The Inauguration Of “W”

I could not believe what “W” did at the Presidential Inauguration. He had some audacity to say he couldn’t begin without a prayer. He then got specific and spoke of “…that Almighty Being who rules over the universe, who presides in the councils of nations….”

How out of touch can one president be? How very un-PC.

Having attended and participated in a presidential inauguration I know something of the order and decorum. Every word is virtually scripted and goes in the history book. Such a statement will stand out in the history of our country.

The idea of prayer is one thing. However, the idea of an Almighty Being who rules and presides is something else. With all efforts to remove God from society and promote evolution this is beyond the veil.

Wasn’t “W” aware of the intent of our forefathers to squelch religion in the public arena. For the president of all the people to bring religion into such a solemn ceremony is unconscionable. Did he not think there might be some people offended by such provincial thinking?

You would think he would have known better. At the age of 15 he studied and hand wrote a copy of the “110 Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation.” Such principles should have had formative influence that would have lasted.

The idea of having the Bible open right there on the platform between the 49th and 50th chapters of Genesis was a bold act. However, to kiss the Bible and reverently say: “So – help – me – God” is a bit much.

What most folks have overlooked is this statement included in the “New York Daily Advertiser” announcing a prayer meeting to be held the morning of the inauguration: “As we believe in an overruling Providence and feel our constant dependence upon God for every blessing, so it is undoubtedly our duty to acknowledge Him in all our ways and commit our concerns to His protection and mercy.”

For a president to have personal faith in God is one thing but should he be so public about it?

The coup de gras involved his party going to St. Paul’s Church after the inauguration for another prayer meeting led by one of the chaplains of Congress..

It is well chronicled that “W” believes in prayer. It is also known he goes to bed early, often around 9:00 PM. Staff members have seen him before retiring on his knees with the Bible open praying. During the war he has been seen to have done so frequently. Most persons would concede that such private practice of devotion is acceptable. To some it may seen an act of weakness, however.

Well, “W” was bold about his faith. Oh, in case you were thinking of a different “W” the one referenced here is George “W,” as in Washington that is. The wars were the French and Indian and the Revolutionary wars. All references to events at the inauguration occurred April 30, 1789, in New York with the exception of the post-inaugural prayer meeting have been perpetuated by every president since.

Christian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions of the United States, B.F. Morris, pp. 271, 273, 501
The Rewriting of America’s History, Catherin Millard, pp. 59-66

How To Deal With A “Whatever” Mentality

“Whatever!” is the mantra of the moment.

It is a synonym for relativism, a byword for “anything goes,” and a revelation that situational ethics have made great advances. It makes for an uncertain society.

The Barna Research Group ascertained the following facts as a revelation this is a “Whatever!” culture.

* Three-fourths of all adults believe “there is no such thing as absolute truth. Two people can define truth in conflicting ways and both be correct according to this concept. This is contrary to the long held belief that when there are two polar positions on the same issue one is wrong.

* More than 70% of American adults agree that there are no absolute standards which apply to everyone. This means when it comes to morals and ethics, what is right and wrong, there are no absolute standards that apply to everyone in all situations.

Applied this means there are times it is all right to lie, steal, or cheat. Pushed to its logical conclusion it would then mean there are times it is OK to defraud, embezzle, commit treason or cooperate crime. Whatever!

It is precisely that moral mentality that has led to symptoms of uncertainty in our society. Trust is eroded by it. Understanding breaks down when people don’t have the same system of values. In a whatever world every person is a system of law unto self.

“Mr. Chairman, we need to change these figures to make our financial statement look better to our stock holders.” Whatever!

“I copied a book report form a friend at another school.” Whatever!

“I’m going to use the company credit card to purchase some personal items.” Whatever!

“Randy worships Jesus, John worships Sheila, Larry worships the goddess Sybil, and Bubba worships the tree in his back yard.” Whatever!

“I’m going to use cheap products lacking in quality and unskilled labor on this project and bill these folks for top quality items and work.” Whatever!

The pervasive “Whatever” attitude strips truth of its value, creates a lack of confidence, and makes every individual a personal system of law. It creates a wonderful world of “ME.”

Walter T. Anderson tells a story that illustrates this principle. There are three baseball umpires.

