Thursday, November 29, 2012

Where We Are


Here is the very big picture.

Western Civilization has lost its theological, moral, and aesthetic roots. It is deracinated and living on a fading memory of incomparable truths, which it cannot support without Judeo-Christian knowledge. See Francis Schaeffer, How Shall We Then Live?

2. The state, in the absence of strong religious knowledge and culture-building and culture-sustaining, will absorb the function value-creation.

3. Since there is no law above the law, the state is directed by "the will to power" (Nietzsche) more than anything else. See J. W. Montgomery, The Law Above the Law.

4. The state, having abandoned "the doctrine of objective moral value" (C.S. Lewis, "The Abolition of Man"), become an Innovator. It creates values ex nihilo. As such, it conditions humanity; it does not and cannot persuade that its actions serve objective moral values.

5. Given technological developments and statism, the state seeks to ape God's omniscience, requiring total knowledge of its servants (not citizens, and outmoded concept, given the death of objective value).

6. Therefore, as the state absorbs health care, limits personal proper rights, regulates more and more institutions, it takes away our Constitutional freedoms, since the Constitution has no moral authority, given what the Innovators claim. See Francis Schaeffer, A Christian Manifesto.

7. This is what is left of America. It may be a mortal wound--but not to the Kingdom of God

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

My worst fears are realized:

American does not know how to think,
has no moral or political principles worth having,
is manipulated by images and slogans,
does not fear the idol of the State
does not give a rip about unborn children;
we will be taxes for their murders,
does not believe in its own God-given greatness.

American has no fear of God.
Without that, nothing remains, but a
persecuted remnant.

Everything will change, for the worse, for the rest of our lives. This was a turning point, and we turned toward Hell.

Monday, November 5, 2012

Not Jesus

The Blaze claims that 1.6 million Americans will write in "Jesus Christ" for President. For Jesus' sake, do not do this. He is Lord of the cosmos, but not running for earthly office. Be a good citizen of heaven and earth and vote for the candidate who most adheres to America's Judeo-Christian Values: Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan.

Sunday, November 4, 2012

To Christians


To my Christian readers.

You are a child of heaven but also a citizen of earth. You are to seek the welfare of the city to which you have been exiled (Jer. 29:7) and be "salt and light" in this broken world (Matthew 5:1-18) We are to render to state what is the state's (which is not everything) and to God what is God's (Matthew 22:15-23). We are to see the welfare of "the least of these" (Matthew 25:31-46).

1. Being apolitical is being apathetic about how God's world is governed in the civil sphere. Not everything is politics, but politics is crucial to our life together on God's earth. Some political views are closer to a biblical ethic than others. Therefore:
2. Seek the good of the city, the least the last the lost, by voting for candidates that deny statism (see Ezek 28:1-10). This idolatry and bad news for any society.
3. The state does not create wealth; people and other institutions do that. Let the people and voluntary assembles thrive (under the rule of Law, not the rule of men).
4. Putting more and more souls on welfare and food stamps does not dignify them or help solves their problems. Happiness is earned, it is not derived from state handouts. That fosters a parasite mentality.
5. Allowing over one million unborn human beings made in God's image to be killed each year through abortion is morally wrong. Fifty-four million (54,000,000) have been so killed since Roe v. Wade in 1973. We have blood on our hands and are tracking it into our churches, homes, and schools. We need to be watchman, prophets who call out sin for those who cannot: the unborn. You cannot make your cheap peace with a President that would expand "reproductive rights" (abortion on demand) and insure that abortions are paid for with tax money, that would make religious organizations insure for abortion.
6. The Bible teaches that debt is unhealthy. It should be limited not protracted. We must get our debt under control, or it will control us, and crush the life out of our economy and our spirits.
7. The state has "the power of the sword" (Romans 13:-17) and has the right to protect its people by force. This is a hostile and dangerous world. Cutty back on the military and not protecting our citizens abroad (Libya) is a dereliction of duty and a disgrace.
8. Be not deceived, but judge properly (see John 7:24). The political language of compassion, it not the same thing as real policies that give the poor a chance. Moreover, since the state is an impersonal agency based on coercion, it cannot be compassionate, but it can be just. Individuals, churches, private groups can be compassionate, and should be. When they are taxes up to their eyeballs, they have less to give.

In light of (1)-(8), please vote knowledgeably, wisely, and prayerfully.

Saturday, November 3, 2012

“Christian parents can debrief their children after school to counteract the non-Christian thinking.” This could be called “anorexic education.” The child is gorged with secularism seven or eight hours a day and then coaxed to vomit it up after school. If Christian education was pursued such extremes could be avoided. It is also questionable how effective such a method can be. Can a few hours a week of discussion really neutralize the teaching of an entire week? While an antidote may neutralize the effects of a poison somewhat, the best course is to avoid the poison to begin with.

