Category: Culture

Replacing One People For Another — An Illustration

The Church across the street is the grist of a decent illustration.

The Free Methodist Church across the street has had somewhere around 7 pastors since I’ve been here. Finally, the denomination decided to close the church because it could not meet budget. Well, they kind of decided to close the doors. The denomination came upon a brainstorm that I’ve read about other denominations pursuing with struggling churches. What the denomination decided to do is to close the church for 6 – 9 months with the intent to reopening the church once the community was convinced that the old church no longer existed. The present congregants of said church were dispersed in favor of a hoped for new and vibrant congregation.

So, in pursuit of that the denomination put a large sign in front saying, “THIS CHURCH IS CLOSED.” This sign lasted a few months and just recently a different sign replaced that sign saying “Future Home of DISCOVERY FELLOWSHIP.” The denomination refurbished the inside in anticipation of opening this “new” church. They removed the stodgy old pews and doubtless will make the interior architecture look more “hip.” I would bet my bank account that “Discovery Fellowship” was poll tested in terms of how receptive strangers would be to attending a church named “Discovery Fellowship.” I would also wager large amounts of money that phone surveys have been done or door to door polling asking the question, “If you were to attend a church what would you want to see in the church service.” All of this is right out of church growth management text books.

Now, I see this as a somewhat apt illustration for what is happening in this country. There are those in leadership in this country who think that this country can’t make it with the people we have and so they are willing to chase the original people off so that they can open up the country for a new people who they think will be more desirous than the people that they finally turned out. These new people will be more willing to support the Governing authorities than the previous inhabitants were. They will be more manageable and malleable, so the thinking goes. Also, just as the old notions of worship were ended with the ending of the old church in favor of the new pizzazz worship that will be in favor in “Discovery Fellowship” so in this country the old notions of morality are being ended in favor of the new morality of no morality.

In the end though even if “Discovery Fellowship,” is a “success” given the theology under-girding the new endeavor it will not be a Church regardless of what it might be called. Just so, whatever attains in this “new country” that results in a multiculturalism where the current majority is minoritized will not be a nation regardless of what it might be called.

The leadership of the Free Methodists with their attempt to remake their church in Charlotte and the “leadership” of this country with their attempt to remake this country have this in common; even if they succeed they will have failed.

It is not a perfect parallel. I can find holes in this illustration myself but it illustrates what I’ve given.

Biologos On Combining the “Best of Science” with the Scripture

From a Biologos spin on combining Genesis 1 with science.

http://biologos.org/resources/the-big-story/

“Once upon a time in an act of extravagant expansive love overflowing from that divine community there appeared from nothing a pinpoint of probability smaller than a proton and this was the egg of the universe. In this egg God packed all the potential for the universe He planned, all matter, all energy, all life, all being, and the laws by which it would unfold. The egg exploded. Only God knows how. And the universe expanded a trillion trillion times and it gradually cooled into what we call matter.”

Let’s see if we can look at this up close.

1.) Once upon a time? The famous beginning of fairy tales.

2.) How does a pinpoint of probability appear from nothing? ex nihilo nihil fit

3.) Did the “pinpoint of probability” come from nothing or did it come from the an act of extravagant expansive love?

4.) How does a pinpoint of probability “appear”?

5.) God packed all the potential of the universe in a pinpoint of probability? What does that even mean?

6.) How does anybody know the size (smaller than a proton) of this pinpoint of probability? Would all this be undone if this pinpoint of probability was larger than a size of a proton?

7.) How does matter, energy, life, and being, as well as the laws of the universe get packed in a pinpoint of probability? Again, what does that even mean.

8.) The pinpoint of probability exploded? How does a non material, non energy, non life, non thing explode?

9.) Category error probability is not ontic nor a substance. As such it cannot be put into an egg, or explode.

This is supposed to have more clarity than Genesis 1?

This is irrationality on poetic stilts.

