Monday, May 11, 2015
Sunday, May 10, 2015
Saturday, May 09, 2015
Friday, May 08, 2015
On The Path Of The Immortals
Thursday, May 07, 2015
Wednesday, May 06, 2015
Are Church Membership Requirements Exceedingly Intrusive?
If Independent Baptists insist that their practices are derived from sola scriptura, where is the precedent for the described classroom procedure described in the pages of Holy Writ?
If a church requires such rigmarole, doesn't the church run the risk of alienating those with social anxiety?
For I know I'd go running out of there at the end of the class like Chiroptera fleeing Ghenna.
Some churches require potential members to endure lengthy interrogations and questionnaires that go beyond determining whether or not the catechumen ascents to the basics of the Apostles or Nicene Creeds before being granted that particular status.
If failure to answer in the preapproved manner will result in a denial of membership, what is to prevent the applicant from simply answering in the manner that the leadership expects to hear?
For example, is it really the business of a Christian school administrator whether or not your child has a TV in their room in the privacy of your own home.
Furthermore, who can blame these applicants for fudging their answers when across Christendom the believer is berated and beaten over the head homiletically on a regular basis if one is just an attender and not necessarily a formalized member?
By Frederick Meekins
Monday, May 04, 2015
Headline Potpourri #70
If Al Sharpton has gone on a hunger strike over something as trivial as the confirmation of an Attorney General, the malcontent should be allowed to starve to death.
In a sermon, a pastor berated the congregation for not knowing where Zephaniah was in the Bible. Perhaps he would rather they never return to the church he pastors.
If personality tests are being used to screen out job applicants, what is to prevent the applicant from not answering the assessment honestly but rather in the manner that they deduce is most likely to secure them the position?
If personality tests are being used to screen out job applicants before objective criteria are applied, would the individual be responsible if they could not find employment?
In a sermon on Christian apathy, fanatic legalist Jason Cooley condemned the entire U.S. military over the actions of a few errant soldiers. Therefore, extrapolating the pastor’s logic, ought we to condemn the entire Independent Fundamentalist Baptist movement for its errant sex crimes that are comparable to any Vatican debaucheries?
In a sermon, a pastor admonished that not only is one required to come to worship but that one must come in a spirit of Sabbath rest. Some people just can’t turn off their minds. Once again, would it rather be preferred that people don’t show up at all?
If you learn about Alexander the Great under the auspices of a traditional Western Civilization course, it is racist oppression. However, if you learn about him during a course on homosexual history, you are being liberating from the heteronormative hegemony.
With that maniacal cackle, you almost expect Hillary to say, "I'll get you my pretty and your little dog too."
Regarding the gyrocopter assault on the Capitol lawn. Is life so miserable as a result of campaign finance reform to likely endanger a post office pension over?
“Tired of the partisanship” is actually a euphemism that the person wants to abolish the First Amendment.
Of me, it was said, “Obviously, you just like to call people, whom you do not like, names for the sake of attacking them.” Everyone has got to have a hobby. Furthermore, it is considerably less expensive than wine and woman.
It was criticized that most youth pastors are young. Maybe so. But if aspiring ministers don’t start at this level, when these individuals apply for more senior positions later in their careers will search committees toss in their faces that they are insufficiently experienced?
How is that blond sportcaster chick telling the tow company clerk to loose weight really any worse than how we are constantly ordered by Queen Sasquatch and her "Let's Move" propaganda?
ESPN personality Britt McHenry was caught verbally boring into a tow company clerk. Did she unload unprovoked or did the clerk say something that set her off? Social media widely condemned her remarks and her network suspended her. Yet she still hasn't destroyed as much property as the average Occupy Movement beatnik or Ferguson vandal whom are usually adored by the media.
Does Brittney McHenry invoking her celebrity status in a confrontation with a tow company differ all that appreciably from the verbal manipulations engaged in by law enforcement, racial activists, and even certain veterans in the attempt to get their way?
On the BBC version of Top Gear, the hosts drove through Alabama with provocative slogans painted across their vehicles. The point was to solicit a violent response in mockery of the conservative culture of the American South. Wonder if these same champions of free speech would drive through Muslim neighborhoods in London in a truck advertising free pork barbecue.
Other than for purposes of social indoctrination, having a gay couple in the recent NCIS: New Orleans infant abduction episode didn’t add anything to the plot. The story would have virtually been the same if a normal heterosexual couple was featured.
It is said security upgrades to the White House perimeter are necessary in light of the ISIS threat. But weren't we told that they were just the "JV" team?
