Unfundamentalist

Above All, Love

Dan Wilkinson

Clobbering the Confusion About 1 Corinthians 6:9-10

by in Christian Issues

I recently received this question from a reader:

I’m curious about the verse 1 Corinthians 6:9. My friend and I were studying and noticed that our different versions use different words. He has a KJV and I have a NIV. I have a Strong’s Concordance as well to help.

In the KJV of 1 Corinthians 6:9 it states that abusers of themselves will not inherit the kingdom. I looked up abusers and it said that abusers are sodomites/homosexuals, however the defination of a sodomite is a male cult member or prostitute. Can you please give me some insight on this confusion?

The debate about 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 is confusing, and there simply isn’t one decisive answer that resolves all the difficulties in this passage. Let’s take a closer look at some of the issues in these verses.

1 Corinthians 6:9-10 in the KJV (we’ll get to the NIV momentarily) reads:

9Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate [μαλακοὶς], nor abusers of themselves with mankind [ἀρσενοκοῖται], 10Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.

When it comes to homosexuality and the Bible, the two key words in this passage are the Greek words μαλακός (malakós) and ἀρσενοκοίτης (arsenokoítēs), which I’ve bolded in the text above.

μαλακός literally means “soft.” The KJV translates it as “effeminate.” This… [Read more…] about Clobbering the Confusion About 1 Corinthians 6:9-10

"This is why I don't believe in God"

by in Christian Issues

“Gina” is a 3-minute documentary film made by Loading Docs about a woman with a connective tissue disorder that has left her unable to talk, deteriorated her muscles, and causes light and sound to further damage her body. She is bed-bound and endures ongoing and excruciating pain.

The film makes the case for voluntary euthanasia. Gina, by means of touch-alphabet communication, says “I think a compassionate god would want people to have the option of a humane death.”

I find it difficult to argue against that idea. We readily put animals out of their misery when we understand that prolonging their life will merely prolong their suffering. Why should we have a less humane standard for humans? Is a human life that is entirely consumed by pain really of more value than no life at all?

Though I recognize that the ethical lines can be challenging to clearing define, I can’t see any good reason for an absolute ban on voluntary euthanasia. If Gina wants to end her suffering, shouldn’t she be allowed to?

Along with euthanasia, the film raises another troubling issue. In the film, Gina claims she is an agnostic. But I happened to watch the film with a friend, who, after seeing it, declared, “This is why I don’t believe in God.”

And after encountering Gina’s story, I also find myself confronted with the ultimate challenge to faith: how can one believe in a loving God in the face of such meaningless suffering?

What possible reason could God have for allowing Gina to suffer?

What… [Read more…] about "This is why I don't believe in God"

The Paranormal Conspiracy: The Truth about Ghosts, Aliens and Mysterious Beings

by in Book Reviews

I’m a skeptic. Perhaps not quite skeptical enough for my atheist friends, but nevertheless I’m extremely dubious about claims of paranormal and supernatural experience. The Ouija board doesn’t work for me, I’ve never seen a UFO, and though I go hiking in the mountains almost every weekend, I’ve never run across Bigfoot. Bears: yes. Bigfoot: no.

But despite that lack of personal experience, I find accounts of the supernatural fascinating, not necessarily because I think they’re real, but because of what they say about ourselves. We all seem to long for something more: to discover we’re not alone in the universe, to be able to communicate with a deceased relative, to experience something that transcends the mundane physical world of the everyday.

In this regard I agree with Timothy Dailey, the author of the new book The Paranormal Conspiracy: The Truth about Ghosts, Aliens and Mysterious Beings (Chosen Books, $13.99). Dailey says that “we can all recognize the universal aspiration for ultimate meaning that is somehow wrapped up in that ineffable, bewitching quantity called love.” I do think we’re all searching for love, and I do think we often look for it in the wrong places.

However, Dailey thinks that our longing for transcendent love is being fed by a nefarious plot: “a diabolical conspiracy is afoot: a plot to lead human hearts and souls eternally astray.” This conspiracy “promises to fulfill that universal, unquenchable yearning for love. Through… [Read more…] about The Paranormal Conspiracy: The Truth about Ghosts, Aliens and Mysterious Beings

Why I'm a Christian Who (Still) Supports Planned Parenthood

by in Christian Issues, Current Events

Last week an undercover video was released purporting to show that Planned Parenthood is in the business of selling fetal body parts. The video reinvigorated the anti-abortion movement and renewed calls to defund Planned Parenthood.

