Professors oppose Bush 'theology' -

Pasadena Star News ^ | October 9, 2004 | Marshall Allen

[LadyDoc]

we put up with this type of crap every week in the Tulsa Catholic newspaper. After a few letters, I stopped reading it...
The bishops won't make a "political statement" on communion for abortion pushing politicians either.

[unspun]

Liberal professors have stood against the "theology" of the Bible (instead of accepting the Word, studying them). That kind might as well stand against President Bush, too.

As for Bible believers being against Bush as he obeys the Word, they are asking for their own "discipline," of the Hebrews 12 kind.

"This is my command: Love each other. If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you."
John 15:17-19

[NZerFromHK]

I think let's give them proper credits. Fuller is against gay marriage and abortion - there is no question to that. BUT it does think that a conservative Christian means he must embrace politically liberal stands on all other areas (defence, WOT, social welfare, etc).

[M Kehoe]

If I were in a room with Smedes, Stassen, et. al. trying to explain that we were attacked, referencing St. Thomas Aquinas' "Just war" theory, or the gospel of Matthew "sell your cloak and purse, and pick up the sword," I would be casting pearls before swine. Figuratively of course.

5.56mm

[DannyTN]

""it's always dangerous for a nation to see itself as God's appointed agent in the world.' "

Dangerous for whom?

[Henchman]

Man, I hope that the email that set forth the data is correct.

The email, referring to the inability of Kerry to serve as President or Senator, stated: "This will blow up in his face before October 15th." (Figurative speech, but hopeful!)

[Henchman]

AND HERE IS HOW A FAMOUS PERSON DEALT WITH THEOLOGY:
Does Evil Exist?


This has a thought provoking message no matter how you believe.

Does evil exist? The university professor challenged his students with this
question. Did God create everything that exists?

A student bravely replied, "Yes, he did!" "God created everything?" The
professor asked. "Yes sir", the student replied.

The professor answered, "If God created everything, then God created evil.
Since evil exists, and according to the principal that our works define who
we are, then God is evil".

The student became quiet before such an answer.

The professor was quite pleased with himself and boasted to the students
that he had proven once more that the Christian faith was a myth.

Another student raised his hand and said, "Can I ask you a question
professor?" "Of course", replied the professor. The student stood up and
asked, "Professor, does cold exist?" "What kind of question is this? Of
course it exists. Have you never been cold?" The students snickered at the
young man's question.

The young man replied, "In fact sir, cold does not exist. According to the
laws of physics, what we consider cold is in reality the absence of heat.
Every body or object is susceptible to study when it has or transmits
energy, and energy is what makes a body or matter have or transmit heat.

Absolute zero (- 460 degrees F) is the total absence of heat; all matter
becomes inert and incapable of reaction at that temperature.

Cold does not exist. We have created this word to describe how we feel if we
have no heat.

The student continued. "Professor, does darkness exist?" The professor
responded, "Of course it does". The student replied, "Once again you are
wrong sir, darkness does not exist. Darkness is in reality the absence of
light.

Light we can study, but not darkness. In fact we can use Newton's prism to
break white light into many colors and study the various wavelengths of each
color. You cannot measure darkness. A simple ray of light can break into a
world of darkness and illuminate it. How can you know how dark a certain
space is? You measure the amount of light present. Isn't this correct?

Darkness is a term used by man to describe what happens when there is no
light present."

Finally the young man asked the professor. "Sir, does evil exist?" Now
uncertain, the professor responded, "Of course as I have already said. We
see it every day. It is in the daily example of man's inhumanity to man. It
is in the multitude of crime and violence everywhere in the world. These
manifestations are nothing else but evil."

To this the student replied, "Evil does not exist sir, or at least it does
not exist unto itself. Evil is simply the absence of God. It is just like
darkness and cold, a word that man has created to describe the absence of
God. God did not create evil. Evil is not like faith, or love that exist
just as does light and heat. Evil is the result of what happens when man
does not have God's love present in his heart.