Jeb Bush admits he is concerned that the climate is changing. Apparently not so much so to curtail his travels across the country. That, ladies and gentleman, is a sacrifice you are to endure. Most likely once you are directed shortly to your Walmart reeducation center.
In a speech, Bill Clinton applauded ISIS's spirit of inclusion. Yet that withered sex fiend would probably launch a Branch Davidian style assault on Christian bakers declining to bake gay wedding cakes.
The character that was heterosexual enough to have two girlfriends in his previous X-Men cinematic appearance will apparently turn out to be GAY in the next film. Maybe he can have the hots for the Human Torch who went from White to being Black.
A Jihadist wanting to attack churches in France shot himself in the foot. Interestingly, he then sought medical attention from those he himself had wanted to murder. Would a Christian bent on similar mayhem in an Islamic nation have been extended such assistance or rather summarily executed?
On an episode of Generations Radio in which Adam McManus substituted as host, a Rushdoonyian author chastised the church for failing to heed the call of Douglas MacArthur to evangelize Japan following World War II. But if we are to hold to a Calvinist soteriology that the only ones saved are the ones God wants saved, isn’t that therefore God’s fault? Furthermore, on what grounds do you condemn believers who at the time might have been pursuing other paths God intended for their lives? I don’t exactly recall MacArthur dedicating his life to missions in the Pacific Rim after he was put in his place for insubordination by Truman. Why is it we are expected to neglect the children and elderly here in favor of foreign ones overseas?
In response to some issue, Greta Van Sustern said we should be raising “holy hell”. If the Scientology she holds to is the fundamental creed of the universe rather than Christianity, shouldn't she have instead invoked the name of the Swiss Mountain those of her worldview believe in which the cosmic tyrant Xenu is imprisoned?
A woman is accused of running over her husband with an SUV for failing to vote. Just imagine what the harpy would have done if he had left the toilet seat up.
Approximately half of Americans support gay marriage. If 50% of a population supported loading particular minorities into boxcars for transport for liquidation at designated facilities, would that make that action correct as well?
Regarding the mouthy broad that tried to be a comedian at the White House correspondents dinner. Isn't it hypocritical to denounce the impropriety of Hillary's appearance yet mock Rand Paul for supposedly wearing a wig?
A chess champion was bitch-slapped across social media for suggesting that men might be biologically hardwired on average to be better at chess than women. Do tolerancemongers intend to fly off the handle to the same extent when women are upheld as superior regarding certain activities?
A Baltimore mother is being praised for slapping her son over participating in the riots. But aren't some of the same liberals feigning praise for this assertive parenting also responsible for creating an atmosphere where many parents are reluctant to discipline their children for fear of retribution on the part of law enforcement or the social welfare establishment? Relatedly, would the media find this incident as amusing if a father slapped a marauding daughter?
A Baltimore law enforcement functionary asked in a press conference if the public wants force used against 13-15 year olds. If they are rioting and pillaging, why not?
During coverage of the riots, cable and broadcast networks should not bleep the profanity. Let the American people see and hear just how vile these marauders are.
If that one burning building was the White House, would President Obama want it looped over and over again on the evening news?
If President Obama can bring himself to admit that the destruction that transpired in Baltimore was not a protest, why can't he muster the remainder of the moral clarity to admit that it was a riot?
Juan Williams insisted that populations should be allowed to vent. Do these malcontents not have access to social media over their government provided smartphones?
Hillary Clinton laments that her heart breaks for all of these urban young men. And what about those whose property was destroyed? That is just the prelude to the revolution she and her fellow subversives agitate for.
On Fox News, there was a countdown ticker to 10:00 PM, reminding of the pending curfew. From a propagandistic standpoint, isn't that sort of itching for a riot by presenting it as a sort of apocalyptic Time Square New Year's Eve countdown?
The riots in Baltimore might not have been multicultural in the sense that the violence was perpetrated primarily by a ethnically homogeneous horde. However, these disturbances are in these sense that they are the outcome of spineless Whites that have for decades either fawned all over these listless deadbeats or remained tightlipped having been manipulated into believing tolerance and diversity are greater priorities than the protection of life and property. There is little hope when even prominent Fox News broadcasters drone on with class warfare rhetoric little different than whats regularly spewed over the airwaves by MSNBC ideologues.
Dana Perino enunciated on The Five on Fox News that being a single mother is the hardest job in the world. Regarding the ones never married, unless raped aren't these mothers the ones at fault for putting themselves into this lifestyle situation?
