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Monday, December 31, 2018

Apologetics/Religion Headline Archives (2018)

For the most part, the articles/columns linked below appear in chronological order, beginning with the earliest. 

2018:

Previous Apologetics/Religion headline archives are contained in a post at the end of each year and linked below:


2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008

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Sunday, December 23, 2018

Christmas: The Cure for Loneliness

Much of the world, it seems, is quite lonely. In fact, some have recently declared that loneliness has reached “epidemic levels” in the United States. A national study of more than 20,000 Americans by health insurer Cigna released in May of this year concluded that, based on the UCLA Loneliness Scale (a “20-item questionnaire developed to assess subjective feelings of loneliness, as well as social isolation”), “most American adults are considered lonely.”

Some of the “alarming” results of the survey, as Cigna reveals:
  • Nearly half of Americans report sometimes or always feeling alone (46 percent) or left out (47 percent). 
  • Two in five Americans sometimes or always feel that their relationships are not meaningful (43 percent) and that they are isolated from others (43 percent). 
  • One in five people report they rarely or never feel close to people (20 percent) or feel like there are people they can talk to (18 percent). 
  • Americans who live with others are less likely to be lonely (average loneliness score of 43.5) compared to those who live alone (46.4). However, this does not apply to single parents/guardians (average loneliness score of 48.2) – even though they live with children, they are more likely to be lonely. 
  • Only around half of Americans (53 percent) have meaningful in-person social interactions, such as having an extended conversation with a friend or spending quality time with family, on a daily basis. 
  • Generation Z (adults ages 18-22) is the loneliest generation and claims to be in worse health than older generations. 
You almost certainly encountered reports on this research. After Cigna released its study, media across the U.S. reported that “most Americans are considered lonely.” Before Cigna’s study was released, health experts were warning of a “loneliness epidemic.” In October of 2017, The Washington Post reported that former U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek H. Murthy, wants us to treat loneliness as a “public health crisis.” In Psychology Today, Dr. Murthy declares loneliness as “the most common pathology.”

The British are so concerned with loneliness that in January of this year, UK Prime Minister Theresa May appointed a “minister for loneliness.” Mark Robinson, the head of Age UK—the largest British charity focused on the elderly—warned that loneliness can be fatal. “It’s proven to be worse for health than smoking 15 cigarettes a day, but it can be overcome and needn’t be a factor in older people’s lives,” he said.

“The loneliness is killing us,” wrote Karol Markowicz in the New York Post this week. Ms. Markowicz points to the rising suicide rate in the U.S., which, along with drug overdoses, has led to another drop in U.S. life expectancy. As Web MD reports,

Life expectancy in the United States has now declined for three years in a row, fueled largely by a record number of drug overdose deaths and rising suicide rates, new government statistics show.

“It’s really the first time we’ve seen this multi-year drop” in decades, said Renee Gindi, chief of the Analytic Studies Branch of the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), part of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

I typically put little stock in research on something as difficult to measure as loneliness. However, as we examine the world around us, the anecdotal evidence for the problem of loneliness abounds. More importantly, Scripture explicitly reveals that from the very beginning, our Creator Himself was concerned with this matter. As John Milton put it, “loneliness is the first thing God’s eye named ‘not good.’”

After creating Adam, God declared, “It is not good for the man to be alone.” Eve was then created and humanity’s first couple were instructed to “be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.” As Matthew Henry's commentary on Genesis chapter two notes, 
[M]an is a sociable creature. It is a pleasure to him to exchange knowledge and affection with those of his own kind, to inform and to be informed, to love and to be beloved. What God here says of the first man Solomon says of all men (Eccl. 4:9 , etc.), that two are better than one, and woe to him that is alone… 
In our best state in this world we have need of one another’s help; for we are members one of another, and the eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of thee, (1 Co. 12:21). We must therefore be glad to receive help from others, and give help to others, as there is occasion.
Not only did Adam and Eve have relationship with each other, they were also in perfect communion with God. At this time, they may have been the least lonely people in the history of the world. Their sin ended all of that. After they disobeyed God and subsequently fled from Him, though they still had one another, for the first time in their lives they found themselves alone and afraid. Nevertheless, in spite of their disobedience, God still sought them.

