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Christian Fundamentalism and Anti-Intellectualism

"To be ignorant and simple now – not to be able to meet enemies on their own ground – would be to throw down our weapons, and betray our uneducated brethren who have, under God, no defense but us against the intellectual attacks of the heathen." — C.S. Lewis  By Cowboy Bob Sorensen Edited September 13, 2016   This is a difficult article to write because supporting documents are difficult to obtain. Although there is a plethora of material that states, essentially, "Christian Fundamentalism is anti-intellectual", I am unwilling to use it because of anti-Fundamentalist bias. (Ironic, really, that liberal analyses decrying the anti-intellectualism of Fundamentalism are themselves slanted and illogical in their approach.) There are some problems and bad connotations associated with the Fundamentalist movement , but I am not interested in emotionally-laden terminology. Therefore, this article will draw from my own thoughts, research and experiences. If pe

Should We Clam Up about the Outlandish Stuff?

If I profess, with the loudest voice and the clearest exposition, every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christianity. Where the battle rages the loyalty of the soldier is proved; and to be steady on all the battle-field besides is mere flight and disgrace to him if he flinches at that one point. — Elizabeth Rundle Charles , wrongly attributed to Martin Luther Do you have outlandish beliefs and doctrines? I don't mean strange cult stuff like the serpent seed doctrine or that you must speak in tongues or you are not saved . But then, I did not start with a fair question. Actually, do you think that your beliefs are outlandish, or seem outlandish to unbelievers? Further, are you embarrassed and hide your beliefs? Regular readers know that I am biblical ("young earth") creationist. I reject evolution because th

Theistic Evolution and Morality

Evolutionists answer questions like, "Where did consciousness come from? Why do we like — and make — music? Where did the laws of logic come from? When did the laws of nature take effect" by offering guesses, speculation and more theories. They do not make sense, but only raise more questions. Theistic evolution is the belief that evolution happened, then they tack God's name onto it as if it is a blessing. (But if evolution happened, who needs God?) For them, God used the amazingly inefficient, wasteful and cruel method of evolution in his creation. Of course, the Bible does not mean what it says in Genesis, and they have as much tap-dancing with compromise and excuses as the atheistic evolutionists have. Here's a question to fluster theistic evolutionists: How do they explain the origin of morality? In recent years there has been a growing body of literature in which theistic evolutionists advance arguments in support of their belief that evolution, properly under

A Day at a Time

A straightforward reading of the creation accounts in Genesis give the impression that the days were literal days. Which is fine, because things like the "Gap Theory", "Progressive Creation", "Theistic Evolution", "Day-Age Theory" — these are modern inventions, and certainly not taught by the majority of the church fathers . Some people are claiming that the Hebrew does not mean a literal day, despite what has been believed for centuries. In 1983, as a Junior, I walked into the University of Georgia’s religion building terrified. The professor was an expert in Hebrew from Yale University. I had been a Christian for only two years, and I wanted to learn that language. I knew that the religion department doubted the authorship of Old Testament books. For them, the myth Enuma Elish was more important for understanding Genesis than was Moses, Paul, or Jesus. Most of them believed that evolution disproved Christianity once and for all. Jesus wa

Naming Names

"Alexander the coppersmith did me much harm. May the Lord repay him according to his works. You also must beware of him, for he has greatly resisted our words." — 2 Tim. 4.14-15 NKJV "So forget about the Young Earth Creationists, Adam! Why let them stand between you and God? Why not receive God's transforming grace yourself and then be better than the Young Earthers? You know that I don't hold their views about the age of the universe. Neither do most evangelical Christians, despite the high profile of their movement in churches. So why not become a Christian and then be a better thinker than they are?" — William Lane Craig, mocking Biblical creationists It is with trepidation that I write this article. I have endeavored to avoid doing the thing that I detest, which appears to be public humiliation of those with whom I have disagreements. I was using Matthew 18.15-17 and avoiding going public. Then I received some instruction from Answe

A Christian's View on an Atheist's View

This is an unusual approach to an article for me. I will be showing you some correspondence that I had with a reporter for The Christian Post.  He was asking my views regarding a new book on creationism by an atheist (an associate professor of mathematics). It was not to be a book review, but rather, my comments about his remarks. Also, to offer my thoughts about the recent inappropriately named "Reason Rally". The following is copied and pasted from my reply to his letter. You can tell that I was in a hurry to get some pertinent thoughts to him (I opened the e-mail at about 3.15 PM and fired it back to him by about 4.15), but I also wanted to give him plenty of material so he could select what was needed. Added comments will be marked by brackets [like so] .Let me emphasize that I have no quarrel with what Michael Gryboski wrote here, in "Atheist Professor Pens Book About the 'Anti-Evolution Frontline'" ! He does his job, and I do mine. Right now, I want t

Knowledge, Widsom and Reason

“Now, O LORD God, Your promise to my father David is fulfilled, for You have made me king over a people as numerous as the dust of the earth. Give me now wisdom and knowledge, that I may go out and come in before this people, for who can rule this great people of Yours?” (2 Chronicles 1:9-10, NASB) In a previous article, I talked about wisdom . Worldly wisdom, without God, is worthless in his sight. Man's wisdom cannot even begin to compare with the wisdom of God (Isaiah 55.8-9). Further, the Christian has no business attempting to discuss anything on "neutral ground" because there is no such thing; everyone is biased. If we leave the God's wisdom behind, we are following the other person's rules and they are not putting aside their own presuppositions. Although it is an understatement, I want to say that knowledge is a good thing. I am very fond of learning, and try to learn something about many things. The most important knowledge that we can have is o