Please pray for Wycliffe and SIL leaderships. They have to make some serious decisions. Contrary to what we have heard about just one translation—an Arabic audio Bible story—with error in rendering ‘Father’ and ‘Son,’ there are as many as 14.

Wycliffe USA Senior Vice President Russ Hersman admitted to the World Magazine last October there were about 30 to 40 translations that “"employ some alternate renderings” for the divine familial terms.””

Christian scholar Dr. Gordon Nickel, who has a PhD in Islamic studies, writes on Wycliffe USA’s Facebook page:

In the 1990s I witnessed a translation of the New Testament into an Asian language which consistently replaced "Son" with "beloved" (habeeb). I have a copy of the published translation. The SIL translator was a friend whom I liked a lot and very much admired! This is not a "political" attack on WBT, but a disagreement among Christians on how to render the words by which the Creator God chose to reveal Himself. That WBT are listening to concerns and engaging in conversation with Christians outside their circle is good news! FULL POST

A Little Girl’s Inspiring Legacy: Christina-Taylor Green
By Anna McKenzie
On behalf of Worthy Publishing

Bonding and Believing

“LOYALTY: When a child demonstrates loyalty without prompting, we know it comes from them and not just from parental prodding. Christina was one who would always reach out to a teammate in need of a ‘nice try’ or ‘get ’em next time.’ When cheering was needed from the dugout, she could be counted on to get it started.” – John Ward, Christina’s Little League Coach, As Good As She Imagined

Loyalty is an admirable thing. It is powerful and uplifting. But in a world that is skiddish when it comes to commitment, loyalty tends to be scarce. Where does it come from? FULL POST

It is with some fear and trembling that I say welcome to my first experience at blogging. A Simple View from the Back Pew will take a look at a variety of theological and other musings that will relate to both the church, the Christian faith and life in general from a lifetime of experience gathered from books read, people met, places traveled and other odds and ends so far. I don’t expect you to agree with everything I write, but I do hope that it will stimulate our thinking and that we can learn together. So we shall forget about the trembling.

I want to give you a glimpse of who I am as we begin this journey together. I am 56 years old and have been a Southern Baptist two months longer than I’ve been born. We’ll talk more about that later. I grew up in a home that was both Christian and dysfunctional to the core. Life was not always easy growing up.

My living extended family includes my father, a step-mother, step-sister, step-brother, half-brother, and a real brother. The immediate family includes my wife of nearly 34 years, a daughter living on the West Coast, and a son living on the East Coast. My son is married to a nurse and they have our only two grandchildren. Since so much of our life revolves around family, we shall return to various family issues to discuss relationships that have brought both my greatest joy and my deepest sorrow. FULL POST

Is it true that Jesus never mentioned anything about homosexuality?  That he never brought it up, even once?  Most of us have heard the line that in the Gospels there’s no record of Jesus condemning homosexuality.  There are individuals, especially from the militant homosexual rights movement, who utter this fabrication with all the raw hostility of liberals who think abortion is their God given right. 

The "Jesus never mentioned homosexuality" argument is meant to bully people into believing that Jesus actually took a benign attitude towards same-sex acts.  Liberal's reason that if Jesus disapproved of homosexuality, He would have said so. Since He never mentioned gay sex, He didn’t condemn it.  FULL POST

University of Oklahoma History of Science Collections

What will be the focus of attention in your church this Sunday? For many liberal churches and synagogues, Charles Darwin will have his day of glory in services this weekend. Sunday February 12, Darwin's birthday, is the centerpiece of the 2012 "Evolution Weekend" event invented by The Clergy Letter Project.