Fox News has reported that, during the Baltimore riots, police were initially ordered to stand down because “it is only property” that was to be looted and vandalized. Would the same perspective have prevailed if it was the White House endangered?
The property of innocent people should be valued more highly than the lives of the guilty endangering it.
The lawyer of Freddie Gray's family admonishes that now is the time for all cities to treat all people with dignity. Does this edict also apply to urban thugs that victimize unsuspecting Whites with the knockout game?
It has been suggested that over 5,000 perished in the Nepalese earthquake as judgment for that nation's acceptance of homosexuality. So all 5,000, some of whom dwell in the Earth's most remote regions, endorsed homosexuality? Could it just as easily be that that nation is in the area of the world's tallest mountains that happen to likely be under significant tectonic and seismic stress?
The Mayor of Baltimore vowed that no one in her city is above the law. Therefore, isn't she obligated to have Al Sharpton and one of his minions charged with assault for laying his hands on a Fox News reporter engaged in the exercise of his First Amendment rights?
Prior to his seizure of power, Obama called for the establishment of a national police force just as equipped and funded as the military. Why ought we to believe that it won't be just as deadly?
On The Five, Geraldo Rivera interviewed a demonstrating deadbeat. When asked his impression of the violence in Baltimore, the hoodlum responded that it was not his place to condemn violence. And what if it was this deadbeat's welfare shanty burned to the ground?
As a congressman in the legislative rather than the judicial branch of government, other than to foment additional upheaval and discord, why is Elijah Cummings handing down an opinion regarding indictments handed down in the investigation of Freddie Gray's death? Does this federal elected official provide public comment regarding every other motioned filed by the state's attorney's office? Does Cummings intend to speak out regarding the White resident making the mistake of trying to be a good citizen beaten into a coma for attempting to break up the altercation of two delinquents?
In reference to the Baltimore Orioles deciding to play a game in an empty stadium, Eric Boling of The Five on Fox News was reluctant to offer comment because doing so in his view would undermine the free market process. Too bad the broadcaster is not as respectful of individual families when he chastises and castigates parents reluctant to subject their children to verbally abusive coaches or to the bodily injuries inherent to a variety of organized sports.
If someone is denied a homestead property tax credit because they earn too high of an income or have too much saved in the bank (meaning it was not squandered on the latest iteration of the smartphone or flashy hubcaps more valuable than the car they spin upon), they’ve given back more than a reasonable share to the COMMUNITY for the upcoming year.
Typical. Baltimore mayor suggesting human filth desiring such should be offered a space in which they can destroy herself lives in a gated COMMUNITY.
By Frederick Meekins
Pastor Insists Trayvonites Looting City Should Be Applauded For Doing God’s Work
Saturday, May 02, 2015
Friday, May 01, 2015
No Mere Consideration: The Apologetic Quandaries Found In The Lewis Classic
Fundamental to the creed of the contemporary skeptic is the notion that everything is relative and that there are no absolutes. However, that is itself an absolute. And no matter how cool it is to feign the attitude that one exists beyond right and wrong, no one wants to be treated as if right and wrong did not exist.
Of this universal truth, Lewis observes, “Whenever you find a man who says he does not believe in a real Right or Wrong, you will find the man going back on this a moment later. He may break his promise to you, but if you try breaking one to him he will be complaining 'It's not fair' before you can say 'Jack Robinson' (15).”
Since law exists whether we like it or not, it must have a source beyond us in order to be binding upon us and to avoid degenerating into a matter of mere preference or opinion. Since this universal law represents the codification of a set of principles, it could not have come about as a result of random choice, but rather through some kind of purposeful intelligence. Thus, a second issue confronting the skeptic in “Mere Christianity” is whether the source of this law is personal or impersonal.
The views regarding God can be divided into two basic viewpoints. On the one hand, pantheism believes, in the words of Lewis, that “God animates the universe as you animate your body: that the universe is almost God (30).” Traditional monotheists, on the other hand, believe that God is distinct from creation in a manner similar to “...a man making a picture or composing a tune...A painter is not a picture (30).”
From our understanding of law as a set of principles established for determining right and wrong, the monotheistic conception would be the one most in keeping with the evidence. For if God and the universe were co-terminus as postulated by the pantheists, by definition whatever is, is ought. Only by being distinct from what He has made is God justified in pronouncing judgment upon it.
