Matt Chandler: 7 Miles
Posted: May 9, 2011 Filed under: Apologetics Leave a comment »The classic Matt Chandler clip on why secular minds have a problem with the historicity of Jesus’ resurrection, and how silly they can be in trying to disprove it.
Oprah Winfrey: Messenger of God
Posted: February 15, 2011 Filed under: Apologetics, Miscellaneous 1 Comment »
Apparently, Oprah is a prophet. Like, a real prophet.
According to Kitty Kelley, who wrote Oprah’s biography, Oprah has been known to claim that she is “the instrument of God. I am his messenger. My show is my ministry.” Of course, this isn’t Jesus Christ, but some god that she knows via… herself? He must be a fabrication of her mind, because he certainly doesn’t exist in the Bible. What’s most infuriating is that she has millions of women who hang on her every word, as if she truly is a prophet of God.
Here is an excerpt from a post written about her on USA Today’s “Faith & Reason” blog:
From a traditional Christian perspective, Oprah’s God is unrecognizable. In Oprah-vision: We’re all good, we should not judge each other and morality is relative. This is no Jesus-centered, born into sin and in need of salvation God who both loves and judges.
Oprah’s genius is that she tapped early into the way many Americans really view God. Less than a third tell surveys this is the might judge who has set the rules for this life and the next. Her message of hope is to believe in yourself, redeem yourself. Very popular but not very Christian.
I recently did a USA WEEKEND magazine story on how we see God and the leading answer among hundreds of replies was all about love. Less than 10% mentioned sin and salvation or Jesus.
So Oprah is indeed a fitting prophetess for big hug spirituality.
Also, here is a video of her many instances of denying Christianity:
The Koran and the Gospel
Posted: October 1, 2010 Filed under: Apologetics, Gospel 3 Comments »This post was prompted by a poor “tweet” and the even poorer statement by Ray Bakke that led to it.
Redeemer City to City, a church planting resource that I admire and respect, held the Movement Day 2010 Conference in New York City, the headlining speakers being Timothy Keller and Bill Hybels. Naturally, I was interested. I was at work at the time, so my following of the conference was via the Twitter hashtag #mday2010 on my phone. Things were going smoothly until this came across the #mday2010 feed:
Now, I’m not one for trying to be the social networking police, but this flat out scared me. Surprisingly, the only person who seemed to be extremely bothered by this statement besides myself was Tim Brister, who replied once or twice (or more). If anyone was following the #mday2010 feed and saw this, I pray that they did not believe it or take it seriously.
This statement was wrong on two basic counts:
1. The Koran does not affirm the deity of Christ. Simply put, there is no Gospel where Jesus is not God in the flesh, the Messiah and fulfillment of all prophecy, Scripture, and revelation. If Jesus was merely a prophet, as the Koran teaches, then there is no forgiveness of sins, no redemption, no resurrection, and no eternity with the Father (Gospel 101). If Jesus was just another apocalyptic prophet who preached and died, then our faith is meaningless (1 Cor. 15:14). Some maintain that the Koran indeed teaches the Gospel as Christians understand it (and as I’ve said here), though this is impossible foundationally if we are to worship Muhammad’s “revelations” and if Jesus is not the only begotten Son of the Father.
2. Christianity is entirely exclusive. Yes, God plays favorites. This statement sounds eerily like inclusivistic-meets-syncretistic thought. In the context of Bakke’s statement, he was basically saying that we should know the Koran well enough to relate to our Muslim neighbors in evangelistic efforts. With this knowledge, we should be able to pull the Gospel out of it. I do not know Bakke well enough to know if he is, in fact, an inclusivist at all; but I do know that this statement leans this way. The problem with this idea is that the Koran is not in any way an inerrant, inspired revelation of God. Therefore, anything in it is false on spiritual matters. There are no nuggets of truth in it and you cannot use its content to feel your way to Heaven to help anyone else find it. The only way the Koran is useful to evangelism is when it is described as patently false. The Bible is the chosen revelation of God to mankind. Period.
I am sure we can find many, many problems with this statement beyond these, but my hope is to foundationally debunk the belief that there is any way to find the Gospel outside of Scripture’s revelation of Jesus Christ.
What the Prosperity Gospel Does to the Gospel
Posted: September 22, 2010 Filed under: Apologetics, Gospel, Theology 5 Comments »
I was reminded tonight by a local TV preacher (asking for money in exchange for prayers, of course) how badly the prosperity gospel distorts the actual Gospel. Here are three major things that I think the prosperity gospel does:
1. Cheapens Grace
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is built upon the fact that God’s wrath needed to be satisfied by the shedding of blood in order for sinners to be taken out from under this wrath. Jesus did not have your material wealth in mind when He died on the cross. No, Jesus had your eternal soul in mind. Your wealth on earth is judged by others, but your soul is judged by God. Grace is poured out because you are born in spiritual poverty with no hope, not because your 401k is lower than you’d like.
