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Old Whaler’s Prayer

Oh Great Jehovah, heed the prayers of we who hunt the whale, and

speed our harpoons straight, Oh Lord each voyage that we sail.

Make bold our hearts, spread wide our fame throughout the Seven

Seas, and blow our ships safe home upon a fair and gentle breeze.                                                     

Oh Great Jehovah, heed the prayers of we who hunt the whale, and

speed our harpoons straight, Oh Lord each voyage that we sail.

Make bold our hearts, spread wide our fame throughout the Seven

Seas, and blow our ships safe home upon a fair and gentle breeze.

Oh Great Jehovah, heed the prayers of we who hunt the whale, and

speed our harpoons straight, Oh Lord each voyage that we sail.

Make bold our hearts, spread wide our fame throughout the Seven

Seas, and blow our ships safe home upon a fair and gentle breeze.

George Washington’s Prayer for America

“Almighty God; We make our earnest prayer that Thou wilt keep the United States in Thy holy protection; that Thou wilt incline the hearts of the citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to government; and entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another and for their fellow citizens of the United States at large.

And finally that Thou wilt most graciously be pleased to dispose us all to do justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that charity, humility, and pacific temper of mind which were the characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed religion, and without a humble imitation of whose example in these things we can never hope to be a happy nation. Grant our supplication, we beseech Thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”

You Don’t Know What Will Happen When You Die

“You are going to die…  And though you may believe you know what will happen after you die, I don’t believe you do.  I believe we all tell ourselves things to mediate what otherwise might be a constant whir of pain and doubt”.  

Response: I appreciate your openness, honesty, and courage.  Most people are not willing to take their beliefs to their logical conclusions and to share this with the whole world.  So my hat is off to you.

I think it is fair to say that the logical end of evolution is nihilism – the notion that no one knows what happens when we die, that nothing matters beyond what we identify as our own self-interest, and that any means are justified by this end (self-interest, or in evolutionary terminology, self-preservation).

If evolutionary theory is true, then we are just animals, albeit smart animals, tender feelings are in fact phantom pains, and life has no higher purpose other than self-interest and survival.  By the way, I think it takes much greater faith to believe in evolution than creation by an intelligent being.

I would agree that from the evolutionary / nihilist perspective, any means are justified.  So because there are no rules, anything goes, including infanticide, abortion, polygamy, bestiality, murder, etc.  Life would be a jungle, with self-preservation the one and only life goal.

In your column, you stated: “You are going to die…  And though you may believe you know what will happen after you die, I don’t believe you do”. 

If someone is lost in the jungle, on what basis might they assume that everyone else is also lost in the jungle.  But is it a valid assumption?  The most brilliant person in the world may know 5 percent of all knowledge that exists.  Is it not possible that knowledge of the sovereign, living God could be in the other 95%? 

In his book “The Math of Christ”, retired Army Colonel Stephen Bauer calculated the odds of just 40 of the fulfilled prophecies from the Old Testament to have happened by chance to be one in 1×10 to the 136th power.  If you covered the earth with silver dollars, including a red one, and asked a blind man to find the red one, his chances of success are one chance in 3.5 x 10 to the 17th power.  Dr. Emile Borel, who created the basic law of probability, stated: “The basic law of probability states that the occurrence of any event in which the chances are beyond 10 to the 50th power is an event that we can state with certainty will never happen.” 

There is someone who knows the way out of the jungle – a life of purposelessness and despair, and His name is Jesus.  In contrast to the evolutionary / nihilist perspective, Biblical Christianity is based on the notion that we were created in the image of the sovereign, living God, that we have meaning and purpose in our lives, and that we were created with the capacity to have a RELATIONSHIP with God (not just a BELIEF) that continues beyond the grave.  That invitation is open to each of us.

Who Should Decide the Future of Crimea?

Crimea was part of Russia until Khrushchev transferred it to Ukraine in 1954.  Who should decide where their home should be?  The West?  Ukraine? The Crimeans?  Putin?

When our president told Russian Prime Minister Medvedev “tell Vladimir after the election, I will have more flexibility”, what did he mean?

After cancelling the anti-missile shield we promised to eastern Europe, why should they trust us now?

Recently our president took credit for helping (while a U.S. Senator) convince the Ukrainians to eliminate their nuclear weapons.  What would the Ukrainians say about that now?

We are unwilling to return Germany’s gold, and Russia provides them major industrial commodities and natural gas.  Given the cold German winters, why would they would want to remain our ally?

