Religion, Stereotyping and Sin

I was reading the Chicago Tribune online today and read an article about a man who killed his pregnant daughter, son-in-law and grandson by burning down their apartment. He said he did this because his daughter married without his blessing. Besides killing his daughter and her family, he also put several other families out on the streets as the whole building was destroyed. The family is one of Indian immigrants.

I clicked on the discussion board to see what people were saying about this tragedy. I was appalled at the racial prejudice and stereotyping that I read. The people who commented on this tragedy had lots to say about the religion of the man who committed these murders. They had lots to say about immigration. They contended that people of Hindu and Muslim background should not be allowed into America.

Now you listen to me.

The fact that the perpetrator of murder in this story was a Hindu is besides the point. Murder is not a Hindu problem or a Muslim problem. It is not even a Caucasian problem. Murder is a sin problem.

Sin leads to rebellion against God and against his absolute moral law. Murder has been in existence in this world since the Cain murdered his brother Abel. It didn’t take long for murder to enter the human heart and will; it came to pass with the second generation of humanity.

Murder is usually seen as the measure of evil, and “Well, at least I’ve never killed anyone” has become the justification of many to say that they deserve to go to heaven (regardless of their real relationship to God). Jesus said that if you hate somebody you have already committed murder in your heart.

Sin is the root of evil and suffering.

The only way to escape the sinful human nature is to be born again by giving over your life to God and receiving Christ as Savior. Because of the work of Christ, we can be free from the reign of these things in our lives.

A Great Big I-Told-You-So

Bill Hybels, founding pastor of the suburban Chicago megachurch Willow Creek, has come to a startling conclusion after an intensive survey of his congregation: Programs aren’t all they’re cracked up to be. Can’t say I didn’t see that one coming. In fact, many have been critical of the megachurch model for this reason.

Saddleback boasts a membership of 20,000. They do kickin’ worship services, small groups, and every kind of program you can imagine. But the survey shows that one in four congregants are not happy with their experience there. It seems that plugging people into so many programs caused God to take a backseat in their spiritual lives. Many have taken on these programs in replacement of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ – salvation itself.

Now for the good news: Hybels has recognized his error. In the booklet containing these survey results he admits the fault. He says he now realizes that the number of people who attend his church and the number of programs offered is not nearly as important as the spiritual growth and wellbeing of the people coming out to these functions.

I have to say, I deeply respect Hybel’s humility in admitting the problem. Now let’s wait and see what (if anything) can be done to fix it.

Superficial Similarity

Far two many people believe that if two things have one or two superficial similarities then they must be the same.

You are not the same person as your mother or your father, regardless of the fact that you share half of your genes with each, and regardless of if you resemble either of them outwardly. You as a person are unique, in personality, intellect, experience and appearance.

Likewise, just because two religions share one or two points of agreement does not mean the two religions are the same. Both Christianity and Buddhism believe in peace, but it doesn’t take a very large scratch in the surface of either of them to find that they teach extremely different doctrines. Relativism is not excused for this reason.

This also plays out when people accuse Christianity of stealing ideas from other religions. For example, just because other religions and mythologies have three main deities above the other does not mean that Christianity got its doctrine of the Trinity from any of them. No proof is ever given that they are the same other than talking about one superficial similarity. This assumption also puts aside two things: Firstly that the doctrine of the Trinity is taught throughout the Bible; and secondly, they never accuse the other religions of borrowing from Christianity, although this has actually been proven true in some cases of doctrine.

Stop looking at the superficial and believing things are identical.

How many times have you yelled at your parents that you are your own person and not like them at all?

Happy Constitution Day: Separation of Church and State

Today (September 17, 2007) is Constitution Day. On this day in 1787, the Constitution of the United States of America was signed. Today battles are raging between people over the constitutionality of religious freedoms and liberties.

Now you listen to me.

The First Amendment reads as such:

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Maybe it is just that I am reading this through Canadian eyes, but doesn’t this say that the government has no right to make laws regarding people’s religious practices?

And if so, then why are people bickering about having a cross placed on a hill and stuff like that, as if the government has any authority to restrict someone’s religious expression by placing it there?

Reading this amendment, the first in the United States Bill of Rights, I see that it is saying that the government cannot make a law about religion at all, whether it be to establish a state religion or restricting someone from religious expression in any way.

If this is true, then no judge can tell anyone that they are not allowed to speak about religious things in school, or in the workplace, on public streets or anywhere else. This would be in violation of the First Amendment because they will be making a law regarding religion.