Confidently one says, “There’s balls and there’s strikes, and I call “em the way they are.”

Another, a little less certain, says, “There’s balls and there’s strikes, and I call “em the way I see “em.”

The third, a postmodernist, says, “There’s balls and there’s strikes, and they ain’t nothing until I call “em.”

Standards, laws, gages, ideals, norms, established group ethics, and community morals make for a confident and cohesive culture. A “Whatever” mentality means vague is vogue.

The House Of Islam

The Muslim holy book, the Koran, explains the conflict going on in the world. Few non-Muslims know it divides the world into two divisions. Dar El Islam, “the House of Islam,” and “Dar El Harb, “The House of War.” The first consists of those nations under Muslim control or which have been. The other is a designation of all other nations that are to be brought under the dominance of Islam.

That teaching makes our world situation more clear. The lands of Israel and Spain, for example, were once under Muslim control. It is for that reason they are considered Dar El Islam and targeted as nations desired back under such control.

When we attacked Iraq we not only attacked one nation we attacked the House of Islam, every Islamic nation. That defines the conflict as being more than the war raging in Iraq.

The militants opposing us in the war on terror are not primarily politically motivated. Our response has been as though they are. Their motivation is religion. Their leaders are religious. They believe the world must be brought under an Islamic form of government in which the laws of Islam apply to everyone. These nations are defined in the Koran as Dar El Harb, “the house of war” which are to be brought under Islamic control. Any means to that end is justifiable in their thoughts.

Our political leaders relate to their political leaders. The real power brokers, their religious leaders, are not dealt with.

When Islam was last in a world conquest mode it was stopped by intellectual Muslims who realized a radical group needed to be curbed. Though Islam suffered significant military defeats it was efforts from within that ended the aggression. Hopefully such a class will emerge again.

The Gnostic Gospels

Soon after Christianity burst on the world scene a major division occurred. Orthodox Christianity presented the historical Jesus as “the Word became flesh.” It was based on First Century works penned only by person who had encountered the risen Christ and had first person insight. Authors were eye witnesses who were servants of the Lord.

The “Gnostic Gospels” found mostly at Nag Hammadi, Egypt consist of 52 texts, including the “secret” gospels. All were written after the generation associated with Jesus had died. The anonymous authors affixed names of persons noted in the New Testament in an effort to give them creditability. Long before they were rediscovered at Nag Hammadi they had been initially highly discredited by the Church Fathers.

Gnostic “Christianity” presented a Jesus who is totally different from the Jesus of the New Testament. In them Jesus appears to be more of a lecturer on metaphysics than a prophet. An example of this is in the “Letter of Peter to Philip,” when the apostles enquire of the resurrected Jesus, “Lord, we would like to know the deficiency of the aeons and of the pleroma.”

To the Gnostic Jesus was basically a mirage not a real person. Illustrative of this is the “First Apocalypse of James” in which James is consoled by the resurrected Jesus who says, “Never have I suffered in any way, nor have I been distressed.

And this people has done me no harm.” This is in conflict with Jesus’ agony in Gethsemane and His suffering on the cross.

In the “Second Treatise of the Great Seth,” Jesus says, “I did not die in reality, but in appearance.” This represents the Gnostic belief that Jesus was an apparition.

With little background to help interpret what is said Jesus’ alleged teachings are presented in an abstract disjointed staccato fashion.

Advocates of the Gnostic Gospels represent them as “the Lost Books of the Bible.”

The two views of Jesus are mutually excluding.

A great deal of scholarly work is available exposing in detail the fraudulent nature of the writings. This brief is an overview as to why they are described as fraudulent.

Following three of the Gospels are dealt with in more detail.

The novel The DaVinci Code and the film “The Last Temptation of Christ” which are based on extra biblical writing have enjoyed great popularity. Most of these modern works discredit the New Testament gospels and claim a love relationship between Jesus and Mary Magdalene. They advocate a conspiracy theory regarding the early church hiding certain testaments and other documents to exclude teaching they didn’t want known.

In truth there is a conspiracy theory related to the Gnostic Gospels. It does not relate to early Christians trying to hide them, but to modern efforts to use them to discredit Jesus and the New Testament gospels. They are represented as creditable records disproving much of the New Testament. Virtually all media coverage of the thesis is anti-Christian. Little scholarly evaluation has been made public.

