Category: In The News!
Articles analyzing current events.
In the News: Criticizing the Five Step Plan
I recently was sent an article titled, “Do We Have A Catechism?”, written by Ken Green. The form the article took, and the comments following, indicate that brother Green had posted it to his Facebook page.
Though brother Green gave no specifics in the article, it was critical of the preaching and attitudes of Christians in the past. Notice the following two quotes:
We do not have catechism classes that insist on the rote learning of the proper responses to various questions about God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, the church, faith, baptism, worship, and other doctrines. But, by and large, our people have done quite well in memmorizing (sic) things they can recite on a moment’s notice, while, too often, having little understanding of the material and never really growing in the grace and knowledge of the Lord.
But there was a stretch of many years when at least a couple of generations grew up in our churches without hearing much about love, grace and forgiveness and how we’re supposed to treat each other, and it had some devastating effects.
Brother Green took issue with the call made for “distinctive preaching” and said that what was meant is that we should be “reciting the catechism.” It is becoming fairly common to hear a rather dismissive attitude towards the faith and practice of earlier generations of Christians. This is unfortunate.
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In the News: October 21, Just Another Day
Back in late May, we noted that radio personality Harold Camping had incorrectly predicted the world would end on May 21st. It was a big story at the time, though I am not sure why. Such predictions have been made since the first century, and have always been bogus. There is a reason for this, as the Bible clearly reveals that man can’t know the day of the Lord’s second coming, “For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night” (1 Thessalonians 5:2).
Camping refused to admit that he was wrong when May 21st came and went. At least, not completely wrong. Instead, he claimed that Jesus had indeed come in judgment upon the world, but had in His mercy allowed the world to continue for five more months. He then proclaimed confidently that the universe would come to an end on October 21st. This tactic of revising predictions after the fact is again not unique. The Jehovah’s Witnesses, among others, have done it on several occasions.
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In the News: The Eurasian Diving Bell Spider
In a recent article at the Science News website (sciencenews.org), writer Daniel Strain noted the following:
In Germany’s Eider River, spiders not only swim with the fishes, they kind of breathe like them, too.
Eurasian diving bell spiders (Argyroneta aquatica) survive entirely underwater by living in large air bubbles, which the crawlers trap in silken webs. A new study shows that these bubbles work like a “physical gill,” drawing oxygen in from the water to match much of the spider’s consumption. Researchers from Australia and Germany report their findings in the July Journal of Experimental Biology .
Everywhere around us is the evidence of design. This is one example among millions we could use to illustrate the same basic point. This universe, earth, and the life on it are all too complex to be the product of chance. As the Psalmist put it:
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In the News: Criticism, Facebook and the Children of Israel
The Facebook website is ubiquitous. It was recently reported that 750,000,000 people worldwide are active participants on the website. The number is mind boggling.
Late Tuesday evening a change was made to the format and functionality of the site. While there are some obvious improvements, change is always a bit disconcerting, and many have bitterly complained about the alterations. A few have maintained a good humor about it, though, and I came across this particular quote about the revisions:
I am appalled that the free service that I am in no way obligated to use keeps making changes that mildly inconvenience me.
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In the News: Cheerleaders and Modesty
More and more often you hear of Christian young ladies participating in cheerleading activities. Is there anything objectionable about cheerleading? Well, yes and no. There is nothing objectionable in leading cheers at football games and other school events. However, too often cheerleading includes two things that a Christian girl should have no part in: 1) Immodest dress; and, 2) Lascivious choreography.
In the News: A New Euphemism for Abortion
In a recent story that appeared in the New York Times titled The Two-Minus-One Pregnancy, Ruth Padawer profiled a 45 year old pregnant woman who had chosen to “reduce” the fetuses in her womb from two to one. Following is a quote from that profile:
She was 45 and pregnant after six years of fertility bills, ovulation injections, donor eggs and disappointment — and yet here she was, 14 weeks into her pregnancy, choosing to extinguish one of two healthy fetuses, almost as if having half an abortion. As the doctor inserted the needle into Jenny’s abdomen, aiming at one of the fetuses, Jenny tried not to flinch, caught between intense relief and intense guilt.
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In the News: Another Rock Star Dies
British singer Amy Winehouse died on July 23, 2011. Winehouse was a talented performer with a distinctive voice and style, who died following a history of drug abuse, at the age of 27.
