Inclusion of a resource/presentation does not indicate endorsement of the contents. Provided for educational purposes regarding developments in the fields of religious studies, the humanities and social sciences from a Christian perspective. Issachar Apologetics Collegium is conservative Trinitarian not affiliated with any organized denomination at this time.
Tuesday, February 24
Monday, February 23
Does Southern Baptist Mission’s President Suggest Muzzling Opposition To Sodomite Matrimony?
Is Stratospheric Goo Proof Of Extraterrestrial Life?
Perverted Evolutionist Conjectures Humans The Result Of Chimpanzee/Pig Orgy
Saturday, February 21
Media Elites Call For Satanic Revival
Episcopal Hierarch Makes It Sound Like Drunken Bishop Did Bicyclist A Favor In Running Him Down
Friday, February 20
Is Focus On Christ Alone Sufficient For Church Unity?
So what happens when that focus on Christ leads some to believe that His Eucharistic remembrance actually becomes the literal body and blood of the Savior, some that his presence is somehow contained within the elements, and yet still others simply are a symbolic contemplative commemoration?
And whose teaching is to prevail in the way Sunday School positions or slots on the deacon board are doled out when the focus on Christ leads some to conclude that He returns to retrieve His church prior to the Tribulation and others to conclude after the Tribulation?
In his homily, Pastor Harris ruminated what the church in America would be like if there were no denominations.
Provided people did not just abandon organized religion altogether, the situation would return to the upheaval characterizing the Reformation and Counterreformation if it was required that only a singular opinion would be allowed to exist within the boundaries of a unified Christendom.
by Frederick Meekins
Do The Sarcastic Lack The Holy Spirit?
Thursday, February 19
During an episode of Generations Radio, some woman was giving one of those testimonies where they air all of the dirty laundry of their past lives as justification as to why you have to live a super strict lifestyle renouncing nearly every convenience of the modern world. In this verbal pity party, the lady remarked that she had never had a honeymoon. Given that she had six children by that point and was banging against the headboards with her now husband before he had divorced his previous wife (mind you, this is from the same movement where your daughter is classified as a street whore if she holds hands or kisses someone prior to the wedding ceremony), hadn’t she already had a honeymoon multiple times over?
Interesting logic. Because some overly sheltered Christians went hog wild into debauchery once exposed to the secular university campus, a number of homeschool podcasters insist that those in the listening audience aren’t supposed to aspire to anything beyond a life of manual labor even if they do not possess an affinity towards tasks requiring mechanical alacrity or to attain any knowledge other than that possessed by their parents. Sometimes I think about being a preacher. But if this represents the kind of reasoning we are supposed to nod in agreement with while verbalizing a hearty “Amen”, I sometimes think it is more my purpose to be more like a Mark Twain or Chesterton and just expose some of this foolishness.
Obama’s Terrorism Conference Refusing To Admit To Existence Of Radical Islam Opens With Islamic Prayer
Lesbian Threesome Eager To Brainwash Infant
Wednesday, February 18
Christian Filmmaker Befuddled Over The Relationship Between Media & Religion
In the synopsis, he name drops that the upcoming film features Harry Anderson.
The cinematographer reminds that Anderson, before his descent into obscurity, starred as the judge on the sitcom “Night Court”.
So if the truly sanctified believer is to refrain from these kinds of wordly entertainments, how is anyone in the listening audience even supposed to know what “Night Court” is?
Admittedly, I saw a few episodes of Night Court in my youth.
From what I remember, the comedy was heavy on innuendo,
I will confess I enjoy doubled-meaninged word play a little too enthusiastically at times.
However, I don't host a podcast insinuating that your daughter is going to end up being a lesbian if she's too infatuated from a literary or dramatic standpoint with the world of “Little House On The Prairie” as Generations Radio suggested some years back.
Are we to take away that it is acceptable to watch “Night Court” but we need to repent if we find “Hunger Games” to be an intriguing dystopian projection of the world to come in a few decades?
For this very same director that bragged about casting a former celebrity from “Night Court” insisted that it is not enough for a movie to be family friendly, wholesome, or make valid moral observations.
Rather, to be acceptable, a movie must deliberately push Christianity onto the viewer.
Christiano went on to lament how Christians don't get excited over Christian movies.
Sorry, but I don't plop down $10 for any movie where the characters do little more than sit around crying about their everyday feelings and common disappointments.
To be theater worthy in my opinion, considerable spectacle is needed such as some kind of mass battle, talking animals, robots, superheroes, space aliens, clashing wizards or spies.
Christiano further observed that someone couldn't remember what their pastor preached about a month ago but could recall details about “The Wizard of Oz” despite having not seen it in years.
