Jonathan Sarfati - What is Science?

This video is by the guy that my nephew David Kruse played chess against on our (David, Kaila and I) trip to North Carolina. This guy played chess with 30 people (including David) at the same time and he beat every one of them (even though David lasted a long time). He also played against 10 to 15 people (including David) at the same time while he was blindfolded and beat them all also. This video shows that evidence is not enough. Everyone interprets the evidence according to their presuppositions. Evolutionists don't have science; they have faith in their own preconceived anti-God ideas. Their conclusions are based on their assumptions. They suppress the truth in unrighteousness (Rom 1). The facts don't speak for themselves. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

Orthodoxy and Orthopraxy

Orthodoxy (correct teaching) must not be separated from Orthopraxy (correct practice). Our theology must be right but our path must also be straight. Confession without conviction is chicanery (trickery). Doctrine without duty is deception. Belief without behavior is baloney. Faith without works is dead.

Spurgeon wrote this, "If the professed convert distinctly and deliberately declares that he knows the Lord's will but does not mean to attend to it, you are not to pamper his presumption, but it is your duty to assure him that he is not saved. Do not suppose that the Gospel is magnified or God glorified by going to the worldlings and telling them that they may be saved at this moment by simply accepting Christ as their Savior, while they are wedded to their idols, and their hearts are still in love with sin. If I do so I tell them a lie, pervert the Gospel , insult Christ, and turn the grace of God into lasciviousness."

There is a saying that is engraved at the cathedral at Lubeck, Germany. The inscription reads,

• "Thus speaketh Christ our Lord to us,
  You call Me master and obey Me not,
  you call Me light and see Me not,
  you call Me the way and walk in Me not,
  you call Me life and live Me not,
  you call Me wise and follow Me not,
  you call Me fair and love Me not,
  you call Me rich and ask Me not,
  you call Me eternal and seek Me not,
  if I condemn thee, blame Me not."
  

This reminds me of the words of Christ, "Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." (Matt 7:21) Praise without practice is vanity and we must not take God's name in vain. Orthodoxy must not be separated from Orthopraxy.

Wizard of Oz Theology

"We're off to see the Wizard, the wonderful wizard of..." We are surrounded in our culture with false advertising. We’re told that we can have it all – a heart, a brain and courage. We are even told that all of our culture’s yellow brick roads will lead us home. We must not be deceived by the wizards in our culture. Listen to the wise man instead. The Wiseman tells us that there is "a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death." (Proverbs 14:12). He tells us that we are "to be careful how we walk, not as unwise but as wise men, making the most of our time, because the days are evil" (Ephesians 5:15).

In Mark 12:30 Jesus said, “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” Tinman - love God with all your heart. Many Christians go through the Christian motions but are not true believers. Their obedience doesn’t flow out of their heart. They might understand the gospel in their head but they don’t believe it in their heart. We need Christians that have a heart passion for the glory of God. Cowardly Lion - love God with all your strength. There are a lot of weak and wussy Christians. They are afraid to take a stand. They are afraid to speak the truth in love. They are less than conquerors and would rather survive the culture and escape into the clouds (rapture) than transform the culture and inherit the earth. We need courageous Christians who capture the culture. Scarecrow – love God with all your mind. Christians need to go to God in search of a brain. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. We are transformed by the renewal (not removal) of our mind. Christianity is not just an experience involving emotions; it’s a duty involving intellect. Most Christians today have neglected their brain and developed a non-biblical worldview. We need less self-help books and more theology. Dorothy – click your heels together and love God with all your soul.

Packer on the Questions of the Lord's Prayer

I saw this on another blog but I thought it was worth posting here also.

This is an excerpt from Packer's Praying the Lord's Prayer:

We need to see that the Lord’s Prayer is offering us model answers to the series of questions God puts to us to shape our conversation with him. Thus:

“Who do you take me for, and what am I to you?”
(Our Father in heaven.)

“That being so, what is it that you really want most?”
(The hallowing of your name; the coming of your kingdom; to see your will known and done.)

“So what are you asking for right now, as a means to that end?”
(Provision, pardon, protection.)

Then the “praise ending” answers the question, “How can you be so bold and confident in asking for these things?”
(Because we know you can do it, and when you do it, it will bring you glory!)

