Rahman is hardly out of danger. His future in Afghanistan is, to put it mildly, uncertain. The Taliban may be out of power, but it's not out of business.
Then there's the status of Christians in the rest of the Islamic world. Just last week, Algeria enacted a law against "anyone urging or forcing or [even] tempting, to convert a Muslim to another religion." The law was prompted by recent mass conversions of Berbers—North Africa's native population—back to Christianity. I said "back" because Berbers, such as St. Augustine, were once Christians.
That Algeria felt free to enact such a law, even as religious freedom was in the headlines, demonstrates just how daunting the task of promoting religious freedom is. That's the bad news—the good news is that our leaders are paying attention. Now we need to make sure that our Christian brethren in the Islamic world keep ours. BREAKPOINT with Charles Colson & Mark Earley
Not amalgamated with 'Thought & Humor'.
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The Apologetic Of Story
Gregory Wolfe, editor of Image journal, tells a story about telling stories for his kids. He describes the memorable bedtimes when he attempts to concoct a series of original tales. "My kids are polite enough to raise their hands when they have some penetrating question to ask about plot, character, or setting," he writes. "If I leave something out of the story, or commit the sin of inconsistency, these fierce critics won't let me proceed until I've revised the narrative. Oddly enough, they never attempt to take over the storytelling. They are convinced that I have the authority to tell the tale, but they insist that I live up to the complete story that they know exists somewhere inside me."(1) Children seem to detest a deficient story.
There is no doubt that our sense of the guiding authority of story and storyteller often dramatically lessens as we move from childhood to adulthood. And yet, regardless of age, there remains something deeply troubling about a story without a point, or an author not to be trusted.
In an interview with Skeptic magazine, Richard Dawkins was asked if his view of the world was not similar to that of Shakespeare's Macbeth: namely, that life is but "A tale told by an idiot, filled with sound and fury, signifying nothing."
"Yes," Dawkins replied, "at a sort of cosmic level, it is. But what I want to guard against is people therefore getting nihilistic in their personal lives. I don't see any reason for that at all. You can have a very happy and fulfilled personal life even if you think that the universe at large is a tale told by an idiot." (2)
His words attempt to remove the sting his philosophy imparts. And yet, it stings regardless--both with callousness and confusion. If I am but a poor player fretting my hour upon the stage of a tale told by an idiot, what is a "fulfilling" personal life? There is no room in the naturalist's philosophy for intrinsic dignity, human worth, or human rights. There is no room for moral accountability, right or wrong, good or evil. There is no room for the layers of my love for my husband, the cry of my heart for justice, or the recognition on my conscience that I am often missing the mark. There is no room for my surprise at time's passing or my longing for something beyond what I am capable of fully reaching in this moment. This is not the story I know.
In the words of G.K. Chesterton, "I had always felt life first a story: and if there is a story there is a story-teller."
Could it be that our relationship to stories, our first love of the tale beyond us and the author beside us, conveys a deep truth about our own cosmic tale? Are not the very philosophies we carry attempts to make sense of the grand story of which we find ourselves a part?
The first words of Genesis 1 boldly claim that we are not lost and wandering in a cosmic circle of time and chance. There is a story that emerges from the beginning, and we have a place within it. Similarly, the writer of Hebrews describes Jesus as the author and finisher of our faith, where ultimate significance is aptly defined as being written into the story of God. God's Word places us in the timeline of a coherent history, delivering us from the deceptions of the enemy, telling us who we are, and where we came from, what is wrong with us, how we are made whole, and where we are going. We are placed within a story of which we know and celebrate the outcome, even as we wait for it through time and trial. In Christ, history's outcome-its ultimate end-is revealed. Dark days may follow, but the ending is known. It is a story neither deficient, nor untrustworthy.
C.S. Lewis fittingly describes heaven at the end of his Chronicles of Narnia as a place where good things continually increase and life is an everlasting story in which "every chapter is better than the one before." His compelling reflection has often reminded me of Christ's beloved disciple in the closing chapters of his testimony to the significance of Jesus Christ. Notes John, "If all of the acts of Christ were recorded, the world would not have enough room for all the books that would be written" (John 21:24-26). Like children, eyes widen at the thought. What a story to be a part of, a life to find touching your own. Jill Carattini
(1) Gregory Wolfe, Intruding Upon the Timeless: Meditations on Art, Faith, and Mystery (Square Halo Books: Baltimore, 2003), 81-82.
(2) Skeptic vol. 3, no. 4, 1995, pp. 80-85.
------------------------------------------------------------------- "A Slice of Infinity" is aimed at reaching into the culture with words of challenge, words of truth, and words of hope. If you know of others who would enjoy receiving "A Slice of Infinity" in their email box each day, tell them to ple! ase call 1-877-88SLICE (1-877-887-5423).
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"Let every student be plainly instructed and earnestly pressed to consider well the main end of his life and studies is to know God and Jesus Christ which is eternal life (John 17:3)."
