What's the Score

As I was driving back home from Augusta, Georgia, there was some discussion on the radio about the plight of Christians in the US now. Obviously, Christians have been marginalized in the public square in a big way. Whether it’s a failure of believers and the Church to make a more persuasive and winsome argument for the cause of Christ and supremacy of the Christian worldview, or it’s the dumbing-down of the American public to such a degree that they can’t recognize it, I don’t know.

What I do know is that Justice Robert Bork aptly titled his nearly ten-year old book about our Nation (and western culture’s) downward trajectory, “Slouching Toward Gomorrah.” If it were written today, it would have to be titled, “Running Toward Gomorrah.” The left could at least claim credit for improving our posture and aerobic activity. Maybe credit for our increased pace rightly belongs to Michelle’s “Let’s Move” campaign. The last thing we’d want is to be late for our own funeral.

I just don’t understand why atheists are so mad at Christians. I can understand why Muslims don’t like Christians; after all, Christians don’t support multiple wives, oppose stoning adulterers and homosexuals, and don’t favor the killing of those that leave the faith. What I don’t understand is why atheists care if “simpleminded” Christians worship or promote a mythical non-existent entity?

At least God has a longer pedigree than the Easter Bunny or the Tooth Fairy. Surely, they should be more upset about those two relative newcomers. They don’t even have a best-selling book written about them. Just what has that non-existent Entity ever done to atheists? Voltaire must have surely had the atheist in mind when he said, "If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him.” The angry atheist requires a God to rail against like Obama needs a straw man to advance his specious arguments.

Just this week, there was a news report about Juan Mendez, an Arizona atheist Democratic state Representative being barred from offering a prayer at the beginning of their legislative sessions. Yep, the atheist wanted to offer a prayer but was denied because, get this, “he was informed in a memo issued by Republican House Majority Leader Steve Montenegro to all state representatives that no one will be allowed to lead the traditional prayer unless they intend on calling on a deity.” Holy cow that’s rich.

According to Montenegro's memorandum, "Prayer, as commonly understood and in the long-honored tradition of the Arizona House of Representatives, is a solemn request for guidance and help from God.”

Talk about unfair. Why shouldn’t the atheist be allowed (or aloud) to talk to someone who doesn’t exist. After all, it’s no different from Obama, as he leads from behind, leaning over his shoulder to talk to all his followers.

So just what’s motivating these “whacky and misguided” Christians wanting to share the Good News that Jesus Christ died for sinners. Perhaps it’s because they want people to avoid an eternity in Hell, or, conversely, enjoy an eternity in Heaven. Imagine, paradise purchased by a Savior on a cross. Paradise without a suicide vest - could it really be that easy?

To quote John Lennon, “Imagine there's no heaven. It's easy if you try. No hell below us Above us only sky… It isn't hard to do. Nothing to kill or die for. And no religion too.”  Yep, imagine that.

The reason I think the nonexistent God bothers the atheist so much – He stands as an invisible reminder to their innate knowledge that he’ll judge them one day. Christ followers are the visible image of the invisible God. A story recounted in today’s Our Daily Bread devotional gives some additional insight into how this annoying reminder works:

“At his son’s wedding reception, my friend Bob offered advice and encouragement to the newlyweds. In his speech, he told of a football coach in a nearby town who, when his team lost a game, kept the losing score on the scoreboard all week to remind the team of their failure. While that may be a good football strategy, Bob wisely advised, it’s a terrible strategy in marriage. When your spouse upsets you or fails you in some way, don’t keep drawing attention to the failure. Turn off the scoreboard.”

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

What’s the final score -- sinner to winner – thanks be to God!

The Science Guys

Last week, we talked about none other than Bill Nye, “The Science Guy.”  Not to be confused the other two Bills that have also been in the news a lot lately, i.e., Bill (Cosby and Clinton), “The Sexual Assaulters from the Past Guys.”

