How God Votes

My first response to the posting How to Vote Biblically is to acknowledge the good points summarized therein. They first of all call upon Christians to embrace their providential opportunity (nay, duty) to vote. Then the authors clearly call Christians to hold politicians' feet to the fire of God's Law. This is something that is easily lost in this day and age of political pragmatism. They also clearly prioritize abortion, homosexuality and same-sex marriage as important issues to consider when voting. To purposefully misquote the old miscreant, Bill Clinton, "it's morality, stupid."

However much the note of hope and activism is trumpeted in this posting, at root it has a major theological flaw: that man's vote counts more than God's vote:

"The Bible tells us that God appoints all leaders, well in the United States God has set it up so that the government depends on the people's free will to vote. God has people that he desires to be in office , but he won't buck the human spirit. He doesn't buck the human will to save us even though the bible tells us it's His will that all be saved. (2 Peter 3:9). That means that it is up to us to vote in Godly people into office, the kind of people that will stand up for righteousness. They aren't going to make it in if we don't vote because he has given us the power to do so.

After asserting a biblical truth, “God appoints all leaders,” the author retracts the statement both explicitly and implicitly. Explicitly, he allows that America is an exception to this rule. Implicitly, the rest of the explanations about the “free will to vote” and how God “won’t buck the human spirit” equally apply to any other political model. Monarchs are usually chosen by birth, or more precisely, historically, many times they are chosen by the previous king on his death bed or by the political powers that work behind the scenes of any political machine. Oligarchies simply have more human interaction, not focusing on one particular leader. In all cases, “free will” and the “human spirit” are at work, just not in a democratic way. In other words, God, under this author’s understanding, could not appoint those leaders either.

2 Peter 3:9 is the justification for this thinking. The text reads: “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:3, 4 gives the subject of this context: people were scoffing the Christians, asking “where is the coming of the Lord?” And the answer is multiple, but one in particular is in verse 9: The Lord is not tardy (slack), but is patient (longsuffering) toward the readers of 2 Peter & Peter himself (us, cp. 3:1).

One question (among many) will show that quoting this text is insufficient: where in this verse does it actually state that God cannot act through free will?

At the end of the day, proof-texting is a limited tool. Other verses need to be used, verses more clearly in line with the political questions. For instance, Proverbs 21:1 succinctly declares: “The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes.” God's vote does count! 2 Peter was not written with the political question in mind. Proverbs was. The plain reading of this text is the most offensive, I know, but it is the most comforting as well. Why? Consider other verses about the political situation of old:

Gen. 20:4-6: “But Abimelech [king of Gerar]…said, “Lord, will you slay a righteous nation also?…And God said to him in a dream, “Yes, I know that you did this in the integrity of your heart. For I also withheld you from sinning against me; therefore I did not let you touch her [Abraham’s wife]” (cp. Ezra 1:1).

The obvious cannot be avoided: a king has greater power than a president, senate or judicatory, therefore the present day application is clear: “the president’s heart is in the hand of the LORD.”

These two verses alone demonstrate that our current American political scene is not outside of God’s sovereign control. Is that not a comfort, dear reader? Would you rather gnash your teeth and chew your nails over another unrighteous man in office? When Bill Clinton reigned for eight years, was that the end of God’s reign? God forbid!

Rather, God works all things for the good of them that love Him (Rom. 8:28). ALL THINGS. Even the bad and evil. Even your feeble efforts. In a world of evil power equal to God’s your efforts can easily be misdirected. In fact, since you and I still sin, we can easily go the wrong direction politically. But evil power is not equal to God’s power anymore than Abimelech’s, Cyrus’, or Pharaoh’s. God, our God, rules over all, propagating His good pleasure, promoting His glory and protecting His Church. This is how He "votes". And at the end of the day, His vote truly counts. Voting biblically must begin and end with this truth—else despair and ruin come upon the church. On our knees we pray to God and not to man to change votes. Let's not forget that truth. SDG

From Darkness to Light

The Colorado Springs Gazette reported on the new OPC work east of the city.

Prayerfully this will be used of God to bring the darkness of southern Colorado into the marvelous light of His Gospel.

