Dave Babbitt: Logos

Veritatis Splendor

Thu, 10 Apr 2003 04:13:32 GMT

Veritatis Splendor

I think the reason that North Korea is not blustering nuclear war threats now that the attention has been diverted from it is due to two things: one of which is the existence of moral absolutes. In other words, they are wrong, and they can't deny that they are wrong when ultimately challenged by the US.

Acceptance (or non-acceptance) of the existence of moral absolutes is a watershed issue. For instance,when Education Secretary Roderick Paige told a Baptist publication, "All things equal, I would prefer to have a child in a school that has a strong appreciation for the values of the Christian community, where a child is taught to have a strong faith," Executive Director Barry Lynn of Americans United for Separation of Church and State Page’s remarks show "an astonishing mix of disrespect for both American’s religious diversity and the public schools." In a letter faxed to the Department of Education yesterday Lynn, urged Paige to repudiate the remarks or step down. Paige’s press secretary said the quotation in the article was accurate and that Paige has no intention of resigning.

Faith in the existence of moral absolutes is a "house built without hands" - it's very hard to figure out how to increase it in a diverse community. It's all too easy to build it on false foundations, which,over the centuries, cause the whole edifice to topple and have to be rebuilt. But, still, it's progressively getting bigger, and maybe the growth will accelerate.

For group politics, you could call the second group the anti-transcendents. At their exstreme, they would be the fascists who want to create the Kingdom of God on earth, who actually believe that the State is Most High. This would include the Western-trained Muslim fundamentalists in my mind, who make Islam into a territorial religion with the Sharia law.

12:13:32 AM Comments

Sinning in Your Dreams

Fri, 28 Mar 2003 10:37:57 GMT

Sinning in Your Dreams

Q: When you sin in your dreams, is it really a sin?

A: Yes! Sins originate in the heart and spread outward. Catching the spread while it is still in your dreams gives you a chance to confess and repent and be reconcilled to God.

Setting up a feedback loop of watching others sin or tempting yourself to sin will result in scenes like that eventually getting in your dreams. (Likewise, listening to the Bible on tape, for instance, will eventually result in Biblical scenes getting into your dreams! :-)

And yes, it is possible over the years to have victory over a certain sin, even in your dreams. To be tempted in a dream and to resist the temptation with God's help is like a breath of fresh air. It is something you will savor the rest of your life.

6:37:57 AM Comments

Sat, 22 Mar 2003 21:32:34 GMT

The Philosopher of Islamic Terror. The roots of Al Qaeda are not in poverty or in anti-Americanism but in Sayyid Qutb's ideas about how Christianity went wrong and how martyrdom could change the world. By Paul Berman. [New York Times: International]
5:32:34 PM Comments

Fri, 17 Jan 2003 20:45:39 GMT

IT'S EASY TO BE A MISSIONARY: RECYCLE YOUR USED CHRISTIAN BIBLES AND BOOKS TO DEVELOPING NATIONS - Through "Library Discipleship," Hands for Christ ministry (http://www.handsforchrist.org/sub3.htm) has sent over 324 tons of books to more than 21,507 location in 123 nations to supplement the work of teachers, evangelists, pastors and missionaries in maturing the vast number of people being born into the Kingdom of God during this Endtime Harvest of souls. Recycle your used Christian Bibles, preaching and teaching books, audios and videos - do not send magazines. If you desire receipt, include a note stating the value you place on the materials. Send in least costly manner to: Hands for Christ, 5720 Williamson Road, NW Office 111, Roanoke, VA 24012; for info call 1-800-NEEDNOW (633-3669). Warning: cheasy website.

4:45:39 PM Comments

Fri, 17 Jan 2003 20:44:03 GMT

Palestinian Archbishop Praises Suicide Bombers And wants Christians to join the fight. This is pretty sick - it's forcing me out of my neatly compartmentalized views of Christians staying out of the fight and picking up the pieces later on. I'll have to disqualify Attallah Hanna as a Christian. That's the way they do it at my church.
4:44:03 PM Comments

AIDS Infection Rates by Country

Mon, 13 Jan 2003 18:27:28 GMT

AIDS Infection Rates by Country

This is for my buddy Mark who insists that the Muslims have the worst AIDS infection rates.