There’s something Nye said, that got stuck in my craw, in such a way that it triggered my evolutionary “fight or write response.”  Since fighting’s illegal, and I don’t have enough frequent flyer miles for flight, write I must.   Perhaps, if I were further evolved (like Mr. Nye) I wouldn’t have this troublesome craw.  Alternatively, if Mr. Nye wasn’t so arrogantly intolerant, my evolutionary requirement for a craw could be eliminated. So what’d he say this time? 

According to the Huffington Post…”The biggest danger creationism plays is that it is raising a generation of children who ‘can't think’ and who ‘will not be able to participate in the future in the same way’ as those who are taught evolution.”  Let me make sure I get this straight – if a kid believes he is created by God he will not be able to participate in the future in same way as a kid who is taught that he evolved from a monkey? 

Let’s test Mr. Nye’s theory on the influence of Creationism (vice evolution) upon “thinking” and “participating” using an empirical example.  Sample A, George Washington Carver, (c.1865-January 5, 1943), “an African American chemist of international fame who introduced and popularized hundreds of uses for the peanut, soybean, pecan and sweet potato, which revolutionized the economy of the South by creating a market for these products.” 

It seems that Mr. Carver found inspiration and insights, not by denying God, but by seeking God.  Here is what he told the director of the Blue Ridge YMCA in 1920:

Years ago I went into my laboratory and said, "Dear Mr. Creator, please tell me what the universe was made for?"

The Great Creator answered, "You want to know too much for that little mind of yours.  Ask for something more your size, little man."

Then I asked, "Please, Mr. Creator, tell me what man was made for."

Again, the Great Creator replied, "You are still asking too much.  Cut down on the extent and improve the intent."

So then I asked, "Please, Mr. Creator, will you tell me why the peanut was made?"

"That's better, but even then it's infinite.  What do you want to know about the peanut?"

"Mr. Creator, can I make milk out of the peanut?"

"What kind of milk do you want?  Good Jersey milk or just plain boarding house milk?"

"Good Jersey milk."

And then the Great Creator taught me to take the peanut apart and put it together again.  And out of the process have come forth all these products!”

What humility the distinguished Mr. Carver demonstrates for us today.  How much more does the Great Creator demonstrate wisdom and love in the works of His creation.  Oh how He must grieve when men, mortal men, those whom He created, choose to deny Him the glory and praise He deserves!

The humble, ingenious, and industrious Mr. Carver also provides us insight into how he looked upon scoffers and critics like Mr. Nye:

“My attitude toward life was also my attitude toward science.  Jesus said one must be born again, must become as a little child.  He must let no laziness, no fear, no stubbornness keep him from his duty.  If he were born again he would see life from such a plane he would have the energy not to be impeded in his duty by these various sidetrackers and inhibitions…Why, then, should we who believe in Christ be so surprised at what God can do with a willing man in a laboratory?  Some things must be baffling to the critic who has never been born again.” 

Maybe, the thing Mr. Nye should really fear is the danger evolution plays in raising a generation of children who "can't think" and who "will not be able to participate in the future in the same way" as those who are taught to know and fear the Lord.

Perhaps Mr. Nye could be helped by the thoughts of Sir Isaac Newton, widely regarded to have been the greatest scientist the world has ever produced, “God created everything by number, weight and measure…In the absence of any other proof, the thumb alone would convince me of God’s existence.”

Carver and Newton might just give a thumbs down to the science guy.

Science and the Shepherd

The topic -- Bill Nye “The Science Guy.”  Why Nye?   Frequent flyer miles.  I didn’t have enough miles with one particular airline for a plane ticket, so I used them for magazine subscriptions.  It was an interview with Nye in my “complimentary” Time magazine that inspired this column.  

Reading secular publications like Time reminds me something retired USMC Lt. Col. Oliver North said, “Every morning I get up and read two things, the Washington Post and the Bible, just so I can know what both sides are up to.” 

The article about Nye starts with this:  “Bill Nye The Science Guy follows Undeniable, his defense of evolution, with his new book, Unstoppable, a call to action on climate change.”  The first thing that grabbed my attention was the seeming misapplication of the titles.  I thought “denier” was a moniker reserved for climate change non-believers, not those who might believe that, “In the beginning, God…”  Moreover, if evolution has to be defended, how exactly is it undeniable?   

