PleaseConvinceMe Podcast 153

A Forensic Approach to the Issue of Abortion

In this podcast, Jim answers listener email related to a variety of topics, including the issue of abortion. What exactly is it that we are dealing with in the womb? Is it a human being or something else? Is there something we can learn from criminal investigations and jury trials that might help us to think properly about the nature of the embryo? Jim also addresses the concerns of an atheist related to the early dating of the Gospels.

Check out the podcast homepage for subscription information and archives.

PleaseConvinceMe Podcast 153

LOST

Last night was the final episode for the television show LOST. I am a fan and have enjoyed the show from the beginning. I was hooked from the initial plane crash scene and while many did not stick with the show because they were frustrated at the pace or amount of resolution to unanswered questions the show provided, I loved the depth of storytelling and the unique way in which the stories unfolded.

Melinda Penner from STR says it better than I can,

"One of the things I enjoy about LOST, in addition to the wonderfully creative story telling, is that it draws on ultimate themes that are true about humanity. Deep truths that God has written on our hearts. It's what Francis Schaeffer called "the back of the book." There are things that are true of all people.

Desire for restoration and redemption. Good, evil. Need and seeking purpose. Man's tragic brokenness, need for healing, and magnificent dignity. Love and community. Final fulfillment and reconciliation. These themes were all through the six seasons of LOST and they were beautifully portrayed in the finale.

Of course, the theology is wrong. Their solution to man's dilemma is grievously wrong. Non-Christians aren't going to get the theology right; they're only dealing with general revelation. But as God's creatures, they understand some of the general, ultimate things that are true about all of us, told an amazing story, and I think that's why LOST captured the audience it did.

Our characters got what all of humanity desires. They found their purpose, reconciliation, and (most of them) redemption... LOST tapped into fundamental truths of humanity and told an epic story of struggle along those themes. And it sought to give the characters what all humanity desires in the end, a happy ending. That is excellent story telling. The program told us true things about humanity and our condition. It's our job and privilege as ambassadors for Christ to tap into those deep feelings and intuitions people have and point them to the answer and ultimate object of their desires, the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes without Him."

As I watched the finale I was emotionally moved as each character became aware (through their connections with each other in the sideways storyline) of their time on the island and the struggles and joys they had shared. It was this realization of the undiscovered truth of reality that was powerful for me. Setting the final scene in the obviously All Faiths - Universalist chapel left me groaning and was one of the only times in the series where I have felt patronized. I really enjoyed and found some resolution in the "Alternate Endings" posted by Lael Arrington at A Faith and Culture devotional. Check it out here.

HT: Stand to Reason

LOST

PleaseConvinceMe on the Radio

Talking About Effective Youth Discipleship

Greg Koukl from Stand to Reason interviewed Jim last Sunday on the Stand to Reason Radio Show (KBRT 740AM) about strategies to help young people become better prepared to defend their faith and innovative ideas for missions trips and apologetics training.

Other recent radio interviews -
Talking About the Formation of PleaseConvinceMe.com

Chris Howell from 90.9 KCBI FM interviewed Jim for Christian News Weekly about apologetics and the formation and mission of PleaseConvinceMe.com.

Talking About Apologetics and the Role of Men in the Traditional Church

Lief Moi from 820AM KGNW interviewed Jim on the Sons of Adam Show about apologetics, youth ministry, the role of men in the church, and the danger of complacency.


Listen to the interviews and then leave your comments and interact with other listeners here.

Check out the PleaseConvinceMe Radio homepage for all of Jim's recent radio interviews.

PleaseConvinceMe on the Radio

PleaseConvinceMe Podcast 152

A Snapshot of the Next Generation of Christian Believers

In this podcast, Jim interviews Brett Kunkle, the Student Impact Director from "Stand to Reason", in an effort to get a "snapshot" of youth ministries across the country and of the challenges that face young Christians. What is the biggest challenge facing the next generation of believers? How is the Church doing in responding to the challenge? What more can be done to guard the truth that has been entrusted to us?