Case in point: Some whom I will leave unnamed recently went downtown to preach the gospel. He was told by security guards that he was not allowed to preach on government property, even though it was outside in a public square. He was told he was only allowed to preach on the sidewalk. This is restricting the right to free speech. If the government is not allowed to make laws regarding religion, they cannot tell this man that he cannot preach in a certain place, government property or not.

According to the First Amendment, the government has no right whatsoever to restrict religious expression in any way. They simply have no say. Separation of church and state is a myth. People are taking something Thomas Jefferson wrote in a letter over the very wording of the Constitution of the United States of America.

When will it end?

An Intelligent Design Agnostic

The debate between science and religion rages on: Are the two compatible, or are they completely irreconcilable? In God and the Astronomers, a book exploring the relationship between the science of astronomy and faith, Robert Jastrow wrote the following:

“The scientist has scaled the mountains of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak. As he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries.”

It is interesting to note that Jastrow is an agnostic.

The case of Jastrow goes to show that you don’t have to be a Christian fundamentalist to look at the universe scientifically and conclude that something intelligent created it all.

The Emotion-Driven Life

We live in a world that is driven by its emotions. This plays out in many ways.

Firstly, people base their morality on how they feel. What you think should be okay becomes okay for you. Basically, right and wrong are relative to how you feel on a given day. You may set a standard for yourself, and say, “I will never cross this line”; but once you hit that line, you will cross it, rationalize it, and make another line in its place further along. Then, down the path of your experience, the process will repeat itself. What you previously believed to be immoral suddenly becomes okay when you are faced with the choice to go through with that very thing.

Secondly, and stemming from this first thing, people shape God in their own image. You think to yourself what you’d like God to be like, keeping all the “good” traits, eliminating what you don’t like, and of course include yourself as someone who gets to go to heaven.

Reality simply does not work this way. There is such thing as an absolute right and wrong that does not change with our feelings. Murder is wrong whether we feel that way or not when pointing a gun at someone who hurt you in some way. Likewise, God is true to his nature, character and Word, regardless of how we feel about it.

Someone may accuse me of being narrow-minded about such a view of God. To you I ask this question: Are you truly seeking after God? In your view of God, are you really interested in finding the truth, and therefore truly knowing him. If your answer is no, then your view of God is irrelevant. If your answer is yes, then doesn’t it make sense to seek out God where he may be found, as the Bible says. If God has revealed himself to this world in the person of Jesus Christ and has provided the only way of salvation through him, it is not at all narrow-minded for God to point you in the direction that he has made for you to know him.

Morality, truth and God do have an absolute fixed point of reference. If you are really seeking after the truth, then we must find this point of reference, and live life accordingly.

May I point you in the right direction: That absolute point is the Lord Jesus Christ.

Spewing Venom at Religion

Stuff like this makes me pretty angry. First of all, the premise is that Christians are delusional. The video says that it will prove that Christians are delusional. Then it points to Mormonism and Islam and says that it is about to prove religion is delusional. Then it explains that because Mormonism and Islam tell delusional stories, Christianity must be false. Does anybody else see a flaw in the logic of this?

Listen.

There are a host of people using this kind of reasoning, mostly famously perhaps are Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris. They say that religion is not only false, but harms the human race and should be eradicated. They attack Christianity in particular, but use the flaws it other religions to prove Christianity false.

Look at it this way. Some parents abuse their children. Does this mean that my parents are abusive and should not be trusted? Does the fact that some people abuse mean that everyone is guilty of child abuse? Obviously not. The same thing goes with religion. Just because there are false religions in the world does not mean that there is not a true way to know God. Just because Mormonism and Islam have holy books that are not really from God does not mean that the Bible is not from God.

Another thing that bothers me about this video is the website that it came from. The site asks they question that if God answers prayer then why doesn’t he heal all the amputees in the world, and because God does not heal all the amputees in the world, he must not be real. Another flaw in logic, putting human expectation on God and saying that if he doesn’t live up to what I think he should do then he must not exist. In actually, this site is worse than even that, because it does not seek the truth, only to attack the notion of God, a la Dawkins, et al.

This kind of logic is quickly becoming known as militant atheism. I think this is an accurate term. Creating all sorts of accusations about God and Christianity because some people have misrepresented them, these atheists sound more like little children than reasonable thinkers and scholars. They criticize Islam for killing scores of innocent people in the name their ideologies, and then spew venomous words at anybody who believes in anything supernatural, as if it is the same thing.