Wednesday, January 28, 2015

WISDOM- WAR- AND WORLD EVENTS-
 I guess – for now- I’ll try and add just a few world events to each post.
At the bottom I posted some old teachings I did that I felt would fit in with some of the videos I made the last few weeks.
Since I loaded the post already- I won’t write much on the movie AMERICAN SNIPER- But I hope to get to it on the video.
Christians are at danger- in my view- when we slip into the mindset of ‘glorying’ in war- the scripture says-
1 From whence come wars and fighting’s among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? 2 Ye lust , and have not: ye kill , and desire to have , and cannot obtain: ye fight and war , yet ye have not, because ye ask not
 The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. 2 And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD'S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. 3 And many people shall go and say , Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 4 And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more
And, behold , one of them which were with Jesus stretched out his hand, and drew his sword, and struck a servant of the high priest's, and smote off his ear. 52 Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.-
We live in a day where we view war/ killing- as almost a sport event- we have ‘teams’ that we route for-we want ‘our’ team to win- this is built in us- we are a competitive people.
The danger is when we do not see the tragedy of the taking of human life- by ‘both teams’- we can react as a society- to want vengeance- and route for our team-
I have not seen the movie yet- but have read reviews- and am familiar with the controversy- for those who don’t watch my videos- one note-
The real life person portrayed in the movie is Chris Kyle- he is considered the MOST LETHAL sniper in U.S. military history- with 160 confirmed kills.
The movie is based on Kyle’s bestselling autobiography-
The excerpts from the book are quite disturbing- you get a picture of a young man who is somewhat unstable-
Chris was investigated by the military for killing an unarmed civilian- he also killed a boy- and witnessed his mother running up to the body- tearing her clothes- and breaking down crying.
Chris recounts this in his book- and says he was unmoved by it.
I’m not sure if the movie covers how/who killed Chris- he was murdered while the movie was in production.
He was at a shooting range here in Texas on Feb. 2nd- 2013.
He was shot dead by Eddie Ray Routh- who himself had PTSD and mental problems.
Routh shot him twice- once in the back- and once in the back of his head.
In the same style a sniper also kills.
Routh goes on trial next month.
Don’t misunderstand me- I am not portraying Kyle as an evil man- in many ways he is a victim of the tragedy of war.
May we never ‘glorify’ war- it tales human life- and that’s always a tragic thing.

 The bible chapter for the week is James 1- try and read it- here I’ll post a few verses-
James 1:2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;
James 1:3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
James 1:5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
James 1:12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.
James 1:13 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:
James 1:14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
James 1:15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
James 1:16 Do not err, my beloved brethren.
James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
James 1:22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
James 1:23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:
James 1:24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.

Philipians 2:5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
Philipians 2:6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
Philipians 2:7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
Philipians 2:8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Philipians 2:9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
Philipians 2:10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
Philipians 2:11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.


I just read an article where 170 Fracking workers were laid off- and there’s more to come [last week’s videos I mentioned this- I also read an article by a financial guy- he said when oil was around 60 dollars a barrel, he was advising the banks that loaned money to Fracking, Oil field service business [we have a lot here in Texas] to keep a close watch- now that it’s in the 40’s- he’s telling them to get ready for liquidations].

Something I didn’t get to was the European central banks are going to start ‘Qe’- printing money- like we have done in the U.S.

Why? - Like I said the other week- the financial crisis has never been fixed- the media just don’t focus on it anymore.

This shows us that there are indeed problems in the global economy- I mentioned Govt. debt the other day.

But if you look at the numbers [there are many] total U.S. debt is 60- trillion, counting government- business and personal- in Europe- they did what’s called a ‘stress test’ for  their banks- and many of them failed. When you have this much debt- depending on how much the banks/lending agencies are leveraged- we can be looking at another bank failure- but this time worse.

So- for this week- the fact that the European banks are going to try what we did- Quantitative Easing- shows us that things are still shaky.

I read 5-6 outlooks for the coming year- by expert economists.
For the most part none of them are predicting- out and out- a ‘depression’- but- if you read carefully- the only hope to avoid a bad year- is for the U.S. economy- on its own- to ‘pull’ the rest of the world up.