So it is today. It should come as no surprise that as our culture grows further from God, loneliness and suicide would increase. I would wager that the loneliest among us are those who are the most devoted to themselves. Such people are often steeped in the “hook-up culture” and fill the crowded clubs and bars on Friday and Saturday evenings. Often surrounded by hordes, yet desperately lonely, many are clueless or in denial about what will really fill the void in their lives.

As little stock as I put in research on matters such as loneliness, I put even less stock in the secular solutions for such things. There’s only one way to fill the “God-shaped hole” in each of us. As Pascal put it, 
What else does this craving, and this helplessness, proclaim but that there was once in man a true happiness, of which all that now remains is the empty print and trace? This he tries in vain to fill with everything around him, seeking in things that are not there the help he cannot find in those that are, though none can help, since this infinite abyss can be filled only with an infinite and immutable object; in other words by God himself.
Christianity teaches that the only way to fill this “infinite abyss” is through a relationship with Jesus Christ. In order to become what we were meant to be, in order to have true meaning and purpose in this world, we must get off the lonely throne of our lives and let Jesus have His proper place.

Along with an eternal relationship with the One who made us, where we never have to feel alone, God’s greatest gift—Jesus Christ—meets all of our most desperate needs. Of course, Christmas is the time that we celebrate this gift and all that it means. Ultimately the world doesn’t have a loneliness problem, a poverty problem, a crime problem, a sexual problem, a terrorism problem, or even (and of course) a climate problem. The world has a sin problem, and Christmas provides us with the answer.

There’s no escaping this all important eternal truth: we are all in dire need of a Savior. Your life can be filled with people, treasures, and every kind of pleasure, but if you ignore Jesus and His message, you will regret it for all of eternity and be lonelier than you’ve ever been. Your life can be riddled with loneliness, poverty, sickness, and strife, yet if you repent and believe in Christ, the magnificent riches of eternal life await you. And whether rich or poor, sick or well, imprisoned or free, lonely or loved, we all need the gift that was given on that first Christmas day. Merry Christmas!

(See this column at American Thinker.)

Copyright 2018, Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of The Miracle and Magnificence of America
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com

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Friday, December 7, 2018

Lauren Daigle: Tell the Truth on Homosexuality

At 27 years old, with the 2015 GMA Dove Award for New Artist of the Year and Song of the Year for How Can It Be, along with the 2016 Dove Award for Artist of the Year and a 2016 Grammy nomination, Lauren Daigle is currently one of the most popular contemporary Christian music artists. According to Forbes, earlier this year Miss Daigle made history “by becoming the first Christian artist to top all five of Billboard’s core Christian charts simultaneously.”

Just days ago, Miss Daigle was nominated for two 2019 Grammy awards: Best Contemporary Christian Music Album and Best Contemporary Christian Music Song. In addition, her “Behold Christmas Tour” is selling out all over the country, including this weekend in my home state of Georgia. (Not a day goes by without my hearing an ad for the show on the radio.)

Her popularity within the Christian community, along with her amazing voice, have resulted in Miss Daigle obtaining some recent mainstream popularity as well. To go along with her mega-popularity on Christian radio, secular radio stations have started playing her songs. In addition, she recently appeared on Jimmy Fallon’s The Tonight Show and The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

After her appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Miss Daigle received some criticism from Christians who thought she had no business performing on a TV show hosted by a lesbian. In response to the criticism, as noted on The Christian Post, Miss Daigle replied,
“I think the second we start drawing lines around which people are able to be approached and which aren’t, we’ve already completely missed the heart of God,” Daigle told WAY-FM Radio.

“I don’t have all the answers in life and I’m definitely not gonna act like I do, but the one thing that I know for sure is I can’t choose who I’m supposed to be kind to and who I’m supposed to show love to and who I’m not, because that’s the mission right?” she continued. “Be who Christ was to everyone.”
Miss Daigle makes a fair point about “approaching” others and being Christ “to everyone,” but her construction of familiar straw men here—“I can’t choose who I’m supposed to be kind to and who I’m supposed to show love to…”—should have been troubling to the discerning. She soon proved some of her critics justified.

Several weeks after appearing on DeGeneres’ show, and no-doubt after some contemplation of the criticism of her appearance, Miss Daigle appeared on The Domenick Nati Show on iHeart Radio. Mr. Nati asked her, as a Christian, her stance on homosexuality and whether or not it was a sin. Miss Daigle’s response was indeed “troubling.” The Christian Post reports her reply to Mr. Nati:
“I can’t honestly answer on that, in the sense of I have too many people that I love and they are homosexuals,” Daigle told the celebrity publicist.