Check out the podcast homepage for subscription information and archives.

PleaseConvinceMe Podcast 152

Comic Book Movie Theology

Check out this review of Ironman 2 by James Harleman at Cinemagouge. WARNING - obviously there will be some spoilers if you have not seen the movie.

As mentioned in my review of the first Iron Man film, the story’s undeniable parallels to our shared meta-narrative (realization of our damnable state, a life sacrificed for ours, a new heart… plus “armor” to engage in redemptive mission) make for GREAT discussion, and while the second film doesn’t surpass the original, it provides another chapter that is all too familiar; after all, a changed heart doesn’t mean our habitual issues have ceased completely, and Tony finds himself humbled as he grapples with the film’s three major narrative elements: legacy, vengeance, and self-sufficiency.

The Cinemagouge website states,

Cinemagogue holds unswervingly to the notion that we are image-bearers of our Creator, a master storyteller whose narrative spans all of creation, a metanarrative in which we all play a part. Made in the image of our Creator, we have a yearning to both create, and be entertained, by narrative. People immerse themselves in story much like Christians treasure the story of Jesus. It is our hope that people would enjoy and engage cinema and storytelling mediums not just as “diversion” but with discernment, engaging the culture around us and reflecting on how it distorts and reflects the larger narrative of our lives.

I love movies and I love comic books. I enjoy the stories and the art of both. I am often engaged in conversation about both, but rarely move into the philosophical and theological implications. In fact, I am often frustrated that I have spent a large amount of time talking to someone about what I would consider a surface level conversation like current movies when I would rather have spoken to them at and about deeper level issues. I do not have the "knack" of bringing God and worldview into my everyday conversations like many friends I know and admire, but I am working on it. For many in our world, their lives are devoid of any church type settings. Movies and TV have become the place in which worldview is taught and I want to be someone who is asking, "That scene was really great, but what do you think follows from those ideas?".

Comic Book Movie Theology

PleaseConvinceMe Podcast 151

Are There Early Eyewitness Accounts of the Life of Jesus?

Critics often claim that Jesus never really lived and that the Gospels were written centuries after his "supposed" life. These same critics claim that the Gospels are mythologies that appear late in history rather than eyewitness testimonies that first appeared within the lifetimes of eyewitnesses. Did the Gospels appear early enough to have been written by eyewitnesses? In this podcast, Jim examines the textual and historical evidence for the dating of the Gospels in an effort to establish whether or not we should trust what they say about Jesus.

Check out the podcast homepage for subscription information and archives.

PleaseConvinceMe Podcast 151

Good Enough?

Good Enough?

In Debt to Christianity

In a very interesting article by John D. Steinrucken at American Thinker, he praises the Judeo-Christian tradition as the foundation for a better society, even for secularists.

...religious faith has made possible the advancement of Western civilization. That is, the glue that has held Western civilization together over the centuries is the Judeo-Christian tradition. To the extent that the West loses its religious faith in favor of non-judgmental secularism, then to the same extent, it loses that which holds all else together.

...Western civilization's survival, including the survival of open secular thought, depends on the continuance within our society of the Judeo-Christian tradition.

I find this article fascinating because although we have heard this before, Steinrucken is a secular atheist. He obviously sees the benefits of religion on society and yet is not a pragmatist because he would not say that because it works, it is true. He is an opportunist who sees the advantages of living in a society of believers that benefits all including non-believers.

We secularists should recognize that we owe much to the religionists, that we are not threatened by them, that we should grant to them their world. Why should we be exercised over a Christmas Crèche in front of the county court house? It is appropriately symbolic of Christianity's benign but essential role as guarantor of our political and legal systems -- that is, of a moral force independent of and transcendent to the political. And what harm will come to a child who hears prayer in the schoolroom? I daresay harm is far more likely to come in those places where prayer is not heard.

