J's Cafe Nette

Archive for August 31st, 2007

Last night I joined hundreds of others at First Evangelical Free Church in Manchester, Mo., to hear and meet Hank Hanegraaff, the Bible Answer Man and president of the Christian Research Institute. Hank, as he’s usually called, is known by millions of Christians as a man with answers and a lion of the faith. He has a passion for the word of God that is rarely equaled in this age.

He’s made a lot of enemies within the faith because he practices what he preaches: Hank tests everything others preach in light of scripture. And quite often, what others preach is found wanting. Word-of-faith preachers, faith healers, end-times apocalyptics, slain-in-the-Spirit babblers and pure heretics and apostates have all come under criticism from Hank and CRI, and consequently, he is hated and persecuted and told he is going to hell.

There’s too much for me to talk about in a simple blog post, so you’d have to tune in to his Bible Answer Man radio broadcast or go to www.equip.org to learn more. I didn’t have time to stand in line to actually meet him and get his autograph, but I did get a halfway decent picture or two (though they’re a little blurry).

Last night, Hank hit on one major, overriding theme: Christians MUST know scripture and must have “a ready defense” for their faith. Otherwise, they fall for the fads of the heretics and apostates, or have no answers for the attacks of the scoffers like Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens.

“Jesus had an extraordinarily high view of scripture,” said Hank, “but in our culture, it is seriously and continually being challenged.”

For example, Hank described militant agnostic Bart D. Ehrman, in Misquoting Jesus, pointing to the passage in Mark 4 where Jesus Christ uses the parable of the mustard seed to describe how the church will go from the smallest speck to spread far and wide. Here’s the passage:

Again he said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest seed you plant in the ground. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds of the air can perch in its shade.”

Ehrman takes this passage and twists it to make the ridiculous claim that Jesus couldn’t possibly be God because God would know that the mustard seed is not the smallest seed. Well, DUH! That wasn’t Jesus’ point. The smallest seed that a 1st century farmer in Palestine would know of was the mustard seed, and Jesus Christ would naturally use the most common frame of reference. What’s more, He was using an analogy to illustrate how the church would start tiny, like the mustard seed, and grow to immense proportions, like the full-grown mustard tree.

Hank’s point was to demonstrate that Christians can easily shut down such objections and criticisms but only if we read and study the Bible for all that it is worth. We need to know who, what, when, where, how and why. We need to know context. We need to know history.

We need to be able to demonstrate, with confidence, that the Bible is divine, not human, in origin. Keep in mind, Hank says, that God supernaturally preserved the Bible. The manuscript evidence has proven conclusively that there are differences in style and spelling between various ancient copies, but absolutely no differences in substance. Any mistakes we have today are errors in modern translations.

I’ll talk more in-depth about that another time. But Hank, as some may know, is not a believer in the popular view of the end times that has gripped much of the evangelical church. My understanding is mostly in line with his, and this is yet another area where Christians really need to study their Bible for all that it is worth—and do so without today’s headlines in mind. I know many Christians hold to the end times scenario promoted by many leading evangelicals, including John MacArthur, but I am increasingly convinced that it comes from a fundamental misreading of scripture. I’m preparing a series of posts to that effect, but I’ll just use Hank’s example from last night that illustrates holding to a high standard of reading the Bible for all that it’s worth.

A frequent example the atheist scoffers cite to disclaim the deity of Jesus Christ is His description of the description of Jerusalem in Matthew 24. If that chapter speaks of the destruction of Jerusalem with all of the horrible things accompanying it, AND the “Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn” and “they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory” AND “this generation will not pass away until all of these things have happened,” the scoffers claim that Jesus is a false prophet. Why? They say that Jesus did not return as He promised before “this generation” died, so therefore He is not God.

Latter-day Christians have compounded the problem by taking that passage, and combining it with other passages from Revelation and Daniel, to say that the entire chapter applies to the Second Coming.

Neither reading is correct, says Hank, and I totally agree. Jesus was forecasting the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. and was using apocalyptic metaphors to describe the coming judgment upon the current generation because it was rejecting and would reject Him, the messiah. The Lord, says Hank, was employing the same kind of language that the Old Testament prophets used when prophesying judgment upon Israel, peoples and nations. Why would the Lord speak any differently than His own prophets?

