In analyzing the life of Fred Phelps, Southern Baptist academic Al Mohler remarked that the Westboro Baptist pastor's hateful opposition to homosexuality makes the task of proclaiming the Gospel much more difficult. Technically, if Mohler is a Calvinist, how is this mission made more difficult if God has already predetermined what number accept Christ as Lord and Savior? In such a soteriology, Phelps can't detract or add a single soul to the ranks of the redeemed.
Redskins owner Dan Synder is establishing a foundation to benefit so-called “original Americans”. So apparently worth ought to be determined by the color of skin rather than the content of character. Would a similar program on the part of the Minnesota Vikings targeting handouts exclusively to the descendants of Scandinavians and related Nordic peoples be as applauded or even permitted? Even those categorized as American Indians migrated to these shores at some time or the other. If not, they would not be part of our human species. Either way, since that event occurred millennia ago, none of them are alive now anyway. As such, the descendants of that particular group of settlers are no more original than those who are as pale as the proverbial Dutch baby’s backside.
Phil Robertson shared on Duck Dynasty that he does not want grandchildren that are nerds. Many prefer that their grandchildren not look like filthy backwoodsmen.
In regards to the Hobby Lobby case. The contempt leftists exhibit towards for profit endeavors is nearly as shocking as that vocalized towards religious morality.
Christ did die for all. God does love all and does want everyone saved (II Peter 3:9). The thing is that many resist doing what is required to receive that freely extended hand.
Regarding the downfall of homeschool guru Doug Phillips, it is being admonished that Christians should not put so much faith in those in positions of leadership. Likewise, it is because such figures are fallible that Christians should not allow these figures have so much direct control over their individual lives. Beyond the weekly sermon and casual friendship, it is best not to grant anyone in pastoral leadership control over your private affairs.
The cover story of the 3/31/14 Christian Science Monitor celebrates, “New experiments in shared housing could change the way we live.” No doubt one of them being an increase in spouse sharing whether or not both parties agree to the arrangement.
Often, criticism is raised about people piddling away on their smartphones and not interacting with others around them in public. Interestingly, the same ones fawning all over themselves as to how much they relish on the spot social interaction are more than likely the same ones that wouldn’t give the more withdrawn and reclusive the time of day. So, in other words, the more introverted are obligated to surrender what is perhaps one of the few ways they might be comfortable engaging with the world in order to merely assuage the communitarian inclinations of those that don’t give a flip that they otherwise exist.
Amusing. The DC mayoral primary was held on April Fool's Day.
It was reported that Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley would like sign into law legislation decriminalizing marijuana despite opposing decriminalization. In other words, he supports decriminalization.
Rowan Williams, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, insists that the “Western lifestyle” is destroying the environment. In essence, he expects you to live in a mud hut suffering terminal diarrhea.
Wonder if all eight Ivy League Universities would be clamoring for the same student if he was White.
A Newsmax.com headline reads “Pollard’s Ex-Wife: He’s In Terrible Health.” The story goes on to point out that the spy convicted of turning secrets over to the Israeli government is Jewish? So what to both of these claims? If Pollard was given a life sentence, why shouldn’t he serve out the term behind bars? Should Aldrich Ames be released should he befall ill health? Richard Hansen flaunted what were supposedly profound Catholic beliefs. Should that descriptor be invoked in every press account about that turncoat if religious affiliation is somehow worthy of additional sympathy now in espionage cases?
Alan Dershowitz wants Pollard released. Wonder if the spy would get as much sympathy from the annoying leftist barrister if the spy was some manner of Christian.
Russia violates Ukraine’s borders and we are reportedly going to send the violated Eastern European nation financial handouts. Mexicans violate U.S. borders and the interlopers are lavished with an even more extensive array of handouts and benefits.
A TV commercial depicts a mother mocking her son over adolescent male body odor? Why is this much better than one of a father ridiculing assorted female hygiene challenges that beset youth at that age?
On Star Crossed, it seemed to be hinted at that one of the aliens was a lesbian. Look on the bright side. At least she likely won't be having any Nephillim hybrids.
Shouldn't Paula Deen closing her restaurant without providing the employees with much advance notice spark more outrage than her vocalizing the “n-word” in a private conversation following a traumatic experience?
Propagandists demand that the word “bossy” be banned for fear of hurting the feelings of those the term is applied to. Well, what about the feelings of those being ordered about in a threatening manner by those whom the term describes?
Saw it posted of Twitter: "Yes, we will lose some good patriots but we can make them heroes if we stick together folks! " Of course, those usually saying such merely egg on sort of like the Jihadist leaders that drone on how much they have sacrificed for the conflict by urging other's people children to blow themselves up why they themselves live to a ripe old age.
The accused gunman of the Jewish community center in Kansas is claimed to be a former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan and alleged to have called his wife from a casino sometime prior to the incident. Say what you will about the moral impropriety of each of these activities. However, one must admit that both are considerably social in nature, requiring a significant degree of human interaction.