Spiritually, this set of questions sorts us out in a most salutary way.

Cool optical illusion

American Christian Worldview Problem

Less than 10% of American Christians have a biblical worldview (Teens less than 5%)

· 85% have a relativistic worldview

· 2/3 of them say they there is no such thing as absolute truth.

· Only 4 out of 10 say they are absolutely committed to the Christian faith

· 56% of churched youth say you can’t grasp the meaning of truth (Of course how do they grasp the fact that you can’t grasp the meaning of truth)

· 85% of churched youth agree with this statement: “What is right for one person in a given situation might not be right for another person who encounters the same situation” (Relativism)

· 62% agree with this statement: “Nothing can be known for certain except the things you experience in your life”

Biltmore by the numbers

This is a huge house Kaila, David and I visited on our trip to North Carolina.


Here's a few interesting facts ("by the numbers") about the Biltmore Estate:

George Vanderbilt did everything on a grand scale. The largest home in America together with its vast estate adds up to some astounding numbers.

House:

• 3
• Kitchens
• 3
  
• Laundry rooms
• 4
• Acres of floor space
• 15
• Workrooms and pantries
• 35
• Guest and family bedrooms
• 43
• Bathrooms
• More than 60
• Staff rooms
• 65
• Fireplaces
• 72
• Light bulbs in the wrought iron chandelier over the Grand Staircase
• 100
• Feet per minute that the electric dumbwaiter would travel as it carried meals up from the Kitchen Pantry
• 102
• Steps on the Grand Staircase inside Biltmore House
• 250
• Rooms
• 2,000
• Square feet covered by the ceiling painting in the Library
• More than 10,000
• Books in the Library today (George Vanderbilt collected more than 23,000 in total)
• 70,000
• Gallons of water that filled the indoor swimming pool

Construction

• 6
• Years it took to build the house
• 50
• Cents earned each day by local laborers working on the house (stonecutters earned $4.00 a day, cabinetmakers earned between $2.25-$2.75; and carpenters earned $2.25 a day)
• 32,000
• Bricks produced each day by the onsite kiln for the construction of the house
  

People

• 0
• People who live in Biltmore House today
• 3
• Vanderbilts who lived in the house once George married and had a family
• 40 to 50
• Servants who normally lived and worked in the house
• More than 1,500
• People employed by Biltmore Estate today
• 900,000
• Guests who visit Biltmore Estate each year
  

Estate

• 3
• Miles in our "driveway" (the Approach Road to the house)
• More than 100
• Miles of trails in the estate today
• 8,000
• Acres that comprise the estate today
• 125,000
• Acres that comprised the estate in the 19th century
  

Winery

• 80
• Cows that could be milked in the milking parlor before it became the Tasting Room of our winery
• Over 350
• Number of awards Biltmore wines have won
• 300
• Tons of grapes that are picked by hand each year in our vineyards
• 140,000
• Cases of wine produced each year by our winery Gardens
• 250
• Acres of landscaped gardens
• 2,300
  
• Roses in our Rose Garden
• Approx. 1,000
• Azaleas in the Azalea Garden

Francis Scott Key The Apologist

Francis Scott Key (August 2, 1777 – January 11, 1843) was an American lawyer, an author and a part-time poet who wrote the words to our national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner" but he was also a great Christian apologist. No, that doesn't mean he was great at apologizing for being a Christian. It means he knew how to obey 1 Peter 3:15 "...but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense (Greek word: apologia where we get the word apologetics) to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect..." Francis Scott Key understood the folly in meeting the infidel on so-called neutral ground. He knew how to push the antithesis and force the unbeliever to be consistent with his own worldview when he wrote:

"I don't believe there are any new objections to be discovered to the truth of Christianity, though there may be some art in presenting old ones in a new dress. My faith has been greatly confirmed by the infidel writers I have read. Men may argue ingeniously against our faith, as indeed they may against anything -- but what can they say in defense of their own -- I would carry the war into their own territories, I would ask them what they believe -- if they said they believed anything, I think that they might be shown to be more full of difficulties and liable to infinitely greater objections than the system they oppose and they were credulous and unreasonable for believing it. If they said they did not believe anything, you could not, to be sure, have anything further to say to them. In that case they would be insane, or at best ill qualified to teach others what they ought to believe or disbelieve."