I have received a further endorsement for my new book on the Kalam Cosmological Argument (Did God Create the Universe from Nothing? Countering William Lane Craig’s Kalam Cosmological Argument) from fellow philosopher John Danaher. Here it is with the other two: The world is changing. Theism has lost its legs and has nothing upon which to [Read More...]
from
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/tippling/2016/10/04/8991/
Monday, 3 October 2016
Proverbs 27:1
“Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.”
from
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?version=NIV&search=Proverbs%2027:1
from
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?version=NIV&search=Proverbs%2027:1
Azerbaijan's Ambiguous Bible Breakthrough
After 20-year struggle, will new Bible society even be allowed to print Bibles?
A restrictive majority-Muslim country is getting good news—or rather, the Good News.
The recent registration of a Bible Society in Azerbaijan, after a 20-year fight, has brought fresh optimism to the country’s minority Christians. But there remains some confusion about the types of books it will be allowed to print, with even Bibles potentially falling foul of the country’s strict regulations.
Terje Hartberg from United Bible Societies called it “a great development, which will start a new chapter in Bible ministry for all Christians in Azerbaijan.”
However, all literature either printed or imported by the Bible Society will remain subject to approval by the government. Every publication is labeled with an official sticker, and distribution is only allowed at state-approved venues.
Those who distribute any religious literature outside these strict limitations face administrative or criminal punishment, reports Forum 18, a news agency focused on religious freedom in Central Asia.
The Old Testament and Hebrew Bible, meanwhile, remain on the list of banned books. Texts from these parts of the Bible have been confiscated in police raids, according to Forum 18.
Asked whether the prohibition of the Old Testament in effect bans the Bible too, Forum 18’s Felix Corley told World Watch Monitor by email: “Well, you can't publish, print, import, or distribute any religious publication without prior permission from the State Committee, which will also set numbers allowed. So nothing is approved until it is approved.
“Then it can only be distributed in a state-approved venue with a sticker from the State Committee. It appears these stickers have not been available since April. As for the Old ...
from
http://feeds.christianitytoday.com/~r/christianitytoday/ctmag/~3/8dc917eeHso/azerbaijan-ambiguous-bible-society-breakthrough.html
Red Tape: China Wants to Constrict Christian Activities with 26 New Rules
Both official and 'underground' churches now face bigger threat than cross removal campaign.
This week is the last chance Chinese Christians have to tell their government what they think of its latest religion law.
They have an awful lot to comment on.
China released a draft of new religious restrictions in September, including the prohibition of online religious services, running religious events in schools, and organizing people to leave the country to attend religious training or conferences.
The State Administration for Religious Affairs (SARA) then opened up a one-month window for responses to the 26 new rules in its Regulations on Religious Affairs. The final day for public response is Friday, October 7.
The draft law opens with the assurance that all Chinese citizens are free to believe whatever they want and to engage in religious activity—as long as it’s within the tighter limits. One Chinese religious policy expert, who asked to remain anonymous, summed up some of what the regulations include:
- No religious activities that are not approved by SARA.
- No one may provide a venue for religious services that are not approved by SARA.
- No one may use their home for religious practices that are not approved by SARA (including home or family Bible studies).
- No publishing religious materials without approval from SARA.
- No foreign or domestic donations may be made to any religious organization that hasn’t been approved by SARA.
- No one may call themselves a pastor without the approval of SARA.
- No international religious exchanges may happen without the approval of SARA.
- No one may study theology at school without the approval of SARA.
“As you can imagine, these amendments to the administration of religion in China by SARA would in effect leave no space for the house or unregistered church in China, and will ...
from
http://feeds.christianitytoday.com/~r/christianitytoday/ctmag/~3/zhTIc3y4z6g/red-tape-china-constricts-christian-activities-sara.html
News: Now Kazakhstan Christians Can Prove Their Faith Isn't Foreign
Archaeologists discover that Christianity existed along Silk Road long before the Russians arrived.
A team of archaeologists uncovered seven Christian gravestones late this summer in the ancient Silk Road city of Ilyn Balik near the Kazakhstan-China border.
The historic find is rare archaeological evidence that eastern Christianity was established along East-West trading routes hundreds of years ago, not brought in by the Russian Orthodox Church as many had believed.
“This discovery supports the understanding of ancient Kazakhstan as a multicultural center between the East and West with Muslims, Buddhists, and Christians living among the local herdsmen and nomadic tribes,” stated Thomas Davis, a member of the field team and archaeology professor at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (SWBTS) in Fort Worth, Texas.