Since God is the source of perfection and man so marked by imperfection, there must be some way for these seemingly irreconcilable twains to meet. Since man is imperfect, there is nothing he can do of his own merit to bring himself to God's level. Rather, the imperfect can only be made whole and elevated to a higher status on the terms of the perfect.
Since God is the ultimate authority and source of power, it is up to Him to determine the method through which man can be reconciled to God. Of all of the religions of the world, orthodox Biblical Christianity is the only one where that particular belief's conception of salvation is not granted on the basis of the adherent's own merit or accomplishment but rather as a result through the realization that one's own works are as filthy rags and by throwing oneself on the mercy of a loving God willing to extend forgiveness to those embracing what God has done for them rather than on what they have done for Him. In the Christian tradition, this eternal pardon is granted to those believing that Jesus as the only Son of God lived the perfect life that we could not, suffered and died upon the cross for the sins of the world, and rose in bodily form from the dead.
Thus, the most important issue the skeptic is forced to confront is exactly who do they think Jesus is. Impressed with the morals of Jesus but not wanting to admit that they themselves are sinners, most unbelievers think they are broadminded enough by giving Jesus an esteemed status as an ethical teacher from the past with no present claim on their lives.
However, as Lewis points out, a moral person would not say the things about himself that Jesus said about Himself. Lewis writes, “A man who...said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would be a lunatic --- on a level with a man who says he is a poached egg --- or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice (41).”
Much of the spiritual danger of the contemporary world lies in the numerous distractions available to those preferring to avoid those fundamental questions nagging at the human soul. C.S. Lewis, in “Mere Christianity”, forces the reader to confront these issues in an engaging and forthright manner.
By Frederick Meekins
If someone is denied a homestead property tax credit because they earn too high of an income or have too much saved in the bank (meaning it was not squandered on the latest iteration of the smartphone or flashy hubcaps more valuable than the car they spin upon), they’ve given back more than a reasonable share to the COMMUNITY for the upcoming year.
Thursday, April 30, 2015
Subversive Abets Violent Upheaval
But what of the property owners that were not involved in the death of Freddie Gray?
And what of the White race whom Malik Shabazz in the past has threatened violence against?
In his observations of the Baltimore riots, Malik Shabazz proudly remarked how the rampagers reminded him of the Palestinians.
That comment is quite instructive.
If one is going to make favorable comparisons with that particular insurgency movement, just what other aspects of that worldview will you have incorporated into that of your own?
This is especially a concern if you are going to view the police and national guard as an occupying force as played by Israel in that particular narrative.
For you see, revolutionary Palestinianism holds as a fundamental principle that its adherents will not rest until every last Jew is driven into the sea.
Does Shabazz hold to a similar presupposition advocating that similar things be done to Americans that, to paraphrase President Obama's own words, don't look like Trayvon?
Furthermore, it should be noted that Shabazz wasn't simply making idle conversation to prevent an awkward broadcast silence.
According to Wikipedia, the following quote is attributed to this esteemed rhetorician. “Kill every GD Zionist in Israel: GD little babies, GD old ladies. Blow up Zionist supermarkets.”
In light of the violence erupting in American cities, are you sure that your infatuation with tolerance and diversity will protect you from this outright subversive and aspiring terrorist?
By Frederick Meekins
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
Monday, April 27, 2015
Sunday, April 26, 2015
Cultural Apologist Apparently Values That Of Africa Over America
Things going so well here that a minister considering cultural apologetics as one of his areas of expertise left with nothing to do?
Marriage has gone back to being solely between a man and a woman?
Gays quietly keeping their proclivities to themselves as a result of good old fashioned shame?
The vast majority of children being born to married couples?
And those that aren't either adopted into loving families or at least raised by biological parents that love the children enough to maintain a facade in front of the child that they tolerate each other and can get along civilly?
Rap music shifted its lyrics now to extol a lifestyle of sober frugality and personal industry?
In detailing his missionary expedition to Africa, pastor and cultural apologist Voddie Baucham points out that he is not a theological renegade but is rather being sent from his local church to a local church.
Extrapolating from that logic, does that mean in our own contexts that the hands (or perhaps more importantly the tongue) of the average believer is tied unless church authorities allow you to evangelize?
From that presupposiition, it seems that it is illegitimate to conduct missions or evangelism as a form of God's work apart from the approval of one's church.
Baucham identifies himself as a part of the Reformed movement.
A fundamental perspective of that particular theological outlook constricts the separation between secular and sacred work to the point where that the division is nearly nonexistent.
Therefore, if all work is God's work, should the church have veto power regarding what profession the individual decides to pursue or if they go into business on the path of entrepreneurship?