These writings come primarily from the Nag Hammadi Library discovered in 1945. The library is named for the town in upper Egypt in which they were found by a peasant searching for fertilizer. They are known as the Gnostic Gospels. Some titles are The Gospel of Philip, The Gospel of Mary, The Gospel of Truth, The Gospel of the Egyptians and the darling of all The Gospel of Thomas. There are other sources of Gnostic writings but these have by in large captured the imagine of moderns.

Unlike the New Testament Gospels these contain little or no social context or narrative from Jesus. Without the historical circumstances in which an event occurs or a statement is made it often loses its original intent. If it is just an anthology the meaning is difficult to interpret. In the New Testament the teachings of Jesus emerge spontaneously. In the Gnostic Gospels Jesus seems to be more of a lecturer on metaphysics than a Hebrew prophet. In the Letter of Peter to Philip the disciples are represented as saying to Jesus: “Lord, we would like to know the difference of the aeons and of the pleroma.”

Jesus is represented as going into a discourse regarding the precosmic time when “the mother” opposed “the father” and so resulted alien aeons.

The name Gnostic comes from the Greek word for knowledge, gnosis. The movement’s roots seem to be embedded in ancient speculations of Babylonian and Zoroastrian priests. Some of its postulates come from Egyptian syncretism and Indian magic.

Gnosticism was not one school, but many, and displayed a very wide variety of thought. Because of this when an error is exposed some defenders assert it wasn’t a teaching of Gnosticism because they have a different point of reference. All the schools had much in common, but the variations of Gnosticism were multitudinous.

Gnosticism is more of a religion than a philosophy. Knowledge is believed to be the factor affording redemption. It distinguishes between the historical Jesus and the supernatural Christ. Their thesis is that the Christ’s nature joined Jesus at His baptism but departed before His death. Throughout Gnostic thought dualism prevails and often conflicts with itself. Some proponents advocate asceticism and other libertinism. A reader of the Books of Jeu find the opening strains of beautiful praise of Jesus in conflict with the sterile formulas in magic which comprise most of the book.

Based on their current popularity the Gnostic Gospels deserve a critical historical and literary review. These heresies from which the early church had to defend itself have been resurrected currently to challenge orthodox Christianity in our time. In evaluating the validity of any ancient document three aspects need to be considered.

AUTHENTICITY is a primary concern in evaluating the accurate preservation of a writing through the ages. A primary concern is whether the existing copies are reliable representations of the original texts. There are enough copies of the New Testament gospels to compare earlier and later copies and ascertain they are compatible and reliable historically. For example the Essenes who lived along the Dead Sea in the time of Christ hid ancient manuscripts before being annihilated.

In 1948 these scrolls were found. Many of them predated existing copies of Bible texts. The manuscript of the Book of Isaiah was approximately 1000 years older than any existing text of Isaiah. A comparison of the earlier ones with the more modern ones showed the Scripture had remained the same.

Scholars have concluded the Gnostic Gospels originated between 350 and 400 AD. The documents were buried around 400 AD. They have deteriorated badly over the years. This has left large portions missing and significant words lost that make interpreting certain passages challenging. In many instances there is only one version of a text. This prevents comparison and verification. There is no way to verify authenticity using comparison as with New Testament text where there are numerous copies over a period of years which show no corruption.

Supporters of Gnostic thought say there are no first century Gnostic writings because the church confiscated and destroyed them. There is no evidence of this. It would have been like gathering feathers scattered by the wind to have collected all such writings had they existed. We do not have any first century Gnostic writings because there were none.

AUTHORSHIP is a factor to be considered in evaluating historical documents. There is much insight that confirms the New Testament gospels were written by their name sakes. The dates of the lives of characters whose names Gnostic Gospels bear do not coincide with the time of the writing.

Reputable scholars consider most of these writings pseudepigraphical. Such are writings given the name of a person it is believed will give the writing credibility. Thus, the names of Bible era characters were given various Gnostic Gospels. Reputable scholars do not consider these works to have been written by the persons whose names are falsely ascribed to them. Not even the popular Gospel of Thomas is considered to have been written by the apostle whose name it bears.

