The vanity of God?

My last posting answered questions that Christians may encounter in Denver.

The next few articles will answer more questions Christians might encounter in Colorado--specifically, questions by a reader of a recent article. The questions stem from digging deeper behind the answers given--answers which did properly answer atheist questions. But as with all answers, there are more assumptions that can be unearthed.

Here is the first question:

1. "You say God doesn't need anyone, that he is self-sufficient. But if that's the case, then why does he require glorification? Why does he need people to glorify him? By your description, he only made everything just to glorify himself. Isn't that vanity by any Christian definition?"

[continued here]

Science catches up with biblical nurture

Those ornery Puritans were right after all: self-control is paramount for healthy adulthood.

A recent study strongly indicates what Christians believed and practiced for centuries.

Mass. struggling with expanded health coverage

Full story here.

Coming to the other states soon...?

Many atheists ignorant of Christianity

"Over the last few years I have encountered more atheists than I can shake a stick at.

Whether they are young atheists at the Auraria campus in downtown Denver or in an interview with a leader in Boulder, they all have one thing in common: ignorance...

...of Christian doctrine and practice."

Continue reading on Examiner.com

Revival of Rousseau [repost]

"But when mothers deign to nurse their own children, then morals will reform themselves, natural feeling will revive in every heart, the state will be repopulated"

"It is only in our father's home that we learn to love our own, and a woman whose mother did not educate her herself will not be willing to educate her own children."

"There is no more charming picture than that of family life..."

What do homeschooling and Rousseau have in common?
Much in many ways.

Rousseau endorsed homeschooling as the ideal system of education.

(continued here)

More government intrusion into our food?

Here is an interesting article on potential expansion of government into our food supply.

Most popular apologetic articles of 2010

Colorado was a busy state this year. From atheistic billboards denouncing Christmas to pedophiliac books there was plenty to write about and engage the readers of Denver.

However, a few of these issues stood out in highly read or highly commented articles. And thanks to my inquisitive readers, one article had about 2000 hits in one day!


Well, here they are... (continued here).

Faith and Redemption...the game!

"Faith and Redemption is a Christian game where players gain followers throughout their epic journey from the Garden of Eden to Judgment Day. As players gain followers, they are granted prayers and miracles that help them overcome the ever-present temptation of sin.


Although Faith and Redemption represents a fallen world, redemption is always possible and forgiveness is never more than a prayer away..."


i feel like i'm in an alternate Christian reality...

The battle behind the war on Christmas

"Using the worn-out and misused phrase, "separation of church and state," hundreds of atheists in Denver rejoice in their recent cultural salvo against religion..."

(continued here).

The group behind Denver's anti-Christmas billboards

"Who is this mysterious out-of-state group paying for anti-Christmas billboards in Denver?" (continued here.)

Christmas Regeneration-Style [repost]

TV shows can be easy blog fodder. But why?

The simple reason resides in the fact that many shows manifest the cultural icons and beliefs of the populace at large--the religion of society.

This truth especially struck me with the 1970 stop motion TV special, Santa Claus is Comin' to Town. I passed by it surfing. Stopped. And I watched the regeneration sequence--the one when the Winter Warlock's heart melted. After being born-again from the reception of a toy, the Warlock asked Kris Kringle how he could continue being born-again. Or more precisely, he lamented to Kris that his heart was so bad that he did not know how to be good.

"It's easy," Kris replied. Then he (as with all musicals) broke out in spontaneous song:

Put one foot in front of the other
And soon you'll be walkin' 'cross the flo-o-or
Put one foot in front of the other
And soon you'll be walkin' out the door.
...If I want to change the reflection
I see in the mirror each morn
Oh, you do?!
You mean that it's just my election
Just that!
To vote for a chance to be reborn.

I don't think I need to exegete this. This song is about self-regeneration. The American religion. And what is worse, it is--with many--the Evangelical American Religion.

Try telling your Christian co-worker, neighbor or friend that he did not "vote for a chance to be reborn" but that God chose him first (Rom. 9:18). That Biblical rebirth comes from above, from the Spirit who moves as He wishes. Or if you want to be subtler, ask him his opinion about the song.

This song is just one part of the larger piece of Americana. If the churches cannot differentiate themselves from the religion of this song, there is no hope for America. If the church members cannot differentiate themselves from this song, there is little hope for American churches.