How can we talk about promoting democracy when we supported (with $5B) the overthrow of the democratically-elected (and Russia-leaning) president of Ukraine?

The Russians have only two warm water ports, one of which is in Crimea.  Did we really expect them to give it up when our people came to power in Ukraine?     

When we levy sanctions against Russia, are we aware that they and their Chinese friends can crash the dollar by selling their treasuries?  (Get ready for $10 milk and $12 gas.)

Our nation is staring at WWIII, and it won’t just happen over there.  The sovereign, living God of the universe is not surprised by these events.  He is available 24/7, and is waiting to hear from us.  But time may be short.

When Religion Fosters Evil

Letter to the Editor:

In “When Religion Fosters Evil”, North Carolina scholar Charles Kimball claims that religions may fall prey to five corrupting influences, each the result of human corruption.  He states problems (of evil) may arise when “zealous and devout adherents elevate the teachings and beliefs of their tradition to the level of absolute truth claims.”

Fascinating – Kimball, an ordained Baptist minister, claims that:

  • Christianity is not really true, but is merely a tradition,
  • truth claims in Christianity are due to human corruption, and
  • authentic faith [in what?] is the only means to combat the ensuing evil and violence.

Taking Kimball’s advice on how to avoid further problems of evil, we must conclude that Kimball’s own views merely reflect his own tradition, and are not really true.

Best regards,

We Are Not to Judge Others

“We are not to judge others.”

Response:

For many Christians (and non-Christians) “judge not” is essentially another commandment, based on Matthew 7:1a: “Judge not lest you be judged”.  The result is that they look the other way in the face of real sin, and can themselves rationalize various sins.

Even more insidious is the double standard of many critics of Christianity, claiming that Christians are narrow-minded and always judging others, when in fact that is what they are doing themselves.  “You are bad people because you are always judging others” is a statement of judgment. 

Looking deeper, we discover that while there are instances in the Bible where judge means to condemn, the more common usage of the word “judge” in Greek is Krino”, which means “to divide, separate, make a distinction, come to a decision”.  With this definition, it is clear that all of us “judge” matters every day, which is essential for us to survive.  Now read the following passages with this definition in mind – to make a distinction. 

But there is more to this issue, starting with the full context of this passage:

“Judge not, that you be not judged.  For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.  And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?  Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye?  Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”              Matthew 7:1-5

In this passage, Jesus is commanding us to not judge hypocritically.  He is not commanding us to never judge, but to remove the plank from our own eye (repent of our own sins first) so that we help our brother more effectively.

“But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one.”           I Corinthians 2:15

We are to judge all things (not people).  Abortion, theft, murder, etc. are things – actions and fruits that we are to judge.  To gain a more complete understanding of the Biblical perspective on judging, let’s look at additional passages:

“You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.  A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.”             Matthew 7:16-18

In this passage, Jesus distinguishes between good and bad fruit (behavior), and implies that we should do the same.  This requires judgment, as does the following passage:

“Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters?  Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life?  If then you have judgments concerning things pertaining to this life, do you appoint those who are least esteemed by the church to judge?”                           I Corinthians 6:2-4

“How much more, things that pertain to this life?” covers all of our lives and our behavior.  There is a difference between mistakes and sin.  Mistakes are typically unintentional, while sin is intentional.  We may apologize for mistakes, but we need to repent of our sins.  And churches need to teach us the difference.  

“Only fools don’t judge.  Judging can keep you safe. Judging can keep you from making bad decisions. Judging can keep your butt out of hell.  What would Jesus do?  I’ll let you be the judge.”       Coach Dave Daubenmire, Newswithviews.com July 31, 2014

                 

                                                                                                          

We Are Not to Judge Other Religions – a Window Into the One World Religion

“We are not to judge other religions; we just know that Jesus Christ died for us.  Besides, what about all those people who have never heard of Jesus?”

Response: Thank you for the stimulating conversation on our recent road trip.  I wanted to pursue the issue we discussed about Christians judging other religions. 

The Bible is clear that there were other religions in place at the time of the Old and New Testaments, and they were judged and condemned by prophets in the Old Testament and Christ and His apostles in the New Testament. 