Before heaping hellfire and damnation upon those that might respond similarly, a number of things need to be taken into consideration.
Firstly, how old are they now compared to when they first saw “The Wizard of Oz”?
So isn't that more of God's responsibility for how He allows the brain to decay overtime where it is often easier to recall things that happened to minutest detail 30 or 40 years ago but you can't for the life of you remember what you had for dinner last night?
Secondly, perhaps the blame should be placed more upon the pastor for lack of showmanship and presentation rather than upon the average Christian for failing to retain the intricate details.
For I am sure the next time that there are flying monkeys and dancing midgets in church that you are going to remember it.
Which brings the discussion to another very important point.
One goes to the movies precisely to see an out of the ordinary spectacle.
That is not the the case necessarily in regards to a church worship service.
Upon further consideration, what is retained from a sermon might not be all that different from what is retained from a film.
For example, unless one sees especially at a young age a particular film over and over again, does anyone really retain much beyond a memory of the basic plot usually?
As I approach middle age, sometimes I find I can't recall what happened the previous week on some of the dramas that I follow quite closely.
Thus, instead of condemning a congregation or group of random Christians if they can't elaborate the specifics of a single sermon, shouldn't the professional clergy be more pleased and concerned that those under their care recall the main points of the comprehensive Christian saga rather than the obtuse actions of a single Old Testament character with a name that defies pronunciation?
Along the lines of this criticism about the moviegoer longing for innovation and spectacle, Christiano lamented how movies never satisfy and people always want to see the next big blockbuster.
Let's apply that presupposition to other aspects of life one would otherwise consider wholesome, admirable, and desirable.
For example, according to this logic, shouldn't it be enough to go to church once and never have to go again to quench one's spiritual thirst?
If one's marriage is truly based upon love and not upon the titillation of fleshly desires, by Christiano's thinking, would a couple need to enjoy carnal relations more than once throughout the course of their entire marital union?
Media spectacle will never replace sermonic exposition as the primary didactic methodology through which concise doctrinal content is transmitted to the believer.
However, it often seems that certain Evangelical factions aren't that interested in making much use of these supplementary media formats to augment the learning experience.
In regards to the upcoming “AD” miniseries, the hosts of one program after remarking just moments before about the tendency of a number of Christians to stay in their own bubble, didn't really give much of a reason to avoid the production other than that its producer Roma Downey is a Roman Catholic with mystical New Age tendencies.
Wouldn't it have been better to wait and see if there are any factual errors in Downey's narrative rather than condemn the production on the basis of whatever errant peculiarities she might gravitate towards in the personal aspects of her devotional life?
After all, most conservative Evangelicals allow the King James Bible to stand on its own merits without the homosexual and Romanist proclivities of the monarch for which this translation of divine revelation is named allowed to detract from its literary, historical, or theological merits.
Like it or not, believers find themselves in a culture surrounded by media.
It is therefore imperative not only to figure out how the media can be used to disseminate the Christian worldview but to also understand where the methodologies of entertainment and the church can diverge from one another without there having to be a spirit of hostility between the distinct purposes of each of these modes of communication.
By Frederick Meekins
Jesuit Operatives Propagate Subversion Regarding White Privilege
Should Christian Women Jiggle Their Bosoms Without Notice Or Comment?
Did Pope Francis Snuggle Up To Priest Insisting That Homosexuality Is Gift From God?
Will Vatican Propagandists Undermine Private Property In The Name Of The Environment?
Have Independent Fundamentalists Surrendered To A Herd Mentality?
Oprah Grants Blessing To Pastor Urging Christians To Abandon The Bible As Foundational Teaching
Do Vatican Astronomers Believe Jesus To Be Nothing More Than An Extraterrestrial's Love Child?
Dealing With False Teaching In The Church
Monday, February 16
Pope Francis Condemns Those Doing As They Have Been Told Unless The One Doing The Telling Is Him
Does Southern Baptist Russell Moore Advocate Judges Dropping Their Robes In Support Of Gay Marriage?
Can Whiskeypalians Get A Handle Over Their Partying Lifestyle?
Has Billy Graham's Grandson Ruined Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church?
Friday, February 13
Worldview Clashes In Super Bowl Commercials As Riveting As The Actual Game
A variety of assumptions worthy of additional comment were propagated for public dissemination through a number of Super Bowl commercials.
In one anti-bullying spot, a social engineer instructs the one to be mentally reconditioned to run or fight like a girl.
Upon compliance, the unenlightened male is subjected to Pavlovian denunciation (akin to what one would receive in a prisoner of war camp) over how he has insulted his sister.
