Category: Christianity

A great new quote for our subtitle

On Thursday, October 10, 2013

Faith is the art of holding on to things in spite of your changing moods and circumstances. — C. S. Lewis

I am getting old enough now that I am learning to distinguish between true doubt and just discouragement. Fortunately, doubt these days is way more infrequent than discouragement and discouragement has more to do with normal swings in mood and maybe even my blood-sugar level than any thing that could even approximate a rational reason for discouragement. Well, that is, other than my own weakness and misunderstands. It is not that the discouragement and doubt is not real, it is (maybe) that I have increased faith and know how to weather those periods better.

(h.t. Billy Squibs)

Life at 58 years old

By Dad

On Wednesday, September 25, 2013

In Christianity, Family

Day 765 of 1000

Dad in 1988 Yesterday was my birthday. I turned 58. For some reason, I had more time to reflect on life this year than in years past. Lorena and Kelly dug through a bunch of old photos and found one from almost exactly 25 years ago and put it up on Lorena’s Facebook account. I think the picture might have gotten me into a reflective mood. My father-in-law says that, for boys, the blood does not really start getting to their brain until they are about 25. I think it was just about when this picture was taken that the blood started to get to my brain. I was 32 or 33. My buddy Curt in Tigard said it very well in a comment that went with the picture on Facebook.

He said, “Ken – those were the good old days; when we weren’t good and we weren’t old.”

Well said. Those were the days when we knew what was right, but struggled mightily to do it. It gave us joy to do what was right, but there were lots of temptations. I awakened to the fact that this life and death struggle between right and following my own path would not end until I died, but it was worth it. The temptations were still the temptations, but they were not worth it. It was really quite a slow and gradual awakening for me and I started later than most. It all started to occur at about the time I started my Masters degree. After my Masters degree, I got married, we had two kids, and went through a pretty rough patch of career challenges.

By the grace of God, literally, these life circumstances kept me considering the difference between what was right and taking my own path. I knew I was a different person when I walked into one of our church’s Gospel meetings in a new town when I was a little over 40 years old. I saw an old friend from my high school days who also knew what was right, but struggled with the implementation. It dawned on me that we were both in the right place, trying to do the right thing. I was filled with an overwhelming joy knowing that it was way more important to me now to do the right thing than to do what I wanted. It was true for my friend, too. I actually wept.

Life is much better at age 58 than it was at age 33. I do not think it does any good to say stuff like, “if I knew then what I know now, things would have been different.” I did not know that stuff then, but I was on the path to learning it. That is a good thing. I cannot say there was not joy in my life back in those days. There was. Still I got hurt because of my own wantonness and other people did, too. It could be said that my wantonness was not as bad as that of many others, but really, that is bogus. It is also true that my wantonness was worse than that of many others. Those are all things to regret and try to make amends, but they are also important to put behind you and not let it have control of your life.

I guess the upshot is that I am really glad to be 58 years old. Life has never been better. There is still temptation, but the benefits of not taking my own path are right in front of me and impossible to deny. I can hardly wait for 59.

Just finished reading the Old Testament

By Dad

On Monday, September 23, 2013

In Christianity

Day 763 of 1000

I am about half way through a plan to read through the Old Testament three times and the New Testament nine times. After that, I plan to follow one my buddy, Jon’s plans. I like my current plan, but there are a bunch of other plans I would like to follow including:

A read through the whole Bible in one year (sometime before I die)
A read through the Bible chronologically
A fairly large list of topical studies (I do that a little anyway)
A read through the Bible while keeping a map book of where stuff occurred

The Old Testament is great, but for some reason it seemed pretty dark this time. Starting into the New Testament from that viewpoint has helped me realize a little better, the greatness of the Gospel, the good news. The times and attitudes of our day here in America and around the world do not seem so different in many ways than the Roman world of Jesus day. I am looking forward to moving into three reads in a row through the New Testament and the hope that is uniquely found therein.