- - - The Laws and Statutes of Harvard College in 1643
"All scholars shall live religious, godly, and blameless lives according to the rules of God's Word, diligently reading the Holy Scriptures, the fountain of light and truth; and constantly attend upon all the duties of religion, both in public and secret."
- - - Two central requirements in Yale College 1745 charter
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The Roman emperor Diocletian, following an edict in 303 A.D., failed to stamp the Bible out. The French Revolution could not crush it with secular philosophy (Rousseau, one of its heroes, converted to Christianity). The Communists failed to stamp it out with atheism and political ideology. One might well ask why this book has been banned, burned, and bludgeoned with such animosity and scorn. The great Reformation hero John Calvin responds in this way: "Whenever people slander God's word, they show they feel within its power, however unwillingly or reluctantly." - Joe Boot
'Thought & Humor' - often polemical but never tasteless/unrefined/uncouth/ribald.
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Please note: If you see a UNC student or liberal reading 'Thought & Humor', please explain to them which is thought & which is humor. They usually get it backwards.......
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God designed humans to want to believe in something. That's the image of God that is in us. But as G. K. Chesterton famously put it, when we reject the God of the Bible, we don't believe in nothing; we believe in everything -- including Little Green Men.
- - Chuck Colson
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Dear Howdy,
Thank you for your simply addicting newsletter...it's truly a candidate for the 8th wonder of the world and 1st candidate for the cyber-world... it just keeps blooming with more of what I need and, I think, what we all need...please keep up the great works!!!
Type atcha later...
God bless you,
Phil H WI
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It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. - - Isa 40:22
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Biblical Authority: Must We Accept The Words Of Scripture?
The most contentious debates among Christians are arguments over biblical authority. While Christians who accept the full authority of Scripture--even the inerrancy and infallibility of the biblical text--may debate issues ranging from baptism and church government to eschatology and spiritual gifts, the issues of greatest debate in our time fall along the fault line of biblical authority.
This is especially true when dealing with the issue of sexuality, and the question of homosexuality in particular. Those who argue for the acceptance of homosexual behavior and the blessing of homosexual relationships have to deal with the fact that the Bible straightforwardly condemns homosexual behavior. In light of this, some attempt to subvert the text by arguing that these texts have actually been horribly misunderstood for over two thousand years. Increasingly, however, some now concede that the Bible condemns homosexuality in every relevant text, but that Christians are no longer bound by the authority of these texts as we deal with the present moral crisis.
One scholar who takes this approach is Brian K. Blount, Richard J. Dearborn Professor of New Testament Interpretation at Princeton Theological Seminary. Professor Blount specializes in "cultural hermeneutics," and he applies this approach to the issue of homosexuality and biblical authority in an essay entitled, "The Last Word in Biblical Authority."
Blount's essay is published in Struggling with Scripture, which Blount authored along with coauthors Walter Brueggemann and William C. Placher. The book emerged out of a symposium on the theological interpretation of Scripture in which the three were participants.
Blount begins his essay by suggesting that some persons simply must have the last word on any subject. "Many people treat the biblical words that way, believing that those words, all of them, must always be the last words standing. Now in matters of faith--in matters of understanding our human relationship before God and God's moves to nurture, develop, restructure, and refine that relationship through the prophetic and incarnate Word--most of Christendom, I think, agrees that those inspired words are lasting words. But in matters of the proper way to appropriate those words of faith ethically, there is and has always been considerable discussion and debate."
Well, give Professor Blount credit for honesty. When he looks to the Bible, he does not see eternal words that are to be received as fixed and determinate, but as a text that is to be divided between "matters of faith" and other, presumably negotiable issues.
In making his case, Blount points to the issues of slavery, gender, and sexuality as evidence that "even the inspired biblical authors, when they applied God's prophetic and incarnate Word to their very human situations, allowed those situations to influence how they heard God and therefore how they talked to each other."
Several clarifications must be inserted here. First, the Bible does not sanction race-based chattel slavery as practiced in many parts of the world, America included, throughout history. The Bible does seek to regulate slavery, but there is no way that slavery, gender, and sexuality can be linked as equal issues in terms of biblical interpretation.
Nevertheless, Professor Blount argues that when confronting biblical texts that deal with these issues, the contemporary church must not allow these words to be the last word on the subject. Instead, he argues that "ethical biblical authority is contextual biblical authority."
The interpretive key, according to Blount, is the human spirit. "The role of the spirit is a constant," he explains. "Laced into the fabric of human beings is that part of us that reaches beyond the boundaries of our flesh and blood and touches the essential voice of God's own Holy Spirit. Did you ever hear someone say a room is wired for sound? We're wired for God, wired by God with a human spirit that despite its limitations can be touched by God's Holy Spirit. In every time, in every place, in every moment of history, the spirit plays this interlocutory role."
He argues that the church should hear God's voice "like an inaudible whisper--sometimes gentle, sometimes fierce--that jangles the nerves of the human spirit until, tensed and alert, it attends to what it is that God wants to 'say.'"