Rather than an instructive analysis of preconceived notions, the lesson to be learned from the public service announcement is that, irrespective of whether you comply with or ignore orders issued by a women, you are going to be reamed a new one anyway.
For if the ambushed lad had not been told to run like a girl, he would have not likely perpetrated the offending action.
If producers of this broadcast spot are so outraged about thought crimes regarding gender, it would be interesting to hear their perspective regarding the commercial featuring perennial pottymouth Sarah Silverman.
In that one, she says after delivering a baby to the parents, “Sorry, it's a boy.”
Would such blatant denigration of the female gender be permitted in a similar commercial?
Lastly, what about the Scientology advertisement?
In 2011, Fox rejected a Super Bowl commercial that broadcast the message, “John 3:16, what's that mean?” on the grounds that the message contained too much religious doctrine.
Of course, that is unlike the moral-free content of the constant litany of erectile dysfunction commercials where the term “partner” but never “spouse” is constantly verbalized.
It is certainly instructive that programming executives at NBC had no problem, however, with a commercial for Scientology, which is a cult that believes that human beings are reincarnated space aliens and whose sexfiend founder tried to live aboard a cruise ship in order to elude capture for his assorted crimes.
It is easy to assume that the commercials are a momentary distraction allowing the viewer time for a quick trip to the bathroom or to grab another handful of chips.
However, in those brief 30 second spots, there is a contest underway for minds and at times even souls that is as pitched as any struggle on the gridiron
By Frederick Meekins
If Free Masons Are So Virtuous, Why Did They Want To Open A Nudey Bar?
Thursday, February 12
Satanists Sign Concordat With Transhumanists
In the book “Stop Dating The Church”, Josh Harris popularized the analogy that church membership is akin to marriage. As such, when things become difficult, according to Harris, one should not set out in search of greener pastures but instead endure through the misery. So does his resignation as pastor at the scandal-ridden Covenant Life Church constitute a form of abandonment akin to divorce? In most doctrinally conservative churches, the divorced cannot usually remarry without a profound curtailment of their ecclesiastical privileges and opportunities. So by the logic of his own analogy, should Josh Harris be forever denied another ministry position?
On an episode of “Standing Up For The Truth with Mike Lemay”, it was claimed that experiments in Christian communal living in the 1960's and 1970's fizzled out because the participants became materialistic and wanted their own possessions. But is that really sinfully materialistic or merely the way that God has wired human beings to maximize individual well being? The sharing of resources mentioned in Acts 2 is more a description of a specific historic incident. It is not elaborated as categorically imperative doctrine.
Art Historians Downplay Van Gogh’s Christian Struggles
Wednesday, February 11
Will Excommunicated Mormon Be Forced To Surrender His Magic Underwear?
A number of Christians have suggested that, if the state sanctions gay marriage, it might no longer be appropriate for believers to acquire a marriage license. Though the state sanctioning gay marriage undermines the institution, how would that impact the quality of your own relationship if you as a heterosexual acquire a license? You are in no way forbidden from pursuing a partner of the opposite sex. If a state allows unmarried couples to own the same piece of property, does that mean a devout Christian couple should not purchase a house or take out a mortgage?
Is The Emergent Church Edging Closer To Pantheism?
Regarding Christian Reconstructionists opposed to Fifty Shades Of Gray. Are they so much opposed to a firm hand of discipline or that someone might actually enjoy it? Isn't there more wrong with that film than a blind fold and a pair of handcuffs as one homeschool podcaster seemed to go on and one about?
Conspiracy Theorists Ponder Is The Greek Prime Minister Possibly The Anti-Christ
Discerning The Will Of God For Former Evangelicals
A number across the political spectrum are outraged that Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore would attempt to block the establishment of gay marriage in that state. You know, the law is the law. So in the future, should the inheritor of his judicial mantle step aside as easily as they suggest when Jews are once again onto box cars and octogenarians assert the right to 12 year old child brides? Given the advancement of Islam across the globe, don't kid yourself about the aforementioned scenario being beyond the realm of possibility.
Tuesday, February 10
Are Churches Indoctrinating Congregants To Be Police State Informants?
Will Christians Unwilling To Live In Communes Be Condemned As Reprobates?
Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore issued an order forbidding the issuance of marriage licenses to gay couples. The proponents of solemnized deviancy accused Roy Moore of grandstanding. But unlike that of the Ferguson insurgents, at least this jurist's political theatrics don't result in the widespread destruction of property.
Monday, February 9
Radical Homeschooler Invokes Abuse Statistics To Justify Denying Women Education
The following phrase was used in a podcast posted by a prominent Evangelical seminary: “Held accountable in community.” What that means is that you might not have violated anything concrete from the pages of Scripture. Rather, it means you just violated the nebulous sensibilities of the group. What can they do to you if you don't show up? If no other church will take you because of a sentence imposed by another ecclesiastical assembly, what is to prevent the dispossessed from forming a church of their own? The churches being openly defied can't very well complain about it when nearly the same thing occurred in their own backgrounds and origin accounts.