SDG

The Wrong Reasons to Learn

"When Festus expressed the opinion to the apostle Paul, ''Your great learning is driving you crazy,'' he may have been echoing a sentiment common to men of his time. So far as I know, however, there is neither biblical nor scientific warrant for the theory that excessive learning may lead to insanity. However, ample proof readily could be supplied to support the idea that much learning often leads to dullness, unbelief, abstractness, triviality, irrelevance, and arrogance. That it inevitably does so is false, but that intellectuals are tempted by one or more of these tendencies is certain..."

(read the rest: Learning, Dr. Jay Adams)

Debt & Spending Today

Alan Sloan of Fortune was interviewed by Charlie Rose.
He pointed out one of the major factors to the current questionable economy: debt.

Trillions of dollars. Both individually and collectively.

This problem is especially acute in the housing market with lenders greed outpacing their discretion. The same is true for the debtors.

Now the government is suggesting something that has been taught in Christian circles for centuries: save!

Sloan thinks that now the market is making us do what we should have already done: Spend less; save more; spend wisely.

God's providence can be rough. People ought to repent of their reckless spending.

Further, the lack of tithing demonstrates a lack of trust. Simply on a practical level tithing forces a family to live within 90% of their income. Adding the admonitions to save money for a rainy day and for our children and children's children cuts into that number. But if we live for today, we will financially die tomorrow.

SDG

Funny Bumper-Stickers

What a World We Live In

Fine Tax

Postmodern Reality

Profound

Little Close to home


Every logician's dream

Read this one twice:

Post 911 advise





And last of all....

Global Cooling

Check out Time magazine:

"The discoveries of changes in the sun's heat ( TIME, May 5) and the southward advance of glaciers in recent years have given rise to conjectures of the possible advent of a new ice age."

Carefully check out the New York Times links.

Ice Age Predicted
Major Cooling

......notice anything?


If the chronological factor is curious, then you are on to something.

A 2006 online article lays out the time line for the "science" of climatology. It's quite informative...tell your friends.

They don't even have to read it; they can just look at the pretty pictures and time-lines.

Who is McCain?

Here are some helpful websites to make an informed decision:

McCain's current site

VoteSmart
Better layout than the Post.

Washington Post
(look further at the bottom for links to more relevant info)

I couldn't find his position on same-sex marriage quickly on the previous sites; so I googled. And here it is at CNN (best layout).

Brought to you by your friendly neighborhood polymathis.

Happy Fourth of July!

Celebrating our nation's birth with some historical facts that make my Presbyterian heart flutter:

“On the morning of our national birth day, the fourth of July, 1776, when the Declaration of American Independence was made—when the Committee, previously appointed to draft that instrument, made their report through their Chairman, THOMAS JEFFERSON—and by whom it was read, the House paused—hesitated. That instrument, they saw, cut them off even from the mercy of Great Britain. They saw with prophetic vision all the horrors of a sanguinary war— carnage and desolation passed in swift review before them. They saw the prospect of having riveted still more closely upon their already chafed and bleeding limbs the chains of slavery. The House seemed to waver—silence, deep and solemn silence, reigned throughout the hall of the spacious Capitol. Every countenance indicated that deep meditation was at work; and the solemn resolutions were calling for double energy. At this fearful crisis, when the very destiny of the country seemed to be suspended upon the action of a moment, the silence, the painful silence was broken. An aged patriarch arose—a venerable and stately form, his head white with the frosts of many years. He cast on the assembly a look of inexpressible interest and unconquerable determination; while on his visage the hue of age was lost as burning patriotism fired his check. 'There is,' said he, 'a tide in the affairs of men, a nick of time. We perceive it now before us. That noble instrument upon your table, which ensures immortality to its author, should be subscribed this very morning, by every pen in the house. He who will not respond to...curry into effect its provisions, is unworthy the name of a freeman. Although these gray hairs must descend into the sepulchre, I would infinitely rather they should descend thither by the hand of the public executioner, than desert at this crisis the sacred cause of my country.' The patriarch sat down, and forthwith the Declaration was signed by every member present.

Who was that venerable patriarch? It was JOHN Witherspoon, of New Jersey, a distinguished Minister of the Presbyterian Church, a lineal descendant of JOHN KNOX, the great Scotch Reformer."

—Memoirs of...Alexander Graydon, "Speech of the Rev. S. S. Templeton” (fn.on p. 307)

SDG

Piglet Fears Mud

God has as sense of irony. After all, He made this piglet.

The technical term for fear of mud is mysophobia.

A mysophobic piglet!