Nevertheless, what God says "will be different according to the variable conditions in which the human spirits who encounter it find themselves."
Note his argument carefully. He is suggesting that human experience is the key to interpreting scripture, and that the words of Scripture may take on different meanings in different contexts. The ethical teachings of the Bible, he asserts, are limited to specific times and specific places, where the prejudices and realities of any given time may shape the biblical text in unethical ways. When such texts are encountered, they "ought to be challenged when we find that they were influenced by their contexts in such a way that they are damaging, and not life affirming, in a contemporary circumstance."
Professor Blount understands that he has set himself up for some difficult questions. Which words of the Bible are to be seen as living and authoritative and which are to be seen as ethically substandard? He accuses the contemporary church of wanting to remain in an infantile state, unwilling to acknowledge the reality of these issues and instead desiring a stable and authoritative text. "We're too often not ready for the meat of mature considerations about the words of texts that were often right for their own times twenty centuries ago but may well be wrong for our time."
This raises a most interesting question. Is Professor Blount arguing that, assuming his interpretive scheme, slavery was at one time ethically right, but is now to be seen as ethically wrong? When did this transition in the morality of slavery take place? Similar questions could be addressed to the other controversial cases he raises.
Sometimes, he argues that the Bible simply has to be put in its place. He cites Carlos Mesters to the effect that the poor and oppressed in Latin America have had to learn to put the Bible "in its proper place, the place where God intended it to be." As Mesters affirmed, "They are putting it in second place. Life takes first place!"
"We've often made the biblical words the last word in the sense that none of them can ever change," Blount argues. "Even if the words were on the mark for a first-century community but are no longer on target for ours, even when they have become like rickety, arthritic knees that don't bend and twist so well in the new race we're running for God, we treat them as if they just started competing yesterday. A last word can't breathe; it can't endure this marathon of living with the people of God who run in the presence of God's ever-living, ever-sustaining Holy Spirit."
Beyond this, Blount argues that treating the biblical words as fixed and enduring transforms them into literary artifacts. Over time, these words become fossilized and the faith becomes more like an exercise in archaeology than a living faith "that celebrates seeing God say and do new things in new times."
To be clear about this, what Blount argues is that God is now doing and saying something different than he did and said in the past. Responding to new realities, new people, and new contexts, God is presented as leading His people in new directions, often in contradiction to where he presumably led His people previously.
For most mainline Protestant denominations, the issue of homosexuality is now where the question of biblical authority is most clearly encountered. When he gets to this issue, Blount makes some rather surprising concessions. "The New Testament's words on homosexual behavior are also clear. They are words of condemnation; I don't try to deny that. I don't think anyone should," he asserts.
Nevertheless, these words are to be seen as coming out of a "particular context" that is significantly different than our own. Thus, "I don't think the words are any longer living, but are, rather, dead words if we try to read them without contextually understanding them today."
This is where "cultural hermeneutics" serves as a license to liberate the church from the undeniably clear words of Scripture. Applying his tools of cultural hermeneutics, Professor Blount argues that the Apostle Paul "was inspired by God's Word in a world where sexuality was understood in a radically different way from how it is understood today." For Paul, homosexual activity was tied to idolatry and the "unnatural" dimension of homosexual acts related to the fact that they were not related to procreation. Blount argues that the Apostle Paul derived his understanding of sexuality from the larger secular culture of the Greco-Roman civilization. "He tied his understanding of sexuality to an understanding of sex acts that were properly condoned only when done according to the natural order designed for procreation or as a remedy for the burning passions of lust that apparently threatened the eruption of human bonfires all over the ancient world."
Pushing further, Blount argues that Paul's thoughts should be divided between his creation theology and his Christ theology, and the two theological strains should be seen as competing with one another in the text of Paul's letters.
Brian K. Blount attempts to offer a hermeneutical rationale for denying the authority of biblical texts that condemn homosexual behavior. In the name of liberating humanity, he would liberate the church from the actual words of Scripture and look instead for an "inner dynamic within the biblical text that transcends the actual words." This is why a doctrine of verbal inspiration is indispensable to biblical authority. If the very words of Scripture, in the original languages, are not inspired of God, and thus precisely the right words for the church throughout all time, then we are left in a constant battle to negotiate the meaning of the biblical text. Its meaning in one generation might be very different from its meaning in another, and generations to come might actually reverse the interpretation settled upon by Christians living in our times. In other words, God seems to be leading His people in many different directions over time, and the biblical text becomes a fabric that can be stretched in any number of different directions, all claiming to be led by the Spirit of God.
Professor Blount's approach should be understood to be more honest than the arguments made by many others, who would seek to subvert the text by denying that the words actually mean what they appear to mean. Blount accepts that the Bible clearly condemns homosexual behavior, and he advises his colleagues that it is unwise for them to argue otherwise. Nevertheless, he then makes an astounding jump of theological imagination to suggest that the church should simply liberate itself from these words, and should do so in the name of God's own Spirit.
