by Bret Capranica | Apr 24, 2006 | Culture, General Theology, Humor
Lamb sacrifice in vain – Yahoo! News Football players praying and pointing skyward in the end zone after a touch down has been sometimes cute but more often annoying. Giving God glory for a touch down – well – that’s another post. Amazingly, some soccer fans have gone way beyond end-zone prayers. The link above tells of a Bulgarian butcher sacrificing a lamb and putting its blood on the posts of the goal in hopes that his lame team could win a game. Oh – and it was on the eve of the Orthodox Good Friday. Please! If end-zone prayers are what we need to have to avoid blood sacrifices, keep them...
by Bret Capranica | Apr 23, 2006 | Culture, Psychology
Top News Article | Reuters.com In our culture’s quest to wrest human responsibilty from any objective moral standards, out comes another scientific study that says scientists know where the brain determines what we choose. Now that they have found it, the poor victims of compulsive gambling and eating disorders will no doubt soon have medications that will cause them to choose right instead of wrong. Oh no! wait. Who now will choose what is right and wrong? The moral delima is not quite over. Who will choose which behavior is excessive and which behavior is merely expressive? If new drugs can be deveoped that cause people to make better choices, will scientists be able to instill something in the medication that provides the foundation for right and wrong? Silly? Yes, I think so too. It is silly to think that finding the part of the brain that grappels with choices will now lead to a revolution in behavior. Yet, the quest for a victimized humanity continues. What will be...
by Bret Capranica | Jul 28, 2005 | Culture
Albert Mohler posts a distrubing note about the abortion industry in Great Britain. Many troubling quotes come from this article, but one struck me this morning. According to a representative of the leading abortion provider in Great Britain, “Motherhood is just one among many options open to women and it is not surprising that younger women want to prioritise other things. We should stop seeing abortion as a problem and start seeing it as a legitimate and sensible solution to the problem of unwanted pregnancy.” This is precisely what the Apostle Paul was referring to in 1 Timothy 2:15 when he says, “but women will be preserved [lit. saved] through the bearing of children, if they continue in faith and love and sanctity with self-restraint.” Paul’s point in the context of the passage is that women, particularly in the church in Ephesus, were abandoning their roles as mothers for other roles, primarily that of public teachers in the church. According to Paul and Moses in Genesis, this isa similar role reversal to that which took place in the garden of Eden. In other words, to reject the role of motherhood for other priorities, is to reject God’s purposes and design. This is tantamount to making oneself God and exchanging His purposes for one’s own. The result: an outright rejection of God Himself. A woman is not saved merely by having a baby. The terminology and context suggest her salvation is connected to her acceptace of God’s design for motherhood. In other words a woman demonstrates her faith by her submission to the purposes of God, continuing in them with...
by Bret Capranica | Jul 25, 2005 | Culture, Miscellaneous
What the Christian community needs is another way to distract people from reading. If only God had given us a video game, instead of a book perhaps the world would be more Christian. Perhaps then postmillennialism would prevail. Have no fear. There are a host of Christian gaming groups who are now vying for the attention the video gamers of the Christian world (see the linked article). Their chief goal: to convert readers into gamers. You had to see it coming. The Left Behind video game is on the horizon and according to one video gaming guru, “‘Left Behind’ will not likely convert gamers to Christianity, but will need to convert Christians (the books’ fan base) to video gaming.” Instead of X-Box, maybe Christians could become more clever and begin marketing the “Cross-Box.” How shortsighted I have been. If only we would play more video games, our maturity in Christ might increase dramatically. I will hold my comments for those who immerse themselves in the violent sorts of video gaming and instead express my sarcastic dismay at the gullible Christian community who tends to find every reason not to read, but merely immerse themselves in vain, imaginative, short-lived pleasures played out in front of a TV. God help...
by Bret Capranica | Jul 22, 2005 | Culture
An Op-Ed in the New York times makes for interesting reading today. Thomas L. Friedman suggests that the State Department begin a War of Ideas Report, much like their human rights report, and list those whos idealogies suggest physical harm to others. His article is a good read. However, I wonder who it will be to police these ideas? Who will determine what is a proper and an improper idea? Who will be the ones to warn Americans and the World as to what is unacceptable hate and what is acceptable free speech? We are in fact in a war of ideas. This is the very battle the Apostle Paul spoke of in 2 Corinthians 10:5. Our weapons are more than merely ideological though, they are spiritual. “We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of...
by Bret Capranica | Jul 19, 2005 | Culture, Ecclesiology, Miscellaneous
In an article posted yesterday in The Weekly Standard, author Mark Tooley reviews the intiguing past of the United Church of Christ (UCC) in American history. The once Israel-supporting Calvinists are now bona-fide Israel-hating liberals. While Tooley chronicles the rapid decline in the denomination’s membership, he does note who is one of their new supporters: the infamous SpongeBob Squarepants! Ah yes, a denomination for the cultural...