Here is how the National Center for Science Education (NCSE), the leading Darwin-only educational advocacy organization, advertises the annual "Evolution Weekend" and it host organization, The Clergy Letter Project:

The brainchild of Michael Zimmerman, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Butler University, the Clergy Letter Project was founded in 2004; its activities include a similar letter for Christian clergy, currently endorsed by over 11,000 members [now 13,000] of the clergy across the country and around the world; a pool of scientists willing to work with clergy on promoting scientific literacy; a collection of sermons, articles, readings, and websites relevant to the Clergy Letter Project's goals; and Evolution Weekend (formerly Evolution Sunday), in which religious leaders are encouraged to discuss the compatibility of faith and science in their sermons, Sabbath or Sunday schools, and discussion groups, on or about Darwin's birthday.... FULL POST

The California Court of Appeals ruled Prop 8 unconstitutional. A news article stated that now gays and lesbians could enjoy the same human dignities as everyone else. The ruling has a variety of implications and social outcomes. When did marriage become necessary for people to have constitutional rights and human dignity? Are the people who choose not to marry or who have not yet found the "right one" - are they somehow second-class citizens who lack human dignity?

While other bloggers lament the loss of Christian values and the definition of marriage (I agree), I also make the claim that gay marriage is harmful for the gays and lesbians as well as general society.  Gays and lesbians clamored for marriage because they sought human dignity, yet the false belief that a husband or wife can magically bestow human dignity or individual worth is worshipping the creature rather than the Creator.  People deserve human dignity just for being human, regardless of marital status. Feelings of individual worth should come from within that individual. The false belief that marriage can bestow human dignity means that marriage has become about making people feel good about themselves or about validating their sense of self-worth. This is not the purpose behind marriage. These faulty motivations actually lead to the destruction of many marriages.  FULL POST

A Little Girl’s Inspiring Legacy: Christina-Taylor Green
By Anna McKenzie
On behalf of Worthy Publishing

Solid as a Rock

“CHARACTER: A sense of right and wrong, a willingness to do something about wrongs, a desire to learn, a determination to excel, and a fun-loving attitude. We’ve all heard of Christina’s ability to demonstrate these attributes on the baseball field.” – John Ward, Christina’s Little League Coach, As Good As She Imagined

Beauty comes and goes. Fame is a fleeting shadow. Wealth, power and connections can disappear overnight. But a person’s character is permanent. It is an intrinsic part of who we are, and its worth is priceless. We often joke that difficult things “build character,” and in some sense, it’s true. How we handle various situations, especially the challenging and complicated ones, tends to reveal our true colors. We develop ourselves in these defining moments, whether in good ways or bad. FULL POST

The Prius Fallacy: “a belief that switching to an ostensibly more benign form of consumption turns consumption itself into a boon for the environment.” That’s how David Owen, in his recent Wall Street Journal article, “It’s Too Easy Being Green,” defines the Prius Fallacy. Here’s how he illustrates it in action:

A favorite trick of people who consider themselves friends of the environment is reframing luxury consumption preferences as gifts to humanity. A new car, a solar-powered swimming-pool heater, a 200-mile-an-hour train that makes intercity travel more pleasant and less expensive, better-tasting tomatoes—these are the sacrifices we’re prepared to make for the future of the planet.

He lays on the sarcasm pretty thick in that last sentence, but in case you don’t catch it in the article he finishes with the clarification, “Our capacity for self-deception can be breathtaking.”

Owen’s article is insightful and rather humorous as he considers what many of us find ourselves thinking about consumption: that by substituting what we would ordinarily consume with a different  product (which, typically, also happens to be nicer, more expensive and “greener”) we’re somehow consuming less. But that’s not true. The result is that we actually end up consuming more, and justifying it more. FULL POST

By George W. Sarris

I may be somewhat naïve, but I am always amazed at how people can be so blind as to not see the obvious. 

I’m thinking right now about the ruling of the 9^th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco that determined that the voter approved Proposition 8 ban on same sex marriage in California is unconstitutional. 

The rationale of the court was clear –

Although the Constitution permits communities to enact most laws they believe to be desirable, it requires that there be at least a legitimate reason for the passage of a law that treats different classes of people differently. There was no such reason that Proposition 8 could have been enacted . . .

