My moderating policy

My blog was begun to express my views and beliefs. It is not a public blog, where I allow anyone to trash me or to express views that are unkind or unscriptural. Tacky comments are unwelcome and show the person who wrote them unfavorably. I choose not to include many of them. While I allow some anonymous posting, I will leave other, unfavorable anonymous posts in cyberspace. I sign my name to my posts.

phil

Richard "Seeded" Dawkins

Few movies have moved me quite the way Ben Stein's Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed has! I laughed and cheered as Ben Stein showed the utter foolishness of Richard Dawkins.

Dawkins and Stein had a lengthy conversation, which was recorded in the movie.

Liberalism has showered accolades on atheist author Richard Dawkins' best-selling book "The God Delusion." But when Stein suggests to Dawkins that he's been critical of the Old Testament God, Dawkins protests -- not that Stein is wrong, but that he's being too mild. He then reads from this jaw-dropping paragraph of his book:

"The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully."

Dawkins' arrogant blasphemy was no credit to him. He thinks of himself as quite a scholar and virtually mistake-free in his assessment of God. The Father in heaven will one day "assess" him.

Then came this brilliant piece of logic and wisdom from the mouth of Dawkins:

Moderator Ben Stein asks Dawkins how life began:

DAWKINS:Nobody knows how it got started. We know the kind of event that it must have been. We know the sort of event that must have happened for the origin of life.
BEN STEIN:And what was that?
DAWKINS:It was the origin of the first self-replicating molecule.
BEN STEIN:Right, and how did that happen?
DAWKINS:I told you, we don't know
...
BEN STEIN:What do you think is the possibility that Intelligent Design might turn out to be the answer to some issues in genetics or in evolution.
DAWKINS:Well, it could come about in the following way. It could be that at some earlier time, somewhere in the universe, a civilization evolved, probably by some kind of Darwinian means, probably to a very high level of technology, and designed a form of life that they seeded onto perhaps this planet. Now, um, now that is a possibility, and an intriguing possibility. And I suppose it's possible that you might find evidence for that if you look at the details of biochemistry, molecular biology, you might find a signature of some sort of designer.

Imagine! Dawkins doesn't believe in God, but he believes in an Alien-seeded humanity. Dawkins is not a son of God, but he believes he is the son of an alien. Such incredible wisdom.

BTW, how did this highly evolved, tech-savvy form of life evolve? Dawkins didn't answer the question, he merely transferred it from one world to another. If Darwinian means hadn't worked so well here, how did it work there?

Dawkins has fallen into a trap like Aquinas' infinite regression. He can't answer anything for sure, because, having rejected God, he is only guessing. Why, friend, should anyone base their lives on his futile and empty guess.

In Scripture, the fool is not necessarily someone who is mentally deficient. It is someone who chooses to live his life without the knowledge or the acknowledgment of God.

Phil

Let's Go to Israel

If you are interested in going to Israel to see where the Lord Jesus lived and walked, then you may want to go with Dan Chambers and me this fall, Nov. 11-20, for a ten-day tour!

This will be Dan's fifth trip and my second. We'll visit Joppa, Caesarea, Nazareth, the Sea of Galilee, Caesarea Philippi, the Golan Heights, Megiddo, the Dead Sea, Ein Gedi, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, the Valley of Elah, and much more.

We will stay in top hotels and each delicious food. It will be a wonderful trip with experienced guides.

When you read the Bible, you'll read it with greater understanding and insight.

If you are interested, please let me know. I will gladly send you a brochure and reservation request.

Phil

Because what we believe matters

I was recently upbraided by a poster for wasting my time on what in his mind was an irrelevant issue (instrumental music in Christian worship). First of all, I really don't live there. Within the last week I have written articles and television transcripts dealing with the apocrypha, sin, the church, and the holiness of God. I am now teaching a class on prayer. I have counseled several people this week, dealing with their personal issues, baptized a person, taught courses in Greek, church growth, the passion of the Christ, a Survey of the Bible, Christian Evidences, and "once saved, always saved." I also have spoken recently with missionaries and helped raised funds for starving Kenyans. My life and work is quite diverse. I recently authored an audio CD on marriage and am preparing one on parenting for Focus Press.

Why do I take a little time on IM? First, because it is sinful, self-made religion, as addictive as idolatry to some. Second, because it is splitting the church and separating people I love from fellowship. Third, because there is so much false information and foolish arguments being made today that need correcting. Fourth, because IM takes the focus off of God and puts it onto performers.

The IM issue is really reflective of a much larger problem. I recently got a post supporting using candles and incense in worship. The IM question is really an authority issue. What will we regard as the authority for our lives? How will we understand the silence of the Scriptures? Since I have researched and written extensively on these matters for years, I wanted to share what I know about these matters to answer the falsehoods and fuzzy thinking some are promoting today.

There is a slippery slope. Some of those who went with the instrument over a century ago have found no stopping place. In 1989 in Cincinnati, some in the same group voted on some key issues. They could not say that Jesus is the only way to heaven, that the Bible is the final authority, or that homosexuality is a sin. In that same meeting they actually encouraged women to consider abortion. When you open the door to self-made religion, people will invent their own faith and forget God. IM is indeed the first step to godlessness.

So that's why.

Phil