We are reminded all over again that debates over these contentious issues are, at their very base, debates over the nature of biblical authority. Professor Blount wants to affirm some understanding of biblical authority, but his methodology actually places the human spirit and the interpretive community in the roles of greater authority. The biblical text simply has to give way to the "living Word" that the church now experiences.
How long will it be before similar arguments begin to emerge within circles that think themselves solidly committed to biblical authority? We can only wonder--and watch with great care.
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R. Albert Mohler, Jr. is president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.
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Dear Howdy, Indeed I am a faithful Tarheel*, having both MA and Ph.D. from their fine chemistry department. But that doesn't keep me from getting a great kick out of the humor propagated by what appears to me to be a pack of wolves!!**
SERIOUSLY, THE HUMOR IS GREAT FUN BUT MY MAIN ATTRACTION WAS TO THE CONSERVATIVE MORAL AND POLITICAL STANCE THAT SEEMED TO CHARACTERIZE THE FIRST ISSUE I SAW. INCIDENTALLY (HE SAYS ACCIDENTALLY!), it was sent to me by a friend, so I really didn't "hear about you" at all, and still haven't. All I know is what has come in the two issues of the Newsletter I have seen. The best to you.
S. P.
*Another name for UNC. ** UNC's archrival - NCSU.
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"I believe the Bible is the best gift God has ever given to man. All the good from the Savior of the world is communicated to us through this book." -- President Abraham Lincoln
We can all pray. We all should pray. We should ask the fulfillment of God’s will. We should ask for courage, wisdom, for the quietness of soul which comes alone to them who place their lives in His hands. -- President Harry Truman
When there is a lack of honor in government, the morals of the whole people are poisoned. There is no such thing as a no-man's land between honesty and dishonesty. Our strength lies in spiritual concepts. It lies in public sensitiveness to evil. Our greatest danger is not from invasion by foreign armies. Our dangers are that we may commit suicide from within by complaisance with evil, or by public tolerance of scandalous ehavior. --President Herbert Hoover
Our faith teaches that there is no safer reliance than upon the God of our fathers, who has so singularly favored the American people in every national trial, and who will not forsake us so long as we obey His commandments and walk humbly in His footsteps. -- President William McKinley
Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between Church and State… --President Thomas Jefferson
The Bible is the one supreme source of revelation of the meaning of life, the nature of God and spiritual nature and needs of men. It is the only guide of life which really leads the spirit in the way of peace and salvation. America was born a Christian nation. America was born to exemplify that devotion to the elements of righteousness which are derived from the revelations of Holy Scripture. -- President Woodrow Wilson
In tendering this homage to the Great Author of every public and private good, I assure myself that it expresses your sentiments not less than my own; nor those of my fellow-citizens at large, less than either. No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men more than the people of the United States. -- George Washington
There are two prayers that I love to say—the first is the Lord’s Prayer, and because the Lord taught it; and the other is what seems to be a child’s prayer: “Now I lay me down to sleep,” and I love to say that because it suits me. I have been repeating it every night for many years past, and I say it yet, and I expect to say it my last night on earth… --President John Quincy Adams
Our strength lies in spiritual concepts. It lies in public sensitiveness to evil. Our greatest danger is not from invasion by foreign armies. Our dangers are that we may commit suicide from within by complaisance with evil, or by public tolerance of scandalous behavior. --President Herbert Hoover
We are all called upon by the highest obligations of duty to renew our thanks and our devotion to our Heavenly Parent, who has continued to vouchsafe to us the eminent blessings which surround us and who has so signally crowned the year with His goodness. If we find ourselves increasing beyond example in numbers, in strength, in wealth, in knowledge, in everything which promotes human and social happiness, let us ever remember our dependence for all these on the protecting and merciful dispensations of Divine Providence. --President John Tyler, December 7, 1841
Statesmen, my dear Sir, may plan and speculate for liberty, but it is religion and morality alone, which can establish the principles upon which freedom can securely stand. The only foundation of a free constitution is pure virtue; and if this cannot be inspired into our people in a greater measure than they have it now, they may change their rulers and the forms of government, but they will not obtain a lasting liberty. They will only exchange tyrants and tyrannies. --President John Adams
Whereas, it is the duty of nations, as well as of men, to owe their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions, in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon… --Abraham Lincoln
Without the assistance of the Divine Being who ever attended him, I cannot succeed. With that assistance I cannot fail. Trusting in Him who can go with me, and remain with you, and be everywhere for good, let us confidently hope that all will yet be well. To His care commending you, as I hope in your prayers you will commend me, I bid you an affectionate farewell. --Abraham Lincoln
Without God, there is no virtue, because there's no prompting of the conscience. Without God, we're mired in the material, that flat world that tells us only what the senses perceive. Without God, there is a coarsening of the society. And without God, democracy will not and cannot long endure. If we ever forget that we're one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under. --President Ronald Reagan
Mighty God…I yield Thee humble and hearty thanks that thou has preserved me from the danger of the night past, and brought me to the light of the day, and the comforts thereof, a day which is consecrated to Thine own service and for Thine own honor. Let my heart, therefore, Gracious God, be so affected with the glory and majesty of it, that I may not do mine own works, but wait on thee, and discharge those weighty duties thou requirest of me. --George Washington, in his prayer journal