If one is going out as a missionary in the name of a particular congregation, that is one thing and you should be answerable to their authority as an employee.
However, if you are conducting outreach under the terms of the general mandate where one is essentially admonished to make a nuisance of oneself by interjecting religion into the workplace and in passing conversations with the neighbors, on what grounds do you condemn if a believer decides to share the Gospel down the street or halfway around the world?
In this sermon justifying his self-imposed exile to Africa, Voddie Baucham criticized men that pursue seminary education in general and in particular those that use that education to find employment at another church without the approval or oversight of what would be categorized as the student's home church.
But is it really the place of the church to deny an individual's access to knowledge?
For that is a mindset characterizing Gnostic-oriented sects such as Mormonism and Freemasonry.
The Christian position is that knowledge should be available to anyone willing to pursue it.
Other than a character reference to assure that the applicant has not been caught with hands on little children, on other men's wives, or in the collection plate, should a single church have that much sway over your ecclesiastical career prospects or ministry opportunities?
By Frederick Meekins
Saturday, April 25, 2015
Friday, April 24, 2015
Thursday, April 23, 2015
Wednesday, April 22, 2015
On an episode of Generations Radio in which Adam McManus substituted as host, a Rushdoonyian author chastised the church for failing to heed the call of Douglas MacArthur to evangelize Japan following World War II. But if we are to hold to a Calvinist soteriology that the only ones saved are the ones God wants saved, isn’t that therefore God’s fault? Furthermore, on what grounds do you condemn believers who at the time might have been pursuing other paths God intended for their lives? I don’t exactly recall MacArthur dedicating his life to missions in the Pacific Rim after he was put in his place for insubordination by Truman. Why is it we are expected to neglect the children and elderly here in favor of foreign ones overseas?
To What Extent Should A Child Be Compelled To Surrender Property To Those To Whom They Feel No Compulsion?
This is a valid concern.
One might say my grandparents were, literally, generous to a fault.
From an era in which one seldom questioned authority if you wanted to be considered an acceptable Christian, they would often pressure my mom to give away what few possessions that their borderline poverty family could afford.
To this day, this still hurts my mom emotionally when she is feeling down.
Especially when so many of those this generosity was extended to ended up not giving the proverbial damn about either my grandparents or my mother.
It is refreshing to see Christianity Today will still publish a rare conservative perspective occasionally.
Tuesday, April 21, 2015
A Review Of “Why I Am Not A Christian” By Bertrand Russell
Instead of addressing a single topic throughout the entire work, “Why I Am Not A Christian” is a collection of articles and essays addressing Russell's position on religious matters in general and issues regarding Christianity in particular. Proverbs 23:7 says, “For as he thinketh in his heart, so he is.” Many times influential voices speaking in the opinion-molding institutions of academia and media contend that one's views on religion do not necessarily impact other areas of existence such as the political or the sociological. Scripture teaches that this popular opinion is incorrect. However, the Bible is not readily accepted by those arguing for the mentioned opinion. Even though the work argues against the traditional positions of Christianity, the power of “Why I Am Not A Christian” resides in how it links one's views regarding religion with one's beliefs about society and the world despite the author's attempt to argue otherwise.
Russell's religious beliefs (or lack thereof) found their basis in his position that the theistic proofs are not as conclusive as believers make them out to be. When asked what he would say if confronted by the Creator at his death, Russell said he would respond by saying, “God! Why did you make evidence of your existence so insufficient?”
In “Why I Am Not A Christian”, Russell proceeds to critique each of these arguments. None of them escape his scathing scrutiny. Of the argument from the First Cause, Russell remarks that, if everything must have a cause, then God cannot be the uncaused cause by those following in the intellectual lineage of Aquinas. Russell claims that this argument actually results in an endless digression of creators begetting creators much like those mythological cosmologies where the Earth rests atop an elephant resting atop a tortoise etc. etc (7).
From the outset, Russell argues from faulty notions. According to Norman Geisler in “Introduction To Philosophy: A Christian Perspective”, in a thoroughly naturalistic context something cannot come from nothing. But by its definition, a noncontingent being does not require a cause since its existence is complete in itself (289). Only finite contingent beings require a cause.
The next proofs tackled by Russell are the arguments for the existence of God from the evidence of creation. Russell argues that, in the light of Einsteinian relativity, the Newtonian system of natural law is not as binding upon the universe as originally thought. Therefore, these scientific principles cannot be used to argue for the existence of a rational creator. However, one could turn the tables on Russell and point out that the revelations of Einsteinian physics actually provide a better testimony to the existence of God than even the previous Newtonian model.