But despite what many are so loudly proclaiming, the video — when watched in its entirety and with a dose of common sense — doesn’t actually support the claim that Planned Parenthood is using “partial-birth abortions to sell baby parts.”

What it does show is that Planned Parenthood facilitates the donation of fetal tissue for medical research. This is entirely legal and entirely appropriate. Why shouldn’t cells from aborted fetuses be used for medical research with potentially life-saving applications? Would those opposed to abortion prefer that these resources be simply squandered? Since the abortion is going to happen anyway, what possible reason is there for not utilizing the aborted tissue?

Perhaps the biggest fallout from the video, however, comes from the “tone” with which the medical procedures are described, something for which Planned Parenthood has already apologized.

I don’t think there’s a need to apologize. Conversations between medical professionals are often seemingly callous and matter-of-fact. Anyone who’s spent time around those in the medical field — doctors, PAs, nurses, EMTs — has likely heard gruesome stories recounted in a completely offhanded manner. What’s unsettling to us is commonplace for those who deal… [Read more…] about Why I'm a Christian Who (Still) Supports Planned Parenthood

Speak the Truth in Love

by in Christian Issues

“Speak the truth in love” is a phrase that some Christians love to toss out when they encounter disagreement, as if repeating those trite words will magically win debates. All too often they use it as a license to spew pet positions in a manner is that is far from actually being loving.

For example, Al Mohler, in a recent post on the Supreme Court’s same-sex marriage decision, wrote: “We are charged to uphold marriage as the union of a man and a woman and to speak the truth in love.” As if that solves everything.

Let’s take a closer look at what “speak the truth in love” actually means.

The phrase appears in the Bible in Ephesians 4:15: “Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.”

The key words here are “speaking the truth,” which is a translation of the single Greek word ἀληθεύοντες (alētheuontes), a participle of the verb ἀληθεύω (alētheúō), which is generally translated as “to speak truth.” But, though verbal communication may certainly be part of what ἀληθεύω means, its most literal translation is “truthing” — it’s simply the verb form of the noun “truth.”

About this word, theologian John Stott said:

‘Speaking the truth in love’ is not the best rendering of his expression, for the Greek verb makes no reference to our speech. Literally, it means, ‘truthing in love’, and includes the notions of ‘maintaining’, ‘living’ and ‘doing’ the truth.

The verse in not… [Read more…] about Speak the Truth in Love

Will Someone Please Tell Christians That the LGBT War Is Over?

by in Christian Issues, Current Events, LGBT

View image | gettyimages.com

On March 9, 1974, Hiroo Onoda, a Lieutenant in the Imperial Japanese Army, at the behest of his former commanding officer, turned over his sword and rifle and formally surrendered to authorities, thus ending his 30-year holdout in the Philippines where he had continued to fight in a war that he refused to believe was over. He was one of the last Japanese holdouts, soldiers who, due to poor communications or misguided loyalty, continued to fight for months and years after Japan’s surrender.

On June 26, 2015, the United States Supreme Court, in its decision on Obergefell v. Hodges, declared that same-sex marriage is legal in all 50 states. But Christians across the country refuse to accept the implications of that decision. Like the Japanese holdouts after Word War II, they continue to fight on, seemingly oblivious to the political, social and theological realities around them.

Here are a few excerpts (reproduced verbatim) from some of the emails received by the NALT Christians Project in just the last 3 days from Christians who have hunkered down in their theological bunkers and continue to take pot shots at anyone who poses a challenge to their beliefs:

While the bible does not mention homosexuality in the majority of scripture, the fact that is in mentioned and clearly defined as sin, is enough.

—————————————————-

u err, and teach others to do the same. which makes u a… [Read more…] about Will Someone Please Tell Christians That the LGBT War Is Over?

Warning! This World Has Redefined the Word Love

by in Fundamentalism

A UC reader recently shared the above image via our Facebook Page (you have Liked our FB page, right?). Since we’ve tackled “Christian” memes in the past, and since this one conveys sentiments that we regularly hear from our friends on the (far) right of the political and theological spectrum, I thought I’d take a moment to address its not-so-subtle points.