The court determined that there was not a good reason in this situation for treating a man with a woman – as opposed to a man with a man or a woman with a woman – differently. 

Of course, I’m somewhat naïve, but I thought the legitimate reason for treating those different classes of people differently was actually pretty obvious:  FULL POST

“A federal appeals court on Tuesday declared California's same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional but agreed to give sponsors of the bitterly contested, voter-approved law time to appeal the ruling before ordering the state to resume allowing gay couples to wed.”... reports the Huffington Post.  Lawyers research and prepare to deliver another battery of superior legal arguments and others ascend quickly unto the hill of the Lord. What can one expect next?

God is accustomed to battle in all forms and described as the Lord - strong and mighty, mighty in battle and Lord of hosts – not for His preference of civil methods. There is nothing unusual about threats and floods assailing Kingdom order if we recall that God Himself declared in Psalm 24:1 The earth is the LORD'S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. [2]  For He hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods. FULL POST

We were strolling out of Islands of Adventure. It had been a good day. Our family had enjoyed a sun-soaked day in the Orlando-based theme park, but it was late. It was still hot. We were tired and on a quest—for A/C.

The park has a central corridor leading into (and out of) the complex designed to mimic storefronts one might find nestled in a fairy-tale land. It’s a quaint section—one I’d like to pattern my backyard after someday. However, air-conditioning beckoned us inside a long string of shops instead of enjoying the scenery.

Our tribe traipsed through the aisles of wares, no one really wanting anything material. We just wanted to get cool before we made the long trek to the parking lot.

It was during the slow walk through the stores that our family fanned out like they had so many times before. Our children are very much like their mother, i.e., window-shoppers extraordinaire. They wandered with Mom, stopping at various displays, perusing, touching, holding, and placing back on the shelf. Mom had trained them well.

I, on the other hand, was drawn to the far end of the store. For hanging from the ceiling, suspended by wires, was a replica of a dinosaur. A fossil of a marine reptile, to be precise. The placard on the wall told a story of the real fossil, found in Ulianova, Russia, and was now possessed by the Iwaki Museum of Coal and Fossils in Tokyo, Japan. I don’t know where Ulianova, Russia is exactly. Google can’t find a city by that name, but it does find “Ulyanovsk.” If that city is the correct location of the find, then finding any marine reptile, dinosaur-like or not, in that location is quite a feat. Just click on the link above and see for yourself. Yes, it’s near a water source, but there are only cold waters around there. Too cold for any marine reptiles to exist and a long way from the nearest warm water sea or ocean. Thus the importance of the find. FULL POST

The slaughter continues. Over the weekend, Syria's army unleashed a massacre on Homs, killing 350 and wounding 1,300.

Nearly a year ago, protestors began to call for change in Syria. President Bashar al-Assad responded by sending his forces to put down these protests by shooting into crowds and by imprisoning and torturing survivors. However, his tactics effectively poured gasoline on the fire, as protests massively grew across the nation. But Assad continued his gruesome tactic, which then spawned an epidemic of desertions from his military, providing the opposition movement armed soldiers. Thus, a civil war is now waging across Syria, and Assad is desperately seeking to hang onto power—and onto life itself.

Assad's troubles are heaping up. For example, last week, Syrian opposition leader Colonel Riyad al-As'ad declared that half of Syria is no longer under Assad's control. In addition, there is mounting pressure on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down from Arab leaders. Furthermore, Syrian army defections are rising sharply. FULL POST

News broke last week that Josh Hamilton, the all-star outfielder for the Texas Rangers, had a "weak moment" on Monday night and consumed alcohol. In the world of professional sports, alcohol consumption is a foregone conclusion among both fans and athletes. However, Josh Hamilton's story is different. After spending three years out of Major League Baseball for drug and alcohol abuse, Hamilton has publicly committed to avoiding alcohol. He readily acknowledges that he does things he regrets when under the influence of alcohol.