According to Russell, natural law is nothing more than statistical averages resulting from the laws of chance (Russell, 8). John Warwick Montgomery in “Faith Founded On Fact” rebuts Russell's position by pointing out that the Einsteinian and quantum paradigms actually allow for miracles while maintaining that an ordered universe exists. In those systems attempting to account for the totality of the physical universe, it is God who keeps the universe from instantaneously dissolving into the chaos of individual atoms flying off into their own paths and who can rearrange the normal operations of reality when doing so suits His greater glory such as turning water into wine and resurrecting the dead (Montgomery, 43).
Besides drawing faulty conclusions regarding the validity of the theistic proofs, Russell errs as to their purpose as well. Russell is correct in pointing out that these arguments do leave room for some doubt. Yet this can be said about any other linguistically synthetic proposition about the world as well.
If one wants to get really nit-picky about the matter, one could doubt whether Bertrand Russell himself even existed since the Analysts were not above doubting the veracity of historical knowledge. As much as it might irritate the so-called “scientific mind”, one cannot exist without exercising some degree and kind of faith.
The theistic proofs can serve as a guide pointing towards faith or as a mechanism to help rationally clarify it. They do not properly serve as a replacement for it. Norman Geisler points out that one ought not to believe in God because of the theistic proofs. Rather, the theistic proofs provide one with a basis to reasonably assert that God exists (Geisler, 269).
Having taken on the first person of the triune Godhead, Russell turns his sites onto the second, the Lord Jesus Christ. To his perverse credit in a perverse sort way, Russell does not hind behind the phony religiosity of the liberal and the modernist which states, “Jesus was a good teacher, but...”
Russell openly wonders whether or not Christ even existed. And even if He did, Russell asserts, Jesus is far from being the greatest among human teachers as asserted by the likes of the Unitarians and the New Age movement. At best, according to Russell's scorecard, Jesus comes in at a distant third behind Socrates and Buddha (16). According to Russell, Christ's greatest flaw was His belief in the reality of Hell and His condemnation of those who would not heed the Messiah's call. Socrates provides a superior moral example since Socrates did not verbally castigate his detractors (Russell, 17).
Russell's disdain for those believing in the reality of Hell exposes his own bias rather than prove his dedication to the ideas of truth that he invokes elsewhere to undermine the claims of religious faith. In appraising the idea of Hell, Russell does not give much consideration to the realm of eternal damnation, instead dismissing the concept as a cruel idea (18). But if Hell is real, is not Christ doing the proper thing in warning how such a terrible fate might be avoided? Employing Russell's line of reasoning, it becomes cruel to chastise someone standing under a tall tree with a piece of sheet metal during a thunderstorm since such an exhortation also warns of the dire consequences likely to result from such foolish behavior.
But while Russell questions the historicity of Jesus Christ, he readily accepts that of Buddha even though Christ is perhaps the best documented figure of ancient history. The first accounts of Buddha appear nearly 500 years after the death of that particular religious figure. Those regarding Jesus appear within the first several decades following the Crucifixion.
Allegedly having removed God from His thrown as sovereign of the universe, Russell proceeds to lay out what he does believe primarily in the chapter titled “What I Believe”. Replacing religion as the tool by which man approaches the world, Russell would have man utilize science to determine meaning, reducing the totality of reality to that of mere physics (50). To Russell, even thought is nothing more than the chemical components and electrical impulses arising from the brain's physical composition.
Yet despite believing the material world to be ultimate, Russell saw no problem with making pronouncements regarding the areas of life transcending the material base such as ethics and social organization. Russell boldly states in italicized print for all to read, “The good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge (56).” However, elsewhere in the very same chapter, Russell says, “...nature in itself is neutral, neither good nor bad (55).”
If humanity is nothing more than the sum of the physical composition of the species, it is then inappropriate to elaborate a theory of morality. Morality poured into such a naturalistic crucible becomes nothing more than individual personal preferences, which do seem to serve as Russell's source of moral reasoning. According to Russell, traditional morality is based upon cruelty and ignorance. However, according to John Frame in “Apologetics To The Glory Of God”, to invoke the values of love and knowledge (even when done so to undermine traditional conceptions of virtue) is to inadvertently defend the divinely established order of creation traditional moral values rests upon in the first place since such values are only desirable if a divinely created hierarchy exists (93-102).
