So why does it seem like Christians so often do dumb things?

One reason is that when a Christian does something dumb, they’re often identified (in the media or colloquially) as being a Christian, but when an atheist does something dumb, they’re usually not identified as an atheist. Now certainly some Christians do dumb things in an attempt to follow their faith, but whether what the person has done is consistent with the Christian faith is often ignored.

A second reason is the fact that there’s a lot of Christians around. Millions in Canada alone, plus many millions more in the USA, and approximately 2.1billion in total according to Adherents.com. So you’d figure, out of all those people, if even 1% do dumb things, that it will seem like quite a lot of people. Of course, the actions of a few don’t necessarily reflect those of the whole. (See: Fallacy of composition.)

A final reason, extrapolated from the previous one, is that some Christians are dumb. (You’re free to make your own evaluation of me if you’d like.) In fact before I was a Christian I thought all Christians were dumb, or ugly, or both. (I thank Greg Koukl for putting into words so eloquently how I felt at the time.) Dumb because they were roped into a false waste of time, and/or ugly because they had to go to church to be accepted, since it’s the only place that people have to accept them.

And yes, many Christians are dumb (and/or ugly). But so what? So are many atheists, agnostics, and adherents of other faiths.

There are also many smart Christians … not myself, necessarily, but guys like William Lane Craig, Alvin Plantinga, Alister McGrath, John Warwick Montgomery, Timothy Keller, John Lennox, and Dallas Willard to name a few. So whether any one of them is smart or dumb proves nothing about the truth or falsity of the faith.

If you currently have the opinion that Christians are dumb, or ugly, or both, like I used to, I invite you to investigate some of the sites linked above or in the sidebar to the right. I think Christianity is worth thinking about, even if its adherents sometimes do and exceedingly poor job of reflecting it.

And if you are a Christian, let’s try to reflect our Lord, Jesus, who as Dallas Willard describes, was and is the smartest man who ever lived (and lives).

Today’s article is “Courageous Morgentaler is worthy” by Jennifer Charles which apparently appeared in the Ottawa Citizen, or at least it’s currently on their website.

Awarding the Order of Canada to Dr. Henry Morgentaler has re-ignited the flames of the national abortion debate. The issue is whether a woman should have the right to a safe abortion. I find it hard to believe that anyone would want to deny a woman that choice.

This is not the issue. The issue is whether or not it is moral to have elective abortions. If it is moral, then we could ask the question “should a woman have the right to a safe abortion,” for which the answer is clearly yes. But this author assumes the answer to the first question and asks an obvious and frivolous question in an attempt to poison the well.

What gives anyone the right to force a woman to bear a child? Whether she has the baby or not is a traumatic and life-altering decision that only she can make.

Like the previous article the idea of “forc[ing] a woman to bear a child” comes into play. This again clouds the issue. No one is forcing a woman to get pregnant (as previously noted even if we exclude rape and incest from this discussion that is less than 1.5% of all cases).

The concern here is for the rights of the child (as the article author calls it) which do not supersede the rights of the mother, but neither should the rights of the mother supersede those of the child. Why should the rights of the mother come first? Is it because the child is not as in a late stage of development as the mother? Well, a toddler is in an earlier stage of development than a teenager … is it okay then to kill a toddler?

To me, it is far more responsible to decide not to bring another human being into the world …

I totally agree! Not getting pregnant in the first place is the best way …

… than to do so when the pregnancy is not planned and the circumstances are wrong. If a person feels that abortion is morally wrong, that does not give him or her the right to impose that opinion on women who are the ones affected.

Here’s the problem: There is no neutral position with regards to abortion. A pro-choice position is a pro-abortion position. Take a look at any other moral issue. Take slavery for example. Could we say “Slavery is a matter that should be left up to each individual; who are you to impose your views about slavery on others?” No, we wouldn’t accept that. Why would abortion be any different?

All laws are based on moral principles. We are right to impose our “opinions” on others if they are committing immoral acts. (And if a person takes a moral relativist view, which I certainly do not, then we shouldn’t have any laws at all.)

And that brings us back to the central question: Is abortion immoral or not? And when answering that, we need to keep in mind a simple dichotomy:
- If the unborn is not a human person, then no justification of abortion is necessary.
- But if the unborn is a human person, no justification is sufficient.

It’s not enough to state whether the unborn is or isn’t; you have to give reasons why. And it’s no good to say “We don’t know when life begins” because if we’re not sure if an unborn child (embyro, whatever) is a human person or not, shouldn’t we err on the side of caution and not kill it?

I would ask these people to empathize with any woman who finds herself in this position.

I do emphasize with a women who finds themselves in this position. At least, I try to. I can’t say that I could ever fully understand the emotional anguish a woman might feel in such a situation. That’s why we need to have more support services for pregnant women, especially given the medical risks and emotional risks involved with abortions. Of course, it’s also important to emphasize with the unborn child (again, the article author’s term) as well.

Resources:

• William Lane Craig on Abortion – An excellent summary of the non-religion based pro-life position.
• Can I Destroy This? – Greg Koukl gives a second excellent presentation.
• Abortion Debate: A Short Defense of the Pro-Life Position – Scott Klusendorf’s Life Training Institute provides many resources including this excellent article summarizing the pro-life position.