Will Apostates Extend Salvation To Synthetic Lifeforms?
Saturday, February 7
Did Chuck Swindol Overreact To Elijah's Declaration Of Despair?
A Facebook theologian has commented in agreement with Christian broadcaster Chuck Swindoll that we should never pray for God to take a loved one home to eternity.
It is contended doing so can apparently derail His sovereignty.
Apparently, if we believe that He is sovereign, we should know that He is fully capable of taking us home when He believes that the time has approached.
Isn't that formulation itself an affront to God's sovereignty?
For if God is sovereign in an absolutist sense and the religious thinker not precise in their statements worthy of considerable condemnation as the ultra-Reformed insist, doesn't God KNOW rather than BELIEVE?
In such a theology as being advocated by this Facebook theologian, prayer is not about bringing our requests and concerns to God but rather about formulating statements that we think will make us appear exceedingly pious before certain audiences.
Just how far are we to take the presupposition embodied by this religious postulation under consideration?
If it is wrong to pray for God to mercifully end a life that is suffering, is it just as wrong to pray that God restore life and vitality to a life that He might prefer to draw to a conclusion in this world?
And given that this criticism was posted by someone that is quite vocal in expressing their support of a predestinarian understanding of soteriology so thoroughgoing as to deny any place for human choice and liberty, it must be asked is it a sin to pray for the salvation of a family member that God would rather see slip into Hellfire and damnation?
As justification for this position, the account of Elijah is referenced.
In I Kings 19, while on the run from Ahab and Jezebel, Elijah succumbs to a moment of despair where he declares to the Lord, in verse 4, “I have had enough, Lord. Take my life. I am no better than my ancestors.”
From the Lord's response, apparently unlike Chuck Swindol, the Lord did not find what Elijah asked that much of an outrage.
Instead of chastising Elijah for his despondency, on two occasions the prophet was given a meal so that he might have strength for the journey that was ahead.
Thus, about the only conclusion that can be drawn from Elijah's lamentation that God end his life is that God does not always answer our prayers the way that we would like.
And if He does not, we might find Him lending us assistance in ways that we did not initially expect.
By Frederick Meekins
Friday, February 6
The Southern Baptist Ethics & Leadership Commission insists that the true Christian will get their children inoculated. Down the road, the same propagandists will probably also insist that it is the Christian’s obligation to take the Mark of the Beast as well.
Thursday, February 5
Do The Truly Redeemed Retain Health Insurance?
Furthermore, it is pointed out, if you retain traditional insurance, you are sending your money to a large corporation rather than assisting fellow believers.
So long as I get the services I contracted for in a satisfactory manner, what do I care if a corporation is large?
The broadcasters claimed that insurance allows for control over people's lives.
Instead, believers would be better off if oversight over medical affairs were transferred to the church.
But what is to prevent the church from exercising increased control over people's lives or from allocating access to healthcare in a preferential manner?
For example, would ecclesiastical medicine be dispersed to the truly ill or to the missionary couple with the saddest sob story with so many children that you can't help bring to mind the old nursery rhyme about the old woman that lived in the shoe?
During the 1990’s, Christian broadcasters would dedicate entire episodes of their programs shilling for a telecommunications provider with the angle that if you remained with these companies you where as complicit with these companies in the part they played in furthering the agendas of pornography and homosexuality.
Despite such grandiose moralizing, the thing was that this service was a pain in the backside to use when you needed it the most.
Do you really want the same thing to happen to you in terms of securing essential medical services?
by Frederick Meekins
Wednesday, February 4
Too Spiritual By Half?
The Lutheran seminarian insisted that this symbolically represented the precedence of the spirit over the human tendency to emphasize the body.
The expositor lamented that such a characteristic was the result of the sin nature.
But how is it our fault that the aspect of reality that is the fist to overwhelm our perception on an instinctive level is the physical?
We did not ask to exist as embodied intelligences.
That was part of our original design even in the sinless state.
Unless the demon was cast out first of the person whose body Christ healed and He then had them wait in contemplation for a time before He healed their biological infirmity, isn't this reading too much into the passage?
If one wants to be that attentive to the text, the first miracle in the chapter is actually the bodily healing on the Sabbath of the man with the withered hand.
And what about taking the Four Gospels as a comprehensive totality?
If so, isn't the turning of water into wine at the wedding feast actually thought to be Christ's first miracle?
