Early Christians were Pro-Life too

Posted on May 7, 2013 by Justin

Christians are marked by their respect for the dignity of every human life. Any time in history when Christians have acted differently, they have not acted as Christians.

The faith of Jesus Christ is a life-giving faith, and so those with faith in Jesus are protectors of life. Every child has a God-given right to life, from the moment of conception onward.Little Baby

This is why Christians should never use the birth-control pill, as it it possible that it causes the tiny baby to be washed out of her mother’s body in a chemical abortion.

This is why Christians cannot vote for politicians who support abortion in any form.

This is why Christians should go to every reasonable extent to speak up for the rights of the unborn, including stopping doing business with companies who support Planned Parenthood, AKA the Minority Population Reduction Centers of AmeriKa.

And this is what Christians have believed for our nearly 2,000 year history. See a section of a letter from Mathetes to Diognetus, circa A.D. 150 as he describes the distinctive lives of Christians:

 Every foreign land is to them as their native country, and every land of their birth as a land of strangers.

They marry, as do all [others]; they beget children; but they do not destroy their offspring. (Literally, Christians “do not cast away fetuses”).

They have a common table, but not a common bed. They are in the flesh, but they do not live after the flesh.

Christians ought to have a completely different mindset than those around us. We do not destroy our unborn children! Yet in America, land of the selfish, thousands of abortions each year are committed by those who self-identify as Christians, Evangelical and otherwise. They are Christian like I am giraffe.

A few other early Christian citations (including one non-Christian Jew), against infanticide-abortion, from http://www.abortionfacts.com/literature/the-christian-view-of-abortion :

“Thou shalt not slay the child by procuring abortion; nor, again, shalt thou destroy it after it is born” (Letter of Barnabas 19 from 74 AD).

“…And these were the accursed who conceived and caused abortion” (The Apocalypse of Peter 25, 137 AD).

“You shall not procure abortion, nor destroy a newborn child” (Didache 2:1 from 150 AD).

“There are some women among you who by drinking special potions extinguish the life of the future human in their very bowels, thus committing murder before they even give birth.” (Mark Felix, Christian Lawyer, Octavius chap. 30 from 170 AD).

“The law of Moses, indeed, punishes with due penalties the man who shall cause abortion (see Ex. 21:22) Tertullian, 210 AD.

“Now we allow that life begins with conception because we contend that the soul also begins from conception; life taking its commencement at the same moment and place that the soul does” (Tertullian, Apology 27 from 210 AD).

“Women also who administer drugs to cause abortion, as well as those who take poisons to destroy unborn children, are murderesses.” (First Canonical Letter from 374 AD).

“The law, moreover enjoins us to bring up all our offspring, and forbids women to cause abortion of what is begotten, or to destroy it afterward; and if any woman appears to have so done, she will be a murderer of her child, by destroying a living creature, and diminishing humankind.” (The Works of Josephus, Flavius Josephus Against Apion, Book II, 25).

“Some go so far as to take potions, that they may insure barrenness, and thus murder human beings almost before their conception. Some, when they find themselves with child through their sin, use drugs to procure abortion, and when, as often happens, they die with their offspring, they enter the lower world laden with the guilt not only of adultery against Christ but also of suicide and child murder” (Jerome, Letters 22:13 from 396 AD).

Let us stand with the ancient Christian witness, and with the Word of God: “You shall not murder.”

Thanks for reading,

-Justin

Categories: Dead Guys, Humankind in Distress, Interpreting Christian Hypocrisy, The Message of the Bible, Understanding the Culture | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Everyone Knows what Abortion is

Posted on April 30, 2013 by Justin

On the edge of the legalization of abortion-on-demand, a California Medicine journal article from September 1970 told the truth, and the whole truth. Keep in mind, this is a pro-abortion editorial I’m quoting from:

Since the old [Judeo-Christian] ethic [of the sanctity of life] has not yet been fully displaced [by the new ethic which places relative rather than absolute value on human lives] it has been necessary to separate the idea of abortion from the idea of killing, which continues to be socially abhorrent. The result has been a curious avoidance of the scientific fact, which everyone really knows, that human life begins at conception and is continuous whether intra- or extra-uterine until death.

The very considerable semantic gymnastics which are required to rationalize abortion as anything but taking a human life would be ludicrous if they were not often put forth under socially impeccable auspices. It is suggested that this schizophrenic sort of subterfuge is necessary because while a new ethic is being accepted the old one has not yet been rejected. [1]

With the above quote in mind, what kind of people do you think are in charge of this nation, who unashamedly approve of the homicide of millions of kids? Better question: what kind of people are we all, that we not only allow this to continue, but actually approve of it by our votes in the ballot box and in our silence?

Black Tie Event, Black President Praises Black Genocide

Last week President Barack Obama addressed the Planned Parenthood (AKA Minority Population Reduction Centers of AmeriKa) annual gala, in which he praised their work, and ended his speech with “God bless you.”