The fact is, we secularists gain much from living in a world in which excesses are held in check by religion. Religion gives society a secure and orderly environment within which we secularists can safely play out our creativities. Free and creative secularism seems to me to function best when within the stable milieu provided by Christianity.

To the extent that Western elites distance themselves from their Judeo-Christian cultural heritage in favor of secular constructs, and as they give deference to a multicultural acceptance that all beliefs are of equal validity, they lose their will to defend against a determined attack from another culture, such as from militant Islam. For having destroyed the ancient faith of their people, they will have found themselves with nothing to defend. For the culture above which they had fancied themselves to have risen, the culture which had given them their material sustenance, will by then have become but a hollow shell.

He refers to secularists as the elites as if evolved beyond religion but warns not to destroy the precious resource of believers who are the sustainers of goodness and freedom. The secularists responsibility is to preserve not unite or join. Initially Steinrucken claims to admire pursuing truth as John 8:32 claims, but has no compulsion to wreck the good thing that secularists have going with the truth that we are in fact beneficially misguided.

Steinrucken has no better solution though as he admits that secularism provides no answer for morality and only makes thing worse when instituted as a substitute for religion.

An orderly society is dependent on a generally accepted morality. There can be no such morality without religion. Has there ever been a more perfect and concise moral code than the one Moses brought down from the mountain?

Those who doubt the effect of religion on morality should seriously ask the question: Just what are the immutable moral laws of secularism? Be prepared to answer, if you are honest, that such laws simply do not exist! The best answer we can ever hear from secularists to this question is a hodgepodge of strained relativist talk of situational ethics. They can cite no overriding authority other than that of fashion.

...Secularism has never offered the people a practical substitute for religion. From the time of the philosophes with their certainties in 1789, the rationally thought-through utopias of those who think themselves the elite of the world, when actually put to the test, have not merely come to naught. Attempts during those two centuries to put into practice utopian visions have caused huge sufferings. But they, the clever ones, never look back. In their conceit, they delude themselves that next time they are sure to get it right. They create justifications for their fantasies by rewriting the histories.

It seems that true Utopia is to be an elite above the opiated masses oblivious to the cause of goodness and freedom.

In Debt to Christianity

Martin Luther & Mormonism

In the early 1500's, a man named Martin Luther figured out something important -- the Roman Catholic Church, of which he was a devout member, was abusing its power. Among other things, the church was selling -- for money -- forgiveness and passes to heaven.

Luther could see that the Church was in error because Luther had thoroughly studied the Holy Bible.

In Luther's day, the Catholic lay-people knew little of what was in the Bible. The Catholic clergy used a Bible written in Latin, a language that the common people did not speak or read. The clergy, by keeping the Bible to themselves in this way, were free to misinterpret the holy book to their own benefit -- and thus they did.

In an attempt to end the wrongful practices of the Church upon the people, Luther himself translated the Bible into German. Though he did not, at the time, particularly agree that a few of the books belonged in the Bible, he did not presume to add to, nor take away from, the Bible as it was. He translated God's Word, making it accessible to the masses.

Skip ahead three centuries. In the early 1800's, a man named Joseph Smith produced a book called the Book of Mormon, which condemned the Catholic Church for its errors, calling it the "great and abominable church". It should be understood that the "Reformation", a movement that had started with Martin Luther, would have been widely recognized by Smith's day.

This is a good time to add just a little more information about the Reformation. According to Theopedia.com,

"The theology of the Reformers departed from the Roman Catholic Church primarily on the basis of three great principles:

* Sole authority of Scripture,
* Justification by faith alone, and
* Priesthood of the believer. "

In other words, in the view of the Reformers (who had read and studied the Bible for themselves), where the Catholic Church was most errant was in

1- Going above/around the Bible for spiritual/religious doctrine
2- Teaching that justification had more requirements than faith in Christ
3- Claiming exclusive "priesthood" for the religious elite, rather than for each born-again believer (1 Peter 2:9).