So do we want to start reading meaning into these as well other than what we are told in the text?
The case could be made that, in terms of a miracle, turning water into wine would appeal more to man's extraneous physical desires than a desire to avoid overwhelming pain and disability.
You make a choice for wine; by design you feel a compulsion to seek the alleviation of pain.
Furthermore, are Lutherans really sure they want to open the door of reading profounder spiritual meaning into the miracles beyond the miracles themselves?
John 2:3 reads, “And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus said unto him, They have no wine.”
Since Christ ultimately relented to her request, why shouldn't we build detailed Christological speculations like one particular denomination does about how Christ's decisions are especially swayed by her contemplative petitions if we are going to read profound truths into something as commonplace as the order in which Christ performed these miracles?
If the definition of God's omniscience is that the Deity knows everything, wouldn't that also include alternative temporal potentialities?
Therefore, isn't it just as valid to conclude that, if Jesus went first to heal Peter's mother-in-law, Christ night not have gotten around to this particular demoniac before this pitied soul's life ended in some convulsive spasm?
Among Bible scholars and theologians, the Gospel of Mark is noted as a summarative action oriented narrative.
Why would there need to be some esoteric reason as to the order in which the events described transpired other than that this was the order in which events “organically” unfolded around Jesus?
By Frederick Meekins
Tuesday, February 3
Monday, February 2
Christian Publisher Targets Children With Leftist Indoctrination
According to the synopsis, Edgar doesn't like company but notices he is followed by a worm. So he tries to get away from the invertebrate.
The summary reads, “Edgar asks for the other animals on the farm to help him, but eventually he realizes he might have been part of the problem all along.”
One cannot comment definitively without having read the story.
However, the question can be raised why does a children's book need to paint those that might prefer to be alone to as if they are defective or some kind of villain?
Will there be a sequel to the story teaching the worm about the impropriety of pushing his affections upon those that don't want them?
Perhaps the text could be titled “Wiggly Worm & The Restraining Order Process Server”.
Some might think that I am reading too much into a children's book.
Eerrdman's has published another storybook by the very same author titled “The Chicken's Build A Wall”.
That book is advertised with the following copy: “At the farm, the chickens are building a wall, convinced that the hedgehog that wandered in must be trouble. But eventually they discover that he might not be as dangerous as they thought.”
Only the most obtuse liberal (of the variety those publishing this propaganda hope children will be indoctrinated into becoming) will refuse to acknowledge the kinds of agendas such a narrative is promoting.
Firstly, just because the first hedgehog is harmless, isn't it just as much an act of unconscionable prejudice to assume that the next hedgehog is just as affable?
Secondly, if the barnyard or however else you want to categorize their enclosure belongs to the chickens, on what grounds are the chickens obligated to allow the hedgehogs to remain there?
And if the flock does allow the one hedgehog to remain there, are the chickens obligated to allow his entire hovel to take up residence in the chicken coop?
Furthermore, if the hedgehog decides to move into the chicken coop, shouldn't the hedgehog learn to cluck like a chicken or will the chickens be required to grunt like a hedgehog?
It must also be taken into consideration how many hedgehogs can be allowed to move onto the farm before the farm begins to more resemble a hedgehog burrow rather than the original barnyard.
And perhaps most importantly, since it seems that the perimeter can be breached by an animal as innocuous (we are assured) as a hedgehog, shouldn't that serve as a warning for those chickens to get that wall erected before creatures of far more nefarious intent such as foxes, wolves, and weasels make their way into the chicken coop?
At that time, will these carnivores form lobbies and activist networks insisting that, since the hedgehog was allowed to take up residence without protest, that they too be allowed to remain even though their intention is to prey upon the chickens and destroy the avian way of life since these species have been in conflict with one another for nearly two millennia?
To paraphrase Freud, sometimes a story can be just a story.
However, when an author or publisher is explicit in conveying didactic propaganda through the medium of a children's narrative, the discerning should not slink back in fear.
It is because such impressionable young minds are potentially on the line that such concerns must be raised with renewed vigor.
By Frederick Meekins
Transcendence: An Encyclopedia Of Transhumanism & The Singularity
Friday, January 30
Thursday, January 29
Pastors Should Be Careful Of Reading Their Own Biographies Into The Apostolic Chronicles
In the account, a number left their previous occupations.
Given that Christ does not explicitly appear before us, it does not follow that we cannot follow Christ in the occupational status that we find ourselves in unless it is something inherently evil such as organized crime.
As an existential application of this passage, the exegete revealed that, if he had listened to his father, he might not have become a minister and certainly not have gone to the mission field.
So why is it deemed more righteous in certain Evangelical circles to leave your elderly family members behind to go minister to other elderly people thousands of miles from where God has already placed you?