 

Perhaps the explanation to Nye’s evangelism for the theory of evolution is best understood in light of a piece about Paul Karl Feyerabend, a German renowned for his work on the Philosophy of Science.  

 

According to Feyerabend, new theories came to be accepted not because of their accord with scientific method, but because their supporters made use of any trick – rational, rhetorical or ribald – in order to advance their cause.  Without a fixed ideology, or the introduction of religious tendencies, the only approach which does not inhibit progress (using whichever definition one sees fit) is "anything goes": "'anything goes' is not a 'principle' I hold... but the terrified exclamation of a rationalist who takes a closer look at history."

 

The second thing in the interview that disturbed my Spidey-senses was Nye’s response to this question: “How do you make the average person understand science?”  Nye:  “You have to have learning objectives – things you want to get across.  You want to make a point:  Humans and dinosaurs did not live concurrently.  If you get the adjacent carbon dating of volcanic soil, that’s cool.  But what I want you to get is that ancient dinosaurs and humans did not live at the same time.  The rest is gravy.”   

 

I get that Nye has an ideology he wants to get across.  What through me for a loop was the need to dogmatically convince his intended target that, “Humans and dinosaurs did not live concurrently.”  Whether they did, or didn’t, has no bearing on whether or not Nye evolved from a monkey.

Nye’s book defending the “undeniable” gives an interesting summation of the unique position he contends human’s hold on the hierarchy of evolutionary development.  Nye says, “We are all so much alike, because we are all human.  But it goes deeper than that.  Every species you’ll encounter on Earth is, near as we can tell, chemically the same inside.  We are all descended from a common ancestor.  We are shaped by the same forces and factors that influence every other living thing, and yet we emerged as something unique.  Among the estimated 16 million species on Earth, we alone have the ability to comprehend the process that brought us here.” 

 

It is perhaps the height of haughtiness that Nye thinks he’s smarter than all the other animals.  I’m not sure how Nye can know with scientific certainty that we alone are the only species with, “the ability to comprehend the process that brought us here.”  The oldest book of the Bible (Job 12:7-10) has this to say about animals and their knowledge of the process, “But ask the animals, and they will teach you,  or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you,  or let the fish in the sea inform you.  Which of all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this?  In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind.”

 

I do agree with Mr. Nye on one point, we do have “the ability to comprehend the process that brought us here.”  I simply disagree with Mr. Nye on what that process is.

 

I’m quite content to be as smart as the sheep mentioned in Psalm 103, “Know that the Lord, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.”

What Nye really needs is to know the Good Shepherd.










 This column appeared in the 6 JAN 2016 Upson Beacon.

Now is the Time

All right dear friends - there will be no kernel (nor Colonel) of truth this week. It's far better than that.   This piece from the American Thinker lays out the sad and dangerous state America is now in.

http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2015/12/why_people_cant_face_the_truth_about_obama_.html

If you have not thought about both getting right with The Lord and procuring arms and ammunition now would be an excellent time.

Food for Thought

In military doctrine, there is something that resembles the old food pyramid, but actually pertains to cognition rather than nutrition.  Rather than illustrate the proportional intake of the various food groups recommended for sound health, the pyramid of cognitive hierarchy illustrates the relative levels of cognition necessary to make sound decisions.  The doctrinal publication puts it this way, “Commanders and staff require not only information to make these decisions, but also the knowledge and understanding that results in the wisdom essential to sound decision making.”

Think of the trouble that could be avoided if we (or our leaders) simply have wisdom.  Think of the satisfaction in always making the wise choice.  Knowing we have chosen the right option, taken the right path, or selected the most advantageous course of action.

If the optimal number of servings from each of the basic food groups to be put in our stomach each day is important, how much more important is that material we put in to our mind?   

Instead of grains and breads as found at the base of the food pyramid, the cognitive pyramid has “data” as its base.  It is interesting that both pyramids have as their foundation relatively innocuous items.  However, what should not be missed is that there is something lower than data, in fact, it is far worse than data – and that is junk food for the mind and misinformation.  Reality TV, the biased mainstream media, and liberal-secular education camps masquerading as places of higher learning will all wreck or rot the mind.  They are so unhealthy and counterproductive that they do not even have a place on the chart.  

