Category apologetics

Jun 9 2015

Ancient Canaan on HBO’s Game of Thrones

Here is more reason for Christians to not have HBO.  I came across a news article announcing that in their penultimate Game of Thrones show of the season, HBO is depicting a human sacrifice to some god.

Repeated scenes of violent rape, graphic incest, infanticide and the like were not enough on Game of Thrones. Now die-hard, addicted fans get to experience what the Bible describes as perhaps the most gruesome ancient Canaanite abomination: human sacrifice by fire.

The Old Testament tells us that the Moabites sacrificed their children to Chemosh, the Ammonites to Moloch, and other Canaanites to Baal. The Bible is a DESCRIPTIVE book, meaning it gives examples of such violent acts (see the Moabites doing this in 2 Kings 3).  It also details God’s judgement against these incredibly violent nations when He tells Moses and Joshua to exterminate them from the face of the earth: men, women and children. All these are DESCRIPTIVE narrations, and not PRESCRIPTIVE, meaning they do not prescribe (in this case violence) to its readers.

But in a quest to whet the appetite of the depraved human mind, HBO knows no boundaries of decency when it comes to language, sexuality and now occult and horrific practices.

And now, news sites everywhere are asking if HBO went too far.

But wait.

Suppose I tell you that Moloch et al are not the only gods who required child sacrifice. Suppose I tell you that there is a god by the name of Self receiving 55 million+ child sacrifices since 1973 in the US alone.

One (fake) human sacrifice on HBO is raising eyebrows in mainstream media?

How about millions of abortions, some of which happened in the third trimester with the baby fighting for her life as the forceps and suction cannula are tearing her body?

Not much outrage on CNN or Fox News about that.

We will see new boundaries crossed, new levels of immorality, novel ways of perverting marriage, and more indifference to sin in the coming years.

But for now, HBO is the setting of the new ancient Canaan, and Canaanite history repeats itself on the TV screen and in real life.

Jan 3 2015

Does Abortion Make Sense?


Evangelist and Christian apologist Ray Comfort was asked the following question*:

“I think abortion is wrong, and terribly sad (for lack of better terms) and I would never have one. I also think that it’s not my place to tell other women what they can and can’t do with their babies and their bodies… I just think with abortion, it’s nobody’s business except the woman who will be having the procedure. Yes, it’s sad and there are usually other options. No, I would never have one. BUT, we’re talking about other women here. Does this make sense??” Emily Wells

Ray Comfort answered:

“I was pleased to see that you concluded with “Does this make sense?”

To answer your question:

“I think the killing of Jews is wrong and terribly sad (for lack of a better term), and I would never kill one myself. But I think it’s not my place to tell people what they can and can’t do with Jewish families. I just think with Jew-killing, it’s nobody’s business except the person who will be doing the killing. Yes, it’s sad and there are usually other options. No, I would never kill one. BUT, we’re talking about other people here. Does that make sense?””

Progressive type will quickly jump to say that personhood rights do not apply to unborn babies like they apply to a Jewish person. They will say that the unborn is not a person.

Really? Why then do unborn babies display life at its fullest and qualities of personhood?

Did you know that the unborn baby…

  • has a beating heart at week 6?
  • starts spontaneous movements at weeks 7-9?

Did you know that later in pregnancy the unborn babies…

  • like to stretch
  • yawn
  • suck their thumb
  • play with their hands and feet
  • play with the umbilical cord, even wrap it around themselves (not fun for the delivery team)
  • exercise their breathing
  • go to sleep, wake up, listen to their mom’s voice and other voices and music in the environment
  • drink amniotic fluid

Did you also know that during an abortion procedure the baby…

  • attempts to withdraw from the suction cannula and the forceps of the abortionist
  • opens her mouth and screams a silent scream as her limbs are torn from her body

Did you know that abortion is the taking of life?

Does THAT make sense?

image

*source

Jan 25 2014

God Really is the Best, Mr. Brad Pitt

The famous actor grew up in a conservative Baptist family, but at some point he turned to apostasy (fall away from faith).  In an interview he said:

“There’s a point where you’re un-tethered from the beliefs of your childhood. That point came for me when it was finally clear my religion didn’t work for me.”