  • Moses directly confronted the spiritual leaders of Egypt, who espoused another religion.  He could have said: “Perhaps you worship God in other ways, so who am I to judge?”  No, he rejected their religion and their gods, and each of the plagues brought upon the Egyptians demonstrated that their gods were impotent against the God of Israel. 
  • There are many other examples of Old Testament prophets rejecting pagan gods and their practices such as sacrificing their children by passing them through the fire.  (In similar fashion, since 1973, our nation has sacrificed over 50 million unborn babies to the gods of convenience, lifestyle, and reputation.)
  • The famous scene where Elijah challenged the priests of Baal to a contest to see whose god would prevail in burning the sacrifice of a bull is another example.
  • The New Testament is also full of examples of Christ and His disciples rejecting other religions.  Christ clearly taught that the (Talmudic) Judaism taught by the Pharisees and Sadducees was insufficient to go to heaven.  He told Nicodemus, a Pharisee, that he must be born again to go to heaven. 
  • When Paul spoke to the Greek philosophers in Athens, he noted that they had statues to many gods, then expounded on their “unknown god”, making the case that their unknown god was really the God of the Bible.

There is no reason to believe that this rejection of other religions does not apply to today as well.  Jesus stated:  “I am the way, the truth, and the light; no one goes to the Father but through Me.” John 14:6  This claim to exclusivity is either true or false; there is no middle ground.  He was either who He said He was – the Son of the sovereign, living God and is the only way to heaven, or he was a false teacher and charlatan.  His statement speaks directly to  other religions today as well as then.

The Great Commission, the command of Christ to go therefore and make disciples of all nations is nonsensical if other religions are of equal value to Christianity.  Furthermore, there is compelling evidence that we are approaching the end times – a time of a one-world economy, one-world government, and one-world religion.  The notion that all religions are pathways to God provides a perfect rationale for the one-world religion, which is fundamentally anti-Christ. 

“Besides, what about all those people who have never heard of Jesus?”

Response: Regarding the eternal destination of those who have never heard the Gospel of Christ, I see two possible explanations:

  1. General revelation, the notion that God reveals Himself and His nature through the created world, is taught in both the Old Testament and the New Testament:

“The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork.
Day unto day utters speech, And night unto night reveals knowledge.” Psalm 19:1-2

“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—His eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.”  Romans 1:20   

This passage teaches that God’s eternal power and divine nature are “clearly seen” and “understood” from what has been made, and that there is no excuse for denying these facts. With these Scriptures in mind, perhaps a working definition of general revelation would be “the revelation of God to all people, at all times, and in all places that proves that God exists and that He is intelligent, powerful, and transcendent.” (quote from Wikipedia)

  • The second response is that God is merciful, and ultimately we throw ourselves upon His mercy in this life and the next.  This is certainly true for babies (born and unborn), and may apply in other cases as well.

Finally, looking at these issues from an overall perspective, what difference does it make?  One’s eternal destiny is a very serious thing, because eternity is a long, long time and the consequences are beyond description.  I have learned that the Lord also takes it very seriously. His Word not only articulates a coherent world view and theology that is exclusive, it provides a strong admonition against those who teach other views: 

“I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ.  But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.  As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.”                                         Galatians 1:6-9

Life is short.  God is great, and He invites us to walk with Him every day.

Best regards,

We Are All One and We Are Divine

“Perhaps Jesus wouldn’t have others see him as Jesus, either, but rather as an embodiment of Truth.  Perhaps when he told his followers to go and do as he had done, he meant to likewise embody the divine as he did. 

It seems that for this to happen, it calls for a letting go in some way, of one’s claim to one’s own separate identity, even while the appearance of separation may persist.  Finally, what would you see peering into anyone’s soul, including Jesus?  Perhaps each soul is a unique expression of the divine.”

Point #1:  “Perhaps Jesus wouldn’t have others see him as Jesus, either, but rather as an embodiment of Truth.”

RESPONSE:  I think Jesus gradually revealed who He was to his disciples and to the public over time, perhaps because that was the most effective way to reveal who He really was.  If someone arrived into town, and announced they were God in the flesh, in all likelihood they would have been run out of town, or more likely, stoned to death, the penalty for blasphemy in those days.  But it is also clear from scripture that He saw himself as the unique son of sovereign, living God, and not merely an embodiment of Truth. 

He said “I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one goes to the Father but through Me.”  He could have said: “I am one of the ways, part of the truth, and some of the life”, but He didn’t.  It was also clear that the Pharisees understood that He claimed to be God, as the chief priest tore his clothes after quizzing Jesus about who He was.  Chief priests don’t just tear their clothes as a habit – it is a specific action indicating that the chief priest heard blasphemy (someone claiming to be God, not merely an embodiment of Truth), the penalty of which is death.

Point #2:  “Perhaps when he told his followers to go and do as he had done, he meant to likewise embody the divine as he did.”