Ultimately, one cannot craft a system of ethics solely based on science legitimately defined as science. At best, science can only assess and clarify the situations to which moral principles must be applied. To say that science is the source of moral values is to argue for a scientism or a naturalism as loaded with as many conceptual presuppositions as any theistic creed.
One can base one's ethical beliefs on the record of Scripture, which II Timothy 3:16 says is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for corrections, and for instruction in righteousness. Or, one can operate under man's own unaided reason, which is finite, corruptible, and known to change every five to ten years subject to FDA approval. History reveals which has the far better track record.
Unlike many Christians who do not take their worldview outside the church sanctuary or seminary classroom, Bertrand Russell was not one content to keep his philosophy and ideology confined to the level of an academic exercise. In terms of political activism, this was manifested by his vocal opposition to the nuclear diplomacy engaged in by both the United States and the Soviet Union during the tensest days of the Cold War.
However, the application of Russell's worldview did not always lead him to pursue admirable yet perhaps naive goals such as world peace. In fact, Presbyterian minister D.James Kennedy suggests in “Character & Destiny: A Nation In Search Of Its Soul” that Russell may have formulated his philosophical position regarding religious matters as a justification for his erotic proclivities, the lanky intellectual having actually had numerous adulterous relationships including philanderous escapades with the daughters of friends and colleagues (173). In fact, Russell social views derived from his foundational assumptions sparked considerable controversy. After all, it was not his “Principia Mathematica” that cost him a professorship at the City College of New York but rather his views regarding marriage and personal morality.
Seeing man soley as the product of natural processes and merely as a highly evolved animal, Russell's views regarding human intimacy and procreation reflect this sentiment. According to Russell, much of traditional morality --- especially that dealing with sexual ethics --- is based upon superstition. In fact, Russell believes that it would be beneficial for society and family life if the traditional understanding of monogamous, life-long, God-ordained marriage was openly violated. In these matters, Russell sounds much like a contemporary Planned Parenthood operative or public school sex educator. For example, Russell argues for no-fault divorce, unhampered sexual promiscuity provided children do not result from such illicit unions, and for temporary trial marriages not unlike the phenomena of cohabitation (Russell, 168-178).
Despite his attempts to expand human freedom and happiness in regards to these matters, Russell's proposals are in reality prescriptions for heartache and disaster. The segment of society sustaining the highest number of casualties in the sexual revolution are the young that Russell had hoped to liberate. According to syndicated columnist Cal Thomas in “The Death Of Ethics In America”, by the age of twenty-one 81% of unmarried males and 60% of unmarried females have had sexual intercourse. However, such carnal stimulation is not necessarily the fulfilling personal growth opportunity Russell claimed it would be.
Venereal diseases rank as the number one form of communicable illness in the United States. And the varieties of this pestilence prevalent today do not always react as well to penicillin as those ravaging the morally deviant of Professor Russell's day (Thomas, 92). Those engaging in Dr. Russell's trial marriages --- what use to be referred to as living in sin --- fare little better. Those participating in such arrangements on average go on to experience higher levels of marital discord and incidents of divorce.
God did not establish the regulations regarding human intimacy in order to rain on everybody's parade. These rules were promulgated in order to bring about the maximum degree of individual well-being and personal happiness. Matthew 19:5 says, “For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh. Hebrews 13:4 adds, “Marriage is honorable in all and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.”
To his credit and the shame of the church, Russell does note how women have over the course of history often endured oppressive marriages many times under the sanction and justification of misunderstood interpretations regarding marital submission. However, any cruelty justified under this command is a misinterpretation of the passage's true intent. In Ephesians 5:25, just two verses away from the famous Scripture misused as an excuse for all manner of masculine cruelty, the Bible clearly reads, “Husbands, love your wives even as Christ loved the church.” This love is to be a sacrificial and gentle love; not the decree of a tyrant even though the husband is the king of the house. Studies indicate that, in reality, marriage is far safer for women than the live-in arrangements advocated by Russell under the euphemism of temporary marriage.
Having dismissed the traditional family and religion (both organized and otherwise) as impediments to humanity's progress, Russell puts his hope for the betterment of mankind in the state. Rather than punish individuals committing sins so heinous that they infringe upon the well-being of society, the state is to manipulate human behavior in order to bring about desired outcomes beneficial to the greater community. In fact, according to Russell, sin defined as an action committed by an individual in defiance of the universal moral order as established by an omnipotent creator does not exist. Sin is merely that which is disliked by those controlling education (159).
