A mosque at Ground Zero?

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Recently Obama expressed his approval for the building of a mosque on Ground Zero. Who wouldn’t support such a fantastic initiative? What is more beautiful in the context of the fraternization of the world religions than to have declared enemies dig holes in each others garden? I could come up with a few other worthy initiatives that deserve all possible support because they will end all efforts to maintain controversies for the sake of remembering the fallen.

Where was God in Haiti?

Where was God in Haiti? Why did the poorest country in the Western hemisphere need to get hit by an earthquake at exactly the right depth and exactly the right location for a maximum number of casualties? At the moment I am writing this, looting is taking place while wounded people scream and wail from under the rubble. At the same time help being offered has a hard time reaching those in need.

Gender Abortion

In Sweden women are allowed to abort their baby when they are not happy with the baby’s sex. If they prefer to have a boy while the echo says it’s a girl (or the other way around) abortion is allowed. This is the conclusion drawn from a ruling of the National Health Council in Sweden.

As happens so often here too the ruling is innocently cloaked in legal language that reinterprets the law with the ‘best of intentions’. The non-specified term ‘situation of need’ is being enlarged so as to include the unfulfilled wish for a gender specific child.

Such language however betrays a tremendous shift in worldview and ethics on the part of those who speak. This shift goes unnoticed because it hides behind existing terms or formulae. There is a sensation of discomfort, but all seems to be alright. The same wording is still in place. Nobody is doing any wrong.

Quote of the Year

2009 is barely a month-and-a-half old and I have already encountered the quote of the year. Ron Wood, member of grumpy old men band The Rolling Stones (he is in his 60s by now) has a new girlfriend of 20 years old. This happens at times with men restlessly looking for something they haven’t yet found. ‘I can’t get no satisfaction’ is what they sang back in the 60s and possibly this is still the case today. In any case, Ron had to ditch the woman who was his wife of 23 years in order to shack up with his new girlfriend.

The girl in question, Ekaterina Ivanova, was asked whether she ever considers the fact that her new friend is so much older. ‘I never think about the consequences of what I do.’ Says she: ‘Life is far too short’. Right! Is this a good example of what Psalm 90:12 means by ‘Teach us to number our days, Lord?’ Apparently Ivanova has been numbering her days. She acknowledges that life is short – a remarkable insight for a 20 year old these days – and therefore concludes that it’s better not to consider the consequences of one’s actions.

This thought was already propagated by the Epicureans. Epicures, a Greek philosopher, had thought about these things too and concluded that, because life is short and because the material is all there is, it is better to enjoy it: Carpe Diem! Modern hedonistic man has added a dimension: since life is meaningless and after life everything is over the only logical thing to do is to go wild, party into the night, enjoy every moment even if need be at the expense of others. Hence Ivanova’s indifference to Ron’s ex-wife I suppose.

The Bible teaches us that this is a tremendously naive way of thinking. It is erring on the basics of life with eternal consequences. It is a road that leads to death. Not merely the end of life, but road to eternal conscious perdition. According to the Bible that is, a book that teaches us that life on earth is not meaningless, that man is to know, worship and serve his Creator. We live in a universe endowed with moral meaning and purpose. ‘Lord teach us to number our days and to realize that we are morally responsible toward You (cf. Ecclesiastes 12:14).

What did I say? Quote of he Year? Maybe we should call it the quote of the month. Life is too short.

The dead-end of the evolution debate

This year marks the 200th birthday of Darwin. Various publications and a lot of attention in the media remind us of this important fact. Darwin was the one who finally allowed atheists to deal a death blow to the God of Christianity. The evolution theory was to provide an explanation for the existence of life on earth. God’s final straw was taken from him. Bye, bye, God.

The evolution debate is marked by a lot of confusion. Evolution is supposed to be a scientific fact. Evolution and big-bang cosmology are confused with each other as are young earth and old earth creationists and micro and macro-evolution. When you do not believe in a literal six day creation, you reject the divine inspiration of Genesis, etc., etc.

The worst misunderstanding that is popular among proponents as well as opponents of the evolution theory is the implicit idea that where the evolution theory seems to gain ground automatically the existence of God becomes less plausible.

This debate is likely to continue for some time. The evolution-theory is a scientific theory. Scientific theories and conclusions change. They do not provide a good foundation for binding statements about the existence or non-existence of God. Add to that the fact that a large segment of the scientific community passionately beliefs in the sanctity of a naturalistic world-view and you’ll understand that the elimination of God is simply a foregone conclusion.

It is better therefore to resort to classical apologetics which has seen a tremendous revival in the past decades. Classical apologetics is mainly philosophical in nature and thus depends much less on the results of scientific research. Arguments in favor of the existence of God in fact are so strong that even a die-hard atheist like Anthony Flew now acknowledges that God must exist. Listen to the arguments of people like William Lane Craig and Alvin Plantinga and realize that we find atheism dangling dangerously on the last straw that was reserved for God. Bye, bye, atheism.

Even if it would be proven ten times over that evolution plays a role in the development of the species, it would from a philosophically point of view say nothing about the existence of God. Dutch theologian, biologist and philosopher calls himself a ‘cosmological agnost’. I had come to the same conclusion albeit with a less flattery term. As far as I’m concerned, the evolution debate leads to a dead-end when it comes to the real discussion that needs to take place: Does God exist? I take it He does.

Do your own thing?

A few days ago The Los Angeles Times reported on a court ruling in favour of a Christian school in California that expelled two girls who allegedly had an openly lesbian relationship. The lawyer of the two ladies is considering an appeal. According to him the ruling is very worrying because it will allow schools to discriminate against anybody as long as they do so on religious grounds.

Yes, of course, how is it possible that a Christian school could make such an immoral step? Shame on them! Does not every individual have the unalienable right to be himself and express it too? If it wouldn’t sound too biblical this lawyer might even use the word ‘sin’ to decry this school’s practice. Bu no they wouldn’t want to be associated with these Christians.

But wait. Imagine this is not about a lesbian couple, but a pedophile teacher having a relationship with a 13 year old student in his class? Is discrimination then condemned too? Or suppose – this is getting outrageous – there is a group of hard-core naturists who demand to be allowed to go to school naked (California is warm)? Would our lawyer also want to advocate these people’s rights or has he got ‘grounds’ all of a sudden on which he doesn’t want to do so? Are these also religious grounds or are we suddenly talking about objective moral grounds?

Who is really disciminating? The school that doesn’t want to tolerate a lesbian couple in their school based on its moral convictions or the lesbian girls who, based on their sexual preference, disobey the ethical rules of the school? Isn’t it simply one worldview pitched against another?

Just a few rhetorical questions. This is the chaos that we end up in when we don’t any longer hold to an absolute and unchangeable moral standard that has it’s foundation and origin outside of man. Our secular societies try to find a balance between individual self-expression and the common good, but will not succeed.

Good judge there in California. Not because he favors us Christians, but because he uses some basic common sense.

This column was published in Dutch on Habakuk.nu