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A La Carte (3/16)
- 03/16/11
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Questions about Evangelism - J.D. Payne (whose new book on evangelism just turned up in my mailbox yesterday) answers some questions about evangelism.
Fukushima Nuclear Accident - Once more I’d direct your attention to this site for information about what’s going on at the nuclear power plants in Japan. The author has a very different perspective from the mainstream media. He believes the situation is quickly stabilizing.
I Heard the Voice of God - John Piper tweeted this yesterday and it reminded me of what I think is one of his better blog posts.
Speaking About Hell - Lots was written about Rob Bell and Hell yesterday, but I think Ligon Duncan’s article is probably the one most worth reading. He offers counsel on how we (and preachers especially) should speak of hell. Al Mohler writes about the re-emergence of liberal theology while MSNBC’s host Martin Bashir takes Bell to task live and on the air.
Everyone’s Problem - From the Stand to Reason blog: “The Japan tsunami inevitably raises profound questions about God and evil. But in this discussion, it is important to realize every worldview, not just Christianity, must explain evil. Christians are often on the defense with regards to this objection, yet the tables can be turned on the atheist, with his naturalistic worldview in tow. Given naturalism, what is evil and how does the atheist make sense of it?”
Why The Daily Is Doomed - David Murray on why The Daily, the first daily newspaper for the iPad, is doomed to fail.
Riches and contentedness are like two buckets; while one comes up full the other goes down empty. —Thomas Adams
I am a follower of Jesus Christ, a husband to Aileen and a father to three young children. I worship and serve as a pastor at 
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Comments (6)
The STR piece seems kind of lacking. Atheism doesn’t need to “account” for evil; it doesn’t admit there is such a thing. At least not the Christian conception of “evil”. The thrust of the article seems to be, “atheism can’t say anything to make you feel any better about the things we call evil.” I’m guessing most atheists would agree with that statement wholeheartedly. Then they’d probably add, “So what? If you want platitudes, theism’s the way to go.”
Loved the video of Rob Bell being interrogated (by an MSNBC host, no less!). How can any Christians still be taking this guy seriously? When he said that salvation through Christ was “important,” I got an image of my dentist lecturing me on how flossing is “important.” Glad to know that salvation is still an important part of Christianity?
The Piper article was so true and bang on. So many run around wanting to”hear”God,seeking it in different ways .All the while the Bible sits on the coffee table .
This reminded me of my wifes story that she has shared. After cancer surgery to remove part of her jaw and muscle tissue in the left side of her face, unable to speak ,full of drainage tubes , totally dependent on nurses for care ,she couldn’t cry out after for assistance to use the bathroom. It was at least 15 minutes before they came to check her on the regular rotation for the first 24 hours . Feeling alone ,scared she said out of the blue , she heard the words of Jesus tell her I’m with you ,I will never leave you nor forsake you. Then she felt a comfort she would tell you could have only been the Holy Spirit cradling her.
God does still speak ,in fact he did to me and you when we opened our Bibles this morning. Is that not awesome and mind blowing.
On Bell- I saw this comment on the YouTube page where the video is…and thought it worth repeating, as it condenses Bell’s defense of his own position in terms that make sense to the non-theologically-minded (in other words, it ‘Bells’ Bell)-
>>If you asked your wife, “Have you been cheating on me?”, and she replies, “Well, I define cheating differently. Many people have argued about that definition for a long time. For me, it’s about love in the end and that’s what I’m looking for; that’s what matters most.” - would anyone feel ok with this answer?-ThomasAchord <<
(Since this was posted publicly, I’m assuming it is fine to re-post it here with attribution.)
JPH — find me an atheist who won’t call anything bad. Not merely “I don’t like it,” but really, objectively bad. There isn’t such an animal. At some level, every human being has a set of things they think of as “really, genuinely bad.” Many atheists, for example, think of religion, or the effects of religion, as something genuinely “bad.” Or maybe it’s just abusing children, or cutting him off in traffic and nearly getting him killed. As long as they’re willing to call things bad in their real lives, what they say about the category of “evil” when arguing philosophically doesn’t count, when assessing whether they believe in evil or not.
I agree that something like the earthquake/tsunami doesn’t cut it for every atheist, but then again, every atheist is not a Richard Dawkins with a supremely detached view of reality. Most people you run into who profess to be above all that “God stuff” still think that something actually “bad” happened in Japan, and it’s worth approaching their thinking on that level.
“find me an atheist who won’t call anything bad. Not merely “I don’t like it,” but really, objectively bad.”
Sure. Most of them would call molesting babies “bad”. But they still don’t mean the same thing a Christian does when he uses the word “evil”. They may mean, “really harmful to other human beings”. Or “highly contrary to the altruistic instincts ingrained in my psyche by eons of evolution.” The word “evil” typically connotes a moral authority or universal moral framework, and that’s something atheists explicitly reject. The thoughtful atheist is generally not ignorant of this.
In any case, the STR piece was slamming atheism as a belief system for its lack of ability to help people feel better about bad stuff happening. That seems to be a lame way to rebut a belief system. They’re basically arguing against its utility, not its internal consistency or how well it’s supported by outside evidence. If I were an atheist I’d simply respond, “You’re right; atheism is not particularly reassuring. But it’s what the evidence suggests.”
Ultimately I disagree with the atheist’s premise, but it annoys me when believers set up a straw man version of atheism then proceed to knock it down.