“[It] reinforces so much of what we already knew about the church of the East in central and eastern Asia,” said Philip Jenkins, author of The Lost History of Christianity.
“It is strange to think that at the time those places flourished, they might have been on the same scale as the famous Christian cities of Europe,” the Baylor University history professor told CT. “There is nothing new in the world except the history we have forgotten.”
Kazakh evangelicals hailed the discovery. “It proves that Christianity was present here in Kazakhstan before Islam,” said a prominent Kazakh pastor who requested anonymity.
“It is a door opening for evangelism and talking about Jesus,” he told CT. “History tells me what my fathers believed, as we as a nation consider what we should believe. God is going to use this and open doors.”
Much of the contemporary Christian presence in Kazakhstan comes from the Russian Orthodox Church, and there is a ...
from
http://feeds.christianitytoday.com/~r/christianitytoday/ctmag/~3/4JUDNGTyIXs/ancient-christian-gravestones-discovered-kazakhstan-swbts.html
Evangelical Views of the 2016 Election: In Support of Third Party Candidate Evan McMullin
Editor-in-Chief of Christ and Pop Culture wants to lay a foundation for a future conservative party
I support Evan McMullin’s campaign for President. For the first time in my life, I even donated to a political campaign, and I did so knowing that McMullin would almost certainly not win, or even come close to it. I have been informed by many concerned citizens that I am throwing my vote away, or voting for Trump by not voting for Clinton, or voting for Clinton by not voting for Trump. Others have accused me of being too elitist to vote for Trump, as if voting for McMullin were merely a way to ease my conscience or feel morally superior. The truth is I support McMullin for president because I believe that doing so is the best chance we have for cultivating an influential, vibrant conservative party that promotes human flourishing and defends life into the future.
I’ve come to this position begrudgingly, but driven by a few principles. One is that it is possible for a candidate to be so unacceptable that they do not deserve our vote regardless of how bad the other major candidate is. The minimum standard is opposed to the more popular, pragmatic idea that the acceptability of a candidate is relative to who they’re running against. It is not that I believe in only voting for perfect candidates, or even only for good ones. My objection is to the idea that I must vote for one of two candidates when I believe either will be profoundly harmful to my neighbor. When an election has come to this point, the answer is not to “hold my nose and vote,” as I have been admonished to do. It requires a drastic action that calls attention to the political and societal rot that brought us here and advocates for a new way forward. And I believe the best action in this situation is to vote and advocate for Evan McMullin. ...
from
http://feeds.christianitytoday.com/~r/christianitytoday/ctmag/~3/rmF2DDkz56Q/evangelical-views-of-2016-election-in-support-of-third-part.html
The World Is Yearning for Beautiful Orthodoxy
Goodness, truth, and beauty all come from the same Person.
Rage is today’s ruling online emotion. So concluded a 2013 study of Chinese mini-blogging network Weibo—a platform that resembles Twitter and boasts twice as many users.
Beihang University researchers examined 70 million Weibo “tweets” over a six-month period, sorting them by anger, joy, sadness, and disgust. Rage was the emotion most likely to spread across social media, with one angry post powerful and persuasive enough to negatively influence a follower of a follower of a follower.
In other words, that angry tweet of yours has the potential of fomenting rage to the third degree! But it’s not just our smartphones sowing the seeds of all this discontent.
Edward Wasserman, dean of the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California–Berkeley, was quoted in Scientific American as saying, “Mainstream media have made a fortune teaching people the wrong ways to talk to each other, offering up Jerry Springer, Crossfire, Bill O’Reilly. People understandably conclude rage is the political vernacular, that this is how public ideas are talked about.”
Little wonder, then, that our collective anger spews forth at politicians who lie, at systems that discriminate, at businesses that exploit, at abortionists who murder, at pastors who fall, at police who kill, at those who kill police, and at injustices whenever they manifest themselves.
Anger and frustration are everywhere. We see it and feel it every day. But what’s driving it? According to Rabbi David Wolpe, the answer has to do with our sense that tomorrow may not be any better than today.
“All of us,” conjectures Wolpe, “[see] history as an ever-increasing march to enlightenment. If you believe ...
from
http://feeds.christianitytoday.com/~r/christianitytoday/ctmag/~3/4jgO_hE_bAo/beautiful-orthodoxy.html
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)