The History Channel aired a two-part program on the Ten Commandments last week (April 12–13, 2006). While I did not see all of it, I was able to watch from the eighth commandment to the conclusion. Alan Dershowitz, the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law at Harvard and popular author who made a name for himself by getting a conviction overturned for Claus Von Bülow who had been accused of attemptin [...]
Garry Wills has caused quite a stir with his article “Christ Among the Partisans,” published in the New York Times (April 9, 2006). I won’t rehearse the arguments presented by Eric Rauch in yesterday’s article.[1] What I will do is describe, briefly, why it’s necessary that civil government and its governors to acknowledge the sovereign government of God (Isa. 9:6–7). While more Christians are ste [...]
Forty years ago, April 8, 1966 to be exact, the cover of Time magazine asked the following question in blood-red letters on a coffin-black background: “Is God Dead?” The death-of-God “theologians” claimed “that God is indeed absolutely dead” but proposed “to carry on and write a theology without theos, without God.” The article’s author claimed that these “Christian atheists” were “waking the chur [...]
Hermeneutics, the science and skill of interpretation, is most often applied to the Bible. But hermeneutics can be applied to any written document. For example, the Constitution is a piece of literature that requires interpretive skill to determine its meaning. I was reminded of this when I read a letter to the editor that appeared in The Wall Street Journal[1]. The writer equates the constitution [...]
Every Superman fan is familiar with “Bizarro World.” Written by Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel, Bizarro World depicts an upside-down and backwards planet where everything is the opposite of Superman’s world, including the Man of Steel himself. Jerry Seinfeld, a huge Superman fan, did a “Bizarro World” episode where Elaine meets Jerry, Kramer, and George “opposites.” In another episode, when Geor [...]
Cynthia McKinney, a Democrat, represents the majority black 4th District in Georgia. She was voted out of office in 2000 when Denise Majette opposed her in the Democrat primary. Republicans crossed over to give Majette the win. They were tired of being represented by a fool. When Majette ran for the Senate in 2004, McKinney saw this as an opportunity to get her old seat back, the same seat her fat [...]
The facts of history are never neutral. They do not “speak for themselves.” Those who study history always give meaning to the facts they uncover. This is why it is necessary to have a standard to evaluate historical events. Without a standard, facts are simply random events with little or no significance. For the Christian, history can be explained in terms of biblical standards and God’s d [...]
Homosexuals decry anti-homosexual rhetoric because they believe it leads to anti-homosexual violence. There is no evidence to support this claim. Christians are ridiculed and taunted every day in America. Do we shout down the opposition, call for “hate-law” legislation, or throw blood and condoms at the opposition? If you can’t take it, then pack your bags and go home. The goal of homosexuals is t [...]
A great deal of confusion exists in the church over the definition of legalism. There are those who conclude that a legalist is someone who “keeps the commandments.” This cannot be legalism since the Bible commends those who keep God’s commandments. Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep My commandments” (John 14:15). Others imagine that a legalist is a person who works at keeping God’s law. S [...]
The world seems morally directionless. Dr. Robert Foote of Cornell, in his testimony before the federal Ethics Advisory Board on in vitro fertilization, opened with the following statement: “In some of this research, I am reminded of a story where the pilot came on and said, ‘This is your captain speaking. We are flying at an altitude of 35,000 feet and the speed of 700 miles an hour. We have some [...]
In yesterday’s article, I pointed out that the history of Harvard’s slide into theological liberalism and moral libertinism was gradual but methodological. Those holding the minority and opposing worldview were willing to bide their time as conservatives set the stage for their own self-destruction. Conservatives believed that “playing nice” and inviting the opposition to the party in terms of “di [...]
How did Christians lose formerly Christian institutions like Harvard, Yale, and Princeton to the humanists? The humanists never fired a shot. The take over came by way of a generous spirit of acceptance of less orthodox views in the name of tolerance. At his founding, Harvard required students to base their studies on the foundation of a comprehensive biblical worldview with Jesus Christ as the fo [...]
Worldviews are constructed like houses. A foundation must first be laid before any building can take place. Four of the most basic foundation stones of all worldviews are principles dealing with material reality (physics), questions touching on the different types of things that exist (metaphysics), how we attain knowledge (epistemology), and ways in which right and wrong are determined (ethics). [...]
All law, even law as it developed in pagan societies, is based on a belief that some god or god-force is behind it all. Consider the Code of Hammurabi. A stone tablet that depicts the Babylonian ruler Hammurabi, who ruled Babylon from 1792 to 1750 B.C., is shown receiving the law from the god Marduk. Babylonian law, like all law, is inherently religious (Dan. 1–3). Even religions like Buddhism and [...]
In the 1920s, Walt Disney began a new career as a cartoonist. A rarity in those days since the industry had no large market. Once this new entertainment medium became profitable, Disney hired additional artists to draw the thousands of still pictures needed to produce a high quality animated feature. Disney’s early success was with an animated character named Oswald Rabbit. The copyright, however, [...]
The Southern Poverty Law Center, with headquarters in Montgomery, Alabama, is one of the nation’s top fund-raising organizations. Founded in 1971 by lawyers Morris Dees and Joe Levin, the SPLC describes itself as being “internationally known for its tolerance education programs, its legal victories against white supremacists and its tracking of hate groups.” From the years 2000 through 2003, SPLC [...]
IRS Commissioner Mark Everson is warning churches not to speak out on political issues. Churches who violate IRS regulations could lose their tax-exempt status and be forced to pay a ten percent excise tax on all donations. Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AU), led by Executive Director Barry Lynn, has been monitoring the content of Sunday sermons since 2004. If these self-appo [...]
“One of the most useful tools in the quest for power is the educational system.”[1] The implication of this statement is obvious: Whoever controls the educational system will set the goals for the nation, establish its religious values, and ultimately control the future. From Sparta and Athens to Geneva and Harvard, education has been the primary means of cultural transformation. Christian educato [...]
I was not surprised when an Associated Press article reported that more people are familiar with pop culture than the Constitution. The article states that “only one in four Americans can name more than one of the five freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment (freedom of speech, religion, press, assembly and petition for redress of grievances.) But more than half can name at least two members of [...]
“Politics as usual” is a familiar refrain heard during an election year. It simply means that people expect politicians to act in their own best interests and contrary to the oath they took to protect and defend the Constitution. There is nothing new in this. But because of America’s unique constitutional protections, the citizenry has an almost limitless freedom to expose and block the efforts of [...]
