Wednesday, August 14, 2013
Searching for Evidence
I recently overheard a conversation about a group of Christians who were apparently closing in on the discovery of Noah's ark. Yes, the Biblical one (not to be confused with the one going up not far from here.) What prompted this little response though was not that bit of news. The possibility of such a discovery seems to resurface every few years. Frankly, I would no sooner expect such a discovery than photos of Sasquatch surfing on the back of old Nessy being published in next month's edition of Nature. But that's for another day. Tell me though, why are these people risking their lives in search for an ancient ark? As the conversation went, 'to provide evidence that God's Word is true.' Seriously? When will we stop trying to help out God and His Word? When will our own fears and insecurities stop getting in the way of the kind faith that God's Word actually promotes? Where will the best evidence supporting the truth of God's word be found? In the lives of those who actually believe it. Maybe finding the ark isn't such a long shot after all.
Saturday, August 10, 2013
Christianity and Politics
Well, I just saw Krooks' wake up call to the fools, so I thought I would wake up.
Something I have been thinking about lately might generate some discussion on here (that is if there are still some readers checking this blog). It has to do with Christians and political views. How does our allegiance to Christ and the Word inform our decisions in the political sphere? There seems to be a trend among younger evangelicals to lean more to the left than older generations of evangelicals did. Maybe I am misreading the landscape here, but I think this is the case. At this point, I am not commenting whether this is a good or bad thing. I am of the firm opinion that no one political party can capture what Jesus would have us to do, and thinking that this is possible is a dangerous road to travel. With that said, are there specific issues that are non-negotiable for Christians? Say - abortion? There does seem to be a particular party that is united in supporting women's right to choose whether or not to have an abortion legally. Should this issue be debatable among Christians? Can Bible believing Christians come down on either side and still be being faithful to Jesus? How are we to think about this issue?
I understand some of the complexities of the issue (the role of poverty in abortion to name one), and I also understand that simply withholding votes from a pro-choice politician does not guarantee anything. However, it seems as if the arguments for a Christian advocating pro-choice beliefs are weak, at best.
Most common is to say that we should attack the problems that cause the demand for abortion (such as poverty), rather than trying to slowly push back against legalized abortion, which probably will never be banned anyway. But why must it be an either or for a Christian? Could we not do all we can to fight poverty in our communities, advocate for adoption, and also oppose legalized abortion? Further, simply because we cannot imagine a world where abortion is illegal does not mean we should concede, and give up on that prospect.
Another argument I have heard is that women would have unsafe, illegal abortions were it to be banned. I don't deny this might be the case, but would it be at the massive, millions of babies scale that we are allowing legally in our country today?
The last argument from pro-choice Christians I will mention is this: voting for a pro-life candidate does not guarantee abortion will be banned. As I said earlier, there is some truth to this statement. However, do we think that voting for a pro-choice candidate will help ban legalized abortion? It is true that we over-estimate the power of the President if we think a pro-life president can change things on his own, but what if Senators, Representatives, State legislators, local officials, were all pro-choice. Would that make a difference?
So, what do you think? Is pro-choice a legitimate position for a Christian to take, and still be faithful to Jesus? Are there other arguments that I am missing? Why the shift among younger evangelicals?
Something I have been thinking about lately might generate some discussion on here (that is if there are still some readers checking this blog). It has to do with Christians and political views. How does our allegiance to Christ and the Word inform our decisions in the political sphere? There seems to be a trend among younger evangelicals to lean more to the left than older generations of evangelicals did. Maybe I am misreading the landscape here, but I think this is the case. At this point, I am not commenting whether this is a good or bad thing. I am of the firm opinion that no one political party can capture what Jesus would have us to do, and thinking that this is possible is a dangerous road to travel. With that said, are there specific issues that are non-negotiable for Christians? Say - abortion? There does seem to be a particular party that is united in supporting women's right to choose whether or not to have an abortion legally. Should this issue be debatable among Christians? Can Bible believing Christians come down on either side and still be being faithful to Jesus? How are we to think about this issue?
I understand some of the complexities of the issue (the role of poverty in abortion to name one), and I also understand that simply withholding votes from a pro-choice politician does not guarantee anything. However, it seems as if the arguments for a Christian advocating pro-choice beliefs are weak, at best.
Most common is to say that we should attack the problems that cause the demand for abortion (such as poverty), rather than trying to slowly push back against legalized abortion, which probably will never be banned anyway. But why must it be an either or for a Christian? Could we not do all we can to fight poverty in our communities, advocate for adoption, and also oppose legalized abortion? Further, simply because we cannot imagine a world where abortion is illegal does not mean we should concede, and give up on that prospect.
Another argument I have heard is that women would have unsafe, illegal abortions were it to be banned. I don't deny this might be the case, but would it be at the massive, millions of babies scale that we are allowing legally in our country today?
The last argument from pro-choice Christians I will mention is this: voting for a pro-life candidate does not guarantee abortion will be banned. As I said earlier, there is some truth to this statement. However, do we think that voting for a pro-choice candidate will help ban legalized abortion? It is true that we over-estimate the power of the President if we think a pro-life president can change things on his own, but what if Senators, Representatives, State legislators, local officials, were all pro-choice. Would that make a difference?
So, what do you think? Is pro-choice a legitimate position for a Christian to take, and still be faithful to Jesus? Are there other arguments that I am missing? Why the shift among younger evangelicals?
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