No country has been so much favored, or should acknowledge with deeper reverence the manifestations of the divine protection. An all wise Creator directed and guarded us in our infant struggle for freedom and has constantly watched over our surprising progress until we have become one of the great nations of the earth. --President James K. Polk
Looking for the guidance of that Divine Hand by which the destinies of nations and individuals are shaped, I call upon you everywhere, to unite with me in an earnest effort to secure to our country the blessings, not only of material prosperity, but of justice, peace and union—a union depending not upon the constraint of force, but upon the loving devotion of a free people; and that all things may be so ordered and settled upon the best and surest foundations that peace and happiness, truth and justice, religion and piety, may be established among us for all generation. --President Rutherford B. Hayes
I only look to the gracious protection of the Divine Being whose strengthening support I humbly solicit, and whom I fervently pray to look down upon us all. May it be among the dispensations of His Providence to bless our beloved country with honors and length of days; may her ways be pleasantness, and all her paths peace. --President Martin VanBuren
Every thinking man, when he thinks, realizes that the teachings of the Bible are so interwoven and entwined with our whole civic and social life that it would be literally—I do not mean figuratively, but literally—impossible for us to figure what that loss would be if these teachings were removed. We would lose all the standards by which we now judge both public and private morals; all the standards towards which we, with more or less resolution, strive to raise ourselves. --President Theodore Roosevelt
The year that is drawing towards its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. --Abraham Lincoln
The men who established this government had faith in God and sublimely trusted in Him. They besought His counsel and advice in every step of their progress. And so it has been ever since; American history abounds in instances of this trait of piety, this sincere reliance on a Higher Power in all great trials in our national affairs. --President William McKinley
“Finally, it is my fervent prayer to that Almighty Being…that He will so overrule all my intentions and actions and inspire the hearts of my fellow-citizens that we may be preserved from dangers of all kinds and continue forever a united happy people.” --President Andrew Jackson
"When I left Springfield I asked the people to pray for me. I was not a Christian. When I buried my son, the severest trial of my life, I was not a Christian. But when I went to Gettysburg and saw the graves of thousands of our soldiers, I then and there consecrated myself to Christ. Yes, I do love Jesus." --Abraham Lincoln
Oh! Almighty and Everlasting God, Creator of Heaven, Earth and the Universe: Help me to be, to think, to act what is right, because it is right; make me truthful, honest and honorable in all things; make me intellectually honest for the sake of right and honor and without thought of reward to me. Give me the ability to be charitable, forgiving and patient with my fellowmen - help me to understand their motives and their shortcomings -- even as Thou understandest mine! Amen, Amen, Amen. --President Harry Truman
"For we must consider that we shall be as a City upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us. So that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken, and so cause Him to withdraw! his present help from us, we shall be made a story and a byword throughout the world." --John Winthrop, Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, 1630
"It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible." - President George Washington
"The Bible is no mere book, but a Living Creature, with a power that conquers all that oppose it." - Napoleon
"That Book accounts for the supremacy of England." - Queen Victoria
"If there is anything in my thought or style to commend , the credit is due my parents for instilling in me an early love of the Scriptures. If we abide by the principals taught in the Bible, our country will go on prospering and to prosper; but if we and our posterity neglect its instructions and authority, no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us and bury all our glory in profound obscurity." - Daniel Webster (Founding Father)
"The Bible is worth all other books which have ever been printed." - Patrick Henry (original member of the Continental Congress)
"The Bible is the anchor of our liberties." - President U.S. Grant
"It is impossible to enslave mentally or socially a Bible-reading people. The principals of the Bible are the groundwork of human freedom." - Horace Greeley (Editor)
"That Book is the rock on which our Republic rests." - President Andrew Jackson
"In all my perplexities and distresses, the Bible has never failed to give me light and strength." - Gen. Robert E. Lee
"Bible reading is an education in itself." - Lord Tennyson (Poet)
"So great is my veneration for the Bible that the earlier my children begin to read it the more confident will be my hope that they will prove useful citizens of their country and respectable members of society. I have for many years made it a practice to read through the Bible once every year." - President John Quincy Adams
"The existence of the Bible, as a Book for the people, is the greatest benefit which the human race has ever experienced. Every attempt to belittle it is a crime against humanity." - Immanuel Kant (Philosopher)
"The New Testament is the very best Book that ever or ever will be known in the world." - Charles Dickens (Author)
"All human discoveries seem to be made only for the purpose of confirming more and more strongly the truths contained in the Sacred Scriptures." - Sir William Herschel (Astronomer)
"There are more sure marks of authenticity in the Bible than in any profane history." - Sir Isaac Newton (Scientist)
"Let mental culture go on advancing, let the natural sciences progress in even greater extent and depth, and the human mind widen itself as much as it desires; beyond the elevation and moral culture of Christianity, as it shines forth in the Gospels, it will not go." - Goethe (Author)
"I have known ninety-five of the world's great men in my time, and of these eight-seven were followers of the Bible. The Bible is stamped with a Specialty of Origin, and an immeasurable distance separates it from all competitors." - W.E. Gladstone (Prime Minister)
