October 20, 2016

Straight Outta Context Series

Posted by Jason Dulle under Bible, Hermeneutics, Theology
[15] Comments 

straight-outta-contextEveryone wants to be understood properly – even God.  In communication, a proper understanding can only be achieved when a clear message is properly interpreted.  If the sender does not clearly convey his message, or if the receiver does not properly interpret the sender’s message, miscommunication and misunderstanding results.  This happens all the time with the Bible.  We often misunderstand it because we fail to interpret God’s words properly.

Interpreting the Bible is more difficult than interpreting a modern text or conversation because it reflects a different era, geography, language, worldview, culture, literary genres, and idioms.  Oddly enough, the vast majority of Christians are never trained in Biblical interpretation.  Given this circumstance, it’s no wonder the Bible is misinterpreted and misapplied so much.

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October 13, 2016

More Dead Sea Scrolls? 25 new ancient Hebrew manuscripts come to light

Posted by Jason Dulle under Archaeology, Bible, Manuscripts, Theology
[20] Comments 

Two new books have been published reporting on the discovery of 25 Hebrew Bible texts, at least some of which may be part of the Dead Sea Scrolls.  There have been ~70 such texts that have appeared on the antiquities market since 2002.

The provenance of these manuscripts is uncertain since they were found on the antiquities market, but they may have come from the Qumran caves. They are believed to be ~2000 years old.

Nehemiah was the only book that was not found among the original Dead Sea Scrolls. This new cache of manuscripts, however, contains portions of Nehemiah (2:13-16), as well as Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Samuel, Ruth, Kings, Micah, Nehemiah, Jeremiah, Joel, Joshua, Judges, Proverbs, Numbers, Psalms, Ezekiel, and Jonah. Given the unknown provenance, however, the manuscript may not be part of the Dead Sea Scrolls, even if it dates from the same period of time.

Work is currently underway to investigate the manuscripts to make sure they are not forgeries.

News articles:

Live Science

History

 

Update 3/16/20: The Museum of the Bible held 16 of these ~70 post 2002 fragments. They were recently discovered to be forgeries, casting doubt on the other ~55 as well. See the National Geographic’s “Exclusive: ‘Dead Sea Scrolls’ at the Museum of the Bible are all forgeries“

 

October 12, 2016

No right to treatment, but a right to be killed

Posted by Jason Dulle under Apologetics, Bioethics, Euthanasia
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Wesley J. Smith writes about the strange ethics afoot in the medical world today. While more and more doctors and bioethicists are advocating the repeal of conscience rights for doctors, insisting that they participate in euthanasia and abortion because the patient’s desires are autonomous and trump the doctor’s conscience.  Ironically, however, many in this crowd also support futile care laws which allow a hospital to determine that due to your quality of life, the healthcare desired by the patient is not worth the cost and can be denied.  Smith ends by saying, “Autonomy rules if you want to die–even over medical conscience. But doctor/bioethicists values rule if you want to live.”  Clearly, this is not about patient autonomy.  It’s about strong-arming an anti-human view on the medical field, forcing everyone who values life out of the business.

 

October 12, 2016

Child of lesbian parents warns of depriving children of the opposite sex parent

Posted by Jason Dulle under Apologetics, Same-sex Marriage, Same-sex parenting
[2] Comments 

An Australian girl who was raised by lesbians and supports both same-sex marriage and same-sex parenting is raising her voice for the children of same-sex couples. She believes the same-sex couple should not be able to deprive the child from knowing their other biological parent.  She describes her own longing to know her father and the deep sense of missing something in her life.

The needs of children should trump the desires of adults. Kids deeply long to be in relationship with both of their biological parents, and do best in that environment. They need the influence of both genders.

 

 

October 7, 2016

King Hezekiah’s “stone throne” discovered by archaeologists

Posted by Jason Dulle under Apologetics, Archaeology
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hezekiah-toiletArchaeologists have uncovered what they believe to be a toilet in a pagan shrine in Lachish. We know the practice of installing a toilet to desecrate a shrine was practiced from an account of King Jehu doing so in 2 Kings 10:27. The toilet in question, however, dates to the time of Hezekiah. While there is no Biblical record of Hezekiah doing the same, 2 Kings 18:4 tells us that he destroyed pagan sacred places. It would not be unexpected that he also desecrated pagan sacred sites by installing toilets. Tests indicate the toilet in question was never used, and just had a symbolic purpose.

