August 1, 2010
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what is "natural"?
Three separate items in tonight's blog post:
1. "What is natural?"
2. Modern usage of the word "Church"
3. Son Jong Nam - inspiring modern-day Christian hero of the faith1. On the question "What is 'natural'?" - cool quote from http://creationsafaris.com/crev201007.htm#20100727a -
"Materialists can’t have it both ways. They cannot argue that only particles and natural laws exist, then turn around and blame humans for global warming, pollution, war, acid rain, extinction, or anything else. Nature is what nature does. If humans are a part of nature, whatever they do is only natural....
The only perspective that permits natural/unnatural distinctions is the Judeo-Christian world view. Sin is unnatural, because God is holy. Death and disasters are unnatural, because God created a perfect world that was cursed because of sin. Human beings stand between the natural and the supernatural by having the image of God implanted in their nonphysical souls. These foundations allow for politics, economics, criminal law, and all the institutions that engage us, including science."
2. A thought on the modern usage of the word "church", compared to the ancient usage, and a comparison:
"church" (modern english term) = "christian community center" (what Bible-era folks might call it if they observed it)
"small group" (modern term) = "church" (Bible-era usage)
"What church are you attending?" (modern) = "What Christian Community Center do you regularly attend and drop your kids off at?" (Bible-era)
"I feel called to be a pastor." (modern) = "I feel called to be the director of a Christian Community Center." (Bible-era)
etc
3. Son Jong Nam - modern hero and role model... recent North Korean Christian martyr
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gdZrqqz2CUFMIoE9WoGEBDkKU6QAD9GOARA00
Why would a 50-year old man return secretly with Bibles into North Korea, from which he had escaped a couple years earlier, knowing full well that if he was caught, he would be jailed and tortured to death?
As far as I can tell: (1) Because Son Jong Nam believed that the Bible's account about Jesus Christ was true (that Jesus Christ really did come, die, and rise again as the Bible relates); (2) Son Jong Nam believed that Jesus Christ was His Lord and so he took seriously the command to make disciples of all nations, and (3) Son Jong Nam loved his own countrymen, and was willing to sacrifice his life (if necessary) to bring them the gospel.
Son Jong Nam died in some secret dungeon, penniless and unknown to the vast majority of the world. It would seem that he wasted his life and his efforts to help his North Korean countrymen.
But his life and death were not in vain. God saw everything. And when the King returns, Son Jong Nam's reward will be incalculably awesome.
For His eyes are upon the ways of a man,
And He sees all his steps.
Job 34:21And turning His gaze toward His disciples, He began to say, "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh. Blessed are you when men hate you, and ostracize you, and insult you, and scorn your name as evil, for the sake of the Son of Man. Be glad in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven." Luke 6:20-23a
And He sat down opposite the treasury, and began observing how the people were putting money into the treasury; and many rich people were putting in large sums. A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which amount to a cent. Calling His disciples to Him, He said to them, "Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the contributors to the treasury; for they all put in out of their surplus, but she, out of her poverty, put in all she owned, all she had to live on." Mark 12:41-44
Behold, the Lord GOD will come with might,
With His arm ruling for Him.
Behold, His reward is with Him
And His recompense before Him.
Isaiah 40:10"Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done."
Revelation 22:12
Comments (4)
"2. However, Muslims burn Bibles quite regularly. Why do these burnings not cause Christians worldwide to go on violent protest rampages?"
Imagine some muslim country had invaded america and killed anywhere between 200,000 and 1.3 million civilians, as we have done in just iraq. Now imagine that country started putting scripture references on it's military's guns (as a military contractor did with US army gun sights), peppering it's military reports with militaristic scripture passages about killing infidels (as rumsfeld did with bush's war reports), referring to the war as a "crusade" and telling the world that their god was on their side, it was a war between good and evil etc, and then they started harassing christians and burning the bible en-masse.
Might american christians have a different reaction?
@agnophilo -
@agnophilo -
Interesting scenario... but you should start it a little earlier... imagine that a group of american Christians had started up a terrorist training camp in America, with the full knowledge and support of the american government, and that they had infiltrated the above muslim country and blown up a couple big buildings in one of their major cities and killed a few thousand people. Then when the muslim country asked the american government to shut down the terrorist training camp, the american government refused. Meanwhile in another part of america, the federal government had begun actively developing weapons of mass destruction such as chemical warheads (and seeking to develop nuclear warheads), which it had used a couple years previously to attack a large mexican territory, and when the UN published resolutions (cf. 678, 687, 1441 - http://usiraq.procon.org/view.answers.php?questionID=000874 ) demanding that america stop this development and allow arms inspectors in, the federal american government had responded with defiance, kicking out the inspectors.
I certainly agree that burning someone else's religious book is not a respectful gesture and is thus not recommended (unless it's your own book that you are personally repudiating after conversion - Acts 19:19). And I agree that war and civilian deaths are sad and not to be taken lightly. But as others have said, 'we didn't start the fire' (cf. this article, http://michellemalkin.com/2010/09/10/the-eternal-flame-of-muslim-outrage/ ).
@tim223 - Um, iraq didn't attack us, the taliban in afghanistan did. And they didn't have a nuclear program, that was based on intelligence that had already been discredited but was presented as credible to justify the war. And by your logic again we have more nuclear missiles than anyone in the world so anyone who wants to should be allowed to invade us and kill hundreds of thousands of civilians.
As for the first item, a materialist doesn't assume that natural = good, so your logic falls apart. Nature includes everything, good and bad. And we do not suffer natural disasters as a result of "the fall", we know why earthquakes and tsunamis and forest fires and hurricanes and tornadoes etc happen, and it has nothing to do with "sin". The properties which make those things happen have been constant throughout recorded history and this is provable a number of ways.
Hi Mark,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Tim
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