The American Spectator has a lucid article critiquing this Orwellian moment. Paul Kengor writes

It reminds me of the Planned Parenthood abortion clinic nearest to me, which has windows with colorful drawings and balloons, the look of a cheerful daycare center. The difference, however, is that mom and child walk in, but the child never returns. That’s really what Planned Parenthood “is about.”

Everyone knows it. Barack Obama knows it.

(Do be sure to see page 2 of the AS article).

Just like the California Medicine article above noted. We all know what is happening in the abortion mills around our nation. We know what kind of people we are, and we are experts in covering it up with medicine, entertainment, and self-help jargon.

I’m reminded of some cutting words of Yahweh through the prophet Jeremiah. Although the context is ancient Judah, yet the prophecy is fresh and precise applied to the apostate Church in America. Read it all:

5:20 “Declare this in the house of Jacob
And proclaim it in Judah [AmeriKa], saying,
21 ‘Hear this now, O foolish people,
Without understanding,
Who have eyes and see not,
And who have ears and hear not:
22 Do you not fear Me?’ says Yahweh.
‘Will you not tremble at My presence,
Who have placed the sand as the bound of the sea,
By a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass beyond it?
And though its waves toss to and fro,
Yet they cannot prevail;
Though they roar, yet they cannot pass over it.
23 But this people has a defiant and rebellious heart;
They have revolted and departed.
24 They do not say in their heart,
“Let us now fear the Lord our God,
Who gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season.
He reserves for us the appointed weeks of the harvest.”
25 Your iniquities have turned these things away,
And your sins have withheld good from you.

26 ‘For among My people are found wicked men;
They lie in wait as one who sets snares;
They set a trap;
They catch men.
27 As a cage is full of birds,
So their houses are full of deceit.
Therefore they have become great and grown rich.
28 They have grown fat, they are sleek;
Yes, they surpass the deeds of the wicked;
They do not plead the cause,
The cause of the fatherless;
Yet they prosper,
And the right of the needy they do not defend.
29 Shall I not punish them for these things?’ says Yahweh.
‘Shall I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?’

30 “An astonishing and horrible thing
Has been committed in the land:
31 The prophets prophesy falsely,
And the priests rule by their own power;
And My people love to have it so.
But what will you do in the end? (NKJV)

—

[1] ”A New Ethic for Medicine and Society,” California Medicine, Sept. 1970, 113(3):67-68.

Categories: Humankind in Distress, Understanding the Culture | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Either Rome or Reformation – Not Both (Repost)

Posted on April 22, 2013 by Justin

Originally posted 4/5/12, this was a part of a debate I had with a Roman Catholic. The original question was “Do Roman Catholics Have the Gospel?” Please read and share – I put a lot of work into this post.

The reason I deal a lot with Roman Catholicism is because we interpret the cosmos in much the same way they do – One God who is Trinity, Scripture is His Word, and His Church is the means of communing with Him on earth, etc. Yet it is in the additions to the Gospel of Jesus Christ that they have departed from a true interpretation of spiritual, human reality. They lead many to damnation, tip-toeing inches from eternal life.

And so I write. Enjoy, rejoice:

—

Thank You, Lord Jesus, for this burden for my Roman Catholic friends

Over the course of my nine year life in Christ, my heart has become heavy for the Catholics. Each day recently I have been pondering these issues, thinking hard about both sides, and trying to pray for wisdom. To most of you dear readers, this is perhaps an intellectual, interesting, or maybe slightly dry discussion which is all probably right up your alley if you’ve read this far.

Yet I hope it is a little more than that to you – it is to me. These Catholic folks with their internet nicknames who have taken the time to talk with me… they are made in the image of God – and they are deceived by an antichrist spirit. I know that sounds harsh to our postmodern ears, but to be true to Jesus Christ I must be direct. Letting Smoke Out (my debate opponent) in particular has referred to me as a Christian who is “outside of the Church.” I appreciate his recognition of the Holy Spirit in me, but with all due respect, the Bible knows nothing of a Christian who is outside of the Church. I believe if we dig at this a little bit, maybe – by God’s wonderful grace – He may use it to unravel a little of the string holding together their bonds in darkness. I know, heavy sounding words… but this is life and death!

Daddy, what’s a Church?

One of the main problems here is that Letting Smoke Out and his Roman Catholic brethren have an unbiblical, twisted definition of “Church.” From LSO found here:

Read Matt 18:17 again.  See how Jesus instructs the apostles to tell the “church”.  Clearly He is not referring to some theoretical entity, but to an established organization – His church. Our Lord gave definitive instruction at this passage and yet you believe He was referring to an “invisible body”.  How can someone tell or listen to an invisible body?  ”Tell the church”…”listen even to the church”… now that’s clear.