This is a common pathway for people who turn away from faith. Their conclusion portrays a misunderstanding of the gospel, of faith and of God. They believe that the aforementioned concepts are religion. But religion is merely a man-made system and not to be confused with a saving relationship with God.

So they become angry with the religious establishment, and project that anger on God. Here is how Brad Pitt does not understand God:

“I didn’t understand this idea of a God who says, ‘You have to acknowledge me. You have to say that I’m the best, and then I’ll give you eternal happiness. If you won’t, then you don’t get it!’ It seemed to be about ego. I can’t see God operating from ego, so it made no sense to me.”

Clearly, Brad Pitt does not understand the gospel. He thinks that he has to do something like satisfying God’s “ego” to get salvation.  There is no mention in there about the suffering and death of Jesus in the place of sinners. He conveniently left that part out, because surely he heard it hundreds of times in church while he was growing up.

Does the God who actually dies for his creation sound like the egotistical god portrayed by Pitt? Among His last words, Jesus said: Father, forgive them because they do not know what they are doing.

The ultimate act of love and unselfishness toward humanity is what illustrates the character of the biblical God.

But we must remember that God’s attributes of love and mercy cannot be separated from his divine wrath toward unrighteousness.

Ah, but it is this aspect that irks people like Brad Pitt.  They would love a god without the standards of holiness and therefore without consequence to sin. But this is not the God revealed in the Bible.

The biblical God became shame and died for humanity in order to save believers. But at the same time the evil born in the fall of creation must be punished, otherwise God would not be consistent in his attributes.

And yes Brad Pitt, God is the best.

Jan 20 2014

What Will It Take for an Atheist to Believe in God?

The real answer to this question, of course is the work of  conviction and renewal by the Holy Spirit in their heart.

But what do hardened atheists say when asked this question?

This is what atheist Peter Boghossian writes in his book A Manual for Creating Atheists:

“…if I walked outside at night and all of the stars were organized to read, “I am God communicating with you, believe in Me!” and every human being worldwide witnessed this in their native language, this would be suggestive (but far from conclusive as it’s a perception and could be a delusion).”

On Real Time with Bill Maher, Maher has a humorous response to what it would take for him to believe:

“Jesus Christ coming down from the sky during the halftime show at the Super Bowl and turning nachos into bread and fish.”

Silly atheists…

Delight in Truth would argue that some of these atheists would reject Jesus even if He came down during the Super Bowl and performed a physical miracle.  Follow the conversations Jesus has with His opponents in John 6 and John 8.  Despite the miracles He was doing in their midst, they still did not believe in Him. In fact, they wanted to kill Him.  In the same way we have hardened people today who hate God (even though they claim he does not exists).

Clearly pharaoh did not believe in God despite the exceptional miracles performed through Moses… and in our case, Maher would have us think that he would believe in Jesus if he saw nachos turn into bread… This is an abominable proposition in the very least.

Why do atheistic activists fight with such fervor against the concept of a monotheistic God, especially the God of the Bible? When was the last time you saw an anti-theist mock an eastern religion? They focus on Christianity and Jesus because that is where the truth is, and the truth bothers them. They have no problem with Buddhism and other polytheistic religions, but they go after the Judeo-Christian beliefs.

Why?

Because they love sin.

God’s moral standard is perfect and they reject it in favor of their own system of so-called morality. They do this in order to numb their God-given conscience and continue to sin.

The next time an atheist or anti-theist challenges you, ask him why he fights so hard against a God whom he claims does not exist…

Jan 13 2014

How Another Doctor Challenged My Faith

surgeon hospital pay

“Hey, so I understand you go to church and all that stuff…”

“Do you really believe that there is a God who created the universe?”

“How do you reconcile all your years of studying science and medicine with your faith?”

These were the blunt question, and sometimes these are the conversations in the operating room (when the situation permits).

