Christian Issues

Putting Dr. Larycia Hawkins on Trial

January 22, 2016 by Sharmeen Farooq in Christian Issues, Current Events

The Wheaton College Faculty Council has unanimously recommended that the college administration withdraw their efforts to fire Dr. Larycia Hawkins. This development comes after a month of controversy stemming from Dr. Hawkins’ public expression of solidarity with Muslims and her statement that Christians and Muslims worship the same God. But, despite the showing of support from the Faculty Council, Dr. Hawkins must still face the inquisition presented by the Faculty Personnel Committee, the College President, and the Board of Trustees.

Like millions of people around the world, I do not have a profound understanding of theology. I am just a common (wo)man with a bit of a common sense and an appetite for justice. And that is why and how I write today — not personally as a Christian, a Muslim, a Zoroastrian, or a Jew — but as a human being who cares deeply about justice.

As a third person to the events surrounding Dr. Hawkins, I cannot possibly peel through all the layers of policies and agendas at Wheaton College. What I do know and understand, however, is the essence of religious belief and the appeal of religious conviction, factors that have allowed religion to thrive throughout human history.

Here is how I would rather simplistically break down the case of Dr. Hawkins if I were a Christian “judge.”

I understand Dr. Hawkins had good intentions and felt sympathy for her “Muslim neighbors” who were being targeted by Islamophobic “gestures.”

Good intentions… [Read more…] about Putting Dr. Larycia Hawkins on Trial

Your Feelings and Experiences Matter, Young Christian

January 21, 2016 by Josh Way in Christian Issues

I recently witnessed a Twitter argument about gender inequality in the church. A proud Calvinist fellow informed a young woman she needed to “repent” of the “sin” of putting personal experiences above scripture, because she believed strongly that women shouldn’t be denied opportunities to minister and lead. He was rude and condescending, yet I know many Christians who would agree with his reasoning (if not his attitude).

The idea behind his thinking was this: all of our big questions about religion and life have already been addressed and answered to complete satisfaction by the Bible, which has been correctly transmitted, translated, interpreted, and distilled, leaving us with pure and all-sufficient truth. God has already spoken, and there’s nothing you can feel or experience or discover that will trump what has already been revealed in the Bible.

This principle, an offshoot of the inerrancy doctrine, takes the form of cautionary admonition drilled into the heads and hearts of young people: your feelings, instincts, and experiences will deceive you and lead you astray, so you should actively suppress them and look instead to established dogma. The result is often frustration and emotional distress: why do I feel something so strongly, or why did I have such a powerful experience, if it conflicts with what I’ve already been taught is the truth?

Experience in Christian Tradition

To be fair, some Christian traditions have given credence to the… [Read more…] about Your Feelings and Experiences Matter, Young Christian

What does it mean to confess that Jesus is Lord?

January 19, 2016 by Chuck Queen in Christian Issues

To say that Jesus is Lord is to echo one the earliest and most basic Christian confessions. Lordship language came right out of the Roman culture: Caesar claimed for himself the titles “son of God” and “Lord.” To claim the Lordship of Jesus flew in the face of the powerful Roman Empire. No wonder Paul said in his letter to the Corinthians that “no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor. 12:3b). Of course, anyone might say it and not mean it, but in the context of the Roman empire why would you make such a claim and put your self, your family, and your faith community in danger unless you were serious?

But even before the Roman emperor was called “Lord,” this was a title ascribed to God. The Greek word kyrios was employed in the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures) as a substitute for the unspeakable name of God. The early Christians did not claim that Jesus was God, but they believed as the “Son of God” he acted as God’s mediator and representative incarnating the character of God, which is why Paul talks about seeing “the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6).

When I confess that Jesus is Lord I am not confessing belief in some theoretical or doctrinal belief about Jesus. Rather, I am confessing my allegiance to the way of Jesus: the way of forgiveness, grace, peace, and compassion, as opposed to the way of empire: the way of retribution, greed, and rule by force. When I say Jesus is Lord I am saying… [Read more…] about What does it mean to confess that Jesus is Lord?

Is The Bible Lying?