Friday, November 2, 2012


Most Americans were deceived about Obama; they did not research his beliefs or his past; they were swept away by emotion or (especially the young, see Obama's Zombies) were mindless Democrat-no-matter-what voters.

Now no one has an excuse. Obama was mentored by a Communist (see The Communist); he went to an apostate, black liberationist church for twenty years in order to learn how to talk religion to build his political career. He was good friends with and American terrorist, who supported his political career: Bill Ayers (now a Professor, God help us).

What Obama has done. Created a gigantic debt; kept unemployment very high; appeased our enemies; taken over health care, working toward a single-payer (complete socialist) health "care" system, which requires Americans to pay for abortion. Has been the most arrogant, corrupt, non-transparent, most prevaricating President in my lifetime.

America, please wake up.

Thursday, November 1, 2012

If

If you vote for Obama you are:

1. Supporting tax-payer funded abortion and embryonic stem cell "research"--killing them
2. More unemployment for the poor and others
3. A weakened American military in an increasingly dangerous world: Russia, not just militant Islam (Iran, etc.).
4. Impossible debt levels which will cripple the economy for decades.
5. Amnesty for illegal aliens and permeable border
s.
6. Same sex marriage.
7. Arrogance and egotism at the White House.
8. Joe Biden as a heartbeat from being President.
9. Higher energy prices.
10. Wasteful government programs for "green" (meaning non-existent or impractical) energy.
11. More civil government interference in the auto industry.
12. More and more unconstitutional Czars and Executive Orders.
13. More appeasement of radical Islam and Islam being honored more in the White House and by the President than is Christianity or Judaism. A Dearborn, MI, newspaper just endorsed Obama because of his foreign policy. Think about it.
14. More movement toward a single-payer health system: meaning: the state take over of medicine.
15. Too tired to go on, but I will fight until the end.

Saturday, October 27, 2012

First, for a Reason


Amendment I
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
"For the Commander in Chief," President Obama, "to have done nothing to help Americans under fire is dereliction of duty like I have never seen. It's outrageous." 
~ Robert "Bud" McFarlane, Security Advisor to Pres. Reagan

"A lack of leadership ... I think the WH is either grossly incompetent or covering something up. And I don't know which one is worse." ~ Sen. John McCain 
Source: Benghazi Special with Brett Baehr, Oct. 27, 2012, Fox News

Friday, October 19, 2012

Truth


Facts on the ground: Election 2012.

1. Obama cannot run on his record; it is awful. People are waking up to this.
2. His ads are unfair and take Romney out of context.
3. He relies on nonsense mantra such as "you want the rich to play by a different set of rules." He never, ever explains what this means, because it is nothing but baseless class envy.
4. The major media are biased toward Obama, even the debate moderators. Notice this, please.
5. No Christian should vote for Obama. He is against religious liberty (the HHS mandate), against the unborn (tax-payer support for abortion), he does not know how to manage money: consider the debt. The Bible says, "The borrower is the slave to the lender." Do we want to be slaves to communist China?
6. Obama is not on the side of the poor. He wants to spread money around through the state. This does not empower people, but makes them dependent and fosters an entitlement mentality: the opposite of a biblical ethic.
7. His vice president (one breath away from the presidency) is an abject buffoon and radically incompetent.
8. He does not protect Americans abroad in our own embassies.
9. He is gutting the military in an increasingly dangerous world. Our enemies understand strength. They will not change if we are "nice" to them. They lick their chops and lunge for more power over us.
10. Vote for Romney-Ryan. They believe in a saner approach to civil government; they will deal with the debt; they will cut spending; they will support the military; they will be far more pro-life than Obama, who is the most aggressively pro-abortion and infanticide president in our history.

Saturday, September 8, 2012

If you read Schaeffer's books, A Christian Manifesto and How Should We Then Live? attentively, and if you understand the political differences between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, you will vote for:

MITT ROMNEY

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

‎"...they were told to believe, but were not given any intellectual answers to the questions they were asking. Their parents and pastors patted the youngsters on the head and said, “Don’t ask questions, dear, just believe.” It was more spiritual to believe without asking questions than it was to ask questions."

"There was a tendency to act as if the only thing that mattered was to see that a man’s soul is saved so that it can go to Heaven. The person disappears. Only the soul is valuable, and its value is in Heaven and has very little to do with anything in the present life — the body, the intellect, or the culture. For a long time there was little interest in the orthodox churches and groups concerning the Lordship of Christ in regard to intellectual things or culture."