TRUSTWORTHINESS of an author is vital in evaluating a creditable historical document. Did the author live at such a time and have contacts that would have afforded personal insights regarding his subject?

A case of inaccuracy is observable in a review by Michael Grosso of “The Last Temptation of Christ.” He says there were reports of the sex life of Jesus right “from the start of the Christian tradition.” He bases this on The Gospel of Philip which was written during the last half of the third century. Not exactly “from the start of the Christian tradition.”

Author Craig Blomberg has noted that most of the Nag Hammadi documents make no pretense of overlapping with the New Testament ones. It isn’t known who wrote them and their historical reliability regarding the time of Christ is highly questionable.

In summary they are not reliable sources regarding the life and teachings of Jesus.

Did the early church suppress Gnostic teachings found in these and other spurious gospels? Yes. They were close enough to its emergence to know it was heretical and therefore rejected it.

THE GOSPEL OF THOMAS is the darling of New Age philosophers who refer to it at “The Fifth Gospel.” Mohammed referenced it in the Koran. Allegedly it was written by Didymos Judas Thomas which means, Judas “the twin.” The Gnostics called Thomas the twin brother of Jesus.

This work more nearly resembles an anthology than a New Testament gospel. Many New Testament texts are added to, taken away from, modified, or rephrased. This often changes the meaning from its New Testament use. Some of the writing is orthodox enough to be compatible with the New Testament while other parts are completely contradictory.

For example, in the New Testament Jesus speaks kindly of women and especially Mary. In the Gospel of Thomas Jesus is represented as saying, “Let Mary go away from us, for women are not worthy of life.”

Most scholars agree it was written in the second century. There are indications it may have been written as late as the fourth century. The early church rejected the work as a perversion of New Testament era theology. Gnosticism was not an independent source on Christianity but a perversion of it. There was more than a century of Christianity before Gnostic doctrine emerged.

The Gnostic challenge to Christianity was having difficulty gaining devotees. To make it seem compatible writers began encouching Gnostic philosophy as though spoken by Christ. They ascribed their teachings to Christ in an effort to gain support. They put their words in His mouth.

Currently zealous efforts are being made to create a “poor little old Gnostics” atmosphere. They are cast as persons having the truth which the church discriminated against because it contradicted their contrived concepts. It is said the church suppressed their teachings and it did. Truth inevitably contradicts error. It was therefore natural for the church to treat it for what it was, a fallacious reaction to Christian truth.

In reality Gnostic thought was so foreign to the teachings of Christ and the consistency of Christian thought it was totally incompatible. The codified Christian concepts predated that of Gnosticism. Instead of Christianity discriminating against it, Gnosticism was a reaction to Christianity. Gnosticism was a heretical school of thought that sought to infuse itself into Christian thought.

Had the church not stood against the distortions of Gnosticism then Christianity would have failed to defend its truths. Instead of becoming global it would have perished like pagan religions of the day.

It must be remembered that the church in that era was not well established, communication was poor, and viable sources of authority were not numerous as today. To help insure uniformity of Bible truths the Christian community produces such documents as The Apostles’ Creed, the collection of Apostolic writings, and the offices of the church.

Irenaeus, Bishop of Lions, in the last half of the second century, in his five volume work entitled Against Heresies goes to great length to define various schools of Gnostic thought and expose their error. If the church were trying to suppress and keep hidden Gnostic thought he never would have been so public in defining it. His defenses of Christianity in opposition to Gnostic thought made it a popular work in that era. He was not hiding Gnostic thought but revealing it for what it was.

The Gnostics claimed to possess secret traditions passed down to them by the apostles. Irenaeus countered this with another type of apostolic succession. He asserted that the truths handed down by the apostles were publicly preserved by the teachers in the church of the time.

From the same school of thought that says Jesus married Mary Magdalene and by her had children also comes the concepts that promiscuity was God’s law, veneration of the serpent for bringing knowledge to Adam and Eve, humans were created as unisexual, and the creation of woman was the source of evil.

In the struggle for purity of consistent thought in the emerging church Gnostic thought lost out. One contemporary writer says that in such struggles “the winner writes history.” True, but that does not make them bad historians. One has countered, “If truth is not a matter of majority vote, neither is it a matter of minority dissent.”

