Thinking to Believe

Have any of you ever been in the situation where your pastor called on you during his preaching to confirm something he said, but you didn’t agree with his statement? 

Given my theological education, every so often I’ve had pastors of mine call on me to affirm something they’ve said.  They’ll say something like “Would you agree with that Brother Dulle?” or “Is that right, Brother Dulle?”  Luckily, I haven’t been in the place where I could not affirm the statement in some sense, but I’m sure it will happen one day and I don’t know what to say.  Saying, “Actually, no” would cause a scene, and make both of us look bad.  And yet, I wouldn’t want to appear to agree with something I don’t agree with either.   

I’ve contemplated using the line Jesus used with Pilate, “You say so,” but I don’t think that’s going to cut it.  Perhaps the best one I’ve come up with is “Perhaps.”  That signals that I’m not necessarily on board with the statement, but I’m not declaring it wrong either.  Does anyone have a good one-line response that could allow me to wiggle out of the situation tactfully, honestly, and graciously?

I’ve heard it more times than I can count: “Church-based ministerial training is just as good as Bible college/seminary-based ministerial training.”  Personally, I think this statement is not well thought out.  The two training methods cannot be equal because they focus on different aspects of ministry.  In some matters, ministerial training within a local church from a pastor is superior to the training one can receive in seminary.  In other matters, the training one gets in seminary is superior to the training they could obtain from their pastor in the local church.  Seminary-based ministerial training excels at preparing one’s mind for ministry, while church-based ministerial-training excels at preparing one for some of the more practical aspects of ministry (such as performing ceremonies, administering the Lord’s supper, counseling, praying for the sick, etc.)  Both are needed, and thus whenever possible, both should be sought.

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Wesley Smith drew my attention to an article in The Chronicle of Higher Education making the case that environmentalism has become a quasi-religion.  It is worth quoting at length:

There are indeed environmental challenges, and steps must be taken to ameliorate them. But there is another way to understand the unique passion surrounding our need to go green.

Friedrich Nietzsche was the first to notice that religious emotions, like guilt and indignation, are still with us, even if we’re not religious. … Now the secular world still has to make sense out of its own invisible, psychological drama—in particular, its feelings of guilt and indignation. Environmentalism, as a substitute for religion, has come to the rescue. Nietzsche’s argument about an ideal God and guilt can be replicated in a new form: We need a belief in a pristine environment because we need to be cruel to ourselves as inferior beings, and we need that because we have these aggressive instincts that cannot be let out.

Instead of religious sins plaguing our conscience, we now have the transgressions of leaving the water running, leaving the lights on, failing to recycle, and using plastic grocery bags instead of paper. In addition, the righteous pleasures of being more orthodox than your neighbor (in this case being more (more…)

I was out of town for 2+ weeks for Christmas, so I didn’t have a chance to blog much.  To be honest, I didn’t want to (and it’s not like readership would be high during the holiday anyway).  It was actually nice to be “unplugged” for a while.  But I’m back, and about to start posting again, including the 5^th installment of my extended summary of Meyer’s Signature in the Cell.  Stay tuned.

I have determined to start an official apologetics ministry.  My first order of business was to create a name.  I settled on “Thinking to Believe” (unless any of you can think of a better name), since this represents my conviction that thinking is vital to both the acquisition and growth of faith.

My second order of business was to work on a logo.  I have come up with 20 different options.  I covet your help in determining which one I will go with.  I have numbered them 1-20.  It would really be a help to me if you could tell me what you think are the top three, in order of your favorite, second favorite, and third favorite (just list the logo numbers).

Of course, if any of you are into design and want to take your own stab at it, that would be great as well.  You can email me your work at jasondulle@yahoo.com.  As you can see from the diversity present, I am open to different looks, but I prefer something that has an “intellectual aura” to it.  I really like the medieval look (both letters and symbols/designs), so if you could come up with something along that line, that would be great.  Thanks!

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When man was created he was naked.  Once he sinned he recognized that he was naked, and felt shame.  That began the clothing industry.  The first designer was not DKNY, but YHWH.  Several others have attempted their hand at the design business since YHWH created his first “fall” line (pun intended), but frankly, I’m not so sure YHWH approves of their designs.

We live in a culture that is clothing less and less of their bodies.  Think of the bikini.  Girls wear bikinis like it’s no big deal, but a bikini is nothing more than underwear worn in public (if a bikini is not immodest, then there is no such thing as immodest clothing!).  It’s a little piece of cloth that barely covers the private parts of her body.  Indeed, in many parts of Europe it is acceptable for a woman to only wear one piece of a two-piece bikini!  How is it that our private parts have become public parts?  How have we allowed our bodies to become a spectacle for all to see?

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Les Français sont fous! 

Western societies seem to be calling everything a “right” these days.  Now, France’s highest court has declared that free access to the Internet is a basic human right guaranteed by France’s constitution.  Basic human right?  C’mon!  Life and liberty are basic human rights, not access to the Internet (for free, nonetheless).

People are pulling rights out of thin air these days, and in the process, they are demeaning the value of true human rights.  Basic human rights only come from God.  Governments do not grant them, they recognize them.  The last time I checked, free access to the internet is not on God’s list.