A Little Historical Truth

Sometimes I get tired of the bumpersticker psudophilosophical nonsense that passes for 'deep thought' when fact actually disputes the nonsense quite plainly. Take the highly popular fallacy "religion is the #1 cause of violence and wars", I've also heard "religion causes all wars" and another favorite "more people have died because of religion than any other cause..." Unfortunately for the purveyors of such hate-speech none of this is true. I'm not sure why this fallacy is repeated so often when just the barest effort at research shows something else (in this case quite the opposite) to be true

The often painfully wrong Richard Dawkins is quoted as saying "Religion causes wars by generating certainty." Actually the opposite is true, Religion prevents wars by generating certainty. If you know your planned actions are wrong you don't do them, or you do everything you can to avoid doing it. While adherents of atheist morality insist that atheist morality is not a fairy tale, in reality it is 'situational ethics' at best. In this illustration those millions of people listed dead beneath their atheist leader died because they were in the way. Stalin alone killed 32,000,000 to 38,000,000 people just in the Ukraine before WWII just to show the Ukraine his political power, no other reason. Mao allowed 10s of millions of people to die just to advance his socialist ideals.

Religion tells us that murder is wrong, and the old testament is replete with examples of how God's anger was invoked because of the infanticide going on, even among his chosen people, so from religion we learn that murdering babies is evil. Take away religion and situational ethics kick in and you get 1,450 abortions every day in the US, 98% simply because it was inconvenient for someone if that child was alive. 

The further away you move from religion the weaker morallity gets. Atheist China's one child policy means that every woman who bears a second child becomes a murder. Atheist North Korea forces women to drown their children. California allows abortion based solely on the sex of the child. Morally these are perfectly acceptable choices if you have no moral rudder like the Word of God. However to a moral people none of these choices are acceptable. Ever.

20 My son, observe the commandment of your father And do not forsake the teaching of your mother; 21 Bind them continually on your heart; Tie them around your neck. 22 When you walk about, they will guide you; When you sleep, they will watch over you; And when you awake, they will talk to you. 23 For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching is light; And reproofs for discipline are the way of life (Proverbs 6:20-23)

Joel Osteen Meets With Pope - A Spiritual Wolf Pack Is Forming

The Christian blogosphere is abuzz with the fact that Pope Carver Francis met with Joel Osteen and other protestant ministers last Thursday, but why are people so surprised? Joel Osteen has proven over and over again that he doesn't understand the bible, and so has the pope. Besides the Pope and the pope of prosperity, the ecumenical meeting included Sen. Michael Lee representing the Mormon church, Tim Timmons, a pastor and author based in Newport Beach, Calif., and Gayle D. Beebe, president of Westmont College in Santa Barbara, Calif.

"Joel Osteen has joined the rank of all other popular ministries in bowing his knee to the anti-Christ system, and those that blindly follow his leadership will be the first ones in line with their hand out to be marked by the beast. Any Protestant ministry that links up with the pope and Catholicism is betraying the sacrifice of millions of faithful Christians that have died at the hands of this brutal, dictatorial and oppressive religion that has never represented the Church of the Living God as outlined in New Testament teaching." - Pastor Mark Herridge Sr. of Lighthouse Baptist Church in Livingston, Texas to Christian News Network.

Fear Not!

The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the defense of my life; Whom shall I dread? (Psalm 27:1)

A recent post at Hip and Thigh got me to thinking about all the Christians I know that are living in fear. Their fears are all encompassing, from food additives and corporate manipulation of the gene pool to UFO cover ups and the persecution of Christians by homophiles. 

‘Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’ (Isaiah 41-10)

Many of these people confuse me because on one hand they profess complete dread of the world we live in, yet on the other hand they are so sure they're not going to be part of this world that they have a copy of their will placed on the mantle inside an envelope marked "In case of rapture, please open."

Why Are We Surprised

“Well, now I will be a god compared to you, you will all be animals, you are animals and I will slaughter you like animals. I’ll be a god exacting my retribution on all those who deserve it and you do deserve it just for the crime of living a better life than me... I am the closest thing there is to a living god… I will truly be a powerful god, punishing everyone I deem to be impure and depraved.” - Elliot Roger My Twisted World

Elliot Rodger penned those words, published them, and then on May 23, 2014 went out into the community and murdered 6 young men and women, injuring a dozen more using a hammer, a knife, his car and a gun. In reading his manifesto it becomes apparent that the reason he decided to kill many people as he possibly could is because Elliot Roger didn't think he had enough sin in his life. He also believed that committing suicide at the end of his murderous spree would be the end of his imagined woes. Elliot Rodger was expecting college life to be one long drunken and drug filled orgy with sorority chicks throwing themselves at his feet but in reality his classmates shied away from the sullen, hate filled young man.

Divers And Strange Doctrines

9 Do not be carried away by varied and strange teachings; for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, through which those who were so occupied were not benefited. 10 We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat. (Hebrews 13:9-10)

Varied and strange teachings (or in the King James "divers and strange doctrines") seem to be piling up in my life lately. For some reason I'm surrounded by Catholic priests who prefer pre-Vatican II teachings, and new age Catholic nuns who love their power of handing out magic crackers, and neo-pagans who think Pope Francis is just awesome because he doesn't let that whole Bible thing get in the way of being the pope. In the end these people are trying to offer comfort, but I just want to scream, "Padre - Latin is dead, English please.", "Sister - it's what's in your heart, not in your hand" and "Broomhilda - just stop"

Don't get me wrong, the Lords Prayer is a great prayer, but it was intended as an outline of how to pray, not what to pray. There's something strangely unnerving to me to hear it repeated over and over again (Matthew 6:7) with the joy and enthusiasm of a half awake school child droning through the pledge of allegiance just to get it over with. The best part of my day lately has been when I can cast aside the fripperies and icons of a religion God has led me away from and to relax with the pure joy of Sola Scriptura - to delve into God's word and let it wash the pain of the day away.