2:27:28 PM Comments

Sun, 12 Jan 2003 01:18:29 GMT

If I call Jesus a terrorist will I get death threats from pastors?
9:18:29 PM Comments

Thu, 02 Jan 2003 12:41:03 GMT

Church planting in the twenty-first century means reaching people in new ways with new technology. There are many new ways to reach people but the most cost effective and people effective way is using the web. Take Your Church Plant to the Web!

8:41:03 AM Comments

Thu, 02 Jan 2003 12:36:49 GMT

Escaping the Christian Ghetto
8:36:49 AM Comments

Thu, 02 Jan 2003 12:31:38 GMT

A Spiritual landscape of Iraq.
8:31:38 AM Comments

Sat, 28 Dec 2002 15:28:24 GMT

From science and computers, a new face of Jesus. According to Isaiah, he's not supposed to be at all good looking, or is that just referring to the mutilation of his body during the trial?
11:28:24 AM Comments

Thu, 26 Dec 2002 09:13:29 GMT

Pakistan holds three after church attack. Three men including an Islamic cleric have been detained in Pakistan after an attack on a church on Christmas Day in which three children were killed.
5:13:29 AM Comments

Wed, 25 Dec 2002 21:54:18 GMT

Bart Simpson: "This is the time of year when people of all faiths get together to worship Jesus." [Scripting News]
5:54:18 PM Comments

Tue, 24 Dec 2002 23:12:30 GMT

The Atheist Christmas Challenge
Can you prove God doesn't exist?
7:12:30 PM Comments

Sun, 22 Dec 2002 12:14:32 GMT

I recommend that the world's religions pay tribute to Christianity this solstice by trying to come up with something like Christmas. You know, electric Menorahs, "Ramadan lights," etc. Those that offer rules and techniques to ascend to the Divine should co-opt the celebration of the Divine descending to us.
8:14:32 AM Comments

Sat, 30 Nov 2002 18:42:51 GMT

Neo-Puritan Anarcho- Federalism. Lee McCracken at anti-state.com - Neo-Puritan Anarcho- Federalism - Covenant communities as public goods suppliers. [market] [End the War on Freedom]
2:42:51 PM Comments

Fri, 29 Nov 2002 00:10:44 GMT

"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do"

The sins of the Elect are not forgiven because "they know not what they do."
The word "forgive" does not mean "forgive all sins for all time" whenever it is mentioned in the Bible, or even whenever it is mentioned by Jesus Himself.

This anecdote is in the context of a group of anecdotes which speak to Jesus being blameless and above the fray.
The Romans who were just doing their job did indeed "not know what they were doing." And indeed they WERE forgiven: the Jewish nation was destroyed while the Roman empire became the Holy Roman Empire.

8:10:44 PM Comments

Sat, 16 Nov 2002 10:19:20 GMT

It's impossible to be both aware of the universe around you and content with your place in it, think. The smarter you are, the more you feel the limitations. People invent various means of stupification, yes, but that does not change the fact that we are the alien mind in a material universe.
6:19:20 AM Comments

Sat, 09 Nov 2002 18:26:07 GMT

Jordon Cooper is a well-known commentator on the church and postmodernism. His thoughts on the failings and potential of church sites in the digital age are well worth reading:

Keep your brochures from 1992 in the display rack where nobody reads them, not online.

2:26:07 PM Comments

Betroval Has Another Good Thing Going For It

Wed, 30 Oct 2002 12:19:34 GMT

Betroval Has Another Good Thing Going For It

The earlier a woman has sex, the less stressed she is as an adult, scientists have discovered.
8:19:34 AM Comments

Mon, 09 Sep 2002 16:26:39 GMT

Larry Walls Testimony: I expect a good deal of the problem is that you are busy disbelieving a different God than the one I am busy believing in.