That’s just not going to happen- I only post once a week- but each day I have been reading what I said the week before- just the fact that our Fracking industry is getting ready to go bust [unless OPEC changes its mind- and the price of oil goes back up] that- by itself- will drag us down.

But- it’s not ‘by itself’ there are many other things weighing in as well.

Today [1-23-15] I just read that the ‘king’ of Saudi Arabia died- at age 90. He was the main leader of the OPEC nations that was keeping gas prices low.
I talked about this the other week- so- we will have to wait and see if the price of oil picks up- that will have an effect on what I have been posting about.
I also watched the whole state of the union speech by the president, and without commenting on the whole thing- he did indeed tie the low oil prices to Fracking [like I thought he would] - and he did another thing that I thought was not wise.
He ‘prodded’ Putin- by taking full credit for the many economic problems Russia is going thru right now.
The sanctions we put on Russia play a role- but the main reason is because the oil prices are so low.
That has little to do with us- and it’s not wise to take credit- like rubbing it in his face- when it’s not totally true.
Our presidents do stuff like this- when ‘rubbing’ it in the faces of the opposing party- but when dealing with life and death issues- not good.
YEMEN –  The Houthi rebels in Yemen just overthrew the leader of Yemen- who was an ally with the U.S. in our fight against Al-Qaida in Yemen- which will cause a lot of instability in the region- especially at a time when Saudi Arabia installs a new king [who rumors say is suffering from dementia!].

Just a note- 2 of the most oppressive regimes in that area of the world- Bahrain and Saudi Arabia- are our ‘most beloved’ allies.
Why?
Because they serve our interests- we have a naval port off the shore of Bahrain [the 5th fleet- Covers the Persian Gulf- Red Sea and Arabian Sea] - so- we do little about the human rights issues of Bahrain [though we backed the removal- and murder of the heads of Egypt and Libya- for less].
When people in the region see this- it creates distrust- when we involve ourselves in any future action in the region- and we say we are doing it for moral reasons- they simply don’t believe us for the most part.

Matthew 24:6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
Matthew 24:7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
I added this in- not because I believe we are at the ‘end of the world’ but because there are cycles to things-
Jesus said nations SHALL rise against nations- there SHALL BE WARS and rumors of wars.
Stuff has happened- and will.
As I talk this year a bit more about world issues- I do so from the perspective of actually reading the news- and information that any other person would look at- I’m not ‘using’ the bible to predict outcomes-

Though the bible does speak about this stuff.
Some smart financial guys simply believe that we are at a time of Deleveraging- meaning a capitalist society simply has to have a cycle where all the debt- over leveraging- comes to a reckoning point.

And some think it will look like a Great Depression- they say these things- not from a biblical view- but from an economic one.

It’s funny [strange] but the bible actually has something like this- we call it the Jubilee year.

Every 50th year- debts would be wiped off the books- slaves- and prisoners would go free.
[Leviticus 25:8 And thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years; and the space of the seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years.
Leviticus 25:9 Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubile to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land.
Leviticus 25:10 And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubile unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.
Leviticus 25:11 A jubile shall that fiftieth year be unto you: ye shall not sow, neither reap that which groweth of itself in it, nor gather the grapes in it of thy vine undressed.
Leviticus 25:12 For it is the jubile; it shall be holy unto you: ye shall eat the increase thereof out of the field.
Leviticus 25:13 In the year of this jubile ye shall return every man unto his possession.]


This was indeed a sort of cycle- much like what these economists talked about.
So- in short- wars- depressions [or another Great Recession] are real life things- that have- and will happen time and again.
Jesus told us NOT TO FEAR- because these are cycles of life- those who ignore the warning signs- they are the ones who are shaken when things happen.

Most of us recall the stories of men jumping out of the buildings on Wall Street during the Great Depression.
Why?
All their hopes were in the wrong things- and when those things disappear [even on bank statements] they feel all is lost.
And he spake a parable unto them, saying , The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully : 17 And he thought within himself, saying , What shall I do ,because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? 18 And he said , This will I do : I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine easeeatdrink, and be merry20 But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things bewhich thou hast provided21 So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God- Luke 12.