Technically, can't it be a greater sacrifice to actually care for one's family because you can't very well gadabout from church to church patting yourself on the back over what a spiritual person you are for driving your parents to the doctors or send out a direct mail fund raising letter insinuating those refusing to send you a check for such spiritual labors are of dubious soteriological standing.
I especially fail to see how those refusing to dump attachments to family in favor of the mission field equate with those in Romans 1 described as allowing homosexuality to gain a foothold in society.
by Frederick Meekins
Tuesday, January 27
Monday, January 26
Friday, January 23
Pastor Overly Critical Of Social Media
However, in a sense, isn't it better to blow off steam online rather than physically slapping the taste out of the mouths of those that they are ticked off about?
As an example, he referenced those that post about getting shoddy service at Starbucks.
But as expensive as those beverages are, shouldn't you be able to vocalize your dissatisfaction somewhere?
But without complaining, wouldn't a pastor be a bit like a firefighter without a hydrant or something akin to a one armed boxer?
Complaining about things is the bread and butter of the ministry.
A pastor remarked that a status update is nothing more than an attempt to be a star for a moment.
So how is that in essence much different than what a pastor does whenever they ascend the pulpit and do anything other than a rote recitation of the Scriptural text?
A pastor admonished that Facebook friendship does not constitute real friendship.
But still isn't it better than nothing at all for those that do not derive much satisfaction through traditional human interaction or happen to be someone most don't really desire to interact with?
Most of the same information can be conveyed through a variety of posts that would otherwise be collected through means that would be categorized as “human intelligence”.
The pastor attempted to solidify his argument by insisting that Facebook friendships are not Biblical friendships.
But frankly, doesn't any relationship where you do not fornicate with, steal from, or murder the involved party pretty much pass Biblical muster?
By Frederick Meekins
Should Christian School Be Required To Admit Child Of Deviant Parents?
Thursday, January 22
Wednesday, January 21
The Pope's Advice Regarding Speech Raises More Concerns Than It Answers
The Catholic News Service has the Pope on record as saying “It's true, one cannot react violently... But...one cannot insult other people's faith, one cannot make fun of faith.”
Such a standard would seem perfectly reasonable in a culture steeped in Christian values.
However, in a profoundly decayed postmodern era, the Pope's recommendation raises more conundrums than his attempt at sage advice actually resolves.
For example, how is insult or making fun of being defined?
Some of depictions of Muhammad (as well as of Christ) published in the French satire magazine no doubt crossed the boundaries of good taste.
However, in this age obsessed with sensitivity to the point where certain agitators can't seem to shake off the sting of an insult after a few hours, the bar as to what constitutes being offended has been shockingly lowered.
For example, there are those that insist it is improper for adherents of one expression of the Christian faith to criticize what are believed to be the doctrinal shortcomings of another.
At the same time, those uplifting such a spirit of ecumenicity in the next breath let loose with a litany of rants against the brand of Christianity adhered to by the person being badgered into acquiescence and silence.
Likewise, what if the legitimate beliefs of a religion compel that religion to act in ways or profess beliefs that are perceived as offensive or insulting to others?
Muslims aren't too keen on the doctrine of the Trinity; is the Pope willing to renounce this foremost Christian fundamental in order to comply with the spirit of the age?
There are some that believe that it is not the place of church functionaries to bar an individual from the elements of Communion or the Lord's Supper.
So what if someone feels slighted by the Roman Catholic Church assiduously monopolizing what adherents of this understanding of Christianity believer are essential ingredients in the liturgical pursuit of salvation?
Likewise, to what extent is the remark “...one cannot insult other people's faith, one cannot make fun of faith” to be adhered to?
To some, an insult to faith can be little more than to insist that your doctrine is right and someone else's is wrong.
It must be remembered that when an American hears these sorts of principles, they are more like rules of etiquette in that they are good ideas to aspire to but not all that much will be done to you if you decide to ignore them.
However, when nearly anyone else around the world says these sorts of things, they mean these notions should be imposed as a matter of statutory law with punishments such as fines or incarceration.
It, therefore, must be asked does the Pope stand with those wanting liberty to prevail throughout the world or does he side with those wanting to plunge civilization into an interminable tyranny?
By Frederick Meekins
Tuesday, January 20
If Wrong To Persecute Christians, What About Oppressing Deficient Theologies?
According to this concept, when the higher level civil authority imposes a policy, ruling, or law that undermines freedom and liberty, it is the duty of the lower level magistrate to oppose such a constitutional infringement.
On the surface, such a theory sounds like a practical check and balance against unbridled state power.
But who will protect the citizens when local authorities rise to the level of a tyrant?