This world has redefined the word love
This world (as opposed to other worlds?) definitely hasn’t redefined the meaning of the word love. Love has a standard dictionary definition that, as far as I’m aware, still accurately reflects modern usage.
Acceptance of all false religions
No one should accept any false religion, let alone all false religions. Why on earth would you believe something that’s false? What we should do, however, is accept the reality that many people have religious beliefs that differ from our own, and that, from their perspective, we’re the ones who hold to a false religion. And, given that disparity, the best way to promote peace and understanding is to avoid terms like “false religion” entirely and instead seek to find common ground and shared beliefs.
Tolerance of all sinful behavior
As long as sinful behavior doesn’t break the law or directly affect our lives, we do have to tolerate it. This doesn’t have anything to do with love, it’s just life.
Tolerance of false doctrines
We also have to tolerate false… [Read more…] about Warning! This World Has Redefined the Word Love

One Nation Under God: How Corporate America Invented Christian America

by in Book Reviews

Princeton history professor Kevin Kruse’s new book, One Nation Under God: How Corporate America Invented Christian America (Basic Books, $29.99), engagingly traces the rise of the Christian Right as a political force in America.

Kruse explores how business interests of the 1930s fought back against the New Deal and, in an attempt to counteract government regulation and oversight, enlisted the aid of religion. This Christian libertarianism “linked capitalism and Christianity and, at the same time, likened the welfare state to godless paganism.”

That movement eventually mutated into something far more powerful. Kruse summarizes this development:

In their struggle against the New Deal, the business lobbies of the Depression era had allied themselves with conservative religious and cultural leaders and, in so doing, set in motion a new dynamic in American politics. The activism of Christian libertarians such as James Fifield and Abraham Vereide had sought to provide the right with its own brand of public religion that could challenge the Social Gospel of the left. But the rhetoric and rituals they created to topple the New Deal lived on long after their heyday, becoming a constant in American political life in the Eisenhower era and beyond.

Much of Kruse’s book centers around the “twin pillars of ceremonial deism,” embodied in the phrases “one nation under God” and “in God we trust.” Kruse traces the history of these mottos as they became central tenets of American… [Read more…] about One Nation Under God: How Corporate America Invented Christian America

How (and why) Adam and Eve evolved

by in Book Reviews

Adam, Eve, a garden, a snake, an apple. Images that pervade Western culture. Images viewed by many as mere myth and by others as absolute truth.

What really happened at the dawn of human existence? Were Adam and Eve real people? Was there really a Garden of Eden? Did sin really enter the world through a piece of fruit?

Do Christians really have to believe all this stuff, even when science seems to point in a different direction?

In his forthcoming book The Lost World of Adam and Eve: Genesis 2-3 and the Human Origins Debate (IVP Academic, $17) Wheaton College Old Testament Professor John Walton sets out to address these questions by exploring what the Bible says (and doesn’t say) about the origins of humanity.

Walton rejects the idea that there is “an essential, inherent conflict between the claims of the Bible and the current scientific consensus about human origins.” From his perspective,
The perceived threat posed by the current consensus about human origins is overblown. That consensus accepts the principles of common ancestry and evolutionary theory as the explanation for the existence of all life. … regardless of whether the scientific conclusions stand the test of time or not, they pose no threat to biblical belief.
Walton’s understanding of Genesis includes these core propositions:

That Genesis 1 is an account of functional, not material origins. It describes God ordering the cosmos into a sacred space, but has virtually nothing to say about the… [Read more…] about How (and why) Adam and Eve evolved

Can gentleness save evangelical apologetics?

by in Book Reviews

“Apologetics itself has become a problem. It has become a problem in both its content and its spirit.” So says the late Dallas Willard in a new book about apologetics, The Allure of Gentleness: Defending the Faith in the Manner of Jesus, (HarperOne, $26.99).

In a series of talks that were compiled and edited by Willard’s daughter Rebecca Willard Heatley, Willard argues for an approach to Christian apologetics that isn’t solely based on argument, evidence and reason, but also is characterized by gentleness.

He seeks to temper the often combative and acerbic nature of apologetic discourse with a humble, generous, open and loving approach, wisely realizing that apologetic arguments “will all be wasted unless the allure of gentleness pervades all that we do.”

Willard covers much of the usual apologetic ground, discussing knowledge, truth, reason, faith, doubt, God’s existence, divine hiddenness, hell, cosmology and the problems of pain and evil. But, though framed by a good intent, Willard’s arguments are often cut from the same well-worn cloth of most modern evangelical apologetics.

Despite setting out to correct Christian apologetic’s problems of content and spirit, Willard’s approach often perpetuates them. For example, while discussing Christian ethics, Willard says that

Richard Robinson was one of the leading atheist philosophers during the latter part of the twentieth century. He died in 1996, and he knows better now … [emphasis… [Read more…] about Can gentleness save evangelical apologetics?