After talking with several liberals I have come to the conclusion that most of them are playing an elaborate hoax. For example, most liberals also claim to be atheists and philosophical naturalists. However they seem eager most of the time to employ reason and logic in an effort to prove their position is the most cogent. Why is that? It is only if we posit the existence of a soul, a mind that is not a slave to physical forces, that this behavior makes sense. ...
Peter Lumpkins wrote recently regarding Molinism First, like Calvinism and Arminianism, Molinism is a system, and being a system itself remains a weakness so far as I am concerned. From my standpoint, it is difficult to impossible to accept that a system is required to interpret God’s revelation. The nature of biblical revelation itself works against a rigid framework through which the biblical text must pass in order to understand it correctly. With dozens of authors writing over at least a 1,500 year span, what possible system developed 1,500 years later could suffice? What of those interpreters who read the biblical text prior to the system’s development? Is biblicism itself not enough? ...
Here is a great question I received recently via Facebook I’ve been thinking about libertarian freedom lately. What exactly does “nature” mean? 1. The compatibilist says we can only act according to our nature, while the libertarian says we can act against it. If our nature is to sin, then couldn’t we come to Christ without His drawing since we can act against our nature? 2. Libertarians believe in causeless actions. There is no sufficient cause for us to make decisions, only “external influences”. But, if our actions were causeless, then doesn’t that undermine the cosmological argument? What are your thoughts on this? Thank you. ...
Here are the arguements against the current trend of church planting I’ve tried to elucidate in my previous posts. I’ll collect them here to provide a handy centeralized reference for future forays into this subject. Modern church planting is not found in Scripture The market for new churches is oversaturated. It is irresponsible and wrong to simply abandon failing churches. The supply of pastors exceeds market demands and it is wrong to continue adding to this surplus in human capital.
The self-styled Southern Baptist watchdog site BaptistPlanet posted recently about the impact of repealing healthcare. Specifically, the site author attempts to paint Richard Land, the SBC’s chief lobbyist, as evil for putting policies and partisan politics above human life. Even the title of the post, “The cost in lives of Richard Land’s health reform repeal”, is meant to imply that the healthcare reform pill recently shoved down Americans’ throats designed to treat America’s healthcare woes has no negative side effects. ...
The move to focus on church planting strikes me as a massive welfare to work program for the newly minted pastors that SBC seminaries are churning out by the busload. All those pastors need to find jobs in order to pay off their student loans and make a living. The only market with a demand for their skills are the church businesses. And since there aren’t enough existing churches to meet the supply, in fact the demand is decreasing, the only other alternative to lessening the supply (which would mean discouraging people from pursuing theological degrees in the hopes of being employed in a clergy capacity) is to try and salt the market. ...
Peter Lumpkins, whom I count as a friend, writes a lot against alcohol on his site. He even has a book on the subject. Now while I love much of what Peter writes, I must respectfully disagree with his stance on alcohol. In fact, I believe it is the traditional (circa 1920s) Southern Baptist stance on alcohol that does great damage to the convention in both the eyes of the public but, more importantly, their effectiveness in witnessing to others. ...
In most church planting strategies. Failing churches are expected to fail, leading to the needless waste of untold amounts of resources. Not to mention alienating potential customers through negative shopping experiences. This pessimistic approach to failing churches is apparently borne of the desire to avoid the hard conversations that might otherwise save some businesses from failing (A corollary can be drawn here with how the Great Commission Resurgence task force refused to tackle the serious issue of duplication of services and duties between internal organizations such as the North American Mission Board and the International Mission Board.). Then again, since the SBC consists of loosely affiliated churches (Decentralized, voluntary collaboration is the hallmark of the SBC. At least it was until recently. Now the trend is to more centralized power and a much more ridged hierarchy. In the past the SBC used to operate from the bottom up, and while that is still how the convention works on paper, in practice the SBC has increasingly become more and more centralized. A hallmark of this trend is the emphasis placed on key positions of leadership and the marked weakening of local associations and churches.) I suppose the tactic is wholly in line with the overall church polity. After all, not many individual businesses concern themselves with assisting other businesses in a purely altruistic fashion (Contrast this with the account in Acts of Paul collecting money from a diverse group of congregations to bring a gift of money to the persecuted church in Jerusalem.). ...
And here is an excellent commentary by Thomas Sowell on the moral implications of affirmative action: Here’s my take. The “poverty line” is culturally set and is not limited to bare needs. Mostly because those “needs” change along with what the culture considers to be a need. I have a hard time believing that homeless people in our country are better off when we simply move them into a house, give them a car, some walking around money, free medical care, etc. At some point you have to have real consequences and real rewards, and that is what government assistance eliminates. ...
In my last post I discussed the problem of market saturation when it comes to churches, particularly in the south where it is easy to find a church on almost every corner. However in the north the market saturation is less obvious because the problem is not an abundance of church businesses but a lack of market interest in religion in general and Christianity in particular. This is not to say that market conditions cannot change. However the way in which markets change is through educating the consumer. This is wholly different than simple advertising where the goal is simple brand awareness of a product being offered to solve a known and understood problem and/or need. When companies wanted to introduce the personal computer to the average consumer who has never seen one before, they had to first undertake a campaign of education about computers in general and simultaneously seeding the potential market with a clear vision of the promise of a digital future. ...