Separate Faith from Politics?

I’m always suspicious when people (candidates) say that they can separate their faith from their politics. The latest effort at this is Mormon Mit Romney. “If I am fortunate enough to become your president, I will serve no one religion, no one group, no one cause, and no one interest,” he said. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry at such a statement. Anyone who can separate faith from any aspect of his or her life doesn’t have much of a faith.

Why would I say that? Think about it. If a man becomes a president, what will be his framework and worldview for making his decisions? Keep in mind that decisions he makes are very much in the realm of morality and ethics. The problem is that even if he doesn’t let his “faith” define his ethical decision-making process as President, what will he let define it? Faith in something else? Amorality? What?

I get so tired of politicians being so afraid to stand by their convictions. Romney said he would stand by his faith, but frankly I don’t know how he can do that, and turn around to say that he wouldn’t serve any one interest.

Can you imagine the apostle Paul running for President. “I know I said ‘this one thing I do,’ but as President I won’t let that be my one interest. I need all people of all faiths to pray for me. My faith in God, Christ, and the Bible as His word won’t be my main cause while I’m in office.” Right. Or imagine a king of Israel saying that he wouldn’t let God’s covenant determine his decisions while he was in office. After all, he would need the prayers of Baal-worshipers, too.

Separate faith and politics? Can’t be done. Everyone has a faith, and that faith will be the worldview through which all decisions are made. When one’s faith no longer is the primary interest, it isn’t much of a faith. Really, what America has to decide is this: what kind of faith do you want underlying the person’s decision-making process who serves in the White House?

Where’s the Focus?

I often read through various news sites so that I can at least keeps tabs on what’s going on the in the world. Sometimes I am disgusted just by the amount of bad news, with such a small amount of space devoted to anything uplifting. Given our need to dwell on those things that are excellent and worthy of praise (Phil. 4:8), I limit myself to how much I think I can take. It seems the news is always the same: here’s a murder, there’s a war, and here’s another drunken and drugged out star acting like an idiot.

And then there are the stories that focus on entertainment. Not that I don’t enjoy entertainment, but the focus is so blatantly materialistic. Much of the news is about this or that star, how much weight she’s lost or gained, how his personal life is going, and what the latest fashions are. It really does get tiresome. I get that feeling of crossing line and eating too many sweets. My stomach pays the price.

We were put into a physical world, but we are made to think spiritual thoughts. While I believe it is important for Christians to keep an eye what’s happening in the world, it is even more important to keep a focus on God. While we run this race, we are to fix our eyes on Jesus (Heb. 12:1-2). The world is passing away along with its lusts. Let’s keep a sharp eye on eternal matters.

Corpse Abuse

Did you hear about the mother who miscarried a baby and then put the miscarried corpse in her freezer? Not a joke. I don’t know what all the circumstances were that surrounded this, but when she was “caught,” she was charged with the abuse of a corpse. No kidding.

Now you should know where I’m going with this. Babies can be legally killed in the mother’s womb and then sent to the trash. This is protected, fought for, sanctioned by our own government. No charges of abuse. No abuse of a corpse, because they don’t consider it to be a corpse… until a baby is miscarried (within abortion age, mind you). Then the body is a corpse, and a person can be charged with a crime for not dealing with it properly.

The inconsistencies are disgusting. This nation seriously needs to wake up.

Herod’s Grave

After many years of searching, Ehud Netzer finally found the tomb of Herod the Great at the Herodium. As one can imagine, it is quite a find. The tomb itself had been desecrated, so there was no body and only pieces of what once was an elaborate sarcophagus. Nevertheless, it appears to be the real deal.

What does this mean for biblical studies? First, it doesn’t really confirm anything we didn’t already know. I don’t know of anyone who doubted the existence of Herod. His handiwork is all over Palestine. So there is nothing biblically that this finding proves. And since the Bible doesn’t say anything about where Herod was buried, the location proves nothing biblically.

However, any time a finding like this occurs, it serves to strengthen the fact that the Bible deals with real people, real places, and real events. Herod was no fictional character made up to push a legendary story on a gullible world. The Bible talks about him in conjunction with the birth of Jesus simply because he was in power at the time in Palestine and he had an interest (albeit a twisted interest) in knowing about the one who was being called king of the Jews.