SOME OLD POSTS- I went back and tried to pull up some old teaching I did over the years- I felt they fit in with some of the videos I did recently. These posts have been on my blog for years-
[Old posts below]
In the Greek world you had some very influential philosophers; Socrates most famous student was Plato- Plato’s most famous student was Aristotle- and his most famous student was Alexander the Great.

Alexander sought to implement the ideals of his teacher- he wanted to unify the known world under one people/culture- a belief that Aristotle held- a sort of ‘unified theory’ [Einstein] that would seek to bring all learning/knowledge together under one supreme [Divine] principle.

Alexander’s experiment was called Hellenization- which was the Greek worlds attempt to impose Greek culture/language on all their conquered enemies- and at the same time allow them to hold on to the their own culture too. Alexander did amazingly well at this experiment- at the young age of around 24 he had accomplished most of his mission. The cities were a sort of composite of Greek culture mixed in with their own culture- this is where we get the modern term Cosmopolitan.

Alexander died young and his kingdom was divided between 4 generals- one of them- Ptolemy- would himself make it into the history books because of his keen intellect.

The system of cosmology developed under him would last [and work!] until some 17-18 hundred years later when it was overthrown by the Copernican revolution during the time of Copernicus and Galileo.

Alexander’s generals would do their best to carry on the system of Hellenization- and other nation’s generals would keep the system going even after Greece fell. One of them- Octavian [Roman general] makes it into the history books by another famous name- Julius Caesar.

Alexander established a great library in the Egyptian city of Alexandria [named after him] and many of the great writings were preserved during this time.

The writings of Aristotle would be discovered again during the time of Thomas Aquinas [13th century Catholic genius/scholar] and this would lead to Scholasticism [a peculiar school of thought developed/revived under Aquinas] and give rise to the Renaissance.

Okay- before the birth of Christ- the Jewish people resisted the imposing of Greek culture upon them- you had the very famous resistance under the Jewish Maccabean revolt- where the Jews rose up and fought the wicked ruler Antiochus Epiphanies- and till this day the Jewish people celebrate this victory at Hanukah.

Eventually Rome would conquer the Greek kingdom and the Jewish people were allowed to keep their culture and temple- yet they were still a people oppressed. Hassidism [getting back to the beginning] developed during this attempt to not lose their Jewish roots- the Pharisees of Jesus day came from this movement.

Alexander was pretty successful in his attempt to unify language- even though the bible [New Testament] was written by Jewish writers- living under Roman rule- yet the original bible is written in the Greek language.

Bible scholars till this day study the Greek language to find the truest meaning of the actual words in the bible [I have a Greek Lexicon sitting right in front of me].

It would take a few centuries before a Latin version appeared on the scene [the great church father- Jerome- would produce the Latin Vulgate].

Yet it would be the re- discovery and learning of the Greek texts [under men like Erasmus- and the Protestant Reformers] that would lead to the Reformation [16th century] and other movements in church history.




