Thinking Christianly

In my apologetics class, I have been assigning the homework of finding news stories and relating our world view to the stories. The idea is that if we can talk about the news at work we can do apologetics.

To my surprise, most of the folks have real trouble with this. As one honest class member said, "We don't think this way. We have God stuff, bad stuff and then the news." In other words, it is common for Christians to think of most stuff with a "neutral" mind. This is not good.

For example, I mentioned the Michael J. Fox ads on stem cell research. Most had heard of the ads and were put off by them because they knew that stem cell research killed living embryos. Still, few had considered that Michael J. Fox's reasoning was simply a form of "ends justify the means." Christians should say, "God justifys the means, not the ends." They should be able to extrapolate the "ends" philosophy into other areas as well. (For example, Hitler's experiments on Jews was just this same reasoning.)

Instead, they have been trained to spot things God doesn't like, but not explain why. They haven't been trained to think God's thoughts after him. That is what we need to do.

So, look at the news. As you do, ask what God thinks and most importantly, why He thinks as He does. Try it!

Is Apologetics A Lost Art?

Yesterday there was a story about how former former German Chancellor Schroeder had doubts about President Bush because Bush constantly referred to his Christian beliefs. Here is the beginning of a great water cooler discussion of separation of Church and State, or beliefs and actions. Yet, I fear, most Christians will miss the opportunity by simply disagreeing with someone who takes the Separation view. After words of disagreement, everyone will return to work.

What about Apologetics here? Why don't we take on the idea that we really want a person to act in accord with his or her beliefs? We can point out that a person who doesn't act in accord with beliefs is commonly called a hypocrite. We can point out that politics and science aren't immune from this principle. After all, Darwin was mad at God and acted in harmony with that belief when he put forth his hypotheses. We expect our business leaders to remain true to their business plan, which is based upon certain assumptions. Why don't we expect the same from a leader.

If the leader was opposed to Christianity, wouldn't we expect him to live accordingly? Scripture affirms this truth. Paul is regularly reminding us that we are to live our beliefs. That is in harmony with the way that even unbelievers live. Can you imagine the uproar if a well known atheist said, "Well, I personally don't believe in God but I think it is great that we have His name in the pledge of allegiance."

I think this is the first step in blasting off the glasses that an unbeliever sees through. (A VanTillian idea!) He must see the illogic of his ways.

This keeps the conversation alive with our unbelieving friends. Simply disagreeing does not. Let's get out there and set some blasting charges!

Books or Blogs?

I just finished another of John Buchan's amazing works of fiction. Buchan wrote in the first half of the 20th Century (most in 1910-1925) and finished the fourth in a series "starring" Richard Hannay in 1924. I enjoy downloading his books for the Palm and reading by backlit screen.

So, for fiction I turn to books, both paper and electronic. But, when it comes to nonfiction, I find that much of the material I read is found on blogs. Cyber authors address issues immediately via their blogs. Yes, I still read nonfiction in bound form, but there is really good comment, analysis and information available on the internet that is hard to pass it up.

Pastors post sermons and articles (thoughts) which are worth viewing. Charlie Wingard, my own pastor does this regularly. Reformation 21 has a great blog, and there are several others that are worthwhile. Younger folks blog regularly, and it is interesting (and important) to see what they say and what they are thinking. It is also interesting to see how they think. They will, after all, make the big decisions in the future. What will the church look like? (Yes, George Barna, there will be a local church!) What will they do with all of us baby boomers in 20 years?

It seems to me that there will always be a place for David McCullough's books on the shelf. But, there is lots of good history material online. And, thoughts about tomorrow are always online today!

School Shootings

Today the school shootings extended to a private, Christian school in Pennsylvania. Not much is known yet about the shooter. He lived in the area, and left a suicide note. Reportedly, he was avenging something that happened to him when he was twelve. The death toll stands at four, with more expected to die in the hospital.

Tomorrow I will meet with the principals about school safety and security. The biggest problem is the idea that it can't happen here. Of course it can. Can we make it absolutely safe? No, we can't. Can we improve? Sure we can.

I am sad at the loss of innocence for the kids at school. The closer we come to a "lock down," the harder it is to look like an extension of the home. Should going to school look like going on an international plane flight? Must we hire a crew of armed guards? Would that guarantee anything? No, it wouldn't.

The last generation saw violence come into their homes and school via the live television news feed. The generation is seeing it come in live. What would it all mean without the belief that God is in control? That is something we need to stress to the kids. Evil exists, but God is still in control.