When I say that the Body of Christ is “invisible,” I mean that no one but God knows exactly all who is the wheat, and who are the tares. Remember how Jesus warned (Matthew 13:24-30, and basically the entire New Testament carries the same warnings) of unbelievers (hypocrites) who come into the fellowship with us, who pretend to be real Christians, but are not? We don’t really know who many of those “fakers” are… because they can look very convincing. That’s why the true Church of Jesus Christ is “invisible.” Those who have received the grace of adoption into the family of God are only known in our full number by God. This leads us to our point, namely that the Church of Jesus Christ is not a building, not an organization, but it is the Body of Christ made up of individuals.

Would any Roman Catholic really say that every single individual who claims to be a Catholic is really, truly “in the Church”?

Don’t Run Away! It’s Just an Eeeeeensy bit o’ Greek!

So what is the definition of “Church” from the Bible? The Greek word ἐκκλησία (ecclesia), from Thayer’s Lexicon:

(from ἔκκλητος called out or forth, and this from ἐκκαλέω); properly, a gathering of citizens called out from their homes into some public place; an assembly; so used.

Also, from the  Bible:

ek, “out from and to” and 2564/kaléō, “to call”) – properly, people called out from the world and to God, the outcome being the Church (the mystical body of Christ) – i.e. the universal (total) body of believers whom God calls out from the world and into His eternal kingdom.

[The English word "church" comes from the Greek word kyriakos, "belonging to the Lord" (kyrios). 1577/ekklēsía ("church") is the root of the terms "ecclesiology" and "ecclesiastical."] (All emphases mine).

In light of the definition of “church,” and not to mention the word comes from the same Greek word used for “elect,” should we not see the Church as the whole Body of believers, and not an organization or institution in Rome? How could LSO think of me as a sincere Christian who is simply “outside of the Church”? Being a Christian means I have been “called out” of the world and into the assembly of God’s people – it does not mean I am a Roman Catholic, Baptist, Amish farmer, or any other denomination. See the confusion of categories?

OK – so that was a bit sloggy, but I had to do it – and if you are still with me, I think this will be worth it for all involved. The Roman religion defines the Church as the Roman religion, and no other. If someone is not in the Roman religion, Rome does not see him or her as in a state of salvation. What’s that teaching called? Salvation by institution. Just like the Jehovah’s Witnesses who are scared stiff to even think thoughts about stepping into a real church for fear of Jehovah God annihilating them. Look here:

Classical, true Roman Catholicism has preached that there is no salvation outside of the Roman religion. From catholicism.org:

“Outside the Church there is no salvation” (extra ecclesiam nulla salus) is a doctrine of the Catholic Faith that was taught By Jesus Christ to His Apostles, preached by the Fathers, defined by popes and councils and piously believed by the faithful in every age of the Church. Here is how the Popes defined it:

  • “There is but one universal Church of the faithful, outside which no one at all is saved.” (Pope Innocent III, Fourth Lateran Council, 1215.)
  • “We declare, say, define, and pronounce that it is absolutely necessary for the salvation of every human creature to be subject to the Roman Pontiff.” (Pope Boniface VIII, the Bull Unam Sanctam, 1302.)
  • “The most Holy Roman Church firmly believes, professes and preaches that none of those existing outside the Catholic Church, not only pagans, but also Jews and heretics and schismatics, can have a share in life eternal; but that they will go into the eternal fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels, unless before death they are joined with Her; and that so important is the unity of this ecclesiastical body that only those remaining within this unity can profit by the sacraments of the Church unto salvation, and they alone can receive an eternal recompense for their fasts, their almsgivings, their other works of Christian piety and the duties of a Christian soldier. No one, let his almsgiving be as great as it may, no one, even if he pour out his blood for the Name of Christ, can be saved, unless he remain within the bosom and the unity of the Catholic Church.” (Pope Eugene IV, the Bull Cantate Domino, 1441.)

Let’s be honest. Rome believes that she is the one true Church of Jesus Christ as an institution – not defined by faith in Jesus Christ and repentance of sins, but only defined by belonging to its number – to be saved you have to be in the Roman organization, and then cooperate fiercely with the prescribed ladder of sacramental righteousness to “make it.” And all of this off of an obscure verse about building the church on “this rock” – which may mean Peter, or his confession of faith, or Jesus may be talking about Himself… but even if He meant Peter, this still does not demonstrate a papacy!

Most importantly though, the gospel of Christ is not found in Rome’s teachings. In some ways, it is very close – an almost gospel, yet the Apostles fiercely condemned counterfeit gospels which had merely added little bits and pieces to the gospel of Christ – while Rome has added dozens of things to it. Catholicism is a religion of lies, and it is taking its people to hell by the billions. That’s not funny – and believing Christians need to stop toying around with Rome. We are to stand up and call our Roman Catholic friends to repentance of dead works into a living, secure relationship with Christ based solely on His works and one time atonement.