[1587] OVERVIEW-  Lets over view a little today- in the last post I mentioned how we will be getting into Marx, Freud and Nietzsche in the coming months- yet I have so many things going on at this time that just in case I never get to them I want to lay out some stuff. First, most challenges to the Christian faith/God- have come from the point of view that said ‘yes- we believe that there is some being out there- God- but we challenge the purveyors of religion and how man has used religion to control- manipulate the masses’. It was not until the rise of these men that the popular approach of ‘no God’ would take a foothold in the minds of many unsuspecting ‘masses’. Before we delve into the ideas and contradictions of these men- let me explain why most thinkers of the Enlightenment did not take the atheistic approach- and instead opted for some form of Deism/Theism. The original debate of ‘where did everything come from’ did not start during the Enlightenment- it dates back as far as 4-5 centuries before Christ- the question is obviously older- but you can read the debate taking place in the great minds of the Greek philosophers; Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. Though the idea of God in the minds of these Greek thinkers was not the same definition that Christianity would hold to- yet they did believe in some type of being who for the most part was what we would think of as God- they referred to him as The Prime Mover- a term that the great Catholic thinker Thomas Aquinas would use in the 13th century as he too argued for the existence of God. Okay- the Greeks taught that the universe/cosmos always existed- and there was an initiator who started the ball rolling [motion]. Their ideas about how the solar system worked were primitive- the famous idea espoused by Ptolemy had a sort of crystalline sphere surrounding the earth and the stars and planets were ‘stuck’ to this shield and as the sphere rotated- that’s what caused the heavens to change. Obviously the breakthroughs in cosmology that occurred under Copernicus and Galileo would bring us into a more perfect idea of how everything functions- yet the Ptolemaic view prevailed for centuries. Now- over the centuries those who began to challenge the church- they would hold to a view that while it is obvious that some Divine being exists [yes- very obvious- get to it in a moment] – yet they were not sure about the existence of the universe- did it always exist like the Greek philosophers said- or did the universe- and all things- have a beginning point? It is important to realize that those who would later on [18th- 20th centuries] challenge the actual existence of God- these very intelligent atheists [not joking] understood that if modern science ever taught a view that said ‘there was a point in time where nothing existed’ these men realized if this were true- then the gig would be up- if there was a time where nothing existed- not even God- they knew beyond all doubt that you would have nothing today. In my view these atheists were the smartest. Yet the breakthroughs in Physics during the era of Einstein did finally prove- beyond all doubt- that there was a time in the past where Time, Matter, Space- that all things did indeed have a starting point. This scientific fact [not religious fact] is absolute- beyond all doubt- irrefutable proof that God does indeed exist- and that he does possess all the attributes ascribed to him by Christian theology. If there was a time where nothing existed [not even God] then you would have nothing today- that’s fact- not belief. So- this is the way the world has debated about the subject for thousands of years- and for the recent theories to try and go back to the idea that the cosmos always existed- well that’s stone age thinking- that’s a rejection of what is commonly referred to as Big Bang cosmology- and no serious thinker rejects Einstein’s theories any more. So- where does that leave us? As we get into the many ideas people have come up with about God- religion- etc. we want to give the critics their chance to make the case- I have been reading [and refuting] Christopher Hitchens book these last few weeks [God is not Great- Hitchens is a famous atheist] and I’m giving him a fair hearing- but not going easy on his blunders as well. A while back I got into a debate on a scientific type site- it was Christian in nature- but as I read the feed I realized there were a bunch of scientists going at it- smart men- some on the side of faith- others against it. I added [hesitantly!] my 2 cents worth. At one point- one of the scientists made a major blunder in logic while making his case that there is no God- I wasn’t too mean [heck- he was mocking Christians- I had to be a little mean] and as I posted my correction- proving him to be wrong- not in my area of faith- but in his area of science- he left the debate and never came back. As I checked the posts the next day- I saw another scientist anonymously posted a comment- agreeing with me, about a scientific fact- and admitting that his friend was indeed wrong. The point? It is too easy in this debate to think ‘surely these men must be right- after all they wouldn’t be so popular if they were wrong’- the fact is- this debate is not new, and yes- there are many popular writers/thinkers who are teaching an atheistic view- and these guys are making major mistakes in logic, fact, even in their own fields- they have been proven wrong- time and time again. So for those who are fans of the thinkers I will be refuting down the road- keep an open mind- don’t assume that these men are beyond fault- major fault in my view- and realize that the most prevalent idea espoused by the atheistic thinkers today- has indeed been proven false. You cannot get something from nothing- if there were a time where nothing existed- then nothing would exist today.





[1586] FREUD-NIETZSCHE AND MARX- Today I need to do a little more on our study of Modernity [the thinkers who have influenced Western culture/thought from the 1700’s- 2000’s]. At this time I have 3 separate studies I have started on-line; Classics of literature, Great Christian thinkers of history, and Modernity. As time rolls on- I will gradually post all new studies once a year in a monthly post [most of the time it will be February] and as I update them you can read the most recent ones from the most recent years.

