Ravi Zacharias Today May 8, 2008
Posted by Paul Edwards in Uncategorized.Tags: Atheism, National Day of Prayer, Ravi Zacharias, Sam Harris
6 comments
Christian apologist Dr. Ravi Zacharias will be my guest this afternoon (Thursday, May 9) at 4:00 pm on The Paul Edwards Program. We will be discussing The End of Reason, his response to the New Atheism, specifically Sam Harris’ Letter to a Christian Nation.
Dr. Zacharias has been the subject of some controversy over a prayer written for him to pray as the Honorary Chairman of The National Day of Prayer which some say intentionally excluded the name of Jesus. We’ll ask Dr. Zacharias for his response to that controversy.
Stream the program LIVE from 4p - 6p ET at AM 1500 WLQV.
Os Guinness on An Evangelical Manifesto May 7, 2008
Posted by Paul Edwards in Uncategorized.Tags: An Evangelical Manifesto, Os Guinness
5 comments
The press conference at the National Press Club announcing the release of “An Evangelical Manifesto” has just concluded. Os Guinness drafted the document and gives the following as one critical reason why the manifesto is so necessary:
When you have best-selling authors who appear on public television with “feel-good” gospels who have to apologize to their own churches that they’ve diluted the faith when they get home, something is profoundly wrong. When you have Evangelical leaders who make predictions in the name of God, which by biblical standards are openly false prophecy, something is badly wrong. When scholars and writers can look at the Evangelical political movement and describe them as “theocrats” or worse, as “fascists,” something is badly wrong.
You can listen to Os Guinness’ full statement at the National Press Club on An Evangelical Manifesto by clicking here.
An Evangelical Manifesto May 7, 2008
Posted by Paul Edwards in Uncategorized.Tags: An Evangelical Manifesto, Od Guinness
11 comments
Os Guinness and Richard Mouw (President of Fuller Seminary) will unveil their “Evangelical Manifesto” today at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. According to an AP story, the manifesto condemns people of faith for allowing themselves to be “useful idiots” in the political process and calls for a reformation in the behavior of evangelicals.
According to the National Press Club, “An Evangelical Manifesto” was “…drafted by Dr. Os Guinness, vetted by a nine-person steering committee and supported in charter signature by more than 80 of the nation’s leading Evangelical Christians.” The AP reports the Manifesto may be noteworthy because of who DID NOT sign it, including evangelical notables like James Dobson and the SBC’s Richard Land.
The press conference will be webcasted live from the National Press Club at 9:30 am ET today. Go to http://www.alrcnewskitchen.com/webcast/.
Os Guinness will be my guest TODAY at 4:00 pm ET on The Paul Edwards Program to discuss “An Evangelical Manifesto.”
UPDATE: The website for An Evangelical Manifesto is now up: http://www.anevangelicalmanifesto.com/
Obama’s Racially Lopsided Win May 7, 2008
Posted by Paul Edwards in Uncategorized.Tags: Racism
5 comments
Can you hear the pundits’ reaction this morning if Hillary Clinton had garnered 91% of the White vote in North Carolina (Clinton garnered 61% of the White vote according to CNN)? The spin would focus on race relations in America and how White Americans harbor racism, refusing to bring themselves to vote for a black man for president.
Yet Barack Obama takes 91% of the Black vote in North Carolina and not one serious commentator dares to suggest that Black Americans are harboring racism, refusing to bring themselves to vote for a White woman for president.
Why do African-Americans continue to get away with racist behavior in this country?
A reminder to remember our brothers in the persecuted church May 3, 2008
Posted by Paul Edwards in Uncategorized.Tags: Persecuted Church, Religious Persecution
1 comment so far
Howard Friedman at the Religion Clause blog points us to the 2008 Annual Report of the U. S. Commission on International Religious Freedom:
Today the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom announced release of its 2008 Annual Report (full text) recommending eleven countries be designated as “countries of particular concern”– those that are are most restrictive of religious freedom. The countries on the list are: Burma, North Korea, Eritrea, Iran, Pakistan, China, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam. The Report also includes a Watch List of countries that require close monitoring, though which are less oppressive that the CPCs. Those on the Watch List are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Belarus, Cuba, Egypt, Indonesia, and Nigeria. The Commission is postponing its recommendations as to Iraq pending a Commission visit to the country later this month. This compromise was approved after a sharp party-line split among Commissioners over the draft chapter in the report on Iraq. (New York Sun). USCIRF’s recommendations are made pursuant to provisions of the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act. This year’s recommendations largely mirror those in last year’s report. USCIRF’s recommendations go to the State Department for its use in preparing its annual report on international religious freedom. [Thanks to Blog from the Capital for the lead.]