Hank argues that Christians need to understand what kind of language is being used, and recognize when Jesus is speaking literally and speaking with prophetic hyperbole. I totally agree. While I don’t believe that end times debates are something to divide over (Hank says this is one of the things to debate over within the pale of orthodoxy, and not divide over) it is something that needs serious re-evaluation within evangelical circles.

So, anyway, there are more things that he said that I’ll save for another time. To sum: Christians must read scripture for all that it’s worth. If they do that, they’ll be much better “prepared to give and answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” (1 Peter 3:15)

Cross-posted at Crisis Christianity.

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According to this news report, Sen. Craig wil resign his Senate seat tomorrow.

Craig decided to resign with plans to make the announcement on Saturday, the Associated Press reported.

Craig will hold a news conference in Boise on Saturday, his spokesman, Dan Whiting said, but he would not say whether the three-term senator planned to step down. Idaho Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter, however, appeared to have settled on a successor: Lt. Gov. Jim Risch, according to several Republicans familiar with internal deliberations.

If in fact this report is true and all goes as seemingly planned then I will only add that I wish the Senator and his family well.

Further reporting here.

Update: It has been confirmed, Senator Craig has resigned. Commentary and video can be found at Wizbang.

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John Warner has decided to not seek re-election.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Sen. John Warner, R-Va., announced Friday he will not seek re-election in 2008, concluding a long carreer that has hoisted him to one of the pre-eminent voices on U.S. foreign policy.

The announcement leaves open a seat that is likely to be hotly contested in the Republican-leaning state that has recenty had a tendency to elect Democrats to statewide offices.

Maybe George Allen will take another stab at being in the Senate.

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Democratic fund raiser Norman Hsu, who has been a fugitive for 16 years, has turned himself in to authorities in California.

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. (AP) – A top Democratic fundraiser wanted as a fugitive in California turned himself in Friday to face a grand theft charge.
San Mateo County Superior Court Judge H. James Ellis ordered Norman Hsu handcuffed and held on $2 million bond. A bail hearing was scheduled for Sept. 5, at which the judge will consider reducing his bail to $1 million.

Hsu appeared in court accompanied by a lawyer and publicist, both of whom declined to say whether the New York apparel executive would immediately post bail. A warrant was issued for his arrest after he skipped the sentencing for a 1991 grand theft charge.

In the ensuing years, Hsu became a top donor to numerous Democratic candidates and was a fundraiser for presidential contender Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. He also had contributed to Sen. Barack Obama’s past Senate campaign and his political action committee.

On Friday, Hsu, who has an apparel business in New York, also resigned from the board of trustees of The New School and from the board of governors of The New School’s Eugene Lang College. The college received a federal appropriation secured by Clinton last year, but a spokesman for the school said Hsu was not involved in seeking money for the school.

After reports surfaced this week of Hsu’s fugitive status in California, Clinton joined other candidates in returning thousands of dollars he raised, but the allegations distracted her campaign just as it prepared to ramp up for the intense post-Labor Day stretch.

With a $2 million bond he’ll be out in an hour.

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I will be sorry to see Tony Snow leave his position in this administration.

Tony has been a very effective communicator for the White House and has had a flair for words at the Press Briefings which we haven’t seen in a very long time.

White House Press Secretary Tony Snow, who has been battling cancer, plans to step down on September 14 and he will be replaced by his deputy, Dana Perino, a U.S. official said.

White House spokesman Tony Fratto confirmed that Snow would be departing and said President George W. Bush would announce the news on Friday at 1245 EDT.

I wish him only the best in his future endeavors and in his battle against cancer.

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If what I saw in this post at Sweetness and Light is what passes for art today then I am sad for all of us.

Artworks depicting Osama bin Laden in a Christ-like pose and a statue of the Virgin Mary covered in a burqa have caused a stir in Australia after they were showcased in a prestigious religious art competition.

“Bearded Orientals: Making the Empire Cross” by Priscilla Bracks is a “double vision” print that depicts both Jesus and bin Laden.