2. Glorifies Materialism
One of the grossest sins in America is the infatuation with money and reputation. I live in Dallas where everyone is in debt up to their eyeballs in order to be seen as one of the North Dallas elites. It doesn’t matter that you make $35,000 per year as long as people think you make $200,000. It’s a scary place to be to think that God wants your wealth because He is ultimately concerned with your renown and happiness. There is a reason that faithful believers in the Bible struggled at one point or another by earthly standards – God was teaching them to refocus their standards according to His.
3. Elevates Moralism
It is pretty clear in any prosperity sermon that you are blessed if you are wealthy. A key phrase for a prosperity preacher is, “Are you broke? Does your car need new tires? Did you only get peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch this week? It’s because you haven’t unlocked God’s ultimate plan for you!” He (or she) proceeds to tell you that if you do this and that, God will bless you. What is this blessing? MONEY. Duh. What more could you need to be happy? Forget reckless abandon for Christ and His Kingdom, as long as you got Chili’s instead of tuna salad this week. God’s blessing is Him. You get Him with no stipulations.
John Piper the Comedian.
Posted: February 14, 2010 Filed under: Apologetics, Miscellaneous | Tags: atheism, Christ, Christianity, evolution, Jesus, John Piper Leave a comment »Mark Driscoll: Contending for the Gospel.
Posted: June 30, 2009 Filed under: Apologetics, Gospel, Scripture Lessons | Tags: Christ, Christianity, church, culture, faith, God, Gospel, Jesus, Mark Driscoll, scripture Leave a comment »I love that he mentions that we are to be culturally aware in spreading the Gospel while still contending for the truth of Scripture, just as Paul did 2,000 years ago. Cannot agree more with what he is preaching.
Jesus died on a cross. Period.
Posted: April 13, 2009 Filed under: Apologetics, Scripture Lessons | Tags: Christ, Christianity, cross, faith, God, Jesus 2 Comments »
There has been much debate from sects of Christianity, most commonly Jehovah’s Witnesses, who like to argue that Jesus died on a stake (pole) and not a cross.
It is argued that the Bible in the original Greek text doe not call it a cross but rather uses the words stauros or xylon which can mean a stake or pole as well as something more complex as a cross. That is not proof for either argument, as cited by the pro-stake debaters. Therefore, the argument is null for both sides for all intents and purposes.
Then, you can look to history. A stake is commonly used as an alternative argument to the cross because it was also used during the 1st century. However, the Romans used the cross as their favorite tool of humiliation and torture. Jesus was sentenced by Roman authority. As early as the 1st century (within 70 years of the death of Jesus) the cross was a symbol revered by Christians. As early as 200 AD, Roman paintings were found depicting Jesus as a donkey on a cross. This is significant because this means that Christians obviously worshiped a crucified Christ and the Romans knew it.
Finally, let me let the Bible speak for itself. If I were to put a list of references from Scripture about the cross, it would go back to the Greek debate, so I will let Thomas clear it up a little more in the King James Version (which is the original accepted Greek to English translation):
John 20:25 – The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the LORD. But [Thomas] said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.
Notice that Thomas speaks of more than one nail. Death by stake was one nail through both hands crossed over the head, but Thomas clearly knows that multiple nails were used. More than one nail being used points to, you guessed it, a cross.
Could I go on? Yes, but it seems pretty simple to me.
Colbert defends Jesus.
Posted: April 12, 2009 Filed under: Apologetics, Miscellaneous | Tags: Apologetics, Christ, Christianity, faith, God, Jesus, Stephen Colbert, video Leave a comment »This seems like Colbert is legitimately arguing for Christianity instead of his usual sarcasm and does a great job. I love it!
ABC Nightline: Does Satan Exist?
Posted: April 2, 2009 Filed under: Apologetics, News & Commentary | Tags: Christ, Christianity, Deepak Chopra, faith, God, Jesus, Mark Driscoll, Satan 3 Comments »
A fascinating debate between Deepak Chopra and Mark Driscoll over the existence of Satan:
ABC Nightline: Born to Cheat?
Posted: September 26, 2009 | Author: Brandon Smith | Filed under: Apologetics, News & Commentary | Tags: adultery, Christ, Christianity, Ed Young, faith, God, Jesus | Leave a comment »An interesting debate on adultery between Pastor Ed Young and AshleyMadison.com founder Noel Biderman.
click here.