What makes Hamilton's story even more intriguing for Christians is that he clearly proclaims that his recovery from drug and alcohol addiction is connected to his faith in Jesus Christ. He is open about both his faith and his failures. In a press conference on Friday, Josh admitted what he had done. Without a prepared statement or handlers at his side, he opened his soul and shared his pain.

I am a huge Rangers fan. Hamilton is among my favorite players. My heart beats a little faster when Josh steps to the plate because I know he can change the face of the game with one swing of the bat. I'll never forget watching his stellar performance in the 2008 Home Run Derby. His performance will most likely never be matched. He is one of the most talented players in baseball—and he plays for my team. FULL POST

I have now released the first two infographics in a series I am titling “Visual Theology.” Just as there are many words that can be used to describe any one fact, there are also many ways to display facts. I have been working with a few graphic designers in an attempt to display theological realities in infographic form. If you scroll down a little bit you can find links to infographics dealing with The Ordo Salutis and The Attributes of God.

Today I have the third entry in this series and it looks at the books of the Bible. Our inspiration for the way they are displayed was the periodic table of elements. I guess that means that you can consider this the periodic table of the books of the Bible.

Note: If you click on the graphic you will be able to see it full-size.

Tim Challies

Books of the Bible infographic

You can also download this infographic in a high-quality PDF (1.2 MB). As with all of the inforgraphics in this series, you are free to print it, copy it, distribute it, and so on. Just don’t sell it, please. (Be careful printing it as that black background will gobble up your toner!) FULL POST

A message that does not contribute to the eradication of poverty and empowers the deprived in the community, spreading country wealth cannot be the good news that Christ was anointed to preach ... at best it is a contemporary sectarian heresy of the advantaged class or another subtle tool of oppression, in that it excludes Christ all together.

In this third part of a series on Money and the Bible, the focus is on biblical perspectives on poverty. Poverty can be described in absolute and relative terms and this often causes misunderstanding especially in a non-biblical mindset.  Absolute poverty or destitution refers to lack of the most basic human needs, which commonly includes safe water, nutrition, health care, basic education, adequate clothing and shelter. The absolutely poor are vulnerable and helpless beggars ... lacking in the most common dignity, exposed to terror for lack of basic protection, shame, fear, corruption, disease and routinely abused.  Conservatively, over 2 billion people are estimated to live in absolute poverty today. Many, who have never been exposed to absolute poverty, will often mistake the poor as mentioned in the Bible to always refer to relative poverty which pertains to lack of an acceptable level of resources as compared with others within a society.

To illustrate the income inequality between rich and poor countries, consider these facts: about 1.75 billion people live in extreme deprivation in education, health, and standard of living; 1.44 billion people out of the developing world's 6.9 billion people live on $1.25 per day; 2.6 billion people are estimated to be living on less than $2 a day. Multidimensional poverty varies by region from three percent in Europe and Central Asia to 65% in Sub-Saharan Africa.

FULL POST

Amendment I

(Freedoms, Petitions, Assembly)

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

For decades, many who claim, "Jesus is Lord," have been begging Him to bring about a revival in America. For me, I've petitioned for another, "Great Awakening," which encouraged our national founders to break their dependence on King George, the Third, and embrace the risk of dependence on God alone, living under His blessing of liberty. I reached a conclusion about the Lord, He seems to get a kick out of using the foolish things of this life to confound the so-called, self-proclaimed, wise (1 Corinthians 1:26-31, NASB). Who would have ever seen this coming? A young man who has dedicated himself to the Lord's service, enters the most idolatrous stage in the USA, the National Football League (NFL), and under the protection of the Constitution proclaims the Gospel, even though thousands would love to keep him quiet. Pardon my boldness, but a person must be deaf, dumb, blind and stupid to reject the operational hand of Almighty God using this young man, Tim Tebow, for His divine purposes. And ladies, this is not a plot by the NFL to get more women to watch football. FULL POST

Carnegie Instit. / UCSC

Artistic visualization of the newly discovered planet in the foreground. It orbits the sun that is brightest in the background.