Unequally yoked

By Dad

On Wednesday, September 11, 2013

In Christianity

Day 751 of 1000

I was thinking of a verse that I wanted to read, but did not know where to find it so I googled it. The verse is II Corinthians 6:17. It says:

Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,…

The whole context seems to run from verse 14 through the end of the chapter. Here is the whole thing:

Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you. And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

I was thinking about what one should do with respect to people who claim to be believers, but advocate for things that are clearly not scriptural such as remarriage after divorce¹, abortion², and homosexual behavior³. I was not thinking so much about these behaviors, rather, I was thinking about what I should tell my children. They asked me what is the right repsonse toward people who claim they have the same worldview and belief system as us while overtly advocating for things God hates and calls abomination.

When I googled the verse, it took me to a place that showed only that one verse. I wanted to see the whole thing so I googled the chapter. But, I inadvertantly googled Corinthians 6 (I not II). I figured it out pretty quickly, but before I did I read the first part of the chapter. It was amazingly apropo:

Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints? Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life? If then ye have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church. I speak to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you? no, not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren? But brother goeth to law with brother, and that before the unbelievers.

That was very interesting and made me think of some additional verses in Matthew 18:

Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.

This all gave me pause. I have always been the type to try not to make waves, but when one’s kids are involved it is often necessary to say something and probably take a firm stand. After attempting to get through the scriptural process and at least a plurality and probably a majority are still at odds with what you believe is true and right, then what? The kids really do need an answer, and a good parent owes it to them. I think the time is coming when more and more parents will face this.

1. The words of Jesus in Mark 10:11-12.
2. The phrase “conceived and bore” is used repeatedly (see Genesis 4:1,17) and the individual has the same identity before as after birth. “In sin my mother conceived me,” the repentant psalmist says in Psalm 51:7. The same word is used for the child before and after birth (Brephos, that is, “infant,” is used in Luke 1:41 and Luke 18:15.) God knows the preborn child. “You knit me in my mother’s womb . . . nor was my frame unknown to you when I was made in secret” (Psalm 139:13,15). God also helps and calls the preborn child. “You have been my guide since I was first formed . . . from my mother’s womb you are my God” (Psalm 22:10-11). “God… from my mother’s womb had set me apart and called me through his grace” (St. Paul to the Galatians 1:15). (Cited from this webpage)
3. Old Testament: Leviticus 20:13. New Testament: Romans 1:26-27.

An old buddy writes a book

By Dad

On Friday, May 31, 2013

In Christianity

Day 647 of 1000

A few weeks ago, my friend Eric told me about a book written by Karl Oakes. Karl is a mutual friend of ours. The book he wrote is titled From Circumcision to Paul: The Prehistory of the Catholic Church. I just downloaded it to my Samsung S3 from Amazon and look forward to reading it. The preface to the book describes the premise quite nicely:

Students of early church history are confronted with an almost insurmountable problem. There are no more than a handful of authentic Christian documents from between the close of the New Testament around A.D. 70 and the emergence of the Catholic Church in the middle of the second century. The literary evidence is so sparse that it is almost impossible to chart the course of Christianity in the intervening years. Nevertheless, an indisputable fact emerges from a comparison of the writings of teh apostles with those of early Catholicism: the two do not match. The ministry has changed from the apostolic pattern, the theology is distinctly unPauline, a liturgy has developed, and the rites of baptism and the breaking of bread are viewed and observed differently; even the Scriptures do not correspond. It is like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.

There is a reason for the poor fit. The two bodies of literature are expressions of different Christian traditions. The Bible was written by the eye-witnesses of the Lord and their immediate followers; the apologies and letters of the Fathers are from the church which would later be called universal. The differences cannot be explained by claiming the first century church was yet primitive while the second century literature reflects a more mature state of development. The chasm is simply too great.

If the writings of early Catholicism do not represent the church of Peter and Paul, then who were Papias, Polycarp, and the other presbyters of the second century? The question takes us back into the New Testament. The most complex and controversial issue confronting the apostles concerned the Law of Moses. The disciples followed the example and teachings of Jesus in all things, but were they also expected to follow him in his observance of Torah? The apostles and elders convened at Jerusalem and unanimously agreed that Gentile Christians were not bound by the Law. However, some believeing Pharisees refused to accept the decision and mounted a campaign to convince the saints in the outlying churches. The circumcising teachers who opposed Paul formed a cohesive movement, but when the New Testament finally closes, they utterly vanish from the pages of history.