January 11, 2016 by Dan Wilkinson in Christian Issues

A commenter on this blog recently left this pithy query:
“Lev 18:22. Or is the bible lying?”
In case you’re not an expert on Levitical law, or if you’re not so obsessed with homosexuality that you’ve memorized every supposed biblical prohibition against it, Leviticus 18:22 reads:
“You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.”
Though the original comment is ostensibly a response to the (blasphemous!) idea that the Bible does not actually condemn homosexuality, and though it lacks a developed argument, it’s a fine example of the sort of mindset that drives many conservative Christians, especially regarding contentious moral issues.

If I can be so bold as to guess at what the commenter is driving at, I think it’s something along these lines:

Lev 18:22 is an explicit condemnation of (male) homosexual activity.
The Bible is either true and homosexual behavior is indeed “an abomination,” or else the Bible is “lying” and homosexual behavior is not morally wrong.
Therefore those who believe that homosexual behavior isn’t inherently immoral believe that the Bible is not true — that it’s lying — in this verse (and probably many others).

I’m not particularly interested in the veracity of the claim made in Leviticus 18:22. Yes, on its own it seems to be a clear condemnation of homosexuality. But the important point is that the verse can’t be taken on its own. To extract that verse from the Bible and use it in the way this commenter… [Read more…] about Is The Bible Lying?

How the Miracles of the Bible Obscure the Miracle of Jesus

January 5, 2016 by Christian Chiakulas in Christian Issues

This guest post is by Christian Chiakulas.

Both testaments of the Christian Bible are rife with miracles. Seas are parted, rain is called for, the sick are healed, food falls from the sky, the dead are raised, and a woman conceives a child by the Holy Spirit. Miracles are so fundamental to the traditional Christian story that it’s hard to imagine a faith that does not take them for granted in some form.

But miracles are also a perplexity to the modern mind. Personally, I have never seen a dead man raised, a storm stilled, or a virgin birth. I have never seen an oppressed people liberated by an act of God. I have never seen an illness disappear through prayer.

We have three options when considering miracles and their place in Christian faith:

Miracles happen. They happened in ancient Israel, they happened in 1st-century Palestine, they happened throughout Christian history, and they happen today. If we don’t see them, then either our faith is not strong enough or we simply have the misfortune to live in a place where they have not happened.

Miracles happened in ancient Israel and 1st-century Palestine, and perhaps even into the Christian era, but at some point God stopped directly intervening in worldly affairs and left us to our own devices. Miracles of the sort told in the Christian Bible don’t happen anymore.

Miracles never happened the way they are described in the Christian Bible. All such stories are myths, lies, inventions, metaphors, or have some… [Read more…] about How the Miracles of the Bible Obscure the Miracle of Jesus

What’s splitting your church? Worship music or genocide?

December 28, 2015 by Randal Rauser in Christian Issues

Image derived from “Parish Church, Rwamagana, Rwanda” by SteveRwanda licensed under CC-BY-SA-3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”—John 13:35

Suburban North American Church

As everybody rose to sing Al stayed seated in the pew, arms crossed defiantly. He never stood during the choruses. Driving drums, distorted guitar and vacuous lyrics. “They make it sound like Jesus is my boyfriend,” he muttered. “Everything sounds like it came straight off secular radio.”

Al scanned the sanctuary. Granted there were a number of new young families. But that seemed to be all this fool young “worship” pastor cared about: “New, young families.” Al made eye contact with Fred across the aisle. Fred was standing but he had a scowl on his face that could make paint peel. “I’ll have to speak with Fred after church,” Al thought. “It’s time to take action. It’s time to get rid of that twit up there and his ‘choruses’.”

Suburban Rwandan Church

Emmanuel always felt the pain, especially at Easter. It had been twenty years since his wife and children had been massacred in the genocide. People had said that the pain would lessen over time. Emmanuel had believed them for a while. But he didn’t any longer. Every day he thought about his precious daughters. Today they would be young women, but instead they were cut down as young children…

Emmanuel looked around the congregation at the Hutu… [Read more…] about What’s splitting your church? Worship music or genocide?