“I can’t say one way or the other, I’m not God. When people ask questions like that, I just say, ‘Read the Bible and find out for yourself. And when you find out let me know because I’m learning too,’” she added.
So again we see a Christian celebrity unwilling to stand for the truth on matters in the sexual realm. Sadly, whether with athletes, actors, musicians, and the like, it has become far too common for Christian entertainers to go the way of the world when it comes to sex. Of course, sometimes such compromise is a sad attempt to gain or hold onto fame and fortune. However, sometimes such compromise is the result of fear. In our hyper-sensitive pc-culture, many Christians today are afraid that the truth may offend.

What many such Christians have failed to grasp is that the truth is often—if not always—offensive. As John MacArthur recently put it, Christianity that doesn’t offend isn’t Christianity. In a recent interview with Ben Shapiro, Pastor MacArthur said that one of his goals as a pastor is to “offend everyone:”
The whole purpose of the Christian message is to confront the sinner’s sin so you can call the sinner to repentance and forgiveness. The sinner doesn’t like that.
MacArthur continues:
That is my initial goal: To tell you that you are without God in the world, that there’s only one Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, that you’re in sin, that sin brings death and punishment, but the good news is that Jesus Christ is the Savior who has provided a way for you to be forgiven by buying your sins with His body on the tree.
MacArthur added, “I offend people all the time because that’s necessary. If you try to develop a kind of Christianity that’s inoffensive, that’s not Christianity, it’s not the Gospel.” Such offense is often necessary, because those who most need to hear the truth are the least likely to want to listen.

Jesus Himself was also often “offensive,” so much so that many who were following Him prior to his crucifixion turned away. Simply quote Jesus sometimes, and you’ll find out just how offensive He still is. Jesus warned us that because of Him, we would be hated. The “City of God” will always be despised by “The City of Man.”

As a man who has found the cure for a terrible disease, followers of Christ should enthusiastically tell the truth with courage, conviction, and love. Along with ministering to the sick, poor, hungry, and broken; along with building churches, schools, hospitals, and orphanages, Christians also must confidently and strongly stand up to the lies of atheism, humanism, socialism, communism, Islam, the LGBT agenda, and the like.

In a world more devoted to its “isms” than to the God who made us, shining the light on such lies is precisely why some Christians are frequently found to be so “offensive.” In other words, authentic Christianity will rarely win a popularity contest with those devoted to the things of this world. Sadly, it seems many Christian celebrities are more concerned with popularity than with the truth.

Speaking of popularity, as measured by Billboard, with 20 weeks at number one, the most popular Christian song of 2018 is Lauren Daigle’s You Say. The lyrics of the song are filled with the phrase “You Say.” Of course, “You Say” is a reference to God speaking. Miss Daigle told Billboard, “I knew this would be a song of my identity. ‘You say I am loved.’ That's the truth.” How does she know that’s “the truth?” How does she know anything of what God has said? Presumably she knows these things because they are written in God’s Word. Yet somehow the truth on matters in the sexual realm elude her.

Daigle’s 2015 “Song of the Year” How Can It Be begins, “I am guilty.” Guilty of what? Sin? How do we know what is sin? The song Miss Daigle sang on The Ellen DeGeneres Show declares “You saved me.” Saved from what or whom? It is unfortunate that many contemporary Christian musicians are such poor theologians. We need them to be better.

Music is a powerful instrument for spreading the truth, and modern Christian musicians not only need to be good stewards of God’s Word when they write and sing, but they also need at least to be willing to stand up for the truths that their music often avoids. Our world is swimming in sexual sin, and the pain and suffering as a result is widespread and horrific. Yet very few Christians with a large audience want to address these grave matters.

Where are the Christian songs extolling sexual morality and marriage as defined by God? If not songs, then why not use concerts as a platform to otherwise spread the truth on marriage and sex? We must meet the enemy where he is at work. Because of the myriad of lies presented by the enemy—who is now even able to deceive concerning who is a male and who is a female—the world is desperate for the truth on such things.

Christians who find themselves on The Ellen DeGeneres Show or The View should ask themselves: why do unbelievers want to share their platform with me? Is it for “such a time as this?” Or could it be because they believe such Christians won’t present them with uncomfortable truths? Last year, after hearing her tell the truth about homosexuality, Ellen DeGeneres cancelled a scheduled appearance by gospel singer Kim Burrell.