Luke Sullivan’s “The Fourth Secret of Fatima” is a statue of Mary, her head and torso obscured by a blue burqa like the one Afghan women had to wear under the militant Taliban.

The artworks were among more than 500 entries in the Blake Prize for Religious Art, and have been included in an exhibition at the National Art School in Sydney.

“The choice of such artwork is gratuitously offensive to the religious beliefs of many Australians,” Australian Prime Minister John Howard told Thursday’s Daily Telegraph newspaper.

While I agree with the Prime Minister, I think the word offensive probably is too mild for many Christians around the world not only in Australia.

I believe the following quote probably says it best.

“It’s really unfortunate people take liberties with the Christian faith they wouldn’t take with other religions,” Lobby spokeswoman Glynis Quinlan told reporters…

This is what “artists” Priscilla Bracks and Luke Sullivan consider “art”. It is nothing but blasphemous.

The Blake Prize entry titled ‘Bearded Orientals: Making the Empire Cross’ by artist Priscilla Bracks is exhibited in Sydney August 30, 2007. The ‘double vision’ print, which depicts both Jesus Christ and Osama bin Laden, in a Christ-like pose, depending on which side the viewer looks at the artwork, has been criticised by Australia’s Prime Minister John Howard for undermining Australians’ religious beliefs.

The Blake Prize entry titled ‘The Fourth Secret of Fatima’ by artist Luke Sullivan is exhibited in Sydney August 30, 2007. The statue of the Virgin Mary, wearing a burqa, has been criticised by Australia’s Prime Minister John Howard for undermining Australians’ religious beliefs.

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Everyone has been wagging their tongues about Sen. Larry Craig. Republicans on the Hill have been calling for his resignation for his guilty plea on a misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct.

The Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport Police Dept. has released the audio and a written transcript of the interview between the arresting police officer and Sen. Craig.

Listen to the audio and then read the transcript because in the audio you are able to hear voice inflections etc. See if you can come to a certain conclusion, other than the fact he pled guilty to disorderly conduct, of any crime having been committed in that restroom.

Audio here.

Transcript here.

Now here’s a story about the arresting officer in the Craig case involving a man riding a bicycle from the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport.

It’s a long piece and doesn’t mention this officer until later in the story. Be patient and read it, as it will give you some insight into the kind of “power trip” this officer and his subordinates seem to have.

Now go here and click on all the links at the top, i.e. Welcome, overview, etc. to see all the documentation this man has against these officers.

Hat Tip: Macsmind.

Here are some thoughts by one of Sen. Craig’s former interns as written at The Strata Sphere.

Thank you AJStrata for posting on this. I decided to wait a day or two and cool down so that I did not sound like a ranting lunatic. I was Senator Larry Craig’s high school intern in the spring of 2003. Senator Craig takes every intern out to lunch (no do not twist my words. He takes a group of interns, but every intern has the chance to go). At this lunch he will answer any questions you can ask. During my time in his office I realized that I wanted to be a politician like Craig. He serves his state and his people, not his own agenda. He worked his way up through the ranks rather than just buying in. I’m proud that I was able to work with him, even if it was for a short period of time. And I completely support him.

I am not condemning nor am I defending Sen. Craig. I have put this information here for you to decide for yourself.

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I will not elaborate as the post is only one paragraph and to the point. Check out the names being bandied about at Powerline.

For once Senator Specter and I just might agree.

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As ususal Mr. Yon gives us unbiased, concise reporting from his position as an embed. I appreciated the human element he incorporates in the following paragraph:

When you really talk with Iraqis, their problems (outside of the war) are mostly like people’s problems all over the world. The shepherds want the wild dogs to leave their flocks alone. They don’t want al Qaeda blowing up their villages and mosques. The farmers want the rains to start at just the right time and end at just the right time, and they want to be able to sell their crops and go about life. That’s just people. From Vietnam, to India, to Afghanistan to Iraq to Britain, the hierarchy of needs does not change.

The photos in this dispatch are some of the finest I have seen to date and if you are so inclined drop a bit in the tip jar so Michael can continue his fine work.

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