Gilberson's World

Karl Gilberson, formerly of Biologos and author of “Saving Darwin” has penned a little testimonial at Frum Forum to plug his new book “The Anointed.”

Michelle Bachman has stated that Francis Schaeffer had an influence on her in days gone by. Karl Gilberson recalls his own similar background and evangelical heritage and proceeds to paint Bachman and pretty much all conservative evangelicals as uneducated dunces. He directly names Schaeffer, James Dobson, Ken Ham and David Barton as “anointed” ones whose status in the evangelical community gives cover to anti-intellectual and dishonest dissemination of an alternate and defective standard of truth.

He takes a mild swipe at Schaeffer’s goatee and knickers. Of Dobson he sarcastically notes that he “had a PhD in child development and thus knew what he was talking about.” Of Ham who does not have a PhD, he snarks “Very few evangelicals grow up without hearing some trusted authority—perhaps even with a PhD—tell them that the age of the earth is an “open question.” It all boils down to the charge that conservative Evangelicals are trapped in an alternative “parallel culture” with its own standards of truth, where the statements of “anointed” leaders - whose only claim to authority is that the unsuspecting sheep think they have a special gift - trump rational analysis of truth claims.

PCUSA - Dancing in the Graveyard

Today the PCUSA became the latest mainline denomination to allow ordination of gay clergy. This just a matter of hours after Evangelical left leader Jim Wallis took a thrashing from his erstwhile comrades in arms for rejecting an ad that asked churches to be more affirming of gays. An example of the reaction can be found here.

Tony Jones thinks opposition to gay marriage is just an excuse for evangelicals to divisively attack those they disagree with, comparing studied opposition to gay marriage with the slaughter of 42,000 in the Old Testament over a mispronunciation of a word. Tony is nothing if not subtle in his utter dismissiveness toward anyone who agrees with 3400 years of Western moral wisdom. But alas, we have much virtual ink spilled by Christians over the topic.

What is Essential

The Rob Bell flap over his views of Hell in “Love Wins” raises an interesting question. Many objected to Bell being criticized, because to them, Hell is not something we know a whole lot about, and our beliefs about the afterlife are not “essential”. So, to some, saying or implying that Bell is “out of bounds” is judgmental and wrong.

A similar question is raised by Roger Olson, who suggests that some Mormons that Mormons maybe could be considered Christians if they accept certain things about Jesus.

Augustine’s famous dictum, “on essentials, unity; on non-essentials, liberty; and in all things charity” can only guide our behavior if we have a consensus on what is essential.

Still Looking for Ken Miller's God

Published way back in 1999, Ken Miller's book "Finding Darwins God" was a major event in the Evolution/Creation/Intelligent Design battles. A friend loaned me a copy and I finished it today. A few observations:

Miller has an absolute commitment to naturalism as essential to science. And he is opaque to that being a problem for many theists who believe in a God who is outside of nature. He writes: "Presented modestly and accurately, evolution is a simple scientific idea. It claims only that material causes, the laws of physics and chemistry as played out in living things, are sufficient to account for the history and complexity of life. If evolution is neither more nor less than this simple scientific idea, then why does it engender such hostility?" (167)

The Second Punch Always Draws the Flag

We've seen it countless times in sports. Player 1 provokes player 2, probably several times during the course of a game with verbal jabs or some illegal form of holding, punching, grabbing, all just out of the sight of the official. Then player 2 in frustration retaliates with a push or a punch and the whistle blows. Player 2 is penalized, ejected, suspended while player 1 gets away with no penalty. We all agree player 2 should have kept his cool. But we wish player 1 would be held accountable.

I wonder if we don't see a similar scenario in the theological debates between the "conservatives" and the "progressives" that keep bubbling to the surface in news reports, the latest being the flap over Rob Bell's new book "Love Wins".