Sometimes the most loving thing we can do for people is tell them what they don’t want to hear. They might be offended, they might be made uncomfortable, and we might become less popular. However, it’s far better to be made uncomfortable by the truth in this world than in the next.

(See a version of this column at American Thinker.)

Copyright 2018, Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the brand new book The Miracle and Magnificence of America
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com

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Monday, November 19, 2018

A History of Thanksgiving (Taken from The Miracle and Magnificence of America)

Sir Walter Raleigh’s first attempts at settling the New World were disastrous. The English, who were now trying to gain a foothold in the New World, were succumbing to the same greed that had earlier blinded the Spaniards. Starvation, disease, hostile Indians, and other hardships, including a whole colony lost (the Lost Colony of Roanoke), led to dampened enthusiasm for New World expeditions.

It would be nearly 20 years after Raleigh’s initial ventures before enough English interest could again be sparked for more New World adventure. Despite recruiting “sermons” that contained messages of evangelical outreach, and the preamble of the Company’s charter, written by King James I, which contained the words, “…propagating of Christian religion to such people as yet live in darkness and miserable ignorance of the true knowledge and worship of God, and may in time bring the infidels and savages, living in these parts, to human civility and to a settled and quiet government,” the lust for gold was, again, what drove European men across the Atlantic.

On May 14, 1607, headed by a seven-man council, which included John Smith, 144 men settled Jamestown. Because of their misguided efforts it was a disaster from the beginning. These men battled the elements, disease, Indians, starvation, and one another. The lone minister on the adventure, Robert Hunt, did his best to keep the others focused on God. His sermons went mostly unheeded; however, he persevered. By February of 1608 only 38 of the 144 remained alive.

The death rate did not abate with time. As Peter Marshall and David Manuel note,

For example, of the 1,200 people who went out to Virginia in 1619, only 200 were left alive by 1620. Why this horrible continuing death rate? There is no logical explanation, except one: year after year they steadfastly refused to trust God—or indeed to include Him in any of their deliberations.

The next settlers to cross the Atlantic would not make the same mistakes. They were not seeking wealth and prosperity, but a new home. They believed that America was their spiritual destiny. The Pilgrims (dubbed “Separatists” by the Church of England), and the Puritans who followed them, knew better than to undertake anything without God.

Aboard the Mayflower were 102 passengers, less than half of whom were of Pastor John Robinson’s Separatist flock. After a grueling two-month voyage, on November 11, 1620, they dropped anchor in Cape Cod, and heeding the advice and wisdom of their pastor, the Pilgrims drafted a compact that would embody the same principles of government upon which American democracy would rest. It read,

In the name of God, amen. We whose names are under-written…Having undertaken, for the glory of God and advancement of the Christian Faith and honor of our King and country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia, do by these presents solemnly and mutually in the presence of God and one of another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic…constitute and frame such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions and offices from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the colony…the 11th of November…Anno Domini 1620.

John Carver, who had chartered the Mayflower, was chosen as the first governor of the colony. His was the first signature on the Mayflower Compact, which is considered by many to be the world’s first written constitution. William Bradford would soon replace Carver as governor and would serve in that capacity for 31 years. On December 21, 1620, the Pilgrims settled at what would become known as Plymouth.

A replica model of the Mayflower. Created by Norbert Schnitzler.


Though their efforts were “for the glory of God,” the Pilgrims were not immune to the many hardships of an untamed America. Before long, many started dying. William Bradford’s wife Dorothy was among the casualties as she fell overboard and drowned. (Initially, while dwellings were being built, the Pilgrims lived mostly aboard the Mayflower.) Due in part to a brutal winter, dozens would die in those first few months, including 13 of 18 wives. In spite of hardships, the Pilgrims were undeterred and drew ever closer to God.

The months turned into years and saw the Pilgrims develop good relations with the local natives including Massasoit, a wise and welcoming chief of the local tribes, Samoset, and especially Tisquantum, or Squanto.

In the middle of March 1621, just as the Pilgrims were coming out of the devastatingly harsh winter, a guard alerted his comrades with the cry of “Indian coming!” Wearing only a loincloth as he walked into the Pilgrims’ camp, Samoset astonished the English onlookers with a hearty “Welcome!” Then speaking surprisingly clear English, he followed his friendly greeting with a request, “Have you got any beer?”