Even those committing the most heinous deeds are not beyond the pale of psychological reprogramming or pity much like that lavished upon a wayward dog that cannot help scratching up the furniture. To bring about his scientific utopia, the state would be granted expansive powers in even those most private aspects of existence. For example, Russell's state would go so far as to decree that children must be confiscated from their parents and raised by trained statist experts (Russell, 163).
Russell also suffers from the same paradox afflicting Marx and other socialists in that Russell desires to shrink the power of the state while at the same time dramatically increasing it. While wanting to put economic power into the hands of workers through a system of guilds and syndicates, Russell also sought to establish a world state having a monopoly on the use of force as well as establish guaranteed incomes and the human breeding restrictions mentioned earlier.
The issues raised by Russell's political opinions still possess relevance today with much of contemporary civic discourse an ongoing debate regarding the very kinds of policies advocated by Russell and his leftwing associates. F.A. Hayek noted in “The Road To Serfdom” that, while liberals might have naive but benevolent intentions behind their social engineering proposals, these ultimately require more bloodthirsty totalitarians or others of a similar vain lacking concern for innate human freedoms and constitutional liberties. Even Russell admits that much of human liberty is the result of the interplay between church and state (185). What then would result should the influence be nullified as Russell proposes?
Reflecting upon Russell's proposal of state-run childcare, it is highly doubtful whether or not such a program could be implemented without a great deal of bloodshed or a massive multi-generational conspiracy such as Hillary Clinton's it takes a village mentality and the United Nation's Convention on the Rights of The Child. Programs and policy outlooks such as these seek to alter the fundamental nature of the family primarily through bureaucratic stealth and covert legislative manipulation. Realizing that the proclivities towards marriage and family ran so deeply in the human psyche, even the Soviets had to back off their plank to so openly undermine the oldest of human institutions as part of their diabolical agenda.
And while the wars plaguing mankind are deplorable, the geopolitical landscape allowing them to arise is still preferable to the global tyranny and persecution that would result from a planetary regime that would impose its iron will on any portion of the world refusing to heed its edicts and decrees. At least under the current world order, a small percentage of humanity is able to enjoy some measure of freedom until the Lord's Second Coming.
Contrary to what even the National Rifle Association claims, America's Founding Fathers did not draft the Second Amendment to protect skeet shooting and squirrel hunting. Instead, this constitutional provision established a sense of liberty by creating tension between freemen and the operatives of the state by implying violence could result should government authorities over step the confines of their legitimate powers. Something similar is true with a system of nation-states competing with one another, none of which can tyrannize all of mankind at one time.
By reading “Why I Am Not A Christian”, one is reminded that the current culture war besieging America did not begin with either the inaugurations of Bill Clinton or Barack Obama. It is in fact decades and even centuries old. While setting out an agenda and its ideological justification, Russell's “Why I Am Not A Christian” also provides a glimpse into the cultural disputes of another era.
The final chapter of the book consists of an appendix detailing the court case that ultimately prevented Russell from obtaining a professorship of mathematical and scientific philosophy. Whether or not Russell's critics should have acted so vehemently is open to debate as (to utilize a phrase just employed) there is some virtue to settling things through “open debate” with each side detailing their merits and revealing the weaknesses in the arguments of their opponents. However, history has shown that the concerns raised by those opposed to Russell's appointment were based in legitimate fears.
Though Russell cannot bear sole guilt as much of that must also go to his colleagues sharing in his worldview of loose sex and paternalistic government, this philosophy has gained such prominence in social institutions such as education, entertainment, and even religion. Regard for the family and human life has deteriorated to such a degree that is has become regular to hear in news reports of former mailmen mowing down with machine guns their fellow employees (the act itself now referred to as “going postal”) or of prom queens killing their newborns between dances. The world has never been perfect since the expulsion from Eden, but seldom in history has there been times where such outright evil is openly justified by those in authority such as certain psychologists, elected officials, and media personalities.
Bertrand Russell's “Why I Am Not A Christian” will not stand as a classic regarding what is explicitly written upon the pages. For the highest rational principle appealed to is that the world should enshrine the thoughts and preferences of Bertrand Russell simply because they are the thoughts and utterances of Bertrand Russell. However, the message it propounds between the lines of each man serving as his own god ranks among the central apologetic challenges of this or any other era. The clear style and detectable fallacies found within the pages of Russell's “Why I Am Not A Christian” will prepare Christians to take on more sophisticated versions of these arguments wherever they might appear.
By Frederick Meekins