What would the family do? We'll you can see the results. With the proper equipment, the piglet is happy!

Com'on, ain't she cute?

SDG

No Surprise: Evangelicals Deny Solus Christus

Christ alone.
Solus Christus.

That was the watchword of our Protestant forefathers almost five-hundred years ago. Twice as long as the existence of the American government.

It meant that only Christ was the Savior of the world. That Christ alone could and does save sinners. This was just a short-hand and positive way for the classical Protestants to deny that there was any other person or way to heaven: neither our works, someone else's works, philosophy, good intentions, sociology, politics, sports... "So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs,
but of God who shows mercy" (Rom. 9:16).

Now 57% of Evangelicals polled (amongst 35,000 adults) deny that proposition. But then they've been denying it for years, decades even.

For instance, reflecting on what I was taught as a teen-ager:

1. Pagans who never hear the Gospel can live by the "light of nature" and enter heaven.
2. Infants who die enter heaven by virtue of their supposed innocence.
3. Jews in the OT had to obey the Ten Commandments as grounds for eternal life.

I suppose other readers could come up with more well-established "exceptions". These are exceptions that classical Protestant creeds did not accept. No one enters heaven because they are innocent; and no one can earn their way to heaven through their own creative religious ways ("light of nature") or even through God's own Ten Commandments (Gal. 2:15ff.).

With these exceptions (and the pointed lack of historical and biblical training in many churches) it is no wonder many Evangelicals accept other ways to heaven: they already did. We are just following our leaders: Billy Graham & Joel Osteen.

For that matter, why not join the mainline churches--they've denied the exclusive and singular way to heaven for a few generations. The word "Evangelical" is becoming more and more meaningless--stretched beyond recognition. Eventually, many Evangelical churches will unrecognizable from those mainline churches.

Then maybe many will wake up surprised, ready to hear the true Gospel that should have never been a surprise to begin with.

SDG

Evangelicals Biblically Illiterate

A new Pew research (MSNBC summary) polling 35,000 adults has uncovered what many cynics (like me) have suspected all along: Evangelicals are Biblically illiterate.

57% of Evangelicals believe one can be saved outside of Christianity ("their faith isn't the only way to eternal life").

57% of self-proclaimed Evangelicals deny that Christ alone saves sinners.

57% of "I'm-a-conservative-Christian-not-Roman-Catholic-or-a-cult-member" adults have never read, heard or simply ignored Galatians 1:9:

"...if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed."


This is incredible. It is also quite predictable. At least from a classical Protestant point of view. On the other hand, this number is higher than amongst the cults such as Mormons and JWs.

How shameful. Cults have more confidence in their way of salvation than Evangelicals.

I suppose those 57% will join the Mormons or JWs some day--or at least their children. Why not? There are other ways to heaven after all.

SDG

Living With 4$ Gas

Fred now has to decide between gas and groceries.
Jane is caught between driving to work and paying for medical bills.

Welcome to a new style of living.

Americans are feeling the pinch with 4$ a gallon at the pump. And the pundits are pulling out the stops, blaming, analyzing and using any and every reason for this economical crisis. The above illustrations come straight from conservative talk-show hosts.

Liberals blame the greedy, filthy oil companies (and by extension the greedy, filthy Conservatives). Conservatives blame bad government policy (and by extension bad Liberals). This means that laws must be passed to stick it to the oil companies or the bad policy makers.

But what if these policies do too little too late? What if the cause is complex and has one key component: human consumption.

How then should we live?

Scenario 1:

Fred could continue to live an in-to-our-neck debt lifestyle, with a new SUV, a new house, a new tv, cell-phone, cable, newspaper, weekly latte...you get the idea. And he will whine about having to buy less food, going further into debt, and having less savings. Of course, since gas is so expensive, priority driving is a must: yes for little league; no for Sunday worship. A priority of savings comes to the fore as well: yes for the new tv in two years (instead of one); no for next week's tithe.

Or...

Scenario 2:

Jane could sell the new car and buy a cheaper model, live in a rental, use an old tv (or chuck it), live with a technologically challenged land-line phone, stop paying for cable, dsl, newspapers...and that weekly latte (you get the idea). And she will whine a little less about having to buy less. She'll have more money for the more important things in life. She might even be able to attend little league and Sunday worship (but will choose the latter over the former in a pinch). In a good church situation, she could even get monetary aid.