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October 5, 2016

Death of Conscience and Freedom of Religion

Posted by Jason Dulle under Abortion, Apologetics, Bioethics, Euthanasia
[13] Comments 

Wesley J. Smith notes how prominent “bioethicists” are increasingly advocating that all doctors be required to participate in euthanasia and abortion.  The left is all about coercion, and we are seeing a steady march toward the death of conscience rights and freedom of religion.  If we value freedom, we must speak against this tide.

 

September 18, 2016

Wyoming judge’s job on the line because of her moral convictions

Posted by Jason Dulle under Political Incorrectness, Same-sex Marriage
1 Comment 

The Wyoming Commission on Judicial Conduct and Ethics is trying to get a 21 year veteran Wyoming judge removed from the bench for affirming a Biblical sexual ethic and telling a reporter that she would decline to marry a same-sex couple. They claim Judge Ruth Neely is incapable of being unbiased and thus unfit to be a judge. The case is currently being heard by the Wyoming Supreme Court.

Stories like this continue to abound. The trajectory our society is on is for liberals to bully everyone who does not agree with them, literally putting them out of a job for holding what they consider to be the wrong opinion. If that doesn’t scare you, you’re part of the problem, because this sort of fascism and bullying and thought police should scare anyone who loves freedom and believes in free speech.

 

September 18, 2016

“Bioethicists” want to force doctors to violate their conscience

Posted by Jason Dulle under Abortion, Apologetics, Bioethics, Euthanasia
[3] Comments 

Oxford University has published a statement signed by prominent bioethicists calling for doctors to yield their moral convictions to their patients’ desires/needs.  They want all doctors to either perform morally contested services or refer patients to those who will.  The direction is clear: you must violate your moral conscience or get out of medicine.  This point of view is gaining wide traction.  It won’t be long before it is legislated and morally sane doctors will find themselves forced out of their professions.

HT: Wesley J. Smith

 

September 5, 2016

How a Dice can show that God exists

Posted by Jason Dulle under Apologetics, Theistic Arguments
[160] Comments 

Justin Brierley illustrates the fine-tuning argument using dice.

 

September 5, 2016

Visual depiction of the ontological argument

Posted by Jason Dulle under Apologetics, Theistic Arguments
[10] Comments 

William Lane Craig’s latest illustrated argument for God’s existence takes up the ontological argument. This is quite a controversial argument, and many theists ignore it.  I must admit, I don’t use it myself.  It’s not because I don’t think it’s sound, but because it is so philosophically esoteric for most people to grasp, and because it is so nuanced.  Nevertheless, WLC has done a nice job helping people to better understand the argument through illustration.

For WLC’s other illustrated arguments, see:

 

August 6, 2016

Marijuana legalization dominant view

Posted by Jason Dulle under Uncategorized
[10] Comments 

Yoda smoking potMore Americans favor the legalization of marijuana than not.  40% of Americans think recreational marijuana should be legal whereas only 32% disagree.  The shift in public opinion is clearly ideological and generational as support for legalizing marijuana is supported mainly by the non-religious, the liberal, and the young.

 

August 6, 2016

Disturbing news in the news

Posted by Jason Dulle under Abortion, Apologetics, Bioethics, Homosexuality, Political Incorrectness, Same-sex Marriage
[281] Comments 

I’ve been doing a lot of teaching and trying to buy a house.  Obviously, by the dates on my last blog posts, it has prohibited me from doing a lot of blogging.  Here’s some of the major stories from the past month or so that I found disturbing: (more…)

 

June 28, 2016

Polyamory: The slippery slope is here

Posted by Jason Dulle under Apologetics, Polygamy
[426] Comments 

polyamoryWe said this was next given the logic of same-sex marriage, and here it is (not the first example). The headline says it all: “Love doesn’t just come in pairs. Is it time that marriage laws come to recognise the fact?”

If “love wins,” and love isn’t defined by gender, then love isn’t defined by twoness either. It’s a logical slippery slope, and we’re already slipping. Given how quickly people have acquiesced to transgenderism, I don’t suspect it will take too long for society and the legal system to give their approval to polyamory and polygamy.

 

May 26, 2016

Fined for using the wrong (right) pronoun

Posted by Jason Dulle under Apologetics, Political Incorrectness, Transgender
[3] Comments 

NYC has declared that under its Human Rights Law, businesses must use a transgendered persons’ preferred pronoun when referring to him/her/ze/they/it/hir or they will be fined.