If they had continued and evolved, what would such a church look like? It would have many features of rabbinical Judaism wrapped in a Christian package. They would have retained the more important Jewish festivals, perhaps Passover. Their worship and liturgical practices would derive from synagogal precedents, and their common prayer would be patterned after the Eighteen Benedictions. We would expect to find church documents without a trace of Pauline influence and a history of the apostolic period without Paul. We would see fasting regulations, rules on marital abstinence, Hebrew baptismal customs, and a legalistic theology. It would, in short, resemble the Catholic Church as it emerged into view in the middle of the second century.

History is written by the winners.
–George Orwell

History is written by the victors, but eventually the truth comes out.
–Former South Vietnamese Ambassador to the US

I have read a lot of Ancient Near East history, but my reading has been relegated mostly to academic works on the history of the resurrection of Christ by authors like NT Wright, JP Moreland, Ben Witherington III, and others. I am an avid fan of Rodney Stark, a sociologist who writes about the influence of Christianity, the Crusades, and the growth of the church over the centuries. I have read about the Waldensians, the Cathars, and other non-Catholic Christian movements that tried to closely follow the bibile. This will be a departure from all that. I hope to learn something and will report back as I work my way through the book.

Supporting traditional marriage at Chick-fil-A

By Dad

On Wednesday, August 1, 2012

In Christianity, culture, Family, Socialization

Day 346 of 1000

Lorena and Kelly support traditional marriage at Chick-fil-A Christian had his chemistry final this morning. This is not a post semester celebration because Christian has one more lab and Kelly has her final tomorrow. They are at Chick-fil-A to celebrate traditional marriage and support Dan Cathy and Chick-fil-A. The place was jammed, but they had a big crew working so they got their food very quickly. Everyone was in a great mood to be around like-minded, right-minded people. Lots of people took pictures and videos to commemorate the event. It was quite a happy occasion.

UPDATE!!!! NEWS FLASH!!!

Troy just commented that everyone was not just at a Chick-fil-A. They were at the brand new ONE AND ONLY to story Chick-fil-A. How cool is that. How could I have missed that. Thanks Troy!

Indoctrination at NCSU

By Dad

On Thursday, July 19, 2012

In Christianity, culture, Education, Socialization

The kids have orientation at NCSU today. So far they have heard about all the special benefits people receive solely because of the color of their skin or their sexual behavior choices. It is a good thing they are Mexican or they would not receive all the special privileges and advantages that are withheld from white males. It all seems pretty degrading to me. Thankfully, the only have one or two more brainwashing classes each–they got most of that stuff out of the way at Wake Technical Community College. Still, it is a shame they have to run the gaunlet of such nonsense to get to classes that actually teach them stuff that is relative true like math and chemistry.

Rodney Starks’ The Triumph of Christianity

By Dad

On Monday, July 9, 2012

In Christianity, culture, Education

Day 323 of 1000

The last issue of World Magazine had an article on the most recent Rodney Stark book, the Triumph of Christianity. I have read other books he has authored: The Rise of Christianity, The Victory of Reason, and God’s Battalions. He is an amazing author whose non-fiction books on the sociology of Christianity read like novels. I have not yet read this one. Stark was a professor at University of Washington for 32 years before he moved on to a position as University Professor and co-director of the Institute for Studies of Religion at Baylor University.

I had bought into a many of the popular myths about Christian culture that permeate our society before I read his books. Some of the ideas held by society at large with respect to the Crusades, the Dark Ages, and the spread of Chrisitanity are just wrong. Rodney Stark has done more to debunk these myths than anyone. Whenever I hear such myths confidently propounded, I want to just start handing out Stark’s books. I can hardly wait to read his latest effort.

Understanding the Times–Thank you David Noebel

By Dad

On Friday, June 29, 2012

In Christianity, culture, Education, Family, Homeschool, Politics, Socialization

Day 313 of 1000

Lately, our family talks about world views, morality, and world events more than has been normal for us in the past. I think this is because of the election in Mexico on Sunday, the election in the US in November, some Supreme Court rulings, propaganda filled college orientations indoctrinations, events in the Middle East, and our own rapidly changing lives. In the midst of all that, Christian is selling a lot of our old homeschool books to raise money to buy books, cell phones, and other stuff he and Kelly need for college. One of those books is titled, Understanding the Times by David A. Noebel. Kelly, Christian, and I read the book aloud together. We liked it very much because it pulled together a lot of material we had studied previously into a discussion about world views.