Here’s the hard, cold truth: I, Justin, and numerous others like me are not Roman Catholics, and yet we are the Body of Christ.  I do not believe and in fact vehemently reject Romanist theology – I am walking in the footsteps of the millions who have gone before me, and in the footsteps of the Reformation Christians who shed their blood to salvage the gospel out from Rome. I have these convictions because of the gospel, because of God’s Word, and because He has chosen me unto an everlasting salvation, accomplished by Christ outside of and before me. I do not merit the grace He gives, otherwise it would no longer be grace but a debt He would owe. God will be no man’s debtor, believe that.

So that is all to say to LSO and my other Roman Catholic readers; you may feel yourself generous and magnanimous for granting to me that I am a Christian, just simply outside of the Church, but your own papal doctrines really don’t allow for such. Either I, as a gospel believing Christian, am wrong and outside of His Body, or you are, or we are both in mythology. It cannot be that our mutually exclusive truth claims are the same gospel or ecclesiology!

Finally, and most importantly, what does God’s Word say?

What does it take to become a part of the Church of Jesus Christ invisible and universal?

Belief in who Jesus is and what He has done, is doing, and will do. A very few of the many Scriptures on this subject:

  • Romans 10:8 But what does it say? “THE WORD IS NEAR YOU, IN YOUR MOUTH AND IN YOUR HEART”—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, 9[e]that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes, [f]resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, [g]resulting in salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, “WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE [h]DISAPPOINTED.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; 13 for “WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.”
  • John 6:28 Therefore they said to Him, “What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.”
  • John 1:12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, 13 who were [i]born, not of [j]blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
  • John 5:37 And the Father who sent Me, He has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time nor seen His form. 38You do not have His word abiding in you, for you do not believe Him whom He sent. 39[i]You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me; 40 and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life. 41 I do not receive glory from men; 42 but I know you, that you do not have the love of God in yourselves. 43 I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, you will receive him. 44 How can you believe, when you receive [j]glory from one another and you do not seek the [k]glory that is from the one and only God? 45 Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; the one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have set your hope. 46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me. 47 But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?”
  • Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and [h]that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.(All Scripture NASB)

What does becoming a member of the Church/the Body of Christ result in?

Justification, sanctification, and glorification. Good works which justify the reality of faith.

  • Romans 8:28 And we know that [k]God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. 29For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; 30and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? 33 Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; 34 who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was [l]raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. 35 Who will separate us from the love of [m]Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36Just as it is written,“FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG;
    WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED.”37 But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
  • Galatians 5:6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love. (real faith which saves will always produce good works as a fruit).
  • James 2:14 What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can [n]that faith save him? (No!)
  • James 2:17 Even so faith, if it has no works, is [p]dead, being by itself. (saving faith is always accompanied by works)
  • James 2:18 But someone [q]may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” 19 You believe that [r]God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. 20 But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? 22 You see that faith was working with his works, and [s]as a result of the works, faith was [t]perfected; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “AND ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS RECKONED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS,” and he was called the friend of God. 24 You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25 In the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? 26 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead. (Context and harmony with the entirety of Scripture!)

 

Thanks for reading an extremely long, but heartfelt post.

-Justin

P.S. I am aware that the Reformation was only 500 years ago and that Roman Catholicism has been in its present form for over 1,600 – but when I say “Reformation” in reference to the true Church, it is a synecdoche for Apostolic, original Christianity.

P.P.S. I know that this in not the world’s greatest apologetic attempt, and that many of you could do better, but in all sincerity it is dedicated to the beautiful lover of my soul, Christ Jesus. May He do with it as He wills.

Categories: Comparative Religions, The Message of the Bible | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Boston Marathon 2013 Bombings

Posted on April 15, 2013 by Justin

Boston MarathonYou can find infinite commentary on what happened in Boston today. Many people were seriously injured, and at least a few died, including an 8 year-old. Our nation suffers yet another traumatic, surprise massacre. This has become the natural order of the day we live in.

A few thoughts from the Christian worldview.

  • Jesus is Lord. There is no good or evil in this world except by His working the good, or allowing the evil. He is Lord, and we must trust Him in all things.
  • Reports have come in that in Iraq today, there were a series of bomb blasts that killed scores of people, and injured dozens more. Today Boston, USA is sharing in the bloodbath of what is everyday life in our war zones overseas. Although our tragedy is more unexpected, it has the same root cause: the sin of lust manifest in war. War is upon us. We are a people of war. We like war. We love war. It is intertwined in the fabric of our nation, and with each senseless tragedy, we drink down the wine of endless war’s fruit. This is the world we have chosen as a culture.
  • Whoever did this deserves to face justice, and be sentenced to a just punishment fitting the crime. Acts of murder must be met with severe justice, in honor of the image of God we are all created in – life must be protected and cherished.
  • Planned Parenthood is the slow-motion, blood-bath bombing that has been going off in our cities for decades. The Boston Marathon massacre is a broad-daylight, caught on video representation of what goes on in 3,000+ wombs each day of the year in our murderous society.
  • The Church of the Lord Jesus Christ in America is complicit in so far as we have capitulated to the prevailing winds of culture, forming ourselves into the image of a circus train, rolling into town with entertainment rather than Gospel power. We have given the country away to the secular humanist church, and they have gladly reformed it into their own image.
  • The new America includes regular acts of mass murder, which drives our duplicitous leadership to enact more and more of a police state to “keep us safe.” In fact, we have never been more vulnerable, and we are waking up to a nation with no security, and a rapidly shrinking inheritance of liberty. Only the true Gospel can free this nation once more, for “where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”
  • The media will tell us how to feel and react to this tragedy, as they do each time. The hypnosis has already begun, no doubt, and they will successfully ensnare the majority of us into a safe groupthink before long. This should be resisted, and political solutions which include surrendering our liberties must be rejected out of hand.
  • Pray for our nation. Pray for our leaders. We are in a much worse situation than we can see.