Josephus was the historian who wrote about the place of Herod’s burial, and he was correct. This serves to strengthen the credibility of Josephus (a non-Christian Jewish historian). So when Josephus mentions John (the Baptist), James, and Jesus, then this serves as an indirect form of building up the credibility of the historical accounts. But only indirectly.

Still, the finding of Herod’s tomb is pretty monumental (pun intended). Congratulations to Netzer and his crew.

Why Murder is a Tragedy

April 16, 2007

As I write, the news is focused on the tragedy of the Massacre at Virginia Tech University, in which over 30 have died at the hands of a gunman (maybe more?). To date, this stands as the worst shooting massacre in U.S. history. Everyone recognizes this as a senseless and horrible act.

But why? We don’t charge animals with murder. We never accuse lions of murdering their prey. We don’t hold the animal kingdom accountable as moral agents for their actions. We simply recognize it all as animal instinct.

Humans are different, and we know this. Yet we tolerate the idea that humans are merely the product of random evolutionary forces with no guiding intelligence. But of course if this is the case, then we really aren’t different from the animals — we are products of the same forces that led to their development, and we have no ultimate accountability for our actions, right or wrong (which itself is a nebulous idea if you believe in evolution). But the problem is that those who would accept this cannot account for why something like murder is wrong. Why make a difference between animals and humans at all except only in degree? Why hold humans morally accountable but not other animals?

Because we know the difference, and those who deny it are fooling themselves. The reason murder is wrong is because we are different — we are made in God’s image, not mere products of pointless evolutionary force. The reason murder is a tragedy is for this very reason — taking the life of fellow human beings made in God’s image shows the absolute contempt for both God and humanity. If we take this away (as does evolutionary theory), we have lost our foundation for believing that mankind is any different from the animal kingdom — that same animal kingdom that is not held morally accountable. This is inescapable.

What a tragic day. And what a grim reminder that without a moral foundation, we have lost all moorings for life and reality!

When You Have No Argument…

…just throw things.

White House adviser Karl Rove spoke at American University (April 4, 2007). As he tried to leave, more than a dozen protesters surrounded his vehicle and started throwing things. No one was hurt, thankfully.

But doesn’t this just capture our modern civilized culture? It seems the art of debate is lost. If you disagree, just find a way to throw things, insult, and hurt people. You know, take a page out of Terrorism 101. Yet those who do “demonstrate” in this way are really only demonstrating how vacuous their thoughts and arguments really are. I can just imagine that such protesters are the ones thinking that they are the people who are in favor of peace and “getting along.” In reality, they have no respect for any divergence of thought or actual free speech.

The Fired Biology Teacher Revisited

I recently wrote about the biology teacher who was fired for passing out material that allegedly included biblical references. I have now seen the supplement he passed out and, in point of fact, it contains no biblical references or references to God (other than the name of the organization, Answers in Genesis). Why was it reported this way? In reality, the handout was an edited version of something Ken Ham wrote (Ham directs Answers in Genesis). See Ken Ham’s thoughts about this here. Basically, the handout is about poodles and natural selection. The “mistake” made by the teacher is that Ken Ham’s name appears on it, as well as the Answers in Genesis name. Mr. Ham has no problem with that. The problem is that it tipped people off to the source, which is a known enemy of evolution.

The teacher also gave a presentation on eugenics to the students. You can see the slides for that here. This shows the documented evidence of the role of evolutionary theory in the Nazi’s attempt to breed a superior race.

So, why was this teacher fired? If I may be so bold to say, it really boils down to two things: 1) handing out materials that would make young people question the truth of evolution, and 2) tying the evolution debate to moral issues such as eugenics. The combination must have been more than they could bear. Check it all out for yourself. It is amazing the lengths some evolutionists will go to protect their pet monsters.

If I Were an Atheist

I often wonder why atheists waste time arguing their position. Think about it. If there is no God, and there is no ultimate judgment, then why waste time trying to convince others of it? Why argue about it at all?

Let’s just say that atheists are correct. And let’s say that they are successful at convincing someone else that they are correct. So what?! Why would it matter? After all, if they are correct, then the believer and the atheist both alike die, and one hundred years from now it won’t have mattered whether you were a believer or an atheist. So why argue about it, right? Who really cares?