The Pilgrims informed their friendly guest that they were out of beer, and offered him brandy instead. After a hearty snack of brandy, biscuit, butter, cheese, pudding, and roast duck, Samoset was ready to answer questions. In spite of their difficult and deadly plight, Samoset’s words gave the Pilgrims great cause to thank God.

On March 22, 1621, Samoset returned to the Pilgrims with Squanto, who spoke even better English. Squanto’s life is an amazing tale of God’s provision that very closely resembles the account of Joseph from Genesis, chapter 37. Soon after Samoset introduced Squanto to the Pilgrims, a meeting with Massasoit, chief of the Wampanoag people, was arranged. Massasoit, Samoset, Squanto, and dozens of Wampanoag warriors traveled to Plymouth to meet the Pilgrims. With Samoset serving as the interpreter for Massasoit, the meeting was extremely fruitful. A peace treaty and a treaty of mutual aid were struck with Massasoit that would last for decades.

Massasoit and his party returned home, but Squanto remained with the Pilgrims. Being a man without a tribe, personally witnessing the desperation of the Pilgrims, and already having adopted their faith, Squanto took pity upon his new-found English friends and wanted to help them succeed in their New World. He taught them how to fish for eels and alewives, plant corn and pumpkins, refine maple syrup, trap beavers, hunt deer, and other skills essential to their survival.

Squanto was instrumental in the survival of the Pilgrims—so much so that, according to William Bradford, the Pilgrims considered Squanto “a special instrument sent of God for their good, beyond their expectation.” Massasoit also was an amazing example of God’s providential care for the Pilgrims. Like Powhatan had been at Jamestown, Massasoit was probably the only other native chief on the northeast coast of America who would have welcomed the white man as a friend.

In early April of 1621, with supplies running dangerously low, the Captain of the Mayflower, Christopher Jones, decided he could remain in America no longer. On April 5, 1621, the Mayflower returned to England. As the ship disappeared over the horizon, almost certainly a nervous uneasiness came upon more than a few Pilgrims who remained in the New World. Their last ties to their former home were gone. They, perhaps, felt more alone than at any point of their amazing journey.

The summer of 1621 was beautiful and, thanks in no small measure to the help of Squanto, bountiful. Governor Bradford declared a day of public Thanksgiving to be held in October. Massasoit was invited. Surprising the Pilgrims, he showed up a day early with 90 of his tribe. To feed such a crowd, the Pilgrims would have to go deep into their food supply. However, Massasoit did not show up empty handed. He had instructed his braves to hunt for the occasion, and they came with several dressed dear and fat turkeys. The Thanksgiving turned into a three-day celebration filled with feasting and games.

The First Thanksgiving, by Jean-Léon Gérôme.

A few weeks after the first Thanksgiving and about a year after the Pilgrims arrived in the New World, the Fortune sailed into Plymouth on its way to Virginia. The main cargo was an additional 35 colonists and a charter granted from the New England Company. There was tremendous celebration over the new charter; however, unlike the Indians, the new colonists arrived virtually empty handed. They had no extra clothing, food, or tools. The Pilgrims would have to adjust their winter food rationing plan severely.

The winter of 1621-1622 was as difficult as feared. The Pilgrims entered what has been described as their “starving time.” Some reports reveal that at times, food rations for each person were a mere five kernels of corn per day. Miraculously, that winter not one Pilgrim died of starvation.

There was no Thanksgiving celebration in 1622. When the spring planting season of 1623 rolled around, the Pilgrims realized that to fend off further hunger and rationing, a corn harvest at least twice as large as last season was necessary. However, a lackluster work ethic prevailed among them. This was mainly because the contract entered into with their merchant sponsors in London required everything the Pilgrims produced was to go into a common store and be shared. As Rush Limbaugh has often pointed out on his radio broadcast that celebrates Thanksgiving Day, the Pilgrims were languishing under socialism.

The leaders of the colony then decreed that for the additional planting, individual plots of land would be split, and the yield could be used at the planters’ discretion. Thus, as the concept of private property was introduced, the Pilgrims seemed infused and invigorated with new hope and purpose. As Marshall and Manuel point out, “The yield that year was so abundant that the Pilgrims ended up with a surplus of corn, which they were able to use in trading that winter with northern Indians, who