The secularisation of a wedding vow

My wife and I went to see The Vow at the movie theatre. I thought it was good harmless romantic fun. It also has strong themes of forgiveness, redemption, the importance of family, and a passion for life.
However, the undoubted underlying world view is that romantic love conquers all and being happy is the ultimate goal of life.

Then, I was a bit disappointed when I cam home and read the Wikipedia page. The movie is based on a true story recounted in a book, The Vow: the Kim and Kritick Carpenter Story. The Carpenter's Christian faith was key to their marriage vow, to their commitment to one another, and their perseverance after the tragic accident.
The Hollywood movie has removed any reference to Christian faith.

Theological foundations for apologetics

This might be considered from four different aspects, following notes from the Moore College Correspondence course written by Andrew Reid.

1. Creation
God has left his imprint on the world.
Order, beauty, and design are present.
We are made in the image of God.
Humans have rationality, personality, truth, goodness, conscience, and morality.
What is the origin of and explanation for these things?

2. Redemption
Things are not the way they ought to be.
Humans are fallen. Our ability to think about creation and about God is corrupted.
We suppress the truth about God.
By being redeemed through Christ we can begin to see ourselves, creation, and God rightly.

3. Revelation
The Bible records God’s self-revelation in history: through Israel, Jesus, and the Apostles.
The Holy Spirit takes this word about the Word of God and reveals its truth to us.

4. The Incarnation
God desires to make himself known to us.
God’s method is to be with us (Emmanuel) through becoming human.
This identification and humility provides both motivation and methodology for apologetics.

Towards effective alms for the poor

There is an excellent article Cost-effective compassion: the ten most popular strategies for helping the poor, in the latest issue of Christianity Today.
The title is not completely accurate. The ten strategies listed are those rated the most effective [highest impact/cost ratio] by a group of leading Christian economists. Here are the top 4

1. Clean water in rural villages
2. De-worming treatments for children
3. Mosquito netting
4. Child sponsorship

The sobering and challenging take home points at the end of the article are particularly worth digesting.

Karl Barth on apologetics

the Gospel does not enter into competition with the many attempts to disclose within the known world some more or less unknown and higher forms of existence.... The Gospel is not a truth among other truths. Rather, it sets a question-mark against all truths. The Gospel is not the door but the hinge. The man who apprehends its meaning is removed from all strife, because he is engaged in a strife with the whole, even with existence itself. Anxiety concerning the victory of the Gospel—that is, Christian Apologetics—is meaningless, because the Gospel is the victory by which the world is overcome. … It [the Gospel] does not require representatives with a sense of responsibility, for it is as responsible for those who proclaim it as it is for those to whom it is proclaimed. It is the advocate of both. … God does not need us. Indeed, if He were not God, He would be ashamed of us. We, at any rate, cannot be ashamed of Him.

Karl Barth, The Epistle to the Romans, 6th Edition, page 35
[This appears in the commentary on Romans 1:16-17].


So was Barth against apologetics? Should we be? I don't think Barth's point is that apologetics is a waste of time or that Christians should not engage it. The real issue is one of perspective and attitude towards apologetics. What are Christians hoping to achieve by engaging in apologetics? A Christian has no need to be ashamed or embarrassed about the Gospel. It is God's power for salvation.

The Trinitarian God does not need our help to decide whether or not he exists! The truth of the Gospel is not determined by social consensus or a cleverly constructed argument. But, evidence and arguments may be used by the Holy Spirit to convict people of truth, righteousness, and judgement.

Christians need not be anxious. Ultimately, on the Last Day, God will clearly reveal to everyone what is true and what is not.

The trivialisation of racism

These thoughts are prompted by watching the media circus associated with recent incidents in the English Premier League. The recent installment of the Suarez-Evra conflict seems to me to be largely about a "win at all costs" mentality from all the parties. Peoples' actions and statements seem to have more to do with unbridled male testerone than racism. Pre- and post-game statements and actions by players, managers, and club owners are just "mind games" to intimidate opponents or public relations exercises to protect corporate profits. Actual and perceived racism may not be the real issue of concern. It is just a convenient "politically correct" vehicle to achieve ones sporting goals. I am reminded of how Marxist-Leninists [and some politicians] seek and exploit issues of concern to the "proletariat" to propel themselves to power.

Real issues of racism are crippling inequities in access to health care, criminal justice, political and religious freedom, education, and employment. Tragically, they are not being discussed.

Special versus general revelation

I am about to start teaching a course on apologetics at our church. We will be working through material from the Apologetics unit of the Moore College Correspondence Course. It gives a nice balanced and comprehensive overview of the subject.

An over-riding theme/issue is finding the appropriate relative weight  or value to give to special revelation and general revelation. The latter concerns the idea that God can be found (or has revealed himself) through nature, human conscience, and reason. Special revelation concerns God being revealed through specific events, people, and documents (e.g., miracles, prophets, Jesus Christ, and the Bible).

The relative weight given to special and general revelation affects the type of apologetic strategy (experiential, evidential, or pre-suppositional) favoured, the balance of faith versus reason, and the use of arguments for the existence of God.

Important passages to examine about what the appropriate weight is include Psalm 19, 1 Corinthians 1 and Romans 1. I find it fascinating that different people can read these passages and come to quite different conclusions about the relative importance of special and general revelation.

Conflict is undergirded by idolatry

At church we are going through a sermon series based on the book The Peacemaker, which is quite challenging. This week was about taking the log out of our own eye before we look at the speck in the eye of someone else. The underlying issue is idolatry in our heart. I found it helpful and challenging to consider the underlying progression: I desire, I demand, I judge, I punish, I end the relationship.