Her death is one in a long line of untimely deaths of celebrities and performers. In fact, the age of 27 seems to be significant, as singers Kurt Cobain, Jimi Hendrix and Janice Joplin all died at that age as well. All were heavy drug users, and Hendrix and Joplin died of drug overdoses. Cobain committed suicide.
In the News: On “Selective Preaching”
Occasionally I receive a bulletin called Preacher Talk written by Cecil May Jr. May is, I believe, the President of Faulkner University in Montgomery, AL, and a long time preacher among the institutional churches. He is a good writer, and wrote the following short article titled, Selective Preaching, in the May 2011 issue.
In the News: One Point Four Percent
I remember when researchers supposedly discovered what was claimed to be a “gay gene.” It was all over the news, and trumpeted to such an extent by homosexual activists that it is now commonly believed that homosexuals “do not choose” their lifestyle.
Of course, it wasn’t true. As the researcher who supposedly discovered the “gay gene” noted, “Homosexuality is not purely genetic… environmental factors play a role. There is not a single master gene that makes people gay….I don’t think we will ever be able to predict who will be gay” (Dean Hamer).
In the News: May 21, 2011 (The Aftermath)
A week ago yesterday, the 89 year old radio evangelist Harold Camping was proven to be a false teacher… again.
His prediction that Christians would be raptured on May 21st, 2011 did not come true. Actually, that was a second false prediction, as he initially had claimed September 6, 1994 as being the date of the rapture. He later claimed a mathematical error to be the problem when it did not happen, but in the weeks leading up to May 21st, declared with 100% certainty that his math was now correct, and his interpretation sure.
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In the News: May 21, 2011 (Yesterday)
According to Premillenialist and radio personality Harold Camping, the rapture was supposed to take place on May 21st, and the final judgment will occur on October 21st of this same year.
Read the following from the first page of the “We Can Know” website:
“This web site serves as an introduction and portal to four faithful ministries which are teaching that WE CAN KNOW from the Bible alone that the date of the rapture of believers will take place on May 21, 2011 and that God will destroy this world on October 21, 2011.”
Also
“Learn about the Biblical Timeline of History, the correct method of Bible interpretation, the End of the Church Age and God’s command to believers that they must depart out of the churches. Study the proofs that God has so graciously given in His Word showing us that these dates are 100% accurate and beyond dispute.”
We have studied our Bible, and are not surprised to be alive and here on May 22nd. The reason we are not surprised is that the Bible does not teach the doctrine of the rapture, and the Bible does not contain a timeline indicating that “we can know” the time our Lord will return in judgment upon the earth.
In the News: Submitting to the Lordship of Jesus
A recent article at the Fox News website reports that the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has voted to ratify a proposal that will eradicate the requirement of unmarried clergy to remain celibate. (To read the article, click here).
There is a lot wrong with that sentence, including the idea that a church can vote to make any doctrinal change, the concept of a clergy/laity distinction, and the idea that it is acceptable for a professed Christian to engage in the act of fornication.
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In the News: The Difference – Christians VS Muslims
A few days ago MSNBC carried a discussion between Time Magazine’s World Editor, Bobby Ghosh and MSNBC show host Chuck Todd.
Ghosh, who was apparently being presented as some type of expert on the matter, was quoted as saying that the Koran is held by Muslims to be more sacred than Christians regard their Bible to be. Note the dialogue:
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In the News: Partial Ban on Abortions – Arizona
I came across a rather peculiar story last Thursday, in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. The title of the article, a short blurb from the Associated Press, Abortions based on fetus’s race barred.
The article states:
Gov. Jan Brewer has signed what is likely the first legislation in the nation to ban abortions over ethnicity.
The law makes it a Class 3 felony to knowingly perform or provide financing for an abortion sought because of the rae or sex of the fetus or a parent’s race. The maximum punishment is 3 1/2 years in prison.
This is one of the most bizarre stories I have read in a while. Of course, I am certainly in favor of banning abortions, for whatever reason, but for the life of me I can’t imagine the practicality of this law.
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In the News: The State of the Gay
Last week some anonymous former and present homosexual students at Harding University released a “manifesto” on a website, and passed out hard copies at certain locations on campus. The University responded by blocking the website from the University network, and releasing a statement from school President David B. Burks, who said:
“Harding University holds to the biblical principle that sexual relationships are unacceptable to God outside the context of marriage. Sexual immorality in any form will result in suspension from the university.”
The statement accurately reflects what the Bible teaches on the subject of sexuality. The Hebrew writer wrote, “Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge” (Hebrews 13:4).