Overall this Biologos account of creation sounds not entirely dissimilar to an ancient Phoenician origins myth. If one reads the two back to back one can certainly her continuities between the two accounts.

In the beginning did Darkness, black as Erebus, inhabit an eternal, infinite void. In the growing confusion of colliding elements, an unconscious Desire emerged, which was the origin of all existence.

Though it knew not itself, Desire formed a union with Darkness and brought forth a great shiny cosmic egg, and when it was broken, it spewed forth a slimy, viscous Mot into the void, out of which came forth the stars and sun.

The air, now heated from the glow of land and sea, formed great lightning and winds, and a vast downpour of heavenly waters mixed with Mot, forming the first simple creatures, both visible and invisible, from which came more complex animals—first those without, and then those with sensation.

By the heat of the sun, things were made to split off and clash with one another, causing thunder and lightning, and thus awoke beings endowed with intelligence who began to stir on the earth and took fright on land and sea as males and females—who could now ponder the heavens: the sun, moon, stars, and planets.

Thus arose consciousness.

Women In Combat … A Natural Law Negative Answer

Someone asked me how I would answer the question that was asked at the Republican debate tonight about whether or not I would support women being registered for the draft. My answer would be quite different from Sen. Rubio, Gov. Bush, and Gov. Christie who all answered that they thought women should be required to register for the draft. The person who asked me to answer this insisted that I not appeal to Scripture for my answer and so I have given an answer that might be considered a “Natural Law” argument.

Candidate McAtee turns to the debate moderator,

Gladys, I’m glad you asked that question.

I esteem the place of women so highly in this culture that I would be opposed to women registering for the draft. Regardless of what our Politically Correct thought masters want to tell us, women, on average, just are not as capable as men are for the rigors of war. This is proven by the simple observation that in the Olympics, for example, women do not compete with men. Everyone knows why. They don’t compete with men in sprints, or pole vault or shot put, or high jump, or distance races because they can not, on average, successfully preform these physical activities to the same level as men. Similarly, you find no women as Linebackers or defensive ends in the NFL. Now, transfer this to our military. When we are in a position where we have to kill the enemy and destroy the infrastructure of a enemy Nation we want those people fighting who are best conditioned and best able to do just that. Statistics, as well as the Olympics as analogy, tell us that those people are men.

Gladys, read about the battle of Stalingrad. Read about the hardships in the Trenches of WW I … or the Battle of Somme. Read about the brutalities of war on the Pacific Islands. Read about all that our POW went through in Vietnam. Talk to a the few remaining veterans who were at Chosin in Korea. Read about all that and then ask yourself again….”Do we really want our daughters, Mothers, wives, and sisters trying to survive those kinds of perils?”

Next, consider what women in combat will do to morale on the battlefield. What will the sight of women soldiers bloodied, raped, and disfigured do to the psyche of our men in combat?  And what of a man’s natural instinct to protect women? Will it not be the case that our male soldiers will begin prioritizing protecting their female comrades above the accomplishing whatever mission they are assigned to accomplish? Do we want our male soldiers to suppress that instinct?

Next, we must consider combat readiness. The Marine Corps, just last September reported on a test comparing the performance of an all-male combat unit with that of a combat unit which included women. The results of the test are unsurprising to sane people whose brains have not been rotted by political correctness. The results demonstrated that all male combat units outperformed the integrated units in more than two-thirds of the areas evaluated, including speed, lethality, and strength, and with 26 percent fewer injuries. Of course, what this means, concretely speaking, is that when we put women in combat units the result is that we make every man and woman in that unit more likely to get their heads blown off their shoulders.

To be honest, Gladys, I don’t want to be the Chief Executive of a Nation that sends it’s Mothers, Wives, Daughters, and Sisters to combat. The immorality of such social policy screams for judgment from the God we politicians are forever invoking to “Bless America.” Let the non-Civilized nations make an offering of their women to the Volcano God of war.