With more to say, I’ll quit. What a tiring, yet beautiful age to be a part of. I am grateful to be alive.

-Justin

Categories: Humankind in Distress, Understanding the Culture | Tags: , , , , , | 4 Comments

Exposing the Bankruptcy of the Pro-Abortion Argument

Posted on April 4, 2013 by Justin

Yesterday I commented on and linked to a ghastly article on salon.com written by Mary Elizabeth Williams. In it she asserts that unborn human beings do not have a right to life as compared to those stronger than them. Her final sentence of the article is the chilling conclusion that an unborn child is “a life worth sacrificing.”

This morning I have been listening to the January 29, 2013 podcast of Issues, Etc. from Lutheran Public Radio.

Scott Klusendorf

On this program, Scott Klusendorf shared his insight into Williams’ salon.com article, cutting down her rhetoric to expose the naked, post-modern power-play just beneath the surface.

I recorded some of his comments:

[Williams] is essentially saying there is one class of human beings that you can set aside and kill, and there’s another class you can’t. [We have] a marvelous opportunity to step up and say . . .

Listen, I believe that each and every human being has an equal right to life regardless of that human beings size, gender, race, level of development, or degree of dependency.

I believe that each and every human being has an equal right to life. [Williams] denies that central premise. She believes that only some humans have a right to life based on some accidental and fleeting thing that may come or go in the course of your lifetime, such as your dependency needs.

Which view, the pro-life view or the alleged “pro-choice” view does the better job of explaining human equality?

Lincoln argued that any way you argued for enslaving the black man will work equally well to enslave many whites, and you say man A is white, man B is dark, the white skin having the right to enslave the dark skin man, well take care because by that rule you’re a slave to the first person you meet who has skin fairer than your own.

It comes down to this: [Williams] says a fetus doesn’t have a right to life; therefore a fetus doesn’t have a right to life.

This is power politics; this isn’t any kind of rational argument… if there is indeed a class of human beings that can be set aside to be killed because they don’t meet her standard, you can’t just isolate out one victim class, namely the unborn, and say that doesn’t apply to anybody else.

If living independent is what gives us value, then those that depend on any kind of medical device forfeit their right to life, as do conjoined twins. There is no rational argument for why this applies only to the unborn, and not to anyone else.

—

We’ve really come this far. Don’t compromise with this type of monstrous worldview, my friends, but pray for our enemies.

Thanks for reading,

-Justin

Categories: Humankind in Distress, Understanding the Culture | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Abortion Advocate: So What if it Ends a Life?

Posted on April 3, 2013 by Justin

Read this honest, horrifying article from Mary Elizabeth Williams of salon.com. Really read it, and let her very last sentence simply rest on your mind for a few moments. Then come back and read my assessment. Here’s an excerpt, and then the link right below it:

“Yet I know that throughout my own pregnancies, I never wavered for a moment in the belief that I was carrying a human life inside of me. I believe that’s what a fetus is: a human life. And that doesn’t make me one iota less solidly pro-choice.”

Her article: So what if abortion ends life?

Shocked?

This should come as no surprise. For decades the abortion rights crowd has been struggling in vain to argue that a child in utero is not a human life, tacitly admitting the immoral nature of, well, killing kids. The debate has centered on where and when life begins – pro-life advocates arguing correctly that it begins at conception, and pro-death advocates arguing it begins… some other time.

The debate has been an argument in semantics. The pro-death crowd has known all along that abortion is murder, but it would not have been very convenient politically to go around mere decades after the holocaust openly arguing that some people are less worthy of life than others, and may be  legally murdered by those who are stronger.

Well, no longer is such a deception quite necessary. It seems that in the midst of our rapidly declining culture, the unbreakable focus on self-pleasure has opened the way for some brutal honesty in the pro-death crowd. Our collective idol is surely the glorification of the self, and so as events and people threaten the promotion and happiness of self, any means necessary becomes permissible in continuing on the path of -ME FIRST-.