The old American values of thrift, savings and hard-work are withering away with the very Gospel that birthed them. Will we return to living life God's way or the way of satisfying the flesh?

This gas problem will not go away. And it will be used of God to test His people's sanctification: will we live God's lifestyle or mammon's?

SDG

The Problem with the Republicans

I don't normally critique politics--not because I can't but because I find too much politicking amongst Christians (too much stress and worry to be precise) and too little concern over genuine Reformation.

But once in a while some good critique comes along. Like the latest Imprimis. A secondary article by Dick Armey (Whatever Happened to the Contract with America) hits dead-on the current Republican problem:

"One day I found myself in a House leadership meeting, and I realized that we were coming to town each week and doing things we weren’t supposed to be doing. We justified this by telling ourselves that we needed to hold on to the majority in order to do the things we should be doing (emphasis mine).

In the end, the Republican Congress—in the two or three years leading up to the Democratic victories in 2006—had utterly forsaken its commitment to liberty and limited government, with the often active acquiescence of the White House. This brings me to another one of Armey’s Axioms: “If it’s only about power, you lose.”

The Republican majority, having forgotten the lessons of 1994 and having committed themselves only to the next election, not only failed their country but lost their power."

Teasers from "The Devil's Delusion"

Recently, I had the privilege of hosting Professor Alan Strange (Mid-America Seminary) at my home. While relaxing in the evening, I noticed he was reading a black-covered book with red horns on the front.

"Interesting book for a minister to read..." I amusingly thought to myself.

But after Alan read a few lines from the book, I was hooked.

The Devil's Delusion is a tour de force skewering "atheism and its scientific pretensions" (as the subtitle states). Written by David Berklinski--a mathematician, philosopher and a self-described secular Jew--the book expresses a well-trained mind, ready for intellectual battle and some fun too.

"Fun?" you naturally ask. Yes, just read on:

Sly barbs:

"It is wrong, the nineteenth-century British mathematician W. K. Clifford affirmed, 'always, everywhere, and for anyone, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence.' I am guessing that Clifford believed what he wrote, but what evidence he had for his belief, he did not say." (47)

Incisive & funny:

"[a theory trying to reconcile the wave-particle mystery of light] has not, however, explained the connection between the quantum realm and the classical realm. 'So long as the wave packet reduction is an essential component [of quantum mechanics],' the physicist John Bell observed, 'and so long as we do not know when and how it takes over from the Schrodinger equation, we do not have an exact and unambiguous formulation of our most fundamental physical theory.'

If this is so, why is our most fundamental physical theory fundamental?

I'm just asking." (94)

He's not all fun and games, however:

"Neither the Nazis nor the Communists, he [Dawkins] affirms, acted because of their atheism. They were simply keen to kill a great many people...

[In Eastern Europe during WWII] an elderly and bearded Hasidic Jew laboriously dug what he knew to be his grave.

Standing up straight, he addressed his executioner. "God is watching what you are doing," he said.

And then he was shot dead.

What Hitler did not believe and what Stalin did not believe and what Mao did not believe and what the SS did not believe...and a thousand party hacks did not believe was that God was watching what they were doing.

And as far as we can tell, very few of those carrying out the horrors of the twentieth century worried overmuch that God was watching what they were doing either.

That is, after all, the meaning of a secular society." (26)

***********************

After reading the book, I thought, "let the unbelievers duke it out for a while."
The local atheist club is probably tired of me by now.
I'll just buy a few of these books for them.
And let them chew on it awhile.

SDG

A Short Review 10: Ten Points of Calvinism

Are Five Points Enough? the Ten Points of Calvinism,
Dr. Coppes

There seem to be a multitude of books and pamphlets on Calvinism. However, even though many of these treatments are useful and convincing, they do not reach the level of integration between simplicity and depth that characterizes this book.

Calvinism is not an isolated debate over how one is saved, but is part and parcel of a larger understanding—a worldview—of the Bible and God’s creation. Our understanding of the Church, worship, evangelism, the Law and all other aspects of the Christian life are integrated in the Reformed community. Put into this context, the reader is invited to explore this fresh introduction to the Reformed faith.

Recommended by Loraine Boettner and Professor George Knight (of Greenville Seminary), this book is highly praised by respected men of the Reformed world. The book contends that Calvinism, properly understood, involves all of life. Creating ten chapters (each a summary treatment of the major themes of Calvinism), the author ends each section with review questions and a list of helpful readings and advance study books. It is eminently readable, while challenging the reader to interact with the copious assortment of Bible verses and Biblical thought.