One theologian in particular promoting this viewpoint through his opus “The Doctrine Of The Lesser Magistrate: A Proper Resistance To Tyranny & A Repudiation Of Unlimited Obedience To Civil Government” is Pastor Matthew Trewhella of the Mercy Seat Christian Church in Wisconsin.
In my column titled “Pastor Suggests The Suppression Of Witches”, I referenced a sermon by Rev. Trewhella where he analyzed the Salem With Trials.
The pastor's criticisms were not so much that the Salem Witch Trials went too far but rather that these judicial proceedings probably did not go far enough.
From Trewhella's homily, the listener takes away the impression that practitioners of deviant forms of spirituality and belief such as witchcraft are to be denied permission to meet and congregate under he First Amendment in an America sufficiently Christianized to his liking.
So just how far do these proposed deprivations of liberty extend?
What about Jews?
How about Catholics?
Will any penalties be imposed upon fellow Protestants that adhere to differing interpretations of soteriology or eschatology?
Now that a number of Christian radio programs such as Standing For The Truth hosted by Mike Lemay have more than sufficiently applauded Pastor Matthew Trewhella on the point of his sociopolitical theology that is correct, how about an examination of those aspects where he might be in profoundly dangerous error?
After all, these ministries certainly don't mind tossing aside any of the good accomplished by the likes of Joel Osteen or even a few of the Emergent Church pastors because of where these religious figures have deviated from sound doctrine.
By Frederick Meekins
Friday, January 16
Faith On The Final Frontier
“The final frontier” --- since the mid 1960’s these words have characterized Star Trek’s perception of the adventure and the discoveries to be found in the distant reaches of outer space. Yet can this vast interstellar ether really be said to be the final frontier in terms of providing an ultimate foundation or purpose? For despite all its wonder, at its core the cosmos is not that much different than ourselves in that its external composition is simply another manifestation or component of the physical universe.
Thus, no matter how far man might one day voyage beyond the confines of the earth, he will still require belief and value systems through which to process and understand the role of the mysteries he is likely to encounter both within the human mind and those external to himself with which he has had little prior experience. Often the fields of science fiction and future studies are used as tools by which to forecast scientific and technological developments. However, in Religion 2101 A.D., Hiley H. Ward shows these speculative methods can be used to gauge the form religion might take in the distant future.
According to Ward, the astounding breakthroughs of the future will force humanity to rethink the most basic of concepts as these will be stretched beyond traditional understandings in light of extraordinary circumstances and conditions. For example, Ward points out that the very concept of what it means to be human might be altered beyond current recognition. With the advent of artificial organs and the possibility of growing replacements in a laboratory, there could come a day when death might be delayed indefinitely.
Many would no doubt embrace existence as a cyborg (an organism half biological and half mechanical in its physiology) if the interchangeability of parts presented the likelihood of staving off the grim reaper as long as possible. Eventually, man might no longer have to endure the inherent limitations of an organic body as range, perception and locomotion could be enhanced by directly interfacing the brain with a computer controlling an array of exploratory robotic sensors (28). In essence, some could live out their lives as a stationary central processing unit while their secondary android bodies simultaneously explored both the depths of the ocean and the peaks of Mars all at the same time.
Ward predicts that these kinds of innovations will spark profound renovations in man’s religious consciousness. Faced with the overwhelming enormity of the universe, man may feel forced to cope with the daunting fruits of this exploration by downplaying his individuality by fully embracing his place as an insignificant cog in a machine. In biological and sociological sciences, this theory is known as “macro life”, the propensity to view the individual in society as analogous to a single cell in an organism (30).
Such a framework places worth and value instead on the overall group as a whole. Ward foresees this prospect taking more concrete expression in the form of a hypothetical spaceship whose command decisions are arrived at by electronically tapping into the thoughts of the crew and melding these divergent consciousnesses into a single imperative authority greater than the sum of the component perspectives. Even though Religion In 2101 AD was published in 1975, this suggestion foreshadowed its fullest development in science fiction in the form of the collective consciousness of the Borg, the cybernetic aliens from Star Trek that perceive themselves as a single entity and who value the individual members of their society as little more than drones. This concept of all taken as a singular mind bears a striking similarity to pantheism in the realm of religious studies.
The diminution of individuality will not necessarily be heralded as a bad thing by those clamoring for its demise if it can be marketed as an elevation in consciousness as an ontological unification with the universal totality. There are few greater ego boosters, after all, than considering oneself God (or at least as some tiny part of the divine intelligence).