Actually, I have already written about the book a number of times. You can find those posts by clicking on the following links:

We read a lot of books, listened to audio talks, and watched videos about different worldview issues. Paul Johnson, Lila Rose, William Lane Craig, Greg Koukl, Dale Carnegie, William Dembski, Stephen Meyer, Robert Spenser, and others helped us to understand the historical reality of the death and resurrection of Jesus, the seminal role of Christianity in science, law, commerce, education, and the emancipation of slaves and women. They showed us why abortion and homesexual behavior are wrong and traditional marriage is right. The main thing Understanding the Times gave us was a grasp of how different worldviews understand all of these important topics and what to expect from people who are true to these competing worldviews.

The reason this has all come to mind is that we really tried to give the kids a sense for why they should hold to a biblical worldview. This book helped tie a lot of disparate topics together into a cogent whole. The deeper we delved into these subjects, the better we understood the truths on which a biblical worldview are founded. Understanding the Times did a good job of giving us the big picture when the kids were just starting high school. It has gone a long way to prepare them for what they have confronted in college. For that I am grateful.

We are just not that important

By Dad

On Wednesday, June 27, 2012

In Christianity, Family, Work

Day 311 of 1000

I happened onto a great article by David French at NRO this afternoon. I very much encourage you to read the whole thing. It was about who unimportant we are. it very much resonated with me. He pointed out the fact that, even though in the big picture, we are literally irrelevant, we do not have to be irrelevant to everyone.

Not to my family, however. For them, my loss would change everything. That’s when I realized a fundamental truth — a truth we’d all do well to remember: We can have (at best) a small amount of influence over a large number of people, but we will only have a large amount of influence over a small number of people.

An old friend and I were talking (via email) about just that topic the other day. As my kids finish up there time at home with Lorena and I, we have begun to realize that the relevance of our lives is tied up in helping just a few other people, but in a very personal way. With the kids moving on to bigger and better things before long, we want to find a way not to lose that relevance. Some people move to a foreign country to help spread the gospel. Others stay at home to involve themselves with grandchildren, charity, important causes, and other such worthy endeavors. It seems easy to maintain relavance when it is one’s own kids who are involved, but to extend that to others is a big deal and always seems to accrue to the one who is willing to help the less fortunate and less prepared more than the one who is organizing or leading it all.

The thing I liked most about French’s article is that he articulated the difference between obligation and self-fulfillment. I have always thought about doing things for others as a way to be fulfilled. The older I get, the more I realize the only path to true self-fulfillment is by meeting those obligations given to me by God. I will give David French the last word as he explains it beautifully.

In Judeo-Christian tradition, the relevant question relates to our calling, to our duty, not to our ambition and personal fulfillment. For some, our call places us on the battlefield, where a nameless (to us today) young private bleeding on Little Round Top did greater things for his country than I will likely ever do over the entire course of my life. For others, the call places them in a firehouse, at a PTA meeting, in a cubicle, or — yes — sometimes in the highest reaches of government. But for all of us the call remains to faithfulness and care for our families, the people whom we influence the most.

I used to think I could be important, and ordered my life accordingly. Now I realize I’m not and try my best to simply know, understand, and do my duty. Dean Slaughter concludes her article by envisioning the ideal, how in that ideal world “we will properly focus on how we can help all Americans have healthy, happy, productive lives, valuing the people they love as much as the success they seek.” I’d say as spouses and parents we should strive toward different goals, where we focus on fulfilling our deepest and most meaningful obligations — to the God who created us, to those we’ve sworn (through marriage) to love, and to those we’re called to raise from their birth or adoption

Stepan tells a little of his story

By Dad

On Thursday, December 8, 2011

In Christianity, Family, Politics, Work

Stepan stopped by my desk again and told me a little story about his great grandfather, Nikolai, who was originally from the Ukraine. Nikolai was a successful, small family farmer. So successful, it turns out, that In the 1930’s, Stalin’s thugs took the farm and sent the whole family to Siberia. Somehow, Nikolai was able to bribe two guards so the family could escape. They changed their names and lived as illegal aliens in Murmansk. I looked up Murmansk on Google maps. It is in the very Northwest corner of Russia, not too far from the border with Finland. His family probably did not live too far from our relative in Northern Finland during World War II. It is an amazing story. Stepan’s family did not hear about it until Nikolai’s wife told them about it after the Soviet Union fell in the early 1990’s.