"Whatever merit there is in anything that I have written is simply due to the fact that when I was a chile my mother daily read me a part of the Bible and daily made me learn a part of it by heart." - John Ruskin (art critic and social commentator)
"The Bible has been the Magna Charta of the poor and oppressed. The human race is not in a position to dispense with it." - Thomas Huxley (Author & Scientist)
"The whole hope of human progress is suspended on the ever growing influence of the Bible." - W.H. Seward (Secretary of State)
"America was born a Christian nation. America was born to exemplify that devotion to the elements of righteousness, which are derived from the revelations of Holy Scriptures. Part of the destiny of Americans lies in their daily perusal of this great book of revelations. That if they would see America free and pure they will make their own spirits free and pure by this baptism of the Holy Spirit." --President Woodrow Wilson
For Christians, the life and death of Jesus are the ultimate expressions of love, and the supreme demonstrations of God's mercy, faithfulness, and redemption. Since Christ's miraculous Resurrection on Easter, more than 2,000 years ago, Christians have expressed joy and gratitude for this wondrous sacrifice and for God's promise of freedom for the oppressed, healing for the brokenhearted, and salvation. --President George W. Bush
"It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here." --Patrick Henry (original member of the Continental Congress)
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Getting It Right From The Beginning
"In the beginning," Scripture says, "God created the heavens and the earth." That first biblical affirmation points to the priority of the doctrine of creation within the system of Christian doctrine. Nevertheless, even the doctrine of creation presupposes a biblical notion of God and the authority of his revelation in Scripture. The Christian believer does not acknowledge the creation and then infer a Creator. Indeed, it is not God who must be explained by the creation, but creation which must be explained by the Creator. Thus, the very first verse of the Bible affirms the cosmos as the free creation of the sovereign God of Scripture--the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The doctrine of creation is the attempt of the Christian believer to come to terms with the relationship between God and the world. As such, it gives proper place to the work of God in creation, points to the nature and purpose of the created world, and distinguishes the Christian theistic worldview from all others.
The starting point of the doctrine of creation is the presupposition of the sovereign God of Scripture. Those first words of Scripture indicate that the central character in the creation narratives is God, not the created order. God acts as the divine Subject, creating a dynamic universe as the object of his love and the theater of his glory. This biblical theism is the foundational affirmation of the doctrine of creation. Creation is inseparable from monotheism.
The most common creed in the Christian church begins with the confession, "I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth." The God of the Bible is not needful of anything outside himself. This self-sufficiency or "aseity" of God precludes any need for creation on God's part. Positively, it affirms the fact that God created the world and all within it out of the freedom of his own sovereign will. With this in view, the divine initiative in creation takes on a powerful meaning. Though needing nothing, God willed not to be alone, but to create a world distinct and other than himself, as the result of his own divine pleasure.
This affirmation places the biblical worldview in opposition to all others. The Israelites were surrounded by pre-biblical religions which placed God over against creation, or suggested a number of gods conspiring to create a universe out of existing chaos and matter. The early Christian church found itself confronted by challenges including Gnosticism, Arianism, and Manichaeism, each positing a worldview in which God was variously placed within creation, over against creation as a dualism, or a scheme in which an evil god created the world in order that a beneficent god might redeem it.
The church quickly affirmed what had been assumed in the Old Testament, that God created the universe out of nothing, that is, out of no pre-existing matter. If the church had allowed an acknowledgement of divine creation as the mere fashioning of existing materials, it would have compromised the nature of God and the biblical testimony. No form of dualism is compatible with biblical theism.
The Hebrew verb used to describe the word of God in creation is distinct from that used to describe the work of a human craftsman in fashioning an artifact. Man may fashion out of what God has created, but only God can truly create. This is the affirmation of creation ex nihilo--out of nothing--without the use of pre-existing materials. The acknowledgement of God's creation of the world ex nihilo must be central to the Christian affirmation of the doctrine of creation. Some contemporary theological movements have rejected this in favor of an understanding which posits God as the fashioner of pre-existing materials. Any such system presupposes a model of God unworthy of biblical theism. No particle existed prior to God's creative act.
The biblical portrait of the creating God demonstrates a loving God whose character issues naturally in his creation. The loving character of God is woven into the warp and woof of his creation and the creatures within it. The biblical testimony will allow no distinction between the God who creates and the God who redeems. Isaiah pointedly affirms the identity of the creating God as the one with whom Israel must deal (Isaiah 43:15; 45:7; 40:28). Indeed, creation is a Trinitarian event. The prologue to the Gospel of John proclaims the role of the Son as the divine Word of creation through whom all things were made, and "without whom nothing was made that was made," (John 1:1-5). In like manner, Paul reminded the Colossians that "all things were created through him and for him," (Colossians 1:15-17). The creating God is thus both Author and Finisher. The God who created the universe as an exercise of his own glory is the very same God who was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself. Furthermore, the Holy Spirit, which is the living empowerment of the church, was also manifest in creation.