Visit www.persecution.org for daily updates on the persecuted church around the world; then thank God for your freedom of worship.
The 9 Marks e-Journal May 3, 2008
Posted by Paul Edwards in Uncategorized.Tags: Nine Marks, 9 Marks, Mark Dever
add a comment
Every pastor and church leader should subscribe to the FREE 9 Marks e-Journal, an email publication from Mark Dever’s 9 Marks Ministries.
Each issue covers important theological and cultural topics relevant to the church. The current issue is focused on what it means for us to live together as God’s church. It also contains several excellent book reviews as well as an audio interview with Kent Hughes on pastoral leadership.
Click here to download the May/June 08 issue in PDF format
Monergism v. Synergism May 3, 2008
Posted by Paul Edwards in Uncategorized.Tags: Monergism, Regeneration, Steve Camp, Synergism
22 comments
Steve Camp points us to an excellent essay by John Hendryx on the critical distinctions between Monergism and Synergism. Hendryx writes:
Monergism: The doctrine that the Holy Spirit is the only efficient agent in regeneration - that the human will possesses no inclination to holiness until regenerated, and therefore cannot cooperate in regeneration. Monergism is when God conveys that power into the fallen soul whereby the person who is to be saved is enabled to receive the offer of redemption. It refers to the first step (regeneration) which has causal priority over, and gives rise to, the spiritual ability to comply with all the other aspects of the process of being united to Christ, (i.e., the ability to apprehend the Redeemer by a living faith, to repent of sin and to love God and the Mediator supremely) It does not refer to the whole process that it gives rise to (justification, sanctification), but only the granting of the spiritual capacity to comply with the terms of the covenant of grace.
Synergism: “…the doctrine that there are two efficient agents in regeneration, namely the human will and the divine Spirit, which, in the strict sense of the term, cooperate. This theory accordingly holds that the soul has not lost in the fall all inclination toward holiness, nor all power to seek for it under the influence of ordinary motives.” This unscriptural view is the greatest threat to a true understanding of salvation in the Church today.
The essay goes on to point out how these differences affect our view of regeneration, humanity, and the gospel. I commend it to you and thank Steve Camp for pointing us to it.
Emergent Meets Reformed May 1, 2008
Posted by Paul Edwards in Uncategorized.Tags: Collin Hansen, Emergent, Reformed, Reformed Theology, Tony Jones
10 comments
Tony Jones is the National Director of Emergent Village and author of the book, The New Christians: Dispatches from the Emergent Frontier
Tony and Collin recently began an email exchange which Christianity Today is letting us peak in on here.
A debate worth your attention May 1, 2008
Posted by Paul Edwards in Uncategorized.Tags: Evangelicals, Joe Carter, Phil Johnson, Politics
16 comments
Phil Johnson works for John MacArthur and blogs at Pyromaniacs. His recent post on How Evangelicals Traded Their Spiritual Authority for a Mess of Political Pottage concludes…
…it is my conviction that because they have invested so much in the political process, evangelicals have weakened their own movement with a tendency to compromise; they have sacrificed evangelical distinctives, and they have gone far off message from the central truths of the gospel. Political activism has been a disaster for the American evangelical movement on every front. Not only have we completely failed at the political process; we have failed even more egregiously to remain distinct from the world.
and has generated a response from my friend Joe Carter over at the Evangelical Outpost titled, A Herd of Unicorns: The Myth of Evangelical Political Engagement in which he responds in part…
Contrary to what many secularists claim–and many Christians believe–we evangelicals are not all that politically involved. Sure, like most Americans we talk a lot about politics, especially in an election season. But the claim that we are involved in actual political activities–lobbying, organizing, campaigning, etc.–would be difficult to support with actual evidence.
. . . . . .
Rather than assuming that evangelicals are a large, powerful, committed political bloc that, for some inexplicable reason, is completely ineffective, the more realistic conclusion is that politically engaged evangelicals are like a herd of unicorns: powerful and abundant in the imagination while not actually existing in the real world.
Read Phil then Joe and then hope that both honor my request to join me on a future edition of The Paul Edwards Program to bring the debate into the real world of talk radio.
UPDATE: Joe Carter and Frank Turk (from Pyromaniacs Blog) will join Paul this afternoon at 4:30 pm.
A Tale of Two Semis May 1, 2008
Posted by Paul Edwards in Uncategorized.Tags: Religious Discrimination
7 comments
Which of these two trucks do you suppose was cited for violating the city of Gouverneur, New York’s billboard ordinace? They are both parked on property adjacent to city roads. One has a religious message; the other advertises a drug company. One truck owner was cited, the other wasn’t.
Read the full story here.
