Love Truth Blog

I was reading through Mark Knoll’s The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind (IVP) this afternoon, and came across this most enlightening point: It is the nature of God and his loving work, not primarily the practical benefits, that requires cultivation of the mind. For a Christian, the most important consideration is not pragmatic results, or even the weight of history, but the truth. Learning matters the world matters—the word both as material object and as the accumulated network of human institutions. For a Christian, the most important reason for exercising the life of the mind is the implicit acknowledgment that things do not exist on their own. This acknowledgment is a specifically Christian presupposition; its denial characterizes much of the scholarship that shapes our lives so decisively. But even more, we are learning about the One who made that thing (p. 50). Knoll’s point struck a chord, for often we simply learn about science, art, and philosophy in hopes of obtaining some prag...

The other day someone who asked, “What would the youth need to know about the Christian faith?” I responded with the following: It is important for high school students, grades 9-12, to understand that Christianity is more than just my mom and dad’s religion. They too must take up the challenge to know what they believe and why they believe it. It may appear that theology and apologetics is too cerebral for them, but this is not the case. If students can learn higher mathematics like trigonometry and calculus to improve their SAT scores, they can also learn how to give an answer for their faith. Several years ago, the youth group with which I served as a volunteer spent several Saturday evenings dealing specifically with apologetics and theology. These groups were called “Life.” The goal was to prepare them for the things that would challenge their beliefs when they entered into college. The first series of groups dealt with foundational questions related to areas of philosophy, like e...

Today I came across a newsflash about DC’s decision to recognize gay marriages. The issue of gay marriage as recognizing the rights of homosexuals is the popular vote. In fact, anyone challenging the idea is shunned in the most militant fashion. Gay marriage is an issue of morals, for all legislation reflects someone’s morality. The issue is whose morality is being legislated, and on what basis do we know what is “right” and “wrong?” I can respect the idea that the basic human rights of homosexuals must be preserved (they cannot be denied food, clothing, shelter, and jobs.) Moreover, there is not justification for gay bashing. Still, there is something sacred about marriage, that God established it as a covenant between a man and a woman. The idea that “a man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and they shall become one flesh” (Gen. 2:24) certainly signifies a heterosexual union, which by logical extension includes the commission to “be fruitful and mul...

My review of 10 Books That Screwed Up the Word: And 5 Others That Didn’t Help (Washington DC: Regnery Publishing House, 2008) by Benjamin Wiker Ideas have consequences; therefore, bad ideas published in books can have bad consequences for generations. Benjamin Wiker, working off of this general thesis in 10 Books That Screwed Up the Word: And 5 Others That Didn’t Help (Washington DC: Regnery Publishing House, 2008), offers a thoughtful critique on ten of the books that laid the philosophical foundations for the ideologies, which made the 20th century the bloodiest century in all of history. Wiker, in 10 Books That Screwed Up the World , insightfully demonstrates the influence of philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau (Discourse on the Origin and Foundations of Inequality among Men) had upon Karl Marx (The Communist Manifesto). According to Wiker: If we think back over Rousseau, we realize that Marx merely turned Rousseau on his head. Rousseau put an entirely fictional state of natur...

If there were no heaven or hell, would you still follow Jesus? Every now and then I come across a blog, article, or sermon with some spiritual type of fellow asking, “If there were no heaven or hell, would you still follow Jesus?” (Maybe it was Tony Campolo, who knows? Anyway…) But what a mind-boggling question to pose! So let me get this right, you’re telling me if there were no ultimate rewards or ultimate punishments for my every action, would I really make an effort to life the Christian life? I suppose living the Christian life without the expectation of seeing a heavenly reward can be considered something noble. Then, again, there are many Americans who don’t think much about heaven or hell, but strangely enough they still hold fast to “Christian” values — they don’t lie, they don’t cheat, they love their kin, they attend church, vote, give to charity, and pay taxes. The stakes, however, could be raised —like say this were country ruled by Muslim extremists, wherein the common lo...

Hank Hanegraaff’s Christianity in Crisis 21st Century Edition (CNC21) unveils the truth about the doctrinal flaws propagated by the Word of Faith movement. Updating his previous edition, CNC21 address the flawed theology of the Word of Faith movement, which began with E.W. Kenyon, whose aberrant theology was passed on through past Word of Faith luminaries like Kenneth Hagin, Kenneth Copeland, Benny Hinn, Fredrick K.C. Price, John Avanzini, Robert Tilton, Marilyn Hickey, Paul Yoggi Cho, Charles Capps, Morris Cerullo, and Paul Crouch. CNC21, moreover, highlights the doctrinal errors of new stars in the Word of Faith constellation, such as Joel Osteen, Creflo Dollar, Joyce Meyer, John Hagee, T.D. Jakes, Rod Parsley, and Paula White. Using the mass media engine of the Trinity Broadcasting Network, Word of Faith teachers dispense their deadly doctrinal poison by the mega-dose. Using cultic term twisting, they teach faith is a force and words are containers of that force. They pronounce man ...

The crux of a Christianity centers on the resurrection of Jesus. “If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain,” writes Paul. Without the resurrection, there would be no Christianity. Although many cults, liberal scholars, and atheist have attempted to disprove the resurrection, there is still good reason to believe it to be true. We can believe in the resurrection, because the testimonies recorded in Scripture are reliable. The manuscript evidence attests to the reliability of the Bible. There exist more ancient manuscript copies of the Bible dating near to the originals than any other work from antiquity. Josephus, Tacitus, and other first century non-Christian sources corroborate the historical narratives contained in the Bible. Archeological discoveries (e.g. the finds of William Ramsey) also confirm the people, places, and events of Scripture. Moreover, there are predictive prophecies contained in the Bible that came to pass (e.g. the fall o...