Regarding this perception, Ward provides insightful comments from some of science fiction’s most prominent names. Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry says, “Man will come to see himself properly as part of God. God is the sum of everything, all intelligence, all order in the universe...It is not inconceivable that as intelligent beings we are part of and ultimately become God, and ultimately create ourselves (Ward 136).” Harlan Ellison, author of I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream, adds to this perspective: “I guess I worship man. Each has the seed of God in himself (Ward, 136).”
While the religious philosophy of the future will strive to approach the majesty and wonder of outer realities by turning inward, many adherents of the coming cosmic confession will still feel the traditional need of experiencing the divine through a relationship with or by receiving guidance from what they perceive to be an intelligence or symbol objectively transcendent from themselves. Seldom can man pull himself up by his own metaphysical bootstraps.
But whereas the so-called God of old is seen as standing distinct from His creation but actively sustaining it by His loving hand and revealing His message through angels and prophets and later revealing Himself in the form of His Son Jesus Christ, the God of Tomorrowland will employ different couriers and manifest Himself in ways actually less personable. Erich Von Daniken in Chariots Of The Gods hypothesizes that UFO’s and extraterrestrials may serve as an explanation for the supernatural phenomena occurring in ancient times when these harbingers of universal wisdom appeared bearing enlightenment. Von Daniken does not believe in the traditional conception of a transcendent God. Rather he believes in a God composed of the sum of all knowledge in the universe, of which each individual is an autonomous piece of information akin to a bit within a computer to be reunified into the singular totality once the evolution to a state of pure energy has taken place (Ward, 129).
And speaking of computers, eschatologists might take note of the role of these devices in future religious thought as considered in dramatic speculative literature. One cannot dismiss such claims on the part of the likes of Hal Lindsay or Jack Van Impe as outright exaggeration. In David Gerrold’s When Harlie Was One, the Graphic Omniscient Device (G.O.D.) is a supercomputer capable of solving all problems and answering all questions. In the novel The Fall Of Colossus, Colossus is a computer designed to administer functions on earth and is ultimately deified as part of a new religion. Twilight Zone creator Rod Serling observed, “...with increased dependence of technology, we will find ourselves worshipping at the altar of machines (Ward, 133).”
Ward does an impressive job culling through the religious insights found across an impressive array of objective analytical forecasts and fictional literary accounts. Yet it is in the final chapter where Ward synthesizes the observations found in the preceding study into his own narrative vignette that the reader gets the best feel for where these cultural trends might take humanity in the year 2101 AD. It is at this point the reader becomes most engrossed in the issues under consideration.
In the year 2101, humanity’s major religion is the Church of the Celebration of the Holy World Cosmos whose members are called “Celebrators”. Celebrators strive to embrace all the latest fads in religious thought and philosophy such as panantheism, extraterrestrial wisdom, theories of multiple Christs and avatars, and claim to value harmony and expansive tolerance above all else (Ward, 217).
The Celebrators are opposed by religious traditionalists derisively referred to as “Pewsitters” because of their insistence upon utilizing pews and other ancient religious traditions such as monotheism. The reader would initially suspect the Celebrators to be the heroes of the story since they are depicted as the vanguards of progressivism and enlightenment. However, the church to which they belong is as conniving as the most reactionary of ecclesiastical authorities.
Through an agreement worked out with the government, Celebrators are forbidden from traveling, must be free of political ambitions, and have their minds telepathically scanned to prevent disharmonious thoughts. Pewsitters forced to attend Celebrator services face possible disintegration by a laser beam if they disrupt the proceedings. Despite the facade of technology and innovation surrounding the philosophy of religion underlying much of the science fiction addressing these kinds of questions, man cannot seem to escape his most basic requirements and desires --- no matter how much he might try to suppress them --- regarding his need for a personal God. In Isaac Asimov’s Foundation Trilogy, God or the “First Speaker” is depicted as a kindly, elderly gentleman who travels the universe helping where he is needed (Ward, 115).
Ward puts his own spin on this concept in his fictional vignette postulating a God dwelling anonymously among humanity as an inconspicuous New York cabbie. Fortunately, the Bible teaches that not only did a loving God come to dwell with men upon the earth in the form of His Son Jesus Christ but that He also provided for the forgiveness of sins and eternal life while He was here through His sacrificial death upon the cross and His resurrection from the dead. If that is not good enough for either the literati of speculative narrative or the mundane realist alike, that is their choice and they must live with the consequences.
When contemplating literary undertakings addressing the philosophy of religion, science fiction with its accompanying connotations of laser guns, rocketships, and creepy aliens does not initially come to mind. However, as Hiley Ward points out in Religion 2101 AD, this particular genre known for stretching the limits of perception can serve as an excellent conceptual mechanism through which to explore intimidating themes of belief we might otherwise be reluctant to approach.
By Frederick Meekins