The second level on the food pyramid is fruits and vegetables; second on the cognitive hierarchy is information.  Today we are inundated with data; the World Wide Web has tons of information.  Between blogs, banners, web pages, and pop-ups we are flooded with data and information.  The challenge each of us faces is turning the plethora of information into “useful knowledge through filtering, fusing, formatting, organizing, collating, correlating, plotting, translating, categorizing, and arranging so that it is useful for immediate application.”  

Third up on the food pyramid are meat and dairy; the cognitive pyramid’s third level is knowledge.  In the context of the cognitive hierarchy, “knowledge is information analyzed to provide meaning and value, or evaluated as to implications for the operation.”  Above knowledge is understanding -- that is, “knowledge that has been synthesized and had judgment applied to it in a specific situation to comprehend the situation’s inner relationships.”

The left talks about food deserts.  The USDA describes food deserts as, “urban neighborhoods and rural towns without ready access to fresh, healthy, and affordable food.”  I do not know about food deserts, but I do know there are many folks starving for knowledge.  In fact, it's not just knowledge, they are also low on information.  Unfortunately, we have all experienced the devastation that low-information voters can produce when they are allowed to be unsupervised in a voting booth.    

The highest tier on the food pyramid is oils; on the cognitive hierarchy, it is wisdom.  Perhaps it’s more than mere coincidence that the Bible often uses oil as a metaphor for the Holy Spirit.  It is only the Spirit of God that can make one truly wise.  I completely understand that some people find this hard to believe, but the fact of the matter is when it comes to God; you have to believe in order to understand.  

Here’s where there’s some good news and some bad news.  The good; there is a source of knowledge that is available to everyone.  The bad; very few find it.  It’s wrapped up in a relationship with the true and living God.  The same God who humbled himself and came to earth as a man.   

King David, a warrior and man after God’s own heart prophetically penned these words, “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’  God looks down from heaven on all mankind to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God.”  Seeking God is evidence of understanding.  

King David obviously didn’t get the memo on sensitivity and political correctness.  He’s pretty clear about it, denying God’s existence makes one a fool.  

David’s son Solomon put it this way, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”

There’s no better time to taste and see that the Lord is good.  Wise men still seek Him.

The Race is Fixed

The day after two radical Islamic terrorists killed fourteen people in California the New York Daily News ran a headline that proclaimed, “God’s Not Fixing This.”  One of the few times, the liberal-secular media has got something related to God right. 

It is not only my theological assessment that they are exactly right; it is my position that God is allowing, if not causing this, to happen.  I know it is hard to fathom, but God has often used ungodly nations to bring judgment on His people.  (See Ezekiel 14:4-23).  He does this in hopes that we would turn to Him.  The fact that the New York Daily News mocks those that solicited His divine favor through prayer does nothing to discredit the wisdom of seeking the true and living God.

I’m certain the writers at The Babylonian Daily News had a field day blasting Noah the boat builder.  Think about it -- it wasn’t God who built the boat.  God delivered the flood.  The boat was what God told Noah to build to escape His coming judgment.

I believe Noah, who had NO power tools, would’ve taken great exception with Obama’s “you didn’t build that” comment.  So as the floodwaters were covering the earth, the headline from The Babylonian Daily News?  Yep, you guessed it -- “God’s Not Fixing This.”  

The book of Genesis gives an account of the days of Noah:  “ The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.   The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled.   So the Lord said, ‘I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.’  But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.”

Can the New York Daily News find favor in the eyes of the Lord?  The Bible says, “faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”  It’s no surprise that the Daily News couldn’t see the utility in prayer.  Less than seven verses later the Bible commends Noah for his faith in the unseen, “By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.”

If the liberal-secular media is not going to call upon God, they’re probably not worried about the devil either.  The apostle Peter warned us about the devil, “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith...” 

This reminds me of a joke a General in the 82^nd Airborne Division used to tell us:   “There was a US Marine and a US Army Paratrooper walking through the jungle.  All of a sudden, they realized a lion was following them.  They both immediately broke in to a run.  After about two miles the paratrooper, for apparently no reason, suddenly stopped.  He dropped his rucksack, opened it up, and removed a pair of running shoes.  The Marine became indignant.  Flabbergasted and confused he asked the paratrooper, “What the heck are you doing”?  The paratrooper responded calmly, “What does it look like – I’m putting on my running shoes.”  The Marine responded, “That’s stupid, you can’t outrun that lion!”  The paratrooper agrees, “You’re right – I can’t outrun that lion, but I can sure outrun you!”

Our nation has become morally repugnant, by any measure.  Selling baby body parts; homosexual behavior celebrated, and an inability to acknowledge -- let alone confront evil.  Jesus warned of this day.  “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.  For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away.  That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.”

Dear friend, God sent his Son to fix this.  I’ll race you to the Ark of Christ.

Without a Paddle

I’ve often described the culture of a military organization as being like a river.  Once you join that organization, or dive-in, there is a culture or current that moves you along with the rest of the team.  Going with the flow, so to speak.  The better the unit and the more motivated the members, the easier it is to get swept-in and pushed along in the right direction.

America had such a cultural current.  We had a distinctly Judea-Christian outlook  When an immigrant arrived they became immersed in a distinctly American milieu.  Sure, there were ethnic enclaves and national neighborhoods, and even ghettos that were reminiscent of “The Old Country” some thirty, forty, or even one hundred years ago, but they were launching pads for the younger generation to go out from, not sanctuary cities or virtually-gated communities to keep American culture out.       

Don’t miss the effect technology plays in enabling these new “Americans” to reach-back to their previous homeland.  They can stay linguistically and culturally unassimilated through the world-wide web and satellite entertainment in such a way that they will never be anything more than a nominal American.  Push 1 if you have no intention of learning English.  

That’s not to say that the media, entertainment and technology are all negative.  There was a time when the main stream media was actually pro-American.  Someone under 30 ma have never heard a National newscast where we weren’t the bad guys – at least until Fox News.  That’s not to say they’re the answer, but at least they don’t actively seek to undermine the formerly prevailing American cultural tradition.

Believe it or not young folks, there was also a time in the past when lots of shows on the three networks (when that’s all there was) that promoted family values.  These shows depicted largely healthy families (i.e. a Mom and Dad) and promoted traditional mores and values.  Police, military and even cowboy characters were largely portrayed as good guys.   

Moses parted the Red Sea with the help of God; Obama has divided the US with the help of the liberal media and secular-progressive academia.   The unifying effect the media once had is now used to promote division and contention. 

A major new survey by the Pew Research Center of more than 35,000 Americans summarizes the changes: “The Christian share of the U.S. population is declining, while the number of U.S. adults who do not identify with any organized religion is growing.”

Thomas Jefferson said, “Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call to her tribunal every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blindfolded fear.”  It is understandable that people would question God’s existence nowadays.  It is hard to reason exactly what god was behind the Mali hotel incident where people were required to cite (from memory) verses of the Koran or be shot.

Why the precipitous drop in America?  “The percentage of adults (18 and older) who describe themselves as Christians has dropped by nearly eight percentage points in just seven years, from 78.4% in an equally massive Pew Research survey in 2007 to 70.6% in 2014.” It would be unfair to ascribe all of this to academia, the media, or Obama.  Nonetheless, something has happened since Obama has assumed the highest elected office in our land. 

 

According to the same survey, there has been a corresponding increase over the same period in the percentage of Americans who are “religiously unaffiliated – describing themselves as atheist, agnostic or ‘nothing in particular’ – it has jumped more than six points, from 16.1% to 22.8%.  The share of Americans who identify with non-Christian faiths also has also inched up, rising 1.2 percentage points, from 4.7% in 2007 to 5.9% in 2014. Growth has been especially great among Muslims and Hindus.”

To the followers of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; take heart!    The Psalmist saw this day coming and encourages us with these words:

“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear…  There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day. Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts.   The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.”