He also told me about his wife’s great grandfather who is German/Dutch extraction. During World War II, he got sent to a horrible concentration camp in Kazakhstan where the vast bulk of the prisoners died. He had abandoned his factory in the Ukraine and made his way to the south of Russian when he saw that Stalin and the communists were going to come and take it from him.

Needless to say, Stepan does NOT have too many warm fuzzy feelings about atheism, communism in general, and Joe Stalin in particular.

Religious authorities and secular involvement

By Dad

On Wednesday, December 7, 2011

In Blogging, Christianity, Politics

Day 107 of 1000 (213.7 lbs.)

I still say The Other McCain is a trainwreck, but he really nails one of my pet peeves today. His description of how Jesus dealt with religious authorities seems to be spot on. The upshot is that Jesus was quite aggressive with religious authorities who were out of line in their admonishments and spirit. He was also very kind to sinners who knew they were sinners and wanted to repent. McCain is truly a gonzo journalist for our time. Now if he would just dump that Rule 5 thing…

Update: Oops! I just saw this post came from Smitty, not Stacy. He is The Other McCain’s trusty, gonzo journalist sidekick. And he is a conservative Oregonian, so that pretty much doubles his credibility in as much as survival as a conservative in Oregon is not an easy trick.

Life is good during this cultural decline even if we do not understand it properly

By Dad

On Friday, November 18, 2011

In Blogging, Business, Christianity, Education

Day 88 of 1000

I subscribe to Hillsdale College‘s free monthly speech digest, Imprimis. It is a pamphlet size publication that advocates for conservative principles. I think I must have signed up for a periodic email titled “In the News” from them because one of them shows up in my email box every now and then. The last one featured an article titled Occupy Wallstreet Crowd Blind to Benefits of Capitalism by Gary Wolfram that was reprinted from the Media Research Center‘s Business and Media Institute blog. It made reference to a funny Monty Python bit about how the Romans had not given the people they conquered anything but sanitation, medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh water system and public health, and peace.

Wolfram goes on to explain the reason that capitalism works so much better than socialism and why so many people are confused about capitalism in similar way to the Monty Python skit:

The Occupy Wall Street movement has shown a lack of understanding of how the market capitalist system works. They appear to think that the cell phones they use, food they eat, hotels they stay in, cars they drive, gasoline that powers the cars they drive and all the myriad goods and services they consume every day would be there under a different system, perhaps in more abundance.

But there is no evidence this could be or ever has been the case. The reason is that only market capitalism solves the two major problems that face any economy-how to provide an incentive to innovate and how to solve the problem of decentralized information. The reason there is so much innovation in a market system compared to socialism or other forms of central planning is that profit provides the incentive for innovators to take the risk needed to come up with new products.

My mother never once complained that we did not have access to the latest Soviet washing machine. We never desired a new Soviet car. The socialist system relies on what Adam Smith referred to as the benevolent butcher and while there will undoubtedly be benevolent butchers out there, clearly a system that provides monetary rewards for innovators is much more dynamic and successful. The profit that the Occupy Wall Street protesters decry is the reason the world has access to clean water and anti-viral drugs.

My thought was that capitalism came out of a Christian worldview as did so many other incredible innovations and inventions. I want my kids to understand that.

The commie prof promulgates the preeminence of the Gospel of Thomas

By Dad

On Thursday, November 17, 2011

In Christianity, Education

Commie professor Well, the commie prof is at it again. Christian called me after class today to tells us their professor had told them that all the other gospels were based on the Gnostic Gospel of Thomas that is dated from around 150 A.D. Many years after virtually all the gospels. Only fringe scholars of the likes of Elaine Pagels and Marcus Borg hold to such a theory and it has been thoroughly debunked since it was popularized by the radical Jesus Seminar in the 1990’s. Here is a link to an article by Craig Blomberg, a reputable New Testament scholar, that puts it all in context. Here is a good lay level discussion of the topic by Tim Keller.