The means of God's creative activity is not detailed in the biblical creation narratives (Genesis 1-2). The substance of the biblical teaching is God's creation of the universe and all within it by the power of his Word. The biblical language affirms the creation of the world by divine fiat. That is, by the force of his sovereign will God spoke, light appeared, the firmament was made and the waters separated, the seas were created and dry land appeared, and the whole of God's creation was accomplished.
The product of God's creative activity is a universe of seemingly infinite variety, complexity, and mystery. The Genesis creation narratives describe the creation of the world from the most rudimentary distinction between the waters and the dry land, to the pinnacle of creation, man and woman. Genesis 1 moves from the emergence of light through the emergence of dry land, the blossoming of vegetation and the creative abundance of living creatures, to the creation of man and woman.
Of central importance to the interpretation of these verses is the recognition of God's verdict upon his creation. The pristine energy of light, the dryness of land, the swarms of living creatures, the multiplying birds and fishes are all declared "good" in God's sight. This critical judgment is an intrinsic part of the biblical worldview. The created order has meaning and value solely because it is the glorious creation of the Lord of the universe. The creation has no inherent meaning within itself. Rather, it is dependent upon the Creator for both preservation and value. Nevertheless, the biblical affirmation is an unqualified judgment of goodness as God's verdict on creation.
Challenges old and new have been raised against this verdict. Gnosticism thought matter to be evil and only mind to be good. Contemporary religious movements, including the eclectic Christian Science movement, have gone so far as to deny the reality of matter. The biblical affirmation is quite to the contrary. Against materialism, the Christian worldview understands matter to have no value in and of itself. But biblical theism affirms the world as the theater of God's glory. It is creation which is made meaningful by the Creator, not the Creator who derives meaning from the creation.
It is the divine creation of humankind which forms the climax of the biblical creation narratives. The biblical teachings concerning the creation of humans point to the special character of humanity as made in the very image of God. Man, contrary to the claims of secularism, is not the accidental by-product of natural occurrences. Though Scripture does not indicate any scientific means for the creation of man and woman (nor for any other dimension of creation), it makes clear the identity of humanity as a special creation of God by the power of his word and will. Thus, humanity is granted a value inconsistent with a secularist worldview.
Within the scheme of the created order, humanity plays a strategic part. Two biblical themes form the basis for this special role. The first is that of dominion. Humanity, made in the image of God, is to possess and exercise dominion over the remainder of creation. This dominion, or rulership, is exercised by humans in the manipulation of creation to bring about harvest, bounty, energy, and beauty. It is seen in the planting and reaping of crops, the herding of animals, the harnessing of rivers, and the construction of shelter.
This dominion theme must be balanced with the other major theme of humanity's responsibility within creation. By God's mandate, humans must exercise their dominion with an understanding of mutuality and responsibility. The biblical notion of dominion is not seen in the rape of the land, but in the careful stewardship of natural resources and the other creatures which share this planet. As the pinnacle of God's creative activity, humans stand responsible for their stewardship of fellow creatures and the earth. Indeed, a helpful corrective which has emerged in contemporary theology is the recognition that the cosmos is neither "mere nature" nor "our world," but is most properly "God's creation." Humans are granted a high degree of delegated agency within God's creation, but it remains fundamentally God's alone. This affirmation underlines the tremendous charge of stewardship to humankind by the Creator.
Creation is not a brute fact without meaning. It derives its meaning from the divine character and will. As the theater of God's redemptive activity, creation is not static, but is moving toward the goal established by the Creator before the foundation of the universe. Creation, like the humans within it, has a future.
Paul describes the creation as in need of redemption from the bondage of decay and travail--the results of the entry of sin into the created order (Romans 8:19-23). The Old Testament speaks of the new heavens and the new earth, which is the eventual purpose of God in reconciliation (Isaiah 66:22). Paul spoke of the dramatic transformation of the believer as a "new creation" (2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 6:15). The writer of the Apocalypse recorded a vision of a new heaven and a new earth even as the Creator spoke: "Behold, I make all things new," (Revelation 12:1-8). The essential meaning of these affirmations is that God controls the destiny of the universe he created. The cosmos does not exist alongside God as a reality out of control. Rather, it exists as the theater of his redemptive activity, the reach of which includes the entire cosmos.
Thus, the Christian doctrine of creation is directly connected to the doctrine of redemption. For this reason, a failure to affirm the biblical doctrine of creation leads to inevitable compromise on the doctrine of redemption. In reality, we simply cannot minimize the importance of this doctrine, nor can we surrender biblical truth in the face of modern denials. We must get it right from the beginning.
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Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr.