But God has promised to work His will through us (Phil. 2:13). And that begins with teaching and living the truth of God's sovereign grace.

Then one day, Lord willing, there will be new songs and new TV specials that reflect Holy Spirit regeneration instead of self-regeneration.

New Atheism as a passing fad?

The principal source of my melancholy, however, is my firm conviction that today’s most obstreperous infidels lack the courage, moral intelligence, and thoughtfulness of their forefathers in faithlessness. What I find chiefly offensive about them is not that they are skeptics or atheists; rather, it is that they are not skeptics at all and have purchased their atheism cheaply, with the sort of boorish arrogance that might make a man believe himself a great strategist because his tanks overwhelmed a town of unarmed peasants, or a great lover because he can afford the price of admission to a brothel. So long as one can choose one’s conquests in advance, taking always the paths of least resistance, one can always imagine oneself a Napoleon or a Casanova (and even better: the one without a Waterloo, the other without the clap).

Insightful article, here.

Global Luke-Warming

From global warming to global lukewarm. Read the British conclusion here.

A Coy Smile

As I turned her stroller onto the sidewalk, I leaned down to catch her attention and asked, “Who made you?”

She shifted her head up at me with a coy smile.

I continued the one-sided conversation, “God.”  (continue here)

Nobel Peace Prize Scientist Renounces Global Warming

The interpretation of the limited data is changing...

The government can

Friday Funnies: Chutes and… Chutes

New Christian game that won't be sold in Christian stores anytime soon!

Jack Bauer School of Evangelism

You'll never lose another witnessing opportunity again! Check it out.

Children of Economics

"If we refuse to limit spending on health care--or on Social Security or national defense or education--because such limits will cause distress, suffering, and outrage, then we've decided to keep spending trillions we don't have, endlessly. There's a name for people who won't accept that life is difficult, and that hard choices must be made. We call them children"

William Falk, Editor-in-chief, The Week, Nov. 26, 2010

The Forgotten National Holiday [repost]

Trapped between a day of druidism and a season of commercialism, Thanksgiving receives less and less worth in our nation. Since we have collective amnesia and willful ignorance, we have slowly forgotten what this holiday is supposed to be about. 

Of course, as the church goes so goes the culture. And we have no one else to blame for this collective laziness but ourselves. Churches by the thousands abandoned the faith of our Puritan forefathers for an easier-to-digest civic religion. Many pontificate against that Pagan holy-day, Halloween, but know little to nothing about the Reformation that originated on that day. Others bemoan the commercialization of Christmas, but preach an impotent Christ and an emasculated Gospel. Sin is trivialized, so the Gospel loses its worth. God is humanized, so Christianity becomes voiceless. We preach perfectionism through works-righteousness; we present pep-talks with glittering lights; we talk of relationships and subjectivism, all the while ignorant of the objective truth that God saves sinners, of whom I am the chief.

Understanding the depths of sin (as displayed, for example, in the sacrificial system) is the beginning of thanksgiving. For to truly appreciate the blessings of our covenant God one must know they are blessings! Of our own hands we have not wrought this bountiful land known as America. From the wealth of money to the wealth of plenty, this material prosperity originated in God alone. Just as our salvation from first to last consists of God’s sovereign initiative and power, so, too, the material blessings (let alone the spiritual!) flow from that Fount of Life.

Deut. 8:11 warns the church of old and the church of today, both families and individuals, not to forget God and His ways, lest we think we have the power to gain wealth! “…for it is He who gives you power to get wealth…” (v. 18). This verse alone condemns all those half-truths and false Gospels which reject the Providence of God and extol the power of the will of man. When you realize that you are but dust in the wind, then you will be truly grateful and appreciative of all that God has given you. When you realize the despicableness and wretchedness of violating God’s Law and insisting upon your own way, then you will be truly grateful and appreciative of the All that God gave, His only Son.


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Dear reader, write out a list of all the material blessings you have in life. Write out the spiritual blessings you have. Which do you think of most? Which do you attribute to yourself?

Be thankful. You could have been born a Pagan in the middle of India or a Communist in the midst of China. Worst of all, you could have been born reprobate and cast into the Lake of Fire forever and ever.

What do you have that was not first given you? That is the question.

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“And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.” Col. 3:15