With Pulitzer Prizes being dispensed over the story, it has been asked should journalists reporting the details of the documents revealed by Edward Snowden should themselves be held criminally responsible. Should William Lloyd Garrison or Harriet Beecher Stowe be condemned by history for exposing the deprivations of slavery? Should any Nazi brutality to keep news of the Holocaust hidden be applauded? On the drama series, “The 100” was the station council justified in tossing out of the airlock those wanting warn of the pending systems failure?
So if certain Baptists are going to insist that the call for one’s life is validated by the church institutional, does that invalidate the ministry of Martin Luther? If you are going to start making these kinds of claims, you had better parse them out rather that wallow in that warm feeling in your gut you confuse for piety.
According to a sermon on the nature of missions, one is not called to preach unless validated by the people of God. So does that prove that Joel Osteen is “more called” to preach in his second hand professional basketball stadium than a pastor of a rundown store front church or someone that posts material online?
In a discussion on the nature of missions, it was remarked that an individual pursuing ministry should not be allowed to begin careers in such without having preached before the same people hundreds of times. And Bible college classes did not count because those engaged in the dialog downplayed and poopooed the idea of education beyond that overseen by the local church. Given that pastors shouldn’t give up their pulpits that often if they desire to retain both position and salary, where exactly is anyone suppose to gain such a daunting amount of experience? Was such ever required of those imposing this arbitrary qualification? Sounds more like protecting the guild for the sake of the guild rather than the quality of the craft.
Regarding the Independent Baptists that insist that the only route into ministry is through jumping through the hurdles that they have set up. What is to prevent the disaffected from hoeing their own path? Protestants of every stripe (especially Baptists) can’t very well complain about it when that process pretty much describes their own origins in the annals of ecclesiology. Granted, establishment institutions are perfectly free to deny funding to upstarts operating outside the controlled systems. However, with the proliferation of Internet technologies such as social media, self-publishing, and digital recording, are such ossified channels all that essential in propagating a message any longer?
Independent Baptists discussing characteristics they look for in candidates for assorted ministry candidates is a person willing to be defrauded and not make a fuss about it. That one is especially no doubt helpful in the case of girls between the ages of 15 and 18 to keep quite about that “indiscretion”, lonely housewives with low self-esteem, and the elderly couple with the hefty bank account.
A Baptist podcast sneered down its nose about youth that step forward insisting that they have a “call to missions”. What do they expect to happen when often this is about the only career students in Christian education will be propagandized about and beaten over the head with from nearly the first day of school when they start diagramming Bible verses in their ACE workbooks.
It was mentioned in a Baptist podcast that just because someone participates in their church’s door to door soul winning outreach that the person has not necessarily made evangelism part of their life. Fair enough. However, in this day and age, is even approaching total strangers in such a manner the best way of going about it? As a general policy, I don’t open the door to anyone I don’t know. And when a stranger approaches with an unsolicited soteriological interrogatory, shouldn’t one be cautious as to what potential cult group the individual is shilling for?
During an O’Reilly Factor discussion of the NYC Muslim surveillance program, it was asked that since there are serial killers in America if churches should be subjected to similar intelligence gathering operations? But there really aren’t or that many Christian churches holding to an orthodox understanding of the Biblical faith that openly teach from the pulpit that those in attendance should violently murder those that they disagree with. Even fewer churches stock their library shelves with materials on how to take hostages or manuals hand to hand combat tactics as some mosques and Islamic centers have been known to do. Houses of worship are public places. How is monitoring what is said there different than picking up a broadcast transmission or something openly disseminated over the Internet?
Interesting. Apparently the residents of states with driver’s licenses not meeting the standards of the Real ID Act can be barred from entering government buildings or boarding a planes. Firstly, the 9/11 hijackers used boxcutters, not ID cards to commandeer the jetliners. Secondly, if actual Americans can be barred from government buildings for not having acceptable forms of identification, how then would illegal aliens be granted entrance to acquire their assorted handouts and targeted welfare benefits? Thirdly, if the federal government can delegitimize actual CITIZENS over the quality of their respective state ID’s, on what grounds does the federal government pitch a fit when states check their own state ID’s when allowing CITIZENS to vote or when suspects are detained by police?
It was reported that the Good Friday service at the National Cathedral lasts for nearly three hours. Given that the institution’s dean is a professed atheist, that’s certainly a long time to spend conducting a ritual in commemoration of a character supposedly no more real than Superman, Darth Vader, or Gandalf the Wizard.
Why shouldn’t a child get some sort of certificate or recognition for participating in organized sports? There is really no obligation forcing them to be there to begin with.
John Kerry thinks he was worked out an agreement that will curb violence in Ukraine . Didn’t Neville Chamberlain claim to have something similar in his own hand?
Frederick Meekins is an independent theologian and social critic. Frederick holds a BS in Political Science/History, a MA in Apologetics/Christian Philosophy from Trinity Theological Seminary, and a PhD. in Christian Apologetics from Newburgh Theological Seminary.
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