My colleague is a bright physician of Jewish descend who sometimes attends synagogue for social reasons because deep down he does not believe in God. So we proceeded to discuss creationism vs. evolution.  I went to the heart of the matter showing him problems in the theory of evolution, particularly relating to speciation. We discussed the Big Bang, and I pointed out problems there including the concept of the expanding and contracting universe necessary for the Big Bang theory; also how the issue of time complicated the matter. After all, the Big Bang does not explain how the universe came to be, it merely places the problem into a different context.

As a naturalist, his only comeback was that science has not yet figured it out.

After a while the Holy Spirit made me realize that this is not the way to handle an apology for the Christian faith.

Next I went to the real heart of the matter.

Jesus.

Because in that name there is power.

As a Jewish man, he was well acquainted with the Davidic kingdom. It was a perfect opportunity to ask him how would he explain the Messianic prophecy of Psalm 22 coming true in the Person of Jesus Christ.  Here we have David under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit writing one of the most specific prophecies about Christ which came true 1000 years later when Christ was crucified.

“He trusts in the LORD,” they say, “let the LORD rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him.” (Ps 22:8)

Evangelists Matthew accounts this exact accusation at the cross by the priests and scribes:

“He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him” (Matt 27:43)

Again in Psalm 22:

“All my bones are on display; people stare and gloat over me. They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment.” (Ps 22:17-18)

Apostle John accounts this exact detail at the cross:

“When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier; also his tunic. But the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom, so they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be.” (John 19:23-24)

I presented this prophecy to my friend including the historical account of its fulfillment.  There was no concept of crucifixion at the time of David, no concept of casting lots of for the victims clothing by the ones crucifying the victim. I asked him, how do you explain such accurate description of the passion of Jesus Christ  as the Messiah written by David 1000 years before it happened?

He was at least somewhat impressed by this outrageous information. He promised to go home and read the Scripture I quoted.

May the Holy Spirit continue his work here.

Jan 9 2014

The Consensus Sin in America

CNN conducted a poll of 1,010 adults asking them to pick which behavior is morally wrong.  Right, CNN of all networks dealing with an authoritative issue such as morality, but that is another story. Here are the results with the percent of subjects saying the behavior (sin) is morally wrong:

#1 Cheating on your spouse 94%
#2 Cheating on your taxes 90%
#3 Having an abortion 57%
#4 Engaging in homosexual behavior 50%
#5 Looking at porn 46%
#7 Smoking marijuana 35%

This brief survey shows how uncircumcised the heart of the average American is with respect to sin. It shows that most Americans believe in a RELATIVE system of MORALITY. Fifty percent said that it is wrong to cheat on your spouse while they said is it not wrong to engage in porn.

Nietzsche wrote, “You have your way, I have my way. As for the right way, it does not exist.”

The average American does not believe that God punishes sin with His mighty wrath. If the average American believed the gospel, he/she would know that ANY sin will send him/her to hell no matter how ‘little’ said sin is.

What the American moralist does not realize is that his system of RELATIVE MORALITY points to an absolute standard. Everything in this universe is measured against a standard. Morality is the same. Since we have relative morality, logic dictates that there must be some higher, absolute standard.

That standard is God and His Word. God and His Law.

You break a tiny part of the Law, you are guilty of breaking the entire thing.

This survey once again confirms what the gospel claims, and that is the fact that we are dead in our sins. And we try to make ourselves feel better by ranking various sins. How convenient.

The Bible is clear on this subject, I just wish the average American would care to heed what it says in Romans 2:15 about the fact that deep down we know what is right and wrong:

“the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them”

Jan 7 2014

What to Say When Jehovah’s Witnesses Come to Your Door

Here is how one should demonstrate to a Jehovah’s Witness that Christ is the same as the Lord God:

1) Begin by reading with the Jehovah’s Witness from Revelation 1:8.

“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “Who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”

After reading this verse together, ask them the following question, “Who is the Alpha and the Omega?” They will respond by saying something like, “Well, it says right there, the Alpha and the Omega is the Lord God (or Jehovah God in their translation).”

2) Next, ask them if they will read another passage of scripture with you, and read from Revelation 22:13.

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End”

After reading this verse with them, ask them, “Now, who exactly is the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last?” And they will probably respond by saying something like, “We just saw who the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last is, he is the Lord God (or Jehovah God in their translation).