Why Two Christmas Stories Are Better Than One

December 23, 2015 by Josh Way in Christian Issues

As a citizen of America, I’m almost done with Christmas. We’re living in a century where the cultural defense and political exploitation of Christmas as an institution have become even more obscene than the holiday’s ongoing commercialization. But, as a Christian and a big fan of Jesus and hope, I still admire and embrace the season of Advent and the holy day (that’s right, just a day!) of Christmas. There is much to love, from ancient traditions to recent memories.

My falling out with Christian culture and my journey through biblical scholarship over the last several years have complicated and ultimately transformed my relationship with Christmas, particularly with the nativity traditions found in the Bible. The notion of a singular, harmonious, “biblical” Christmas story runs into all sorts of trouble when the texts are read attentively.

I’m not so much concerned with veracity or historicity, since these are stories about revelation and faith. But what comes apart under scrutiny is the idea that the Bible presents us with a single complete and coherent narration of the birth of Jesus. Instead, it offers us two very different ones, and we have smashed them to bits in order to construct a third hypothetical one out of their pieces. This is my brief attempt to outline a case for keeping them separate, allowing them to speak and breathe, and coming to terms with their apparent incompatibility.

Our Nativity Mashup

By “harmonizing” the two gospel accounts of… [Read more…] about Why Two Christmas Stories Are Better Than One

Homosexuality and the Bible: Beyond the Dichotomy between Biblical Prophets and Cultural Compromisers

December 10, 2015 by Randal Rauser in Christian Issues

Over the last several years few social issues have caught the attention of the Christian community like homosexuality. Critics often complain that the attention and emotional energy that Christians have directed toward this particular issue are disproportionate to its relative importance (see, for example, my article “Ten things that are more disturbing than gay marriage”).

Regardless, the topic has assumed for many conservatives (“the prophets”) the status of a sort of litmus test that distinguishes those who accept “what the Bible teaches” over-against those “compromisers” who allow their opinions to be shaped by the contemporary culture. On this construal, the prophet recognizes and submits to the infallibility of the moral and prudential witness of the biblical authors, and they faithfully proclaim it even when it diverges from the culture. By contrast, the compromiser subverts the moral and prudential witness of the biblical authors to the culture, and thereby they subvert the authority of scripture itself.

In this article, I’m going to challenge this dichotomy between “prophets” and “compromisers.” In particular, I’m going to argue that Christians who uphold the authority of scripture can — and often do — disagree with biblical authors. Once we recognize this fact, we can begin to have more open and irenic discussions about topics like homosexuality.

To make my case I will argue that some biblical authors express views about corporal punishment — in… [Read more…] about Homosexuality and the Bible: Beyond the Dichotomy between Biblical Prophets and Cultural Compromisers

Bible Test for Syrian Refugees

December 7, 2015 by Matthew Distefano in Christian Issues, Current Events

Surely, it is quite easy to establish whether someone is a Christian or not. Just ask Presidential candidate Jeb Bush. I mean, there are ways. One of those ways should be for all Syrian refugees who want to enter the United States to take a rigorous test of their faith and their understanding of Scripture.

The Bible clearly states that Christians are to rightly explain the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15). Thus, I believe the easiest thing to do is create an appropriate test for us to tell whether or not we are bringing in Christians, as some have suggested we do. I have compiled such a test below.

Section I: Multiple Choice

Directions: Select the best answer from the given options.

How many books are in “the Bible?”

66
73
80
81

Where was Jesus born?

Bethlehem in Judea
Nazareth in Galilee
Bethlehem in Galilee

Who wrote the Torah?

Moses
J
E
P
D
All of the above except a

How should the phrase πίστεως Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, from Romans 3:22, be translated?

Faith of Jesus Christ
Faith in Jesus Christ
I don’t know Greek
I didn’t know that was Greek

According to the Old Testament, who incited David to take a census in Israel?

The Lord
Satan
Satan, working for the Lord
Depends on who you’re talking to

According to the Bible, in what way were the first man and woman created?

At the same time
The man first, then the woman
Depends on who you’re talking to

According to the Bible, when will the rapture… [Read more…] about Bible Test for Syrian Refugees