HEDONIST HULK SMASH

We see this on a national scale – for at least 70 years, we have been willing to send our military into other peoples’ countries if there is a threat to our economic interests. The CIA has busily toppled one harmless government after another (killing off countless civilians) in pursuit of more favorable business conditions for our major corporations. We invade, bomb, break, and steal in pursuit of happiness.

In the past 10 years, we have reached the new heights of openly practicing torture on non-combatants, keeping people in prison camps who have not been charged with any crime or been found taking up arms against our country. We are viciously committed to our way of life, willing to kill anyone who blocks our path to personal Valhalla. We smash the people and things that stop us from pleasuring ourselves.

Too bad for children

Kids are a gift in the ways we need them most. They teach us infinitely more about self-sacrifice and self-giving than anything else can. They become our greatest contribution to the world as we train them up and teach them the ways of righteousness, ingenuity, and selfless love for others. But they do put a crimp in our style. They whine, they cry, they disobey. They have bedtimes that keep us from going out and drinking ourselves into the latest STDs, and they demand more of us than we feel we have to give. They oftentimes take us down a notch or two on the financial ladder of life. That’s really the final straw for many Americans. We smash the people that stop us from pleasuring ourselves.

Did we really think abortion was about something else?

I know that there are many different, nuanced reasons that women get abortions, but underneath each of those reasons is a lie. She is hearing a lie that she is believing, and the victim will be her own daughter or son. Counting all the “surgical” abortions and birth control pill abortions over the past 50 years, America and the West have hundreds of millions of murdered children on our hands. That’s a lot of happiness being pursued, I guess.

And how are we doing on that happiness thing? We’re the most heavily medicated nation on earth, by far. We live and function on antidepressants and anti-anxiety meds. We’re miserable in so many ways. Oops – maybe we didn’t kill enough of us?

I wonder how long it will take for our nation, our culture to realize the pursuit of happiness is on a self-forgetting path, and it runs like a dagger right through the beating heart of self-centeredness.

Until we get that, we’re the puppets of tyrants, we’re the puppets of devils, and we’re the puppets of these evil hearts within us.

Thanks for reading,

-Justin

True Freedom

Categories: Humankind in Distress, Understanding the Culture | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Feelings are not God

Posted on March 25, 2013 by Justin

Reblogged from Samuel at Gilgal:

Click to visit the original post

John Piper:

“My feelings are not God. God is God. My feelings do not define truth. God’s word defines truth. My feelings are echoes and responses to what my mind perceives. And sometimes - many times - my feelings are out of sync with the truth. When that happens - and it happens every day in some measure - I try not to bend the truth to justify my imperfect feelings, but rather, I plead with God: Purify my perceptions of your truth and transform my feelings so that they are in sync with the truth.”

Read more… 5 more words

Piper says it all right here: to us Western thinkers.
Categories: Humankind in Distress, The Message of the Bible | Tags: , , , , | 12 Comments

Why are there Missing Verses in the New Testament?

Posted on March 23, 2013 by Justin

The basis of all certainty is the reception of the Bible as the perfect Word of the only true God. With that as my worldview foundation (and foundation of Interpreting the Cosmos), I’d better be able to reason about what the Bible is, and how it came to us here in the 21st century.

Burn Your NIV

I was brought to repentance and faith in Jesus by reading Psalms of repentance (51, 86, 143), and I had been reading my NIV when it happened. You could imagine my surprise when I found out a few years later that the NIV was missing at least 40 verses! What had happened to Acts 8:37? Why was it stuck down in the footnotes?

36 As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized?” [37] [c] 38 And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. (Where’d it go?)

And where was Matthew 17:21 and 18:11 and a fistful of other New Testament Scripture? A conspiracy was afoot!

The local King James Onlyists had gotten a hold of me around late 2005. They gave dire warnings that the Satanic cults of mystery Babylon were alive and well in the modern world, and they had perverted all the Bibles except for the pure, only-holy King James Version (of 1611 of course). I was given a copy of Gail Riplinger’s book New Age Bible Versions, and taught all about how I did not have God’s Word if I didn’t have the King James Version.

Who could argue?

Who could argue?

Not the dreadful New King James Version, oh hell no – gimme that old paths, only-perfect, worthy of the Apostle Paul King James Bible… and burn your NIV. And so I began a journey of over seven years now, seeking to know the truth about the Bible’s “missing verses.” Thank y’all, King James Onlyists.

Don’t Burn Your NIV

There is just not that much more I could add here to the thorough refutations the KJV-Onlyists have suffered in the past 20 years. Scholars who love Christ have dismantled their position over and over, so I will leave off a full treatment of the controversy by pointing you to Dr. James White’s King James Only Controversy or D.A. Carson’s The King James Only Debate. The KJV-Only position is the product of a sectarian, elitist, fearful little group of fundamentalists, usually (unfortunately) known by its rancorous, mocking mouthpieces like Peter Ruckman and Sam Gipp (whom I have had the personal misfortune to debate).