Joseph Smith and his Book of Mormon claimed that the Catholic Church had erred by taking many "plain and precious truths" from the Bible, and that he was the one to restore those truths. This post is not going to address his work on the Bible, other than to state that it is easy to prove that what Joseph "restored" came from his creative imagination and desire to prove himself a prophet.

The question for this post is, given that Mormonism in its inception considered the Catholic Church to be the church of the devil (or at least the main face of said church), why has it done the exact same thing?

Specifically:

1- The Mormon Church claims that there is authority over and above the Bible: the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, the Pearl of Great Price (all produced by Joseph Smith), and the teachings of the LDS authority figures.
2- The Mormon Church has added to faith many other requirements.
3- The Mormon Church teaches that priesthood is only for worthy LDS male members.

The Catholic Church was able to keep its people subjugated to the Church, its leadership, and its false teachings by keeping them away from a knowledge of the Holy Bible.

Martin Luther, by exposing people to the biblical gospel and making the Bible more accessible, freed people financially, emotionally, and spiritually from the religious wrong-doings of the Roman Catholic religion.

The Mormon Church keeps its people subjugated to the Church, its leadership, and its false teachings by keeping them away from a knowledge of the Holy Bible.

The LDS have the Bible in their homes, in their own language. But their religion still keeps the Bible truth out of their minds and hearts in at least five ways:

1- The LDS religion insists that the Bible can not be trusted (cf. the 8th Article of Faith).

2- The LDS religion has created and taught new definitions for terms in the Bible, so that when a Mormon reads the Bible, s/he is confused. Some examples of this are the teachings a) that there are two God the Father's (one above the other), b )that "salvation" equals universal resurrection by grace, distinguished from exaltation by works/merit, and c) that 'priesthood' is an authority or power that gets handed down from one faithful (to the church) Mormon man to another.

3- The LDS religion emphasizes Book of Mormon reading over Bible reading. The Book of Mormon contains plagiarized sections of the KJV Bible, with minor wording removed or inserted. It contains Bible stories with new character names and reworked story details. It also contains separated and recombined Bible passages. Because a Mormon is typically more familiar with the Book of Mormon than the Bible, Bible comprehension is negatively affected by the reader's Book-of-Mormon 'lenses'.

4- The LDS religion has an official version of the Bible, the KJV. The King James Version, written in Old English, contains uncommon words and phrasing. More modern Bible translations, such as the NKJV or the NASB, are much more easily understood by the modern reader.

5- The LDS Bible comes with chapter headings. These headings look like they are brief overviews of each chapter. However, they are really used to promote Bible-contrary LDS church doctrine. For instance, the chapter heading for 1 Corinthians 8 teaches that there are many real gods, just as Joseph Smith did from this same piece of scripture.

I was a Mormon. Like Martin Luther, I'm protesting that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is keeping their members away from a knowledge of the truth of the Bible. My efforts, and those of people like me, will probably not bring the Mormon Church to its knees. But my prayer is that many Mormons will still find the Bible, and because of it, be freed from Mormonism and saved into the Life of Jesus Christ.

Martin Luther & Mormonism

PleaseConvinceMe Podcast 150

Answering Objections to the Problem of Unanswered Prayer

In this podcast, Jim responds to the challenge of unanswered prayer. If the Christian God exists, why doesn't he consistently answer the prayers of his followers? The prayers of devout, deserving Christians go unanswered every day. Are these unanswered prayers evidence that the Christian God simply does not exist? What does the Bible teach about the nature of prayer? Are there some prayers that God simply will not answer? Jim offers a filter by which we can determine if God has actually answered a prayer, and a response to atheistic criticism.

Check out the podcast homepage for subscription information and archives.

PleaseConvinceMe Podcast 150