I’m not surprised that liberals would want to take away free speech to force people to say things they do not want to say and know are not true under the pain of financial penalty.  Liberals are not pro-freedom, but pro-liberal values.  They are only for the freedoms they want to champion, and if that requires reducing the overall amount of freedom in this country, they fully support that.

 

May 17, 2016

The next 10 moral battles

Posted by Jason Dulle under Hamartiology, Sin, Theology
[5] Comments 

I am no prophet, but based on the current trends in our culture, I think the following may be the cultural and moral battles of the near future:

  1. Normalization of sex between adults and underage teens (age ~14-17)
  2. Genetically modified designer babies (for health, longevity, intelligence, etc.)
  3. Sexual reproduction to be replaced by the scientific engineering of babies (babies created and grown in the lab – artificial wombs)
  4. Temporary marriages
  5. Marriage to robots and animals
  6. Normalization of adultery and open marriages
  7. Parental “ownership” of their children will be denied
  8. Some animals will be deemed “persons” with rights
  9. Nature rights will spread
  10. Infanticide

Do you agree or disagree?  Any items you would add to or remove from the list?

 

May 12, 2016

Why we like compliments

Posted by Jason Dulle under Odds & Ends
[5] Comments 

All of us like compliments, but why?  I think a large part of the reason is that they serve to either validate our own healthy sense of self-perception or, if we have an unhealthy self-perception, they serve to bring hope that we just might be better than we perceive ourselves to be.  Compliments serve as confirmation that we are, indeed, valuable. Receiving compliments is necessary to a healthy development of one’s self-perception.  A failure to receive compliments can cause someone to doubt their own value, and may lead to them doing abnormal things to solicit compliments so they can be reassured of their own value.

Of course, there is always the temptation to pride when one receives compliments.  That’s where a health Christian theology comes in handy.  We recognize that everything we are, and everything we do, is because of God’s grace.  He is to be thanked for everything we are/do, and thus we redound the praise to the glory of God.

 

May 11, 2016

The War on Work – Prager University video

Posted by Jason Dulle under Odds & Ends, Social
[2] Comments 

Makes sense.  Take a look.

>

Testing

 

 

May 5, 2016

Has science excluded room for belief in God?

Posted by Jason Dulle under Apologetics, Naturalism, Science, Theistic Arguments
[266] Comments 

No_Room_For_GodjpgMany scientifically-minded atheists claim that science can explain or has explained everything that God was once invoked to explain, and thus there is no more room for belief in God.  But when theists point to gaps in scientific knowledge and argue that God best explains that gap, atheists accuse us of committing a God-of-the-gaps fallacy.  If the discovery of natural processes to explain some phenomena counts as evidence against God, how can it also be that the lack of a naturalistic explanation cannot count as evidence for God’s existence when God is the best explanation for the phenomena?[1]  Heads I win, tails you lose.

Obviously the lack of a naturalistic explanation for some phenomenon in and of itself is not evidence for theism, but it does show that (1) science has not explained everything that needs to be explained or that the God hypothesis has been invoked to explain, and (2) it shows that there is still explanatory power in theism.

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May 4, 2016

Why Jesus is necessary for salvation in a tweet

Posted by Jason Dulle under Uncategorized
[417] Comments 
Jesus Only WayWhy is Jesus the only way to God/heaven?
 
Alan Shlemon has answered that question in the space of a tweet: “There’s only one way to Heaven because there’s only one God that exists who’s made only one offer of forgiveness through His only one Son.”
 
Well put. He unpacks the statement as well in a short article.
See also:
Why do people go to hell? For not believing on Jesus?
 

April 26, 2016

ESPN commentator fired for FB post about transgenders

Posted by Jason Dulle under Apologetics, Political Incorrectness, Transgender
[44] Comments 

Curt SchillingESPN fired commentator Curt Schilling because he posted a meme to his Facebook page that was critical of transgender people using the bathroom of their choice.  A short statement was issued by ESPN that read in part: “ESPN is an inclusive company. Curt Schilling has been advised that his conduct was unacceptable and his employment with ESPN has been terminated.”

ESPN says they are an “inclusive company.” Hogwash. They are an exclusive company using word manipulation to make people think they are something they are not.  An inclusive company is one that hires those who affirm the normality of transgenderism and those who don’t.  An exclusive company is one that fires any of their employees who do not share the company’s view on transgenderism.

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