Tag: religoin

Are Christians Narrow-minded?

~ wzippler

It seems that in some circles all you have to do is mention Christ without an attached profanity and you are called all sorts of names, narrow-minded , and intolerant come to mind.

Are we Narrow-minded?
Well in one sense they are right, we think what we believe is true, but doesn’t everyone?  If you don’t believe that your beliefs are true, then why bother believing them at all?  It turns out that someone who wants you to accept all beliefs, and will reject you if you reject any of those beliefs is just as intolerant as they claim that Christians are.

If a cancer patient said to you “I HATE chemotherapy so I am going to take a shot of vodka instead.”  would it be tolerant to let them do that?  Under the modern day definition of tolerance, which is really total acceptance yes it would, but that “tolerance” would end up killing them which is an act of HATE! While ultimately it is their choice I will not tolerate someone going to their death without a good stern talking to. I will tell them repeatedly that cancer kills, and vodka will do nothing to prevent it from doing so. They need Chemo!

It may be narrow-minded to believe that in order to get to Heaven that you have to first seek admission from the creator of Heaven, but if it is true , so what that it is narrow minded? Truth is narrow.  2+2=4 not 3, and not 5  but if a child were to tell me that it was 5 I would correct, but still love that child. And that is what true tolerance is, the ability to see error, but love that person anyway.

Suggested for further reading
Relativism: Feet Firmly Planted in Mid-Air

by Francis J. Beckwith , Gregory Koukl

I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist

by Norman L. Geisler and Frank Turek

Does Religion Cause War?

~ wzippler

 

Does Religion Cause War?

The charge that most of the wars in history were religiously motivated is a popular one, especially with the New Atheists and their followers. Sam Harris has written in his book The End of Faith that religion is “the most prolific source of violence in our history.”1 But a cursory review of the wars fought throughout history shows the opposite is true.

As Robin Schumacher reports “An interesting source of truth on the matter is Philip and Axelrod’s three-volume Encyclopedia of Wars, which chronicles some 1,763 wars that have been waged over the course of human history. Of those wars, the authors categorize 123 as being religious in nature, which is an astonishingly low 6.98% of all wars. However, when one subtracts out those waged in the name of Islam (66), the percentage is cut by more than half to 3.23%.”2

To continue reading

Are Birthday’s Evil, like the Jehovah Witnesses say that they are?

~ wzippler

British cat celebrating birthday with piece of cake
Jehovah’s Witnesses in good standing do not celebrate birthdays. They will not even let their children eat birthday cake when someone brings it to their child’s school.  They believe that Birthdays are evil. Mostly because of two passages in the Bible.

The first one is in the Old Testament

Genesis 40:20-22 NIV

20 Now the third day was Pharaoh’s birthday, and he gave a feast for all his officials. He lifted up the heads of the chief cupbearer and the chief baker in the presence of his officials: 21 He restored the chief cupbearer to his position, so that he once again put the cup into Pharaoh’s hand— 22 but he impaled the chief baker, just as Joseph had said to them in his interpretation.

While this is most certainly horrific to think of what happened to the baker, ask the Jehovah’s Witness is it the birthday or the Pharaoh that is to blame here?  If they say it is his birthday that is to blame ask them if the Pharaoh was a good man for the rest of the year.
Then remind them that the cup bearer was forgiven and restored to his position on the Pharaoh’s Birthday, so the Pharaoh also did a good deed on his birthday.  If an evil event makes the entire day evil, then would not a good event make the day good?
The other passage that they use is in the New Testament

Matthew 14:3-11 (NIV)

 3 Now Herod had arrested John and bound him and put him in prison because of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, 4 for John had been saying to him: “It is not lawful for you to have her.” 5 Herod wanted to kill John, but he was afraid of the people, because they considered John a prophet.  6 On Herod’s birthday the daughter of Herodias danced for the guests and pleased Herod so much 7 that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked. 8 Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist.” 9 The king was distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he ordered that her request be granted 10 and had John beheaded in the prison. 11 His head was brought in on a platter and given to the girl, who carried it to her mother.

Once again something bad happens on a birthday, but it did not begin then. Herod wanted to murder John ever since he was arrested.
He didn’t do it right away, not because he a man who was sleeping with his brother’s wife suddenly got a conscience.  He was afraid of the people. He knew the Jews hated him but loved John, and he was worried that John’s death would cause a riot, which would get him into trouble with Rome.  Birthday or not he would have eventually have killed John. If this is a  prohibition of anything it is a prohibition against making oaths, especially open-ended ones.

But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation.

The birth of someone you love should be a special event, and birthdays are a way to make a person feel special in a way that would be impossible if you had to do it all year around.  EXP. Most people can’t afford to buy their child an expensive gift every day of the year, nor should they, but they can afford to buy them a bike for their birthday.

Birthdays are not an essential part of our faith, so please don’t get into a big fight over this with them. Try not to fight at all, but if things get more heated then they should, it should be over bigger issues then birthdays.

       Suggested Reading

Kingdom of the Cults, The

Walter Martin , Ravi Zacharias (Editor)

Our Darkest Hours

~ wzippler ~ 2 Comments

I have had more then my fair share of tragedies in my life, both physical and emotional. Last night one of my pets died, and while it certainly not the worst tragedy in my life the thought that I will never get to hear my parrot Bo say “cracker” again is enough to bring me to tears.
The dark times, often make people question God, but others draw closer to him during those times. I am lucky enough that I was introduced to  apologetics very early in my Christian walk. I never wonder if he is there not even in my worst of moments. I draw my strength from KNOWING that one day I will get to hear the love of my life say ” Well done, good and faithful servant.”. It isn’t easy, but as long as I focus on him I will have the strength to move on.  My trials on Earth will not only make me stronger, and somehow even if I don’t yet see it some good will eventually come from it. These dark days will make me appreciate Heaven even more, because without back stabbers we would not know how special our true friends are, without discomfort we would not appreciate comfort, and without hunger we would not appreciate a wonderful meal.
I may be in physical and emotional pain right now, but thanks be to God I know that a brighter day is coming!

Doubt

~ wzippler

Sometimes when I listen to people who say they have lost their faith, I am far less surprised than they expect. If their view of God is what they say, then it is only surprising that they did not reject it much earlier. Other people have a concept of God so fundamentally false that it would be better for them to doubt than to remain devout. The more devout they are, the uglier their faith will become since it is based on a lie. Doubt in such a case is not only highly understandable, it is even a mark of spiritual and intellectual sensitivity to error, for their picture is not of God but an idol.   ― Os Guinness