Tue - February 19, 2008Plagerism in SpeechesIn the news this week are accusations of
plagiarism. The presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton has accused Barack
Obama of using the material of another politician a speech without citation.
This set off a debate of what constitutes plagiarism in speeches. The
politician, Governor Deval Patrick, was not upset with the matter. But were
listeners misled into thinking he had originated the idea? Or do they
automatically discount this knowing that many politicians use speech
writers?
More significantly, what are the ethics of using the words of another without citation in the church? Posted at 12:26 PM Read More Mon - February 26, 2007Sermon CDs Available Each WeekYou may have noticed that we are now
making CDs from each week's sermon available in the foyer, free for the using.
No longer do you have to specifically request a CD, just pick one up. Prior
week's CDs are also in the foyer. If we distribute all the CDs, we will have
more the following week.
Posted at 04:24 PM Read More Fri - February 23, 2007Biblical Counselor Training ClassDid you know that you can take our
Biblical Counselor Training Class online? DVDs of the class are also available
through Wayne Johnston.
Posted at 11:43 AM Read More Wed - September 6, 2006CremationCremation has become more and more
popular, for financial reasons if nothing else. Some Christians believe it is
wrong to be cremated. Recently we were asked what we think? Check out our
Ask The Elders page or click here.
Posted at 12:42 PM Read More Thu - June 15, 2006New LA County ordinanceThis month a new ordinance went into
effect requiring all dogs in the unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County to
have a small microchip implanting under their skin. The purpose is to identify
the dog in case it runs
away.
News such as this gives rise to concern among some of the "mark of the beast" spoken of in Revelation 13:16 and 14:9. While certainly technology has advanced to the point of providing a greater ability to control people (and dogs) as never before, should the implementation of such technology cause us to be concerned? As with most technological advances, people can use them for good or for evil. Some evil people need to be controlled for the sake of the society. Some evil people will use technology to advance their evil and this will be true whether or not our dog has a microchip implanted. The most this tells us is that the ability to implant microchips into people for the purpose of control is closer to us than ever before. The sin of Revelation 14:9 is that of false worship. The implementation of this technology does not necessarily bring false worship, although there is a direct connection between receiving a mark in Revelation 14:9 and idolatry. Fortunately, the believers today will not be faced with this challenge to our faith. We will be to Christ before the seven year tribulation period (for more info, see our position paper on the rapture of the church ). Indeed, the sooner the events of the tribulation become, the sooner our deliverance from this present evil world becomes. It is hard to see this as a bad thing. Posted at 04:00 PM Read More Fri - May 26, 2006VBC position paper quizAt last night's elder-deacon meeting we
all took a pop quiz of our position papers. You can
take it too.
Posted at 02:32 PM Read More Fri - April 7, 2006The Gospel of Judas?In the news lately has been the
translation of the only known copy of the The Gospel of Judas. This 3rd-4th
century manuscript copy describes Jesus' private relationship with Judas, who is
requested by Jesus to turn Him over to the Romans so He can be sacrificed.
Today's New York Times headline for the news of the translation and publication
into English of this ancient parchment is "Jesus-Judas manuscript is genuine,
but is its story true?" Many other headlines reflect a similar way of
thinking.
What is interesting is not so much the news, but how the news is reported. The existence of the "Gospel of Judas" is not breaking news. It was referred to by Irenaeus, a leading early church figure, in around 180 AD. He wrote of those opposing the truth that "they believe that Judas the Betrayer was fully informed of these things and that only he understanding the truth like no one else fulfilled the secret of betrayal that confused all things, both in heaven and on earth. They invented their own history called the Gospel of Judas." So the knowledge of this work and its message is quite ancient. Interestingly, the reporting places into question the truthfulness of the work but assumes as fact the genuineness. It is not too difficult to dismiss the truthfulness of the work given that it was written over 100 years after the crucifixion, that its source was from a heretical sect, and most importantly, that it is in direct conflict with the writings of the New Testament. Can we accept its genuineness? The parchment was found in the Egyptian desert in the 1970's and has been dated by radiometric methods as from around 300 AD. It was written in Coptic and is assumed to be a translation from Greek. Is it genuine in the sense that it actually exists? Certainly, but this is no headline. Is it genuine in the sense that it is free from dishonesty and is sincere? This is the question of truthfulness, of which there are few real advocates. Those who are sympathetic with the work will go only so far as suggesting that its truthfulness is plausible, stopping short of actually declaring it so. Surely, genuineness is in reference to its authenticity. In news reports of the Judas Gospel, authenticity is not raised as an issue. It is impossible to determine how accurate the translation is since there are no copies of the original language. It is impossible to determine how accurately the parchment represents the original since there are no other copies to even compare it to. It is possible that this document is only claiming to be the Gospel of Judas and is not authentic. Why is this line of questioning not posed? Because, as with other works, the author is given the benefit of the doubt. Unless there is reason to believe deceit or corruption has occurred, sincerity is assumed. Why is the Bible not afforded the same benefit by many religious scholars? Given that thousands of New Testament Greek manuscripts exist, and thousands more ancient New Testament translations exist, there is far more reason to consider our New Testament to be an authentic representation of the original text. When will the headline in the New York Times read "New Testament is genuine but is its story true?" Posted at 01:53 PM Read More Wed - February 22, 2006Rick Balogh's Class OnlineRick Balogh is teaching and eight week
class on The Geography of the Bible on Sundays at 10:00 a.m. Our our web site
you can view the slides while you listen to Rick's lecture. Each class will be
available online a day or two after Rick teaches.
Posted at 11:47 AM Read More Fri - February 10, 2006The politics of abortionThe moral blight of abortion has moved
Christians to oppose its practice in various ways. With the recent changes in
the U.S. Supreme Court and with legislative processes underway in states to ban
abortion, we should reflect once again on how Christ would have us respond to
this issue.
Posted at 01:26 PM Read More Wed - February 8, 2006The where and when of the BibleRick Balogh's class on Bible Geography
will begin this Sunday at 10am in room 104. We will put this class on our web
site in case you cannot
attend.
Terry Riley's class notes on an Overview of End Times is now on our web site in PDF format. Posted at 01:36 PM Read More |
Quick Links
Calendar
Categories
Archives
XML/RSS Feed
Statistics
Total entries in this blog:
Total entries in this category: Published On: Feb 20, 2008 12:30 PM |
||||||||||||||