Did God create life on planets in other distant places in the universe?  The Bible is silent on this topic. God could have done it if he wanted.  Scientists have been searching for "habitable" planets (those suitable for life) for over a decade, and the best candidate to date was announced this week.  I hate to dampen your ET enthusiasm, but this "best candidate" for another habitable planet has some major problems. Read why below.

Welcome to my new blog: Science & Faith.  This is my first post.  Tell your friends and watch for future "Science & Faith" blogs here at CP.

Two days ago Space.com writer Denise Chow reported the discovery of a planet called GJ 667Cc, which orbits a star located 22 light years from us. There are only about 100 stars closer to us than this star that hosts GJ 667Cc. What is noteworthy about this discovery according to Ms. Chow and many others reporting on this newest addition to the 700 documented planets that exist outside our own solar system? Chow writes: FULL POST

God is a great restorer and a great provider. He does not forget those who have given even when men have.  The Bible also helps us to see that famines are called by God.  There is hardly any famine mentioned in the Bible that is not shown as an instrument in the hands of God to get His own children to repent.  God does not need to send famine to those He has marked out for destruction.  Indeed, their destroyer is their own wealth and surfeiting in excess....their greed soon overtakes them to make grievous mistakes just as God preserves and restores His own.

2 Kings 8[1]  Then spake Elisha unto the woman, whose son he had restored to life, saying, Arise, and go thou and thine household, and sojourn wheresoever thou canst sojourn: for the LORD hath called for a famine; and it shall also come upon the land seven years. [2]  And the woman arose, and did after the saying of the man of God: and she went with her household, and sojourned in the land of the Philistines seven years. [3]  And it came to pass at the seven years' end, that the woman returned out of the land of the Philistines: and she went forth to cry unto the king for her house and for her land. [4]  And the king talked with Gehazi the servant of the man of God, saying, Tell me, I pray thee, all the great things that Elisha hath done. [5]  And it came to pass, as he was telling the king how he had restored a dead body to life, that, behold, the woman, whose son he had restored to life, cried to the king for her house and for her land. And Gehazi said, My lord, O king, this is the woman, and this is her son, whom Elisha restored to life. [6]  And when the king asked the woman, she told him. So the king appointed unto her a certain officer, saying, Restore all that was hers, and all the fruits of the field since the day that she left the land, even until now. FULL POST

Author: ADF Legal Counsel Jeremy Tedesco

If you read this blog within the past few days, you already know that the Sixth Circuit issued a terrific decision for religious liberty in ADF’s case on behalf of Julea Ward, a student Eastern Michigan University (EMU) expelled from its counseling program because of her religious beliefs.  Among its many memorable quotes is this zinger: “Tolerance is a two-way street.”  This is tough medicine for public universities, which so often preach tolerance but practice it for only those who agree with the leftist views that dominate most college campuses.

In addition to this great quote on tolerance, I also wanted to share a few quotes from the opinion that show the refreshing common sense the court applied in rejecting EMU’s arguments. FULL POST

A Little Girl’s Inspiring Legacy: Christina-Taylor Green
By Anna McKenzie
On behalf of Worthy Publishing

A Hope that Illuminates

“Christina-Taylor had always wanted to be a symbol of hope for those touched by that great tragedy the day she was born.” – Roxanna Green, As Good As She Imagined

September 11, 2001, is etched into the memory of every American who lived to see it. And for those who were born on that day, like Christina-Taylor Green, it is a sobering thing to remember. But it is one thing to dwell on the tragedy, and another to recall the bravery, patriotism, and unity that came out of that day. It is one thing to stay rooted in sorrow, and another to remember that the story doesn’t end there.