It's like the cold that comes when there is no heat or the darkness that
comes when there is no light."

The professor sat down.

The young mans name --- Albert Einstein

[Henchman]

He knows what this is all about, as I recall, his kid was pronounced dead at the hospital. Who says the old man was guilty of anything more than being born at the Wrong Time, the Wrong Place and for him, the Wrong War. Who says he elected to be involved, or was involved? He may have even been an IRAQI P.O. or other person working for our sucess.

Please think before you post a picture with a captuion like this one. Thanks

[NZerFromHK]

Ping! An interesting brand of liberal-conservative self-contradictory Christians. Remember I talked about Ron Sider and Jim Wallis before on that thread and you said you haven't heard of them?

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1171080/posts?page=6#6

Well here they are. Ping for your thoughts on these Christians.

[dsc]

"Ping for your thoughts on these Christians."

I'm sorry, but I can't see through to the faintest glimmer of any conservatism in their position.

They are using Christianity as a stalking horse to further the agenda of the left--Satan's agenda--and I wouldn't be surprised to learn that they were secret atheists.

Whatever they are, I don't think there are any grounds for alleging any conservatism on their part.

[LadyDoc]

I'm reading Sibley's book on JRR Tolkien...and learned this is the Bothian argument, i.e. that evil is merely the absense of Good, and that the real struggle is inside the individual soul . The result is that we only need to be passive to evil, for evil eventually will disappear when good takes over in time.

The other argument is that evil has an independent reality, and that we need to fight. The bad result of this is jihad and holy wars.

Sibley points out that although Tolkien seems to believe the first, that in a world where "people were being herded into concentration camps" he had to also acknowledge the truth of the second reality of evil.

Sibley says LOTR has both ideas of evil in it, and for that reason is not the simplistic book that many pc people made it out to be because it implies both the need to actively fight evil, but recognizes that good people can become corrupted despite themselves in this fight...

[ER_in_OC,CA]

While have been interested in the comments here that Fuller has tilted more left lately and apparnetly is no longer agreeing with the Chicago Statement on inerrancy -- I just don't understand your statement about homeschooling in this context.

Are you suggesting that adults who want to become Pastors and leaders in Church are generally better off "home-schooling," than studying with instructors at a Seminary?

What denominations accept 'homeschooled' seminary credentials in order to be hired as a pastor?

You did know that Fuller is a Theological Seminary, right? Perhaps you didn't.

[ER_in_OC,CA]

Thanks for your reply. I accept your view of Fuller in current day -- I am relying on an impression of mine from back over 20 years ago.

Nevertheless, while the professors are fine for expressing their views, their leap of logic I illustrated shows poor critical thinking skills.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

Hope the Seminary is not hit in a future terror attack.

[finnigan2]

A group of "scholars" from the arcane and highly nuanced field of religion and theology, trying desperately for relevancy by updating their age old arguments of God vs Satan and good vs evil by drawing parallels to Bush vs Islamofascists - in which Bush is seen as both Satan and evil. Very strange.

[NZerFromHK]

My uncle was a ThD graduate there a couple of years back (he pastors in a Canadian-Chinese Baptist Church in Whitby, Ontario, Canada now) so I know where the direction it is going.

I think you were there in the early years it started on the slippery slope - it was in 1972 when they publicly renounced Scriptural inerrency. It doen't need another 3 or 4 decades before it is no different from the Princeton Theological Seminary, although it may retain a couple of true Christians (Bruce Metzger is one example).

[ER_in_OC,CA]

I was going off second-hand impression, not direct experience. I live in Southern California and in the early eighties I had people I respected who respected Fuller. With that as my 'expert testimony,' I had no reason to question it nor did I take the time to deeply investigate Fuller's views as I really had no cause.

Denying scriptural inerrancy per the Chicago Statement is detrimental, so you gave me all the evidence I need to move from a positive opinion to a "concerned" opinion.

Thanks.