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Stop by & visit our office anytime you are nearby. Our offices are located on the 50th & 51st floors of the World Wide Web International Headquarters Tower. Howdy
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Take the best medicine of all for what ails you -- laughter:
"A person without a sense of humor is like a wagon without springs--jolted by every pebble in the road." ~Henry Ward Beecher "Laughter is a tranquilizer with no side effects." --Arnold Glasow "Laughter is by definition healthy." --Doris Lessing "If somebody makes me laugh, I'm his slave for life." --Bette Midler "The human race has one really effective weapon, and that is laughter." --Mark Twain "What soap is to the body, laughter is to the soul." -- Yiddish Proverb "Laughter is an instant vacation." -- Milton Berle "Laughter is the shortest distance between two people." -- Victor Borge
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance. (King Solomon)
NOTICE: The jokes published in this list were either submitted directly to 'Thought & Humor' or are, we believe, in the public domain. If you think that we have published a joke without giving proper credit to its author/owner, please let us know and we will provide appropriate credit in a future mailing.
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Four important things to KNOW:
1) For ALL (Americans, Muslims, Jews, Catholics, Hindus, Buddhist, Asians, Presbyterians, Europeans, Baptist, Brazilians, Mormons, Methodist, French, etc.) have sinned & fall short of the glory of God.
2) For the wages of above (see #1) are DEATH (Hell, eternal separation from God, & damnation) but the Gift (free & at no charge to you) of God (Creator, Jehovah, & Trinity) is Eternal Life (Heaven) through (in union with) Jesus Christ (God, Lord, 2nd Person of The Trinity, Messiah, Prince of Peace & Savior of the World).
3) For God so greatly loved & dearly prized the world (Americans, Muslims, Jews, Catholics, Hindus, Buddhist, Asians, Presbyterians, Europeans, Baptist, Brazilians, Mormons, Methodist, French, etc.) that He even gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, that whosoever (anyone, anywhere, anytime - while still living) believes (trust in, relies on, clings to, depends completely on) Him shall have eternal (everlasting) life (heaven).
4) Jesus said: "I am THE WAY, THE TRUTH, & THE LIFE. No one (male/female - American, Muslim, Jew, Catholic, Hindu, Buddhist, Asian, Presbyterian, European, Baptist, Brazilian, Mormons, Methodist, French, etc. ) comes (arrives) to the Father (with GOD in Heaven) EXCEPT BY (through) ME (no other name).
This wonderful loving GOD gives you the choice - - - (Rev. 3:20)
{Please note that church membership, baptism, doing good things, etc. are not requirements for becoming a Christian - however they are great afterwards!!!}
Jesus said, "Wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction (Hell, damnation, eternal punishment), and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life (Heaven, eternal happiness, forever with God), and only a few find it. --Matthew 7:13-14
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But indeed for this purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My Name may be declared in all the earth. Ex 9:16
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Board of Advisors for 'Thought & Humor':
Did you know that 'Thought & Humor' has a distinguished Board of Advisors that are designed to be a cross section demographically of our readership as far as age, location, gender, marital status, education & occupation are concerned???
Bill J. - 60's - Fed. Government Employee Bill R. - 50's - FL - Computer Operator for 911 System Bill T. - 50's - MN - College Professor Bob - 80's - FL - Semi - Retired Military Chaplan/Minister - D.D. Brenda - 50's - TX - University Administor, Married Caroline - 20's - FL - Married, University Student Cindy - 40's - NC - 501(c)(3) Administrator - Married Doug - 50's - TN - President of 501(c)(3) Corp, Married Ellen - 20's - NJ - Registered Nurse - Married Emily - 30's - TN - Banker, Married Janet - 40's - MI - Married, Former Missionary to Arab Country Jill - 50's - MN - Restaurant Owner, Married John - 50's - Peru - Pastor, Married Judith - 60's - TX - Retired Teacher Katie - 20's - NC - Teacher, Married to UNC Med Student Lee - 20's - GA - College Student Les - 40's - Australia - Pilot Lisa - 40's - TN - Secretary, Married Marie - 60's - South Africa - Entrepreneur, Politician Mamie - 20's - GA - Elementary Teacher Patricia - 20's - MX - Entrepreneur, Politician Phil - 50's WI - Disabled Rob - 20's - NY - University Administor, Married Ruth - 50's - CA - Real Estate, Involved in Spanish Ministry Sarah - 20's - NC - UNC Student, Married Tom - 40's - Middle East - Missionary Shirl - 60's - CO - Finance Manager - Married to Minister Teresa - 30's - NC - Mother Wanda - 40's - Asia - Married - Communist Country
Advisory meetings are held weekly via the internet and none receive monetary/pecuniary compensation for their extensive/capacious/voluminous expertise.
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Dear Friends,
Goodbye for now with jocundness for both you & your dynasty & an enkindling winter pulchritude!!!
Your Amigo, Confrere & Sidekick, Howdy (probably spurious)
P.S. I don't suffer from insanity. I enjoy every minute of it.
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