I do not usually watch the show, but other blogs suggest that the majority of the eight finalists are not Christians, although there have been many overtly Christian participants in the past (including winners Ruben Studdard, Fantasia Barrino, Carrie Underwood, and Jordin Sparks).

What do you think about performing Christian songs on a secular TV show? Was the move to perform the song (censored and/or uncensored) by the show’s producers appropriate? There seems to be something at least a little ironic about performing a worship song on a show dedicated to making an “idol” out of someone …

Robertson has given us no reason to believe that he is [a prophet] – especially given the poor track record of his past prophetic utterances. … When we use God’s name, we should evaluate whether it will bring God honor or ridicule, whether we have the proper authority to use it.

http://str.typepad.com/weblog/2007/01/speaking_for_go.html

This is really, IMHO, an example of using God’s name in vain (Exodus 20:7), as Melinda also notes in her article. I don’t doubt that prophecy is still possible, but that doesn’t mean it is in any way frequent. Sometimes when we read the Bible (which by nature records uncommon, atypical events) we get the impression that miracles were, and should still be, happening on a continuous, almost daily basis. But that is not the case; the incidents of prophecy and miracles were recorded precisely because they were the exception to the norm.

(BTW, yeah that’s me in the pic above; edited from an old picture taken about 3 years ago.)

Related reading:

• Miracles of Myths? – Greg Koukl takes a look at whether miracles are possible … the resurrection, in particular.
• Petition asking Pat Robertson to apologize – I signed it. (Started by centuri0n.)
• The A-Team Blog’s response to Pat Robertson – Sounds like they agree with me too.

Related links:

• Video: Watch the Nativity Story trailer!
• Is the slaughter of the children historical? – As depicted in the trailer
• Who is Jesus? – A full study of his entire life on Earth

A Florida woman has been awarded $11.3 million in a defamation lawsuit against a Louisiana woman who posted messages on the Internet accusing her of being a “crook,” a “con artist” and a “fraud.” Legal analysts say the Sept. 19 award by a jury in Broward County, Fla. — first reported Friday by the Daily Business Review — represents the largest such judgment over postings on an Internet blog or message board. Lyrissa Lidsky, a University of Florida law professor who specializes in free-speech issues, calls the award “astonishing.” … Scheff [plaintiff] says she wanted to make a point to those who unfairly criticize others on the Internet. “I’m sure (Bock [defendant]) doesn’t have $1 million, let alone $11 million, but the message is strong and clear,” Scheff says. “People are using the Internet to destroy people they don’t like, and you can’t do that.”

Of course the $11.3 million award is ridiculous but the precedent set here is clear. A good reminder to think twice about whatever I (and you) post online!

Apparently many feel quote “conflicted” about ‘sharing’ Christian music … Here’s a quote from the article that rather shocked me:

Take Matthew, a 13-year-old who attends Hewes Middle School in North Tustin and attends youth programs at nearby Red Hill Lutheran Church. Asked if it’s wrong to take songs for free, he answered: “No, because the artists are making billions of dollars anyways.” Another kid at Red Hill, 16-year-old Mike, a student at Beckman High, said that music is beyond commerce or at least beyond the cash register: “They should give it away ’cause it’s art anyways.”

Okay, so I’ve downloaded some pirated music in my ‘day. I also own nearly 200 legit CDs so I’m no slouch in supporting the music industry. And I have deleted all (or at least almost all?) of the pirated music on my computer. What do you think about “file sharing”? Do we agree that the kids above don’t “get it”? Is anyone teaching morals in church anymore? (Or how about some basic philosophy for that matter, so kiddies will know when they’re making dumb arguments like those above?)

Maybe if Artur Pawlowski had been holding a flag of the outlawed terrorist organization Hezbollah, Calgary Police would have left him alone … Pawlowski, 33, who has been helping the homeless for years, gave up his lucrative home-building business last year to start up The Street Church full-time … Because Pawlowski has been threatened so often by drug dealers angry their clients often turn away from drugs as a result of his message of hope and help, he started videotaping every outing. Wednesday’s was no different … On Monday, Pawlowski and his brother went to the park, talked with tarot card readers and other practisers of “sorcery” to tell them the Bible condemns such practices. Video shows they remained calm but the vendors became agitated. Event organizers called police and Pawlowski and his brother David were asked not to talk to the vendors again. They agreed and left. On Wednesday, when they returned to pray, they stayed far away from the vendors. Organizers called police anyway. The video shows Pawlowski standing on the public sidewalk with his hands in his pockets. He asks a burly police officer in a calm voice, “Why are you harassing me? What did I do wrong?” The police officer responds with: “I’m going to arrest you for obstruction.” At that, Pawlowski is handcuffed and made to walk backwards to the police cruiser where he was frisked … He was also charged with trespassing and disturbing the peace. He spent one night in jail and is to appear in court on Sept. 7 … The video clearly shows six police officers attending to the calm Pawlowski. (Licia Corbella, Calgary Sun)

Seems excessive, don’t you think? Had they not been videotaping that day, things might’ve gone even worse for him.