Okay- I am skipping a bunch of stuff to jump into the thinkers who represent the most popular forms of atheism- Marx, Nietzsche and Freud. But first we need to take a look at Ludwig Feuerbach. L.F. [Ludwig Feuerbach] laid the groundwork for these other more famous rejecters of God and Christianity. During the enlightenment period it was rare for the critics of religion to hold an outright atheistic view- men like Hume and Voltaire- though true critics of the church- did not come out openly and deny the existence of God. It was also difficult [impossible?] to hold professorships in the universities if you were a doubter of God. Both Hume and Voltaire did not hold positions. F.S. was Hegelian in a way [he followed Hegel’s idea that ‘God’ comes to self consciousness thru the development of humanity] but F.S. was a Materialist- Hegel was an Idealist. Remember- idealism is the philosophical system that sees reality existing in forms/ideas first- then later comes the material thing. The great ancient philosopher Plato was an idealist. F.S. espoused the idea that reality starts with the material existence of man first- and thru religion man ‘projects’ the idea of God/spirit into society- and as man and Christianity develop [all good things for F.S.] that the ultimate truth that we learn on this journey is that man is really all there is- his ‘phase’ of God and religion were simply necessary stages for man to arrive at this self conscious state in which he finally realizes that man is all there is- God was a ‘crutch’- a needed one- but never the less simply a projection of mans mind until he came to full maturity. For F.S. ‘theology [the study of God] is anthropology’ [the study of man]. So in this sense he follows Hegel- the development of man and society is the development of God- but…..[ didn’t mean to paste this part- but left it on- can’t hurt- I’m not a great ‘cut and paste’ person!]


Okay- let’s try and transition a bit.

In the last Philosophy post I hit on the 10th-14th century development of modern thought- today I want to jump into the 16th-18th centuries. Like I said in a previous post- after the Renaissance and the Reformation and the great scientific revolution- you had the world in somewhat of a tailspin.

 What I mean is for hundreds of years people trusted in the old institutions [like the Catholic Church] to tell them what was true or false- then with the development of all these modern movements people began questioning stuff.

Was it good to question things? Sure. But some challenged the very foundations of thought and knowing [called Epistemology] and went a bit too far.

Some thinkers went back to the thought of Plato [400 years BC] and said that the mind is the main source of all knowledge- these were the 17th century Rationalists.

Rationalism- as a philosophy- was an outgrowth of all the great strides that man was making in all these other areas of life. The Scientific Revolution totally challenged the age old beliefs of many in the church.

Math became a sort of new ‘god’. How so? As science invented the Microscope and Telescope- man was able for the first time to peer deeply into the heavens- and to see deeply into the microscopic world.

As the great minds [Copernicus] showed us that the Universe was different than what we thought [Heliocentric versus Geocentric] man was able to do mathematical calculations and to say that a specific planet or star [or Comet] would show up at an exact date- or spot- and Walla- it would happen [you could look thru the Telescope and sure enough the math was right- the object that was calculated to be there- was.]

These calculations were mathematical formulas- so math began to be seen as the new religion in many ways.

There are even some thinkers in the modern day that still say the only ‘real truth’ that exists is mathematical formulas. Yeah- one guy wrote an entire book on the subject- the problem? Well- his book was not written in math- but words.

Yes- even the extreme deniers of Objective truth do make mistakes.

Now- what’s wrong with rationalism? Of course being rational is okay- but the philosophy itself denied real Objective truth. Truth that corresponds to some other ‘outside’ reality.

This form of thinking [rejecting outside reality] is called Relativism/Subjectivism. While there is some truth to all the various fields of thought- yet extreme Relativism denies ‘reality’ as most of us understand the term.  There was a strong resistance to the 17th century rationalists- we call this Philosophy Empiricism.

The main thinker in this field was John Locke. Locke lived most of his life in the 17th century- but his thought laid the foundation for the 18th century Empiricists.

This philosophy says that the mind does indeed play a major role in the knowledge of things- but this knowledge does not originate in the mind [Plato] but in the ‘thing’ itself [Aristotle- remember when we covered these men? Plato was an idealist- Ideas were more real than matter. Aristotle was a Realist- closer to the thought of Locke].

Locke developed a theory called the Correspondence theory- that truth that the Mind discovers corresponds to real things that actually exist apart from the mind.