Very interesting! He is "Shroedinger's cat in reverse".

12:26:39 PM Comments

Making The World Safe For Liberal Rationalism

Sun, 28 Jul 2002 16:46:42 GMT

Making The World Safe For Liberal Rationalism

Steve makes some comments about Intelligent Design. It all sounds like someone speculating based on his own prejudices to me. He says that ID is just a ruse to get Christianity back into government schools. Seriously, who cares about government schools? Anybody who cares about teaching their kids to worship the Creator has pulled them out long ago. It's the evolutionary ideologies that have to be forced down people's throats, BTW - teachers are forced to have it in their curriculum, kids are forced to attend classes, taxpayers are forced to pay for it all, etc.

He also wants to know about stupid design, as if the fact that everything not being in the pristine state it was at the beginning is an argument against a creator. Not too well thought out.

Hint: knowing that something was intelligently designed, doesn't mean we ignore it. Take a look at forensic science, or historical science. If given two rocks, and one looks like an arrow head, we don't just toss that one because we concluded that it wasn't made by natural forces.

12:46:42 PM Comments

"I am the Parking Space of Life: he who believes in me will not get towed"

Sun, 28 Jul 2002 16:24:34 GMT

"I am the Parking Space of Life: he who believes in me will not get towed"

Our Pastor asked one of our more synical teenagers, "What does 'Bread of Life' mean?" Silenced reigned. It seems that bread no longer signifies what it used to. Well, let me propose a different metaphor: Jesus is the "Parking Space of Life".

In the urban environment where I live, you must have a place to park securely in mind BEFORE you leave the one you are at, or risk driving around, looking for a parking space, wasting precious time, until you run out of gas.

OK, maybe that is not strong enough. Maybe we should refer to Jesus as the "Gasoline of Life", for without Him you would have to walk under your own power.

No, even that is not strong enough: Jesus is the "Oxygen of Life", and without it, neither our legs nor our engines can go anywhere without it.

But we have to take the time to get the "bread" into us, properly digested and all. So we are back to our beginning argument. You need a parking space or risk getting your car towed. So I guess Jesus is the "Parking Space of the Soul".

12:24:34 PM Comments

Hillary as Jezebel

Sun, 28 Jul 2002 12:41:19 GMT

Hillary as Jezebel

I am struck by how thoroughly Hillary Clinton is like the biblical character of Jezebel. But more than that, the analogy extends to her husband. If Hillary is Jezebel, Bill is certainly Ahab. And if Hillary is Jezebel and Bill is Ahab, (my mind enjoys completing the picture,) then the angularity-challenged Billy Graham is Obediah and Rush Limbaugh is Elijah. "Rush Limbaugh?!?" you say. Seriously, can you think of anyone playing the role more fully than Rush?

But what about Bush? I suppose we could equate the Democrats with the Baal-worshiping northern kingdom of Israel. That would make the dynasty of Omri the dynasty of J. F. K. The Republicans would then have to be the southern kingdom of Judah. The concilitory Jehoshaphat would then have to be Bush 43.

What about you? Can you add to the picture? How far can we take this before the analogy breaks down?

8:41:19 AM Comments

The Concept of "Imaginary Time" as it Applies to "Salvation History"

Fri, 26 Jul 2002 11:21:23 GMT

The Concept of "Imaginary Time" as it Applies to "Salvation History"

In Stephen Hawking's new book, "The Universe in a Nutshell", he specifically mentions the paradox of an eternal God creating a temporal world. Why did God take so long, etc.? He says that the paradox only exists because of the way Newtonian time is conceived - as a straight line with no end points. Getting rid of the boundary conditions gets rid of the paradox.

Just as you can't go any farther south than the south pole, so you can't go any farther back in time than the beginning of time. But at the south pole there isn't a spot where the laws of physics no longer hold.

Putting aside the mathematical equations, Hawking's suggestion here is not so far away from Psalm 90's assumption that real time as we know it simply does not apply to God, who has no beginning or end. God does not have to condescend to being "in" time.

7:21:23 AM Comments