~ Francis Schaeffer, The New Super-Spirituality

Monday, August 20, 2012

Humanness

"In the flood of the loss of humanness in our age-including the flow from abortion-on-demand to infanticide and on to euthanasia-the only thing that can stem this tide is the certainty of the absolute uniqueness and value of people. And the only thing which gives us this is the knowledge that people are made in the image of God. We have no other final protection. And the only way we know that people are made in the image of God is through the Bible and the Incarnation of Christ, which we know from the Bible." ~ Whatever Happened to the Human Race, Francis Schaeffer

Sunday, August 5, 2012

Seven deadly sins

Obama:

1. statist, against American exceptionalism (America is "just another nation, and a bad one at that),
2. progressive (the Constitution is an evolving document, subject to the whims of modern opinion; thus, there is no "law above merely human law"),
3. pro-sodomy (support same-sex marriage),
4. class-warfare monger, economic trickster (the poor are not poor because the rich are rich),
5. pro-abortion with a deadly vengeance (your tax dollars will pay for it, whatever your conscience may be),
6. against the First Amendment (since he wants to restrict "the free exercise of religion" by making religious Americans pay for abortion).
7. puts the UN above the Constitution, thus endorsing internationalism. I do not put China and Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan on the same moral level as these United States of America.

How can you vote for this traitor to American values?

I beg you to read A Christian Manifesto by Francis A. Schaeffer. It is prophetic, distilled wisdom for today and tomorrow, especially given the ugly rise of statism (the state as ersatz god).

Does Christianity have any intellectual clout?
Can we look to Jesus as a model intellectual?
Would you like to discover an aspect of Jesus often neglected?

These and other pertinent questions are answered in my book, On Jesus, published by Wadsworth (2003) as par of their Philosopher Series. To my knowledge, it is the only book of its kind by a single author. If you have any comments on this work, please post them here or on Amazon. If you have read and like the book, please make that known on Amazon. Why do I write this? See Matthew 6:33.http://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Wadsworth-Philosophers-Douglas-Groothuis/dp/0534583946/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1344198199&sr=8-1&keywords=on+jesus+groothius

Sunday, July 8, 2012

Refuting a Fallacy


In my Patheos article on why conservative Christians should vote for Romney (despite some of his shortcomings), I argued that voting for "the lesser of two evils" is often required—even if this means accepting "the evil of two lessers."

Some have taken me to task with a short phrase. "Voting for the lesser of two evils is still voting for evil." The implication is: do not vote for Romney, since he is still evil. This argument fails for several reasons.

First, "the lesser of two evils" means "the better of the two candidates, even though you are not particularly fond of the better candidate." Now, if the options were Hitler or Stalin, I'd vote for neither (and I'm not sure one could claim to find a "lesser evil" here between these titans of tyranny). Voting for Romney is not voting for evil per se; it is, rather, voting for a less-than-ideal candidate who is head and shoulders better than the leftist/statist/authoritarian/economy-destroying/abortion-promoting/America-betraying Obama.

If Obama is re-elected, he would work far more evil than would Romney. The perpetuation of abortion on demand and the funding of abortion on demand by all tax-payers is evil. Over fifty million (50,000,000) unborn humans have already been snuffed out. This is what Obama would give us, among other ills. Therefore, vote for Romney. It is not evil. It is necessary.

Second, by taking the supposed high ground and refusing to vote, one is taking a vote away from the better of the two candidates. Ask yourself: Which candidate is more likely to honor American ideals such as limited civil government, a strong national defense, and religious as well as economic liberty? The answer is Mitt Romney. Voting for him is not evil. It is necessary. 

As Schaeffer said, we often need to become cobelligents for good in the social realm, even when we disagree with them theologically. Now is time to apply this truth.

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Apologetics Event at Denver Seminary


It’s time for our next alumni webinar! Bring your lunch and watch LIVE, next Wednesday June 13 from 12:00 – 12:50 pm in Classroom 100b. It will be on the topic “Bringing the Truth to Light: Christian Apologetics” with Dr. Doug Groothuis presenting (description is below).
Dr. Groothuis will discuss the importance in having a rational and credible Christian witness before the world that involves discussing:
·         The nature of truth
·         Arguments for the existence of God
·         The reliability of the Bible
·         How we deal with people who hold other worldviews
Much of the discussion will be based around Dr. Groothuis' new book "Christian Apologetics: A Comprehensive Case for Biblical Faith," the 2012 Christianity Today Book Award of Merit winner!
As usual, the webinar will also be broadcast to our many alumni all over the world! You are welcome to invite friends to attend as well. Hope to see you all there!
Pam

Monday, January 16, 2012

Here is the sum of the matter. We must earnestly endeavor to know the truth of the biblical worldview and to make it known with integrity to as many people as possible with the best arguments available. To know God in Christ means that we desire to make Christian truth available to others in the most compelling form possible. To be created in God’s rational, moral and relational image means that our entire being should be aimed at the glorification of God in Christian witness. A significant part of that witness is Christian apologetics." - Douglas Groothuis (Christian Apologetics, p.44)