Noted Bible scholar Raymond Brown concluded in his review of the Gnostic Gospels found at Nag Hammadi that “we learn not a single verifiable fact about the historical Jesus’ ministry…”

Helmut Koester in the James Robinson edition of the Nag Hammadi Library states: “Neither the Coptic translation or the Greek fragments seem to have preserved this gospel in its earliest form. Even the comparison of the Coptic and Greek texts demonstrate that the text was subject to change during the translation.” Such a text was not considered worthy to have been included along with the New Testament gospels.

Gnostic thought went into eclipse because it was not historically true and lacked integrity. F.F. Bruce wrote of it, “Gnosticism was too much bound up with a popular but passing phase of thought to have the survival power of apostolic Christianity.”

Robert Speer wrote of why Christianity prevailed, “Christianity lived because it was true to the truth. Through all the centuries it has never been able to live otherwise. It cannot live otherwise today.”

In understanding the efforts to discredit Christ and Christianity the corruption of this school of thought should be kept in mind as the source being used as accurate history. The DaVinci Code, the “Last Temptation of Christ” and other works that try to discredit Christ and the church come from these unreliable heretical sources. Consider the source.

SOURCES:
www.equip.org/free/DG040-2.htm
www.everystudent.com
The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious
Knowledge, Volumes IV & VI
Our Oriental Heritage, Volume I, Will Durant
Eerdmans’ Handbook to the History of Christianity
History of the Christian Church, Volume I, Philip Schaff
A History of the Expansion of Christianity, Volume I,
Kenneth Scott Latourette
The Gnostic Gospels, Elaine Pagels

The Foundations of Islam

The western mind is in general unfamiliar with the Islamic faith. Current conditions have created a general curiosity about its origin and some basic precepts. An overview of the founding of the faith helps appreciate its basis.

Muhammad, the man who dictated the Koran and gave guidance to the movement was born in Mecca in the Saudi Arabian peninsula in AD 570. Until the age of 25 he worked with caravans and was exposed to both Christianity and Judaism. At age 25 he married a wealthy 40 year old widow. This allowed him financial independence. When he reached age 40 he related that a spirit called him to be an “‘apostle” and “‘prophet.” Neither of these terms are a part of any Arabian religion. He learned them from his days working with caravans.

After his death his writings were compiled as the Koran. The works are not arranged in any chronological or subject order.

At the time Muhammad received his initial visitation there were over 300 gods being worshiped in Mecca by pilgrims who came there each year to pray at the Kailaba. There was a small building there housing a black meteorite and effigies of the various gods. He chose one of these gods, Allah, the moon god as the object of his devotion. That is the reason the crescent is the symbol of Islam.

The Koran is divided into Suras, meaning chapters. Conscientious Muslims and non-Muslims are divided over the complex and occasionally conflicting passages. There are many peace loving Muslims. The religion is described as “the peaceful religion of Islam.” The multiple global acts of violence by Muslims advocating a holy war defy this description. These base their conduct on such passages as Sura 9:29 which commands Muslims to fight against Jews and Christians until their either submit to Allah or else agree to pay a special tax.

Sura 2: 65,66 and Sura 5:60 contain references to Jews as “apes and swine to be despised and rejected.”

In contrast to the “Golden Rule” which advocates doing unto others as you would have them do unto you Sura 2:194 sanctions revenge: “If anyone transgresses … against you, transgress likewise against them.”

Many not reared in the Islamic culture are confused by stories of suicide murderers being motivated by what awaits them in Paradise. The following is not an opinion it is merely a summary of Suras 52: 17-14, 55:54-56; and 78:32-34. Therein Paradise is depicted as a place of pleasure consisting of gluttonous feasts and endless sex orgies. One way to reach Paradise is to die fighting for Allah (Sura 3: 157).

Persons who would like to read for themselves some of these Suras will find a fully indexed copy of the Koran which can be searched by words and phrases at: http://www.hti.umich.edu/k/koran.

This has been written in response to persons who have asked for insight into what the Koran actually teaches. In our pluralistic culture tolerance is broadly advocated. I know our Muslim friends will be patient with those seeking to learn the teachings of the Koran.