No my friends, don’t burn your NIV, “missing” verses and all…

Let’s look at a single example of a missing verse, and see where we go from there.

Did Luke Write Acts 8:37?

The good doctor Luke was a dear friend and traveling companion of the Apostle Paul. He wrote his gospel and the book of Acts after he had “carefully investigated everything” pertaining to the life of Jesus “from the beginning,” telling his friend and sponsor of the book “I too decided to write an orderly account . . . so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught” (Luke 1:3-4 NIV). The book of Luke is therefore a careful account of the historical events surrounding the birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus; and Acts is the careful account of the beginning of His Church.

Yet when Luke recorded the encounter between Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch in Acts 8, did he write this amazing one verse exchange between them?

37 Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” The eunuch answered, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”

What an amazing confession of faith! It would be a tremendous witness to the power of the Scripture that the eunuch had been reading moments before Philip met him if he were ready to confess such a direct, clear belief in Jesus as Christ and Son of God.

Yet the historical record is fairly straightforward: Luke probably did not write that verse. How do we know? From the time the New Testament was written, in order for it to be distributed around the Roman Empire, each manuscript had to be copied by hand onto new parchment. This means that over time as hundreds of copies were made, mistakes were made in the exact transfer of the original spelling, wording, sentence order, and even sometimes whole sentences would be accidentally dropped. The study of all the different types of textual mistakes is known as “lower criticism,” or “textual criticism.” Suffice to say, it is a complex, yet necessary science in the securing of our original Bible.

Naughty Little Scribes Added Stuff

Follow me now. This is important: although most reputable textual critics agree that in the 6,000 (or so) original Greek hand copies of the New Testament manuscripts the total number of copyist errors is as high as 400,000, yet there is absolutely no reason to panic. That 400,000 includes hundreds of thousands of spelling mix-ups and obvious mistakes that cast no doubt on the original wording behind them. As a matter of fact, even the greatest skeptics of the New Testament will admit that over 98% of the entire document is certain as to the original wording.

How so? Think of it this way. Let’s say we have 350 partial and full copies of Acts ranging from the mid-second century up through the invention of the printing press in the fifteenth-century (I’m not sure of the actual number, but work with me).  In a particular verse, of the 350 hand-copies of Acts,  335 show the word “Christ,” 13 have nothing there, and 2 have the misspelling “Crhist.” What was the original? In all likelihood, the 335 that have Christ would be original, right? Not so fast – the 13 that have nothing there are mostly from the second – fifth centuries. All those that have Christ are from later centuries.

See that? What becomes obvious is that some naughty little scribe probably added the word somewhere in the sixth or seventh centuries, and his addition was carried forward by all who copied him. It’s pretty clear that the word Christ was not there originally – not a big issue to solve. Furthermore, even if it was there originally, then somehow dropped out for a few centuries only to be added back in, it doesn’t change the meaning of the text either way.

That’s the story of almost all the differences between the manuscripts of the New Testament. Usually it is crystal clear to spot the stuff naughty little scribes added to the text. Why did they add stuff sometimes? Who knows – could be an honest attempt to smooth out a rough sentence, or perhaps there were two different manuscripts to choose from, and rather than risk losing a word from the original, he goes with copying the one that has the additional word… or perhaps it could have been done maliciously at some point by a person or two… but the point is that no one scribe ever has had the power to permanently alter the text of the New Testament. All the other copies that agree against the new reading testify against it, and help us today to make very clear choices about what the original really looked like.

The original New Testament is fully contained within the body of manuscripts preserved from the past 1,900 years of textual transmission.

Back to Acts 8:37

So did Philip ask the Ethiopian Eunuch to make a clear profession of faith before he was baptized? He might have – but Luke probably didn’t write that verse. It’s one of those that shows up in most of the manuscripts of Acts, but not the oldest ones.

This is a very simplistic explanation of the situation, but basically age of manuscripts usually outshines the number of them. 1,000 manuscripts from the tenth century may say Jesus ate strawberry jam, but if three manuscripts from the second century say no such thing (and if those three are from different geographical regions especially), then we know with a high, high degree of certainty that Jesus wasn’t having crumpets and jam on His way home to see Mom.

And so it is with Acts 8:37 – it’s earliest manuscript witnesses are sixth-century and newer, a full 500+ years after Luke wrote. Ask yourself how likely it is that over that 500 year period, the “true” text of Acts 8 was out there somewhere, but lost, and someone finally found it again and *forehead slap* – everyone had been copying Acts without verse 37! Not likely. Easily solved… as with so many New Testament textual variants.

King James and His Kids

The truth about the differences between modern Bibles is that they weren’t all translated from the same ancient manuscripts. The King James Bible, along with the New King James (and a few other minor versions) were translated from Greek copies of the New Testament dating back only to the middle medieval period. At the time when the King James Bible was created (early 1600′s), the manuscripts that were available for comparison were much fewer, and much younger than those we have available today.

