Today’s beastly date—6–6–6—really isn’t. Our calendar is based on when Jesus was born. Most scholars believe our dating system is off by approximately five years because of certain miscalculations in determining the precise year Jesus was born. This means that the real June 6, 2006 happened about five years ago. Of course, there was a bigger 666 date: June 6, 666. Or was it really June 6, 661? All [...]
In my debate with Thomas Ice on May 26, 2006, on whether the Great Tribulation is past or future, I asked Ice to offer in evidence a single verse from Revelation that says there will be a seven-year tribulation period. Although there are lots of sevens in Revelation (the number appears more than fifty times), and lots of seven things, everything from seven churches (1:4), spirits (3:1), candlestic [...]
Sgt. Peter Damon, 33, a U.S. war veteran who lost both arms in Iraq, is suing Oscar-winning director Michael Moore for $85 million, saying television clips were used without his permission in the anti-war documentary “Fahrenheit 9/11” and gave a false impression that he opposed the war. I wish him well in his suit. Damon reminds me of Harold Russell’s character in the 1946 movie The Best Years of [...]
Nearly every social commentator appeals to the conservative Christian community to be tolerant of other religious traditions. After all, we live in a religiously pluralistic society. The assumption is that religion is a benign choice, little different from picking one car model over another. Therefore all religious traditions should be tolerated and accepted as valid expressions of faith. Of cours [...]
Comparing homosexuality with race and gender has become a culture-wide strategy of the homosexual lobby. Not even children are spared these tactics. Consider how homosexual propaganda is set forth in the world of comic books and the way the press handles the topic. In the March 1992 issue of Marvel’s Alpha Flight comic book series, Northstar, a former (fictional) Canadian Olympic athlete, decides [...]
Many who advocate keeping drugs illegal maintain that poverty and environmental conditions (e.g., neighborhood, quality of schools, intact family, etc.) often “force” people to make bad decisions. One comes away with the impression that only the poor and uneducated take drugs. But we know that this is not the case. People with fine educations and lots of money indulge in drug taking. “Ecstasy” is [...]
Now that The Da Vinci Code has had its opening weekend and the Bible is still intact, God is sovereign, and Jesus is Lord and Savior, it’s time to get back to business. The Da Vinci Code is a symptom of a greater problem. Worldviews are seen as vehicles for cultural transformation. Many in the entertainment field, for example, believe that they are the nation’s conscience and the only true guiding [...]
The Da Vinci Code has sold tens of millions of copies. It’s now in paperback and the movie hits the big screen tomorrow. Books about the book have been published as well as books against the book’s quirky theological and historical perspectives. Those ignorant of the Bible and history may be influenced by the supposed factual nature of the storyline. We shouldn’t be surprised at this since C [...]
If there is no final authority, then there can be no law that has legitimacy. “If there is no absolute moral standard,” Francis A. Schaeffer wrote, “then one cannot say in a final sense that anything is right or wrong. By absolute we mean that which applies [to all people], that which provides a final or ultimate standard. There must be an absolute if there are to be morals, and there must be an a [...]
I received a number of complimentary emails on yesterday’s article. Some asked what the best translation is. They all have their problems. That’s why I recommend having a basic knowledge of Greek so you can determine what the text actually says. This doesn’t mean that you will have to give up your English translation. It does mean, if you really want to study the Bible, that some extra-mile effort [...]
I get frustrated with Bible translations. A new translation that is gaining in popularity claims to be “essentially literal that combines word-for-word precision and accuracy with literary excellence.” I went to a number of verses to put the claim to the test. Here’s what I found: “ And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then [...]
The Intelligent Design movement is making its way through the schools and the courts. Even traditionally unscientific-minded Christians are embracing ID because it seems so rational and obvious. As expected, the materialists are running scared. They extol the reasonableness of their scientific worldview, but deny anyone else the same access to reason when it comes to questioning the basis of mater [...]
Barbara Ehrenreich, author of a number of books pushing Marxist ideology and articles hostile to the role of Christianity and politics, claims that the “fear of governmental tyranny kept the Founding Fathers from proscribing anything like ‘family values.’ Homosexuality was not unknown 200 years ago; nor was abortion. But these were matters, like religion, that the founders left to individual consc [...]
Aware of the anti-religious climate that was directed at him, Thomas Jefferson wrote to Benjamin Rush that he would not publish The Life and Morals of Jesus. Did he fear public retribution? [I am] averse to the communication of my religious tenets to the public, because it would countenance the presumption of those who have endeavored to draw them before that tribunal, and to seduce public opinion [...]
Early in his campaign for president Jefferson was accused of being an atheist by many prominent clergymen. One of Jefferson’s most vocal early critics was Timothy Dwight, president of Yale. On July 4, 1798, Dwight delivered a speech urging the voters to defeat the Jeffersonians—“the illuminati, the philosophers, the atheists, and the deists.” Dwight predicted dire consequences if Jefferson and his [...]
Most of what comes out of Hollywood these days is rubbish, although occasionally one does find a few gems (e.g., Chariots of Fire, Hoosiers, Driving Miss Daisy, Babe, October Sky, A Walk to Remember). Many movies that could be enjoyed by children and adults are often spoiled by raw language (My Cousin Vinny), taking God’s name in vain (Cinderella Man and The Aviator), inappropriate language (Searc [...]
In Charles Eric Maine’s sci-fi novel He Owned the World (1960), Robert Carson was riding the first manned rocket planned to circle the Moon and return to Earth. Ten hours after the launch, Carson knew something had gone wrong and that he was going to die in the cold blackness of space. The manned vehicle would miss its target and become a mere speck of a satellite of the Sun. Realizing the inevita [...]
In Ayn Rand’s novel Atlas Shrugged, first published in 1957 and one of the most widely read novels, the people who make the world work and run with their ideas and productivity go on strike. They disappear from the society that was exploiting their gifts and energies. With these achievers no longer contributing to society, disintegration sets in. The interventionists are left without the productiv [...]
Defenders of Southern slavery appeal to Leviticus 25:44–46 to support their pro-slavery position since it describes the enslavement of pagans. Robert L. Dabney bases his argument for slavery on the Leviticus passage without considering a change in its application under the New Covenant.[1] Slavery of foreigners was legal in Israel. “These pagans were being purchased out of their covenantal slavery [...]
An argument leveled against the Bible is that it supports slavery. I received a letter from a Biblical Worldview reader who disagreed with my assertion that the type of slavery practiced in the United States was unbiblical because it was “man stealing.” As you can tell from the following paragraph, he is passionate about his beliefs. But is he right? The Bible does not condemn slavery. The Bible d [...]