But this is very much a problem for the atheist, because he wants everyone to care. Yet the end result of his position is that it doesn’t matter in the final analysis. No matter how much an atheist might protest, he will always be under the cloud of never being to able to explain why anyone should care — if he is right.

But if he is not right, then it makes all the difference in the world. And this is something everyone should care deeply about. It very much matters whether or not you are correct about the question of God.

Biology Teacher Fired Over Bible References

Dateline March 20, 2007

A part-time biology teacher, who has a Master’s degree in science, was fired for providing material to students that included Bible references. His materials also included links between evolution, Nazi Germany, and Planned Parenthood. See Foxnews for the story. The teacher argued that he was just passing out materials that show bias, that he was trying to foster critical thinking, and that he specifically avoided teaching creationism. The school board said they fired him for deviating from the curriculum on the theory of evolution.

Yet the fact that he was fired over it shows that those in control of education are not looking for the free-flow of ideas. They want their students indoctrinated with evolutionism without any contrary material made available to them. One of th parents was concerned about his freshman daughter’s confusion. “He took passages that had all kinds of Biblical references,” he said. “It prevented her from learning what she needed to learn.” And what exactly did she need to learn? Certainly not the Bible, according to this parent.

Another father asked, “How many minds did he pollute?” Then, “It’s a thinly veiled attempt to hide his own agenda.”

Think again about what this says concerning our cultural and educational situation today. For using biblical material, a teacher is fired. Parents are concerned that this material will pollute the minds of their children and keep them from learning what they need. So, what they need, in our culture, is a heavy dose of evolutionism, no Bible, and the censuring of anyone who would dare question it. The evangelists of evolutionism are in full swing.

We should view with disgust the attempt to downplay the Bible. People suppress the evidence, mock its teachings, and yet have no idea what it really has to offer. Everyone has an agenda — including these parents who think their kids are being polluted when the Bible is given a hearing. The question is, which agenda is the proper agenda for those seeking truth? Christians have no agenda to hide; they do have an agenda that they should be loudly proclaiming.

An “Immoral” Comment?

Dateline March 13, 2007

General Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, expressed his view that homosexuality is immoral and that the military should not condone the practice by allowing gays to openly serve in the armed forces. Of course, gay advocacy groups demanded an apology, calling his comments “outrageous, insensitive and disrespectful” (see the Foxnews.com story on this). His reply? He regrets the personal comment, but will not apologize.

First, do the gay advocacy groups think that General Pace is immoral for believing what he does and commenting on it? Why are they allowed to say he is insensitive and disrespectful, but he’s not allowed to call something immoral? Why do they have a right to judge his actions, but he doesn’t have a right to express his views?

Second, where are the advocacy groups for free speech on this? There are groups that defend certain, vile forms of art as “free speech,” but they won’t defend a more conservative thinking person’s freedom when he calls what they accept “immoral.” Why do we not have the freedom to express views that a certain way of living and acting is immoral? If those who disagree want to find a way to argue that what they believe is moral then they have a right to do this. But just responding with their version of “hate speech” only shows that they work by intimidation and force, not by logic and moral persuasion.

Third, does this country believe that anything is immoral today? Well, yes, but the sad part of this is that what so many (at least the loud ones getting media attention) think is immoral is exactly the opposite of what has biblically and traditionally been regarded as immoral. This is calling good evil and evil good. Our culture has bought into the idea that it is “good” to “come out” and embrace the homosexual lifestyle (whether in actual practice or in endorsement) and “bad” to criticize anyone who does so.

I applaud General Pace for making his beliefs known. I don’t applaud him saying that he regrets calling homosexuality immoral. I’m sure the point he is making that he should have just kept his views to himself. But why? Homosexual groups don’t keep their views to themselves — why should we who oppose it keep our views a secret? If they have a right to force acceptance of their lifestyle while we have to silently endure it, then this country really has fallen.

Have we come so far that we are forced to keep quiet about moral issues and religious viewpoints? Let’s just turn the Bill of Rights on its head — people have been trying to do it for quite a while now. But this latest issue just reminds us that it is still vital that we stand up for what’s right and speak out when the opportunity arises. Our weapons are not physical, and we cannot endorse violence or physical abuse against those with whom we disagree. But our weapons are wielded through moral persuasion and reason. If we give that up, then it’s over. May God help us.