No doubt the KJV is a fine Bible, and if you like a literary challenge, it can be comforting to read, but it is not a pristine version of the Scriptures. When you read the KJV, you are getting a translation of a set of manuscripts from the ninth and tenth centuries, on average.

We’ve done better than that in the past 400 years, now having found manuscripts that date to within decades of the writings of the Apostles… in other words, the manuscripts used to translate your NIV, ESV, NASB, HCSB, and many others are much more ancient, reliable, and reflective of the original words written by Jesus’ companions.

HOWEVER – the remarkable thing about it is that whether you read a KJV, NKJV, or one of the Bibles with a better manuscript foundation like an ESV, the differences between them is miniscule, and basically, without any major change to an ounce of theology. The Bible has been handed down to us with some bumps and scrapes, yet in virtually perfect shape. Take it to the bank, my friends.

Sorry to be so Simple!

That was the most elementary explanation of these things you may ever read from someone who is not King James Onlyist. I am only trying to give you a brief overview of the issues at hand, and to help you to know that our Bible, as it is today, is trustworthy as a near-perfect reflection of the original autographs of the writers.

Please leave a question or comment if anything here is foggy, or if I left out some salient point. You can also use the Questions and Comments page at the top right of the blog to correspond with me privately if you would prefer.

I hope that helped someone, and I will attempt more such posts with perhaps some technical lingo in the future.

Here are some links to the experts on the subject:

Daniel Wallace, textual critical scholar of top quality

James White’s Alpha and Omega website

Thanks for reading,

-Justin

Categories: Foundations of ItC blog, The Nature of the Bible | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

To the Christian Looking for Purpose: One Breath of Advice

Posted on March 16, 2013 by Justin

From time to time I post a “One Breath” thingamajig – something that could be spoken in… well, one breath. Here’s one just now.

Looking for that Purpose that God Gave You?

Maybe it’s time to stop playing the mystic, looking for a way to be the next “world-changer” with “purpose-driven faith” – and love that wife of yours, hug those kids, and embrace the “little” things in life that hold the world together.

Just maybe?

Categories: Humankind in Distress, One Breath, The Message of the Bible, Understanding the Culture | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

New Pope Old Falsehood

Posted on March 13, 2013 by Justin

I am not making any friends by writing this, and yet I am not writing this in order to be a bully.

StPetersSquare-Rome-fromDomeRoman Catholicism is a part of Christianity on earth, and is the oldest continuous Christian institution on earth – yet she is also apostate (gone away) from the true biblical gospel of Jesus Christ. As a new Pope is brought to the public eye, many of us are tempted to feel a part of the festivities and sense of excitement that comes along with his election… but we know that we cannot join ourselves to these events if we are to remain faithful to Christ Jesus and His gospel.

No Pope Here

The papacy is an unbiblical office. There is no scriptural authorization for it. The Pope is also seated on the chair of antichrist. He is called Holy Father (but we have a Holy Father in heaven), he is called Head of the Church (but Jesus is the Head of His Church), and he is called Vicar of Christ (but the Holy Spirit is the Vicar of Christ). This makes for a sinner to have the title of the triune God, and on top of this blasphemy, he guards a system of doctrine which is anathema to the true biblical gospel (cf. Galatian 1:6-9 and the entire letter to the Galatians for how the Apostle condemned anyone who would add anything to the biblical gospel).

Protestant and Grateful

For those of us who hold to the blessedness and grace of the Protestant Reformation, we know there can never be accord between Rome and us. It truly is as simple as that. I have dear friends who are Roman Catholic, I respect them, and I appreciate the conservatives among them who refuse to change the message for the twenty-first century.

Yet we are of two distinct confessions of faith.

Ours is a proclamation of a God who has satisfied His own wrath against sinners by the sacrifice of His Son – it is finished.

Theirs is a proclamation of wrath which might return at any moment if a sinner begins to slip away from the sacraments.

Ours is a religion of “done” for you for His glory and our good.

Theirs is a religion of “started” for you so you can prove your faithfulness through cooperation with the program of salvation which you can ruin by your own human frailty.

Ours is a faith which is guaranteed by the death of Jesus and the regenerating grace of the Holy Spirit.

Theirs is a faith which needs to be decided on and maintained by the believer, and which is never guaranteed to stay firm during this life.

Ours is a Savior who saves.

Theirs is a savior who tries to save, and often fails to save his people.

No thank you, Rome. In all your pageantry and claims to antiquity, your emptiness is haunting and deep.

I am praying for you, my Roman Catholic friends. Please interact with me as a friend, not an enemy. The truth is just too precious to compromise, but we can respect each other in Christian charity.

Here are some of my previous posts on Roman Catholicism. Please pick at least one and read with contemplation.

Thanks for reading,

-Justin

Categories: Comparative Religions, The Message of the Bible | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

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