After that, our commie went on to say that their was too much time between when the events happened to when it was written down. Christian told him that people who were alive when the events happened were also alive when the gospels were written down and that, in the case of John, there is an eyewitness account. The prof’s response was to ask Christian if he could remember what he was doing seven years ago and then change the subject. This is too pathetic even to take the time to post the links that refute this goofiness. I wonder what he thinks we know about the life of Julius Caeser.

Update: In the meantime, Kelly sends the following text message:

Hey Dad, the professor is crazy… he brought up the Gospel of Thomas which is like directly contradicted in my New Testament textbook, said that Cain and Abel were possibly homosexual and when Christian argued that the Gospels came from direct sources to Jesus and not from inaccurate oral traditions, he countered with “Well, do you remember what you were doing seven years ago?”

Update II: The kids walked out of their commie prof class and into their New Testament class. The N.T. professor showed the Craig-Ehrman debate where Craig (to be very gracious) demonstrates that Bart Ehrman is either dishonest or not a serious scholar or both. The title of the debate is “Did Jesus Rise from the Dead?” You can see the debate on YouTube here.

Continued conversation with the kid’s commie teacher

By Dad

On Friday, November 11, 2011

In Christianity, Education, Homeschool, Politics

Day 81 of 1000

Christian and Kelly's commie teacher As many already know, Kelly and Christian take a “writing” class at the community college where the dear leader of the class lectures on the evils of all things Christian, the beauty of communism and atheism, and the righteousness of drug legalization and abortion. Today’s topic was Christianity. He said he spoke about Christianity because we live in Raleigh. He would have made his outrageous, silly arguments about Hindu if we lived in India. Kelly read up a little over at the Wintery Knight blog to prepare and got a nice response after she tweeted Mr. Wintery Knight himself.

The “good” professor went on for about a half an hour about the evil’s of the organized church, for which the kids would have had a great deal sympathy if it were not for the his smuggness and arrogance. Like all stories, that of the organized church has two sides. He mentioned nothing about universities, hospitals, scientific method, the printing press, and all the other great foundings and inventions inspired by Christianity.

At the point when he made the claim that Adam and Eve could not have existed because of the scientific evidence for evolution, Christian raised his hand and said, “There is just as much scientific evidence against macroevolution as there is for it.”

“You don’t believe in evolution!” exclaimed the professor incredulously with a look of disdain and horror.

“We DO believe in microevolution. It is grossly arrogant for you NOT to question your own beliefs when it comes to evolution” said Kelly. “That is what you are demanding from us.”

The professor said, “Evolution is established scientific fact” and used several of the standard canards (fossil record, etc.) to establish his point.

Then they were off to the races. Fortunately, during homeschool, Christian and Kelly had read books like The Victory of Reason: How Christianity Led to Freedom, Capitalism, and Western Success by Rodney Stark, Understanding Intelligent Design: Everything You Need to Know in Plain Language by William Dembski and Sean McDowell, Tactics: A Game Plan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions by Greg Koukl, and Intellectuals by Paul Johnson. The professor was armed with shibboleths about the truth of macroevolution and quotes from John Shelby Spong about the virgin birth. John Shelby Spong!?!! You have to be WILDLY out of touch with both current scholarship and reality if you quote John Shelby Spong about virtually anything. He quotes the losers like Noam Chomsky and Bertrand Russell, too.

It is frustrating. Here is a writing a professor who fervently believes he is making students question their beliefs through these profoundly silly arguments. The subject matter is objectionable, but this guy’s incompetence is even more objectionable. He does not appear to understand the difference between scientific method and historic method (very important in discussion of the resurrection). Neither does he understand that it is impossible to argue for the primacy of scientific method without consideration of its philosophical underpinings. I guess I should be grateful he is incompetent with respect to his arguments–he does nothing to get the kids to question their faith or worldview. Still, a lot of taxpayer money is wasted on professors like this throughout the land.