3) Lastly, ask them if they’ll look at one more passage with you, and read with them from Revelation 1:17-18.

“When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last (stop here and ask again, ‘who is the First and the Last?’). I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever!””

After reading this last passage of Scripture with them, ask the Jehovah’s Witness, “So, when exactly did the Lord God (or Jehovah God in their translation) die?”**

This will be a perfect introduction in presenting the Gospel to a Witness. Asserting the fundamental truth of Christ’s divinity is central to the Gospel because only God in the Person of Jesus has the credentials to redeem us via his death and resurrection.

Witnesses need the Gospel just like everyone else. The approach to their evangelism should not be any different from the approach to other unbelievers.

**Christian Ministries International

Nov 10 2013

Freedom and the Gospel

I had the privilege of attending the VES Apologetics Conference this weekend at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa. One of the most sought-after speakers in the world Ravi Zacharias was there, and he spoke about the direction of Christian apologetics in the 21st century.

Ravi used an amazing example from this personal experience to illustrate the value of freedom. When he visited Guantanamo Bay in Cuba he noticed the irony of ironies. The prison housing terrorists who waged war against American freedom were themselves without freedom as they were surrounded by a triple barbed wire fence. However, on the Cuban side there was another wall topped by barbed wire which was meant to prevent Cubans from coming to freedom.

A place like Guantanamo represents such opposite things for the terrorists imprisoned there and the Cubans who would want to defect to the US to achieve freedom.

The gospel of Jesus Christ bears similarities to the above illustration in terms of the irony it presents. It is the best possible news for the man regenerated by the Holy Spirit, but it is the worst possible news for the natural man who remains under the wrath of God.

1 Corinthians 1:18 “For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”

How is it possible that two such opposite views of the gospel can exist? The one who experiences its salvation sees is as the power of God, while “the wise, the scribe, and the debater of this age” view it as foolishness. To the Children of God, Christ is salvation, while to unbelievers He is a stumbling block.

The answer lies in the mysterious work of the Holy Spirit in convicting and convincing the hearts of men with respect to sin, righteousness and judgement. Only He can open our minds to see the meaning of the cross, this glorious event labeled as foolishness by the world.

Guantanamo will stand as an ironic beacon of freedom and captivity.

The gospel of Jesus Christ stands as the power of God for believers and folly for those who perishing spiritually.

image: RIZM

Jun 28 2013

Humanity Knows Truth

Just because unregenerate humanity suppresses the truth, that does not mean that they do not know the truth, at least on some level.

Apostle Paul makes reference to pagan Greek poets who make truthful statements in their writings, and their words will forever be found in God’s word.  Paul makes it clear that people who do not know God have a basic understanding about Him.

God has placed the longing for eternity in our hearts, and He has revealed Himself to every person in a general way. Everyone sees His majesty in creation, and everyone knows that there is something wrong with humanity and creation in general.

Take for example the following lyrics from the anger-driven rock band Linkin Park (I advise youth to not listen to this genre of music):

“I don’t know what’s worth fighting for
Or why I have to scream.
I don’t know why I instigate
And say what I don’t mean.
I don’t know how I got this way
I know it’s not alright.
I’m breaking the habit tonight”

In medicine we deal with symptoms which lead to a diagnosis and then a solution.

These lyrics provide the symptoms of a serious problem, but they do not provide the diagnosis nor the solution for this problem. These are the symptoms of the corruption sustained by humanity as a result of original sin. Everyone knows that humanity “it’s not alright,” but not everyone is willing to accept the reason why we do evil acts and the reason for the existence of death.

Paul tells us the diagnosis in Romans 5:12

“Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned…”

And he tells us the solution in Romans 5:18-19

“Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.”

Paul is of course talking about the sacrifice of Christ in place of sinners who believe in Him.

It is not enough to know that we are “not alright.”  That is the first step in acknowledging a fundamental truth, but it must be followed by two other steps: accepting the diagnosis of sin and embracing the solution.

The solution is none other than Jesus Christ.

In Him we receive righteousness by justification!