The Feminists who are pushing this agenda just need to be told, “no, we are not going to allow your insane fantasies about equality get sane men and women killed in combat.”

I might lose this election on this issue. I know that the Politically Correct thought control does not allow this to be thought or said. However, in the end, I’d rather lose this election protecting the noble women of this great nation than win by sending them to war to protect men who should be the ones doing the fighting.

I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends … Mickey Henry; A Christian Apologetic For Open Carry During Church Worship Services

Mickey Henry is a non de plume of a personal friend of mine who was recently rebuffed by his Church “leadership” for daring to open carry in Church in a state where to do so is legal. This is a letter he wrote to his leadership after being told he may not open carry in his “conservative” Church. Try to keep in mind that there was a time in the history of our country when it was not uncommon for men to carry their weapons to Church. I think that Mickey’s letter is convincing.

——————

Dear Elder Donnie

Since concealed carry is encouraged, we share a lot of common ground concerning self-defense and the errors of pacifism. Suffice to say, armed defense of innocents is simply the application of the positive requirements of the Sixth Commandment. The crux of disagreement, then, is open vs. concealed. Here, in brief, are my arguments for open carry:

1. I am of the strong opinion that open carry acts as a deterrent to violence. Open carry is essentially a clear statement that acts of aggression will be met with strong resistance.

2. To Christ is given all authority; all earthly authority is thus derivative. Because we Christians confess Christ as Lord, submitting to His Law-Word, Christians have a unique responsibility to rule under Christ as His earthly vicegerents. We are, in fact, commanded to do so by the Dominion Mandate. Weapons and related imagery, such as swords, spears, maces, the fasces, halberds, etc., are the customary tokens by which power and authority are symbolized and commonly recognized (the instruments of the death penalty are identified with the authority to execute the death penalty). I open carry as a visible symbol of my submission to Christ’s Law-Word, and my willingness to use the authority He has given me to defend my family and other innocent life.

3. Just as the Gospel is made clear in the symbols and liturgy of the Church, there is a certain visible representation of the Law-Grace dynamic in the open carry of weapons by confessing Christians: grace and mercy to the innocent, justice for those who would transgress His Law.

4. The degenerate culture around us tolerates Christians only if we are weak and impotent. But we are to be standard bearers, a city on a hill, no matter the spirit of the age. I am glad that a number of the men at Redeemer do carry weapons, but open carry makes manifest that ours is a vital faith, and we will not cower or lower ourselves to the popular image of the ineffectual Christian man engendered by the enemies of God.

5. As to scaring away visitors, I humbly submit that this is an expression of the “attractive Gospel” theories of the Kellerite/New Calvinist movement, and is at odds with the historical understanding of Calvinism. A work of God’s grace on His elect is to overcome their sinful aversion to the practical outworking of His Law. Large families, homeschooling, modest dress, infant baptism, all male leadership, advocacy for traditional marriage – these things and others in open view at Redeemer are offensive to the broader culture and even to some of our brethren in other denominations, but we practice them as the people of our Lord and Savior, and depend on the sufficiency of His grace to reach those who visit us. Additionally, this being Texas, I have little doubt that at least some visitors would be attracted by a sign of such vitality.

Evidence That Nietzsche Was Right About God

“As everybody also knows, much about the current scene would seem to clinch the point (that God is dead), at least in Western Europe. Elderly altar servers in childless churches attended by mere handfuls of pensioners; tourist throngs in Notre Dame and other cathedrals circling ever-emptier pews roped off for worshipers; former abbeys and convents and monasteries remade into luxury hotels and sybaritic spas; empty churches here and there shuttered for decades and then re-made into discos — even into a mosque or two. Hardly a day passes without details like these issuing from the Continent’s post-Christian front. If God were to be dead in the Nietzschean sense, one suspects that the wake would look a lot like this.”

Mary Eberstadt
How the West Really Lost God: A New Look At Secularization — p. 2