Because she was born on 9/11, Christina was featured in a book called Faces of Hope with other kids who shared that birthday. The book was meant to be an inspirational collection that served to remind people that life still bloomed on a day mainly characterized by death—and that these kids were symbols of an America that remains strong. FULL POST

The big story in the news right now is that Israel could strike Iran this spring. U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta believes there is a strong likelihood that Israel will launch a military strike against Iran in April, May or June.

The reason for the apparent nearness of this coming attack is that the Israelis fear that, very soon, the Iranians will have stored enough enriched uranium in deep underground facilities to make a weapon — and only the United States could then stop them militarily. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not want to leave the fate of the Jewish nation on American action. This is because Israeli leadership is far from convinced that the White House really intends to halt Iran's progress toward building a bomb.

Right now, according to Israeli Vice Prime Minister and Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Ya'alon, all of Iran's nuclear facilities are currently vulnerable to a military strike. But Iran is seeking to enter into a "zone of immunity" to protect its nuclear program. Defense Secretary Panetta believes "there is strong likelihood that Israel will strike Iran" before Iran can accomplish this. FULL POST

Beasts of the Southern Wild

The whole idea behind edgy, independent film is that by prying themselves from the commercial grip of major studios, filmmakers finally have the freedom to tell the truth. Sometimes this works. Last year's The Redemption of General Butt Naked and Higher Ground were intense explorations of spiritual life. Both films were challenging in different ways, but managed to maintain a respect for their religious subject matter. This year, Sundance again returns to tackle spiritual matters in documentaries and feature films. While no single look at Sundance can do the entire festival justice – there are, after all, only so many hours in a day one can watch movies – my hope is that my nearly twenty screenings will provide at least a representative sampling.

Film both reflects and creates worldviews in the minds of its viewers. Because of its culture-shaping, influential power, it is important for us to be aware of how filmmakers depict the relationship between world and the church. And even if some of these films find only small audiences, that they were official Sundance selections means that they were seen by other filmmakers. They got in. So they establish a sense of what wins, what is acceptable. As a result, we can expect more of the same, and we should be ready to join that cultural conversation. FULL POST

Our island community grieved deeply (and is still grieving) when a tree fell on a car driven by a family on the way to a relative's house on Christmas Day, causing death and injury. Could God not have stopped that tragedy? Could have but wouldn't? Would have but couldn't?

When I was about four, I was happily walking through a field of clover when a bee stung me. I had unknowingly stepped on the bee, and the bee reacted as bees were supposed to, but I had not willfully done wrong, any more than the family had done wrong by driving down a road. Nursing my bee sting, I sought my mother's comfort. Because she loved me, I could overcome a world in which bees sting small children.

Bad things happen that we cannot prevent, even by our best efforts. Such things are evidence, whatever else they are, that we need a relationship outside ourselves to whom we can go for comfort when those things happen.

The Holocaust surely is a tragedy as evil as ever envisioned. It caused some to disavow the idea of a loving God. I see it as evidence, neither of God's impotence nor of his lack of caring, but as evidence of human failing. The Holocaust was not sent by God. It happened because we sinned, chose hatred. Directly caused by Hitler and the Nazis, yes, but it also may be traced to choices as far back as the religious wars of the 1600's, which left Germany a devastated nation and led eventually to more wars and ethnic cleansing. The Holocaust came, not from God, but from humans. It is evidence of our choices, for which we need repentance and confession and forgiveness, the only actions that will prevent more Holocausts. FULL POST

A large number of Christians are unaware that literally truck loads of counterfeit Christians have gained access to pulpits, wormed their way into Church leadership, Christian organizations and are deeply entrenched in the so-called Christian entertainment industry. Call them what you will--false teachers/prophets, liberals/progressives, cultists, misinformed, misled, even looney tunes--the one thing they all have in common is that they have strayed from the truth.

Unbiblical teaching has been going on since the early church took root.  Peter cautioned that “there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction” (2 Peter 2:1). FULL POST

By George W. Sarris