Locke was a practicing doctor- and most of the other thinkers of the day had room to speculate about reality in a way that Locke could not.

He lived in a real world with real patients who had real symptoms- in a nutshell Locke had to diagnose his patients based on his findings- he could not deny that there was a real problem- he had to have his ‘feet on the ground’ [based in reality] while engaging with his head up high.

Okay- I think we’ll end with this. Maybe you can go back and read some of my previous posts on this subject- just to become a little more familiar with it.

As Christians- we are not ‘required’ to know Philosophy- or current events- or science- but it helps us engage the culture when we do educate ourselves in these areas.

Go slow in learning [not too slow!] and try and see how the Christian Worldview agrees with- or rejects certain aspects of these different fields of thought.

Most Christians would reject Rationalism as a Philosophy- because it denies real objective truth- it says truth is relative- whatever the mind can conceive- or think- can be defined as truth [Unicorns?]

Biblical truth is based on real historic events- 1st Corinthians chapter 15 says that if we deny the physical resurrection of Christ- a real event- then our faith is in vain.

Christians base their faith on a real historic event- not simply on a belief system.
----  In keeping with the above comment [those reading from the ‘most recent- teaching section’] let’s talk a little. Some authors have reintroduced some of the more liberal versions of Christianity and it’s good for people to be aware of the pros and cons. Recently I received a teaching catalog from an excellent company called ‘the teaching company’ as I perused the courses they had some really good stuff; I ordered and have already started on a course on Einstein and Quantum theory [Physics] I love the course and these teachings [audio and book] are really at the university level. But I have noticed an area where the able professor is mistaken; he says ‘the universe is ruled-governed BY CHANCE’. Now, I know what he means, but that doesn’t change the fact that he is violating the laws of logic and reasoning by making this assumption [by the way this professor is also a philosopher, he should know better!]. Basically you can say ‘there are causes, things happening in the material realm that we are unaware of, as of now we have no definite identified cause’ but to say that ‘chance’ itself is the ruling agency is nonsense. The point being we should all have some background before accepting anyone’s teaching 100%. So in some of the recent Christian teaching some have resurrected the older liberal theories that arose in the 19th century out of the universities in Germany. Some teachers taught that the first 5 books of the bible couldn’t have been written by Moses because at the time of Moses writing was unpopular, and that the concept of ‘codified law’ was foreign, and that the commandment against idols was ‘too advanced’ for Moses to have written down around 14-1500 BC. So these liberal theories espoused a sort of view of God and religion that was ‘evolving’ over time. Von Harnack, Wellhausen, the philosopher Hegel all advanced this view [sometimes referred to as the documentary theory]. Well as time rolled on and we became more proficient in archaeology, low and behold we found out that 3-500 years before Moses societies were advanced enough to write down laws. The famous code of Hammurabi was discovered, it was a law code with 282 specific laws written down; something that supposedly was never done at the time. So how did the liberal theologians respond? ‘You are right, Moses  very well could have written down the 10 commandments around 1500 BC, as a matter of fact we now think he copied it from Hammurabi’! Yikes! You see when people exalt their view-theory above the actual evidence, then you have problems. It’s not to say that we should blackball their ideas, it’s just we need to know that some of these ideas have been around for a while and they have been fairly well debunked by other able theologians. Just because a ‘new’ theory sounds interesting, doesn’t mean it’s correct. In the teaching course catalog that the teaching company sent me, they also have stuff on the bible and early Christianity and theology. I did not order those courses because I am familiar with the theology of the professor [Bart Erhman] and though I’m sure he is a good man, I know he espouses views that are really not in keeping with mainstream thought. Now, if I had the teachings already, sure I would work the course, but I won’t spend a few hundred dollars on stuff that I already am aware of and have rejected. The point today is historic orthodox Christianity has answered many of the critics questions over the years, it’s not ‘wicked’ for a teacher/writer to reintroduce some of these ideas all over again, but people need to be aware that these things have been floating around for a while and the historic orthodox view is really the better [more historically reliable] view. Yes, momma and daddy’s church, old fashioned as it may be, probably had it right all along!


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Note- Do me a favor, those who read/like the posts- re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read them on. Thanks- John.#



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