These characteristics of the book alone make it a valuable addition to those wanting to learn the Reformed faith or for those wishing to refresh their understanding.

A New "Green Day"

There is much talk about "mother earth," being "green," and preserving our environment.

Use better light bulbs. Turn off the lights early. Turn off the TV. Turn off the computer. Drive less.

Going out to eat means using more resources (which already exist at home), especially fast food restaurants with disposable products. Entertainment means more driving and more electricity usage.

In fact, working around the house every day--yard work, car work, basement repair--all use energy.

What if we, as a nation, decided to take a day off from all this energy consumption and disposable waste. An entire day could be "green" and make everybody feel better (both from the liberal guilt and from work in general).

If it got popular enough, it could be a weekly "green" day.
One day in seven.
Hmmmm....

How about the Christian Sabbath--Sunday?

Although not the central point of the day, it turns out those ornery Puritans had something right after all.

SDG

GO JAYHAWKS

WHAT A GAME!!

I LOVE CLOSE GAMES!!

Martin Luther King's Plagiarism

This is actually old news. But old news is quickly forgotten.
And truth is easily forgotten when inconvenient.

This truth is very inconvenient. King plagiarized portions of his dissertation and other works while at Boston University. Their own investigation discovered this in 1990. And the plagiarism was not inconsequential: it was "enough to indicate a serious violation of academic principles." (NY Times).

Naturally, if my M. Div. paper had such problems, it would be rejected out of hand and my credibility would be lost. What I said and wrote would be suspect: am I real? am I fake? am I an opportunist?

But then, I'm not famous.

[Full article below:]

Boston U. Panel Finds Plagiarism by Dr. King

"A committee of scholars appointed by Boston University concluded today that the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. plagiarized passages in his dissertation for a doctoral degree at the university 36 years ago.

"There is no question," the committee said in a report to the university's provost, "but that Dr. King plagiarized in the dissertation by appropriating material from sources not explicitly credited in notes, or mistakenly credited, or credited generally and at some distance in the text from a close paraphrase or verbatim quotation."

Despite its finding, the committee said that "no thought should be given to the revocation of Dr. King's doctoral degree," an action that the panel said would serve no purpose.

But the committee did recommend that a letter stating its finding be placed with the official copy of Dr. King's dissertation in the university's library.

The four-member committee was appointed by the university a year ago to determine whether plagiarism charges against Dr. King that had recently surfaced were in fact true. Today the university's provost, Jon Westling, accepted the committee's recommendations and said its members had "conducted the investigation with scholarly thoroughness, scrupulous attention to detail and a determination not to be influenced by non-scholarly consideration."

The dissertation at issue is "A Comparison of the Conceptions of God in the Thinking of Paul Tillich and Henry Nelson Wieman." Dr. King wrote it in 1955 as part of his requirements for a doctor of philosophy degree, which he subsequently received from the university's Division of Religious and Theological Studies.

One member of the investigating committee, John Cartwright, the university's Martin Luther King Professor of Social Ethics, said the panel had refrained from speculating about the reasons why Dr. King had not properly attributed material, which came from a variety of other interpreters of the works of Tillich and Wieman."

Willing to Write...After Three Years

March 10, 2005 was the first time I ever posted on a blog.
It was the birth of Aspiring PolyMathis.

Now, after three years have I accomplished my goal?

"I hope to bring a plethora of articles on various topics to the forefront..."

That is for you to decide. As of the last installment of Mel's Misplaced Passion I have 250 posts. That averages out to 6.9 postings a month--almost two a week. I'd call that a plethora (but compared to the likes of, say, White Noise, it is a mere pittance) .

Various topics from the current issues in Christianity, cultural news and even local evangelism, to the Iraqi constitution and the science of global warming have been covered--hopefully with tact and wit. More importantly, I hope, these were written with a Christ-perspective (even about action figures!).

Thank you Lord for keeping me on the straight and narrow.

Here's for another three years of glorifying God and enjoying Him for ever.

Soli Deo Gloria (SDG)

Chinese Conspiracy?

That's what could easily be thought after the '07 scares of lead-based paint in toys, questionable toothpaste and food.

Now, there are reports of built-in viruses in Chinese software products!

Go here.