RESPONSE:  Jesus did promise them that they could become one with Him and with the Father if they were totally repentant and seeking a close relationship with God.  But they would never be God.  That was the first lie in the Garden of Eden from Satan to Adam and Eve – “Ye shall be as gods”.  It was also Satan’s claim to godhood – to be the same as the sovereign, living God that led to his downfall.  From a traditional Biblical perspective, Jesus’ followers could become a part of the body of believers, who would enjoy fellowship with God on this earth and in heaven.      

Point #3:  “It seems that for this to happen, it calls for a letting go in some way, of one’s claim to one’s own separate identity, even while the appearance of separation may persist.”

RESPONSE:  Jesus called the children of Israel, and His followers called the Gentiles to let go, but not of their separate identity.  He called them to let go of their self-centeredness – of their sin – of everything that keeps them from loving God and their fellow man with all of their heart, mind, and soul.  He was not preaching self-improvement, but self-abandonment to a life in Christ.  We are to become new creatures with new identities, not the abandonment of our separate identities to become a part of The All.  The separation of us as individuals in the physical world is obvious, and is not merely an appearance. 

In the spiritual world, Jesus and the prophets of the Old Testament describe two worlds – God and His dominion, and Satan and his demons, and the two do not meet.  Jesus told His disciples that when they died, they would go to heaven, and that He will go before them, “to make a place for them”.  They would retain their identities, they would be in an incredible place where they could fellowship with each other, with other believers, and the sovereign, living God.  They would not lose their identities as drops of water that enter the ocean.

 (Personally, I would rather go to the former place rather than cease to exist as a person).  Jesus told a parable about a selfish rich man who died and went to hell, and asked God to warn his friends and family.  God’s response was that that gulf was too wide to bridge, and that his friends and family have the prophets to accept or reject.  

Point #4:  “Finally, what would you see peering into anyone’s soul, including Jesus?  Perhaps each soul is a unique expression of the divine.

RESPONSE:  I would agree that each soul is a unique expression of the divine as a created person with body, soul, and spirit.  However, the Bible makes clear the distinctions between God, His created beings, and the rest of creation.  So only God is truly divine (absolutely holy, without sin), and His created beings were created in the image of God, although that image was tarnished by Adam and Eve.  The rest of creation reflects God’s nature and order, in contrast to the evolutionary perspective that life – extraordinary order – evolved out of nothing, or perhaps an explosion.

The hourglass will be empty.

One of these years, you or I (or both) won’t be at the annual Community Development Society conference.  Our time will have been up – all of the sand in our hourglass will have flowed to the bottom.  At that time, each of us will cease to live on this earth, other than in the memories of families and friends.  Unlike each day that stretches before us, once that happens, we are out of control – our destiny is set. 

Lee Strobel, former Legal Editor, Chicago Tribune, and author of The Case for Christ, undertook an exhaustive investigation to disprove the claims of Christianity.  His conclusion:  “In light of the convincing facts I had learned during my investigation, in the face of this overwhelming avalanche of evidence in the case for Christ, the great irony was this:  it would require much more faith for me to maintain my atheism than to trust in Jesus of Nazareth!”

Robert Greenleaf, a renowned Jewish legal scholar and the foremost expert on rules of evidence, came to the same conclusion.

I lovingly challenge you to do the same – to examine the evidence with a critical but open mind.  The stakes couldn’t be higher – your eternal destiny.  And eternity is a very, very long time.

The Sanctity of Science and its Limitations

“Science should be the final arbiter on all these issues.”

Response: I appreciate your respect for science, as it has yielded tremendous insight and progress for all of us.  And yet, if we look deeper into science, we can discover what it can and cannot do.

Key Point #1:  Science is driven by paradigms – world views that explain the world. 

One of my favorite books is “The Structure of Scientific Revolutions” by MIT Professor Thomas Kuhn, written over 50 years ago.  Kuhn made a compelling case for paradigms – a world view or way of looking at things.  So political philosophies, religions, etc. are all paradigms.  Kuhn contended that we don’t see the world as it is, but as we are – through our lens, which focuses on some information (that which reinforces our paradigm), and ignores information that does not.  For example, an environmentalist, a business person, a labor organizer, and an engineer would all see a manufacturing plant in totally different ways, through their respective paradigms. 

Kuhn attacks the notion that scientific knowledge accumulates like money in a bank account, and makes a compelling case that scientists (and everyone else) see the world through a lens, a paradigm.  As time goes on, facts will emerge that don’t fit our paradigm.  We can just ignore these anomalies, but true scientists would hold on to them, and if at some point the pile of anomalies overwhelms the current paradigm, the scientist would examine all of the evidence, and change paradigms to a paradigm that more effectively explains reality.

At one point in our history, scientists believed that the earth was flat.  This flat earth paradigm was commonly held until more and more evidence accumulated that the earth was in fact round.  So the paradigm shifted.  At another point in our history, doctors believed that bleeding a person through leeches or cuts was a valid medical treatment.  In all likelihood, this “best practice medical procedure” contributed to the death of our first president, George Washington.  Over time, researchers discovered that this practice was harmful, and the paradigm shifted.

Key Point #2:  What gets funded gets studied – the influence of vested interests and funding on establishing paradigms.

These paradigms (and their funding sources) directly impact the assumptions, methodologies, and conclusions of scientific studies.  Furthermore, what is published in scientific journals is what scientists investigate.  So a scientific study, funded by a multi-national pharmaceutical firm shows that some new drug reduces the chances of getting cancer.  But the study does not reveal that a natural plant remedy has the same effect.

Our federal government has made tremendous funding available for studies of global warming.  If you as a scientist believe that global warming is not caused by our current industrial era, you will not receive any funding for your research, and you may end up teaching high school science classes, or perhaps delivering pizza.

Key Point #3:  Resistance to changing paradigms in science can emerge because of religious reasons. 

The predominant paradigm in science today is the theory of evolution – the belief that our world started with nothing, or something that exploded and eventually became more and more complex, yielding the world as we see it today, with plants, animals, and people.  There are more than 10,000 scientists in our nation that embrace creation science, and there is substantive evidence that exposes the fallacies of evolution.  And yet there is tremendous resistance to creation science because it implies there is a God.  To those who reject God, they will hold to evolution, or the notion that life came here from another planet.

At the same time, an Intelligent Design movement has emerged within the community of evolutionary scientists who have concluded that the complexity of nature could not have happened by chance, thus denying the validity of Darwinian evolution and contending that nature reveals design by some intelligence.

Key Point #4:  If something looks crazy to you, it is because you don’t grasp the underlying paradigm.

A common reaction to unusual behavior is to describe it as crazy:  “Oh, he is just crazy!”  But what it really means is that you don’t understand the underlying paradigm that is driving that behavior.  This can be very helpful, and it starts with the assumption (usually true) that there is an underlying paradigm, and it requires an inquisitiveness to discover what that paradigm is.  Ask “Within what paradigm would this make perfect sense?”

For example, President Obama recently gave a speech before the United Nations and stated that the future belongs to those nations that respect the prophet (Mohammad).  Your question for the day is this – within what paradigm would this make perfect sense?

Key Point #5:  Ultimately, science cannot tell us what we should do.

Although science has obvious limitations, it does shed light on many facets of our lives, and has opened up many new opportunities for our nation and the world.  There is one more limitation that is often overlooked, that science cannot tell us what we should do.  Science only tells us what is; it cannot tell us what should be.  That is our province as thinking, feeling, spiritual human beings.

  • Science and technology can show us how to build an atomic bomb; it does not tell us if we should build them or if we should use them.
  • Science and technology can show us how to do extraordinary medical procedures, some of which are extremely expensive.  Science does not tell us if they should be used, and for whom – the very wealthy?  Those with political connections?  Only those under 50 years of age?  First come, first serve?
  • Science and technology can prolong life via machines for a very long time, but it cannot tell us if we should do so.
  • Science and technology can now splice human genes into animals and vice versa; it does not tell us if we should.
  • Science and technology can record and scan all voice, text, fax, and e-mail communication across the world; it does not tell us if we should, and for what purpose.
  • Science and technology now has the means to implant a chip into our forearm that is a smart chip, able to be used as a credit card for buying and selling.  But it does not tell us if we should.

Key Point #6:  Science operates solely in the natural world, so it has no capability or authority in the supernatural world.

The Christian perspective is that we live in two overlapping worlds – the physical, material world, and the spiritual world.  When Jesus appeared on the scene two thousand years ago, He announced that the Kingdom of Heaven is here.  Empirical science is based on the ability to observe, to measure, and to manipulate things in the natural world.  Similar to trying to measure temperature with a ruler, science is incapable of understanding or studying the supernatural world.  Atheistic scientists may contend that there is no god, but they are on thin ice because nothing within science can prove that their assertion is true.

The Bible is a record of the sovereign, living God creating and intervening from the spiritual realm into the material universe over time.  It is a special revelation of truth as revealed to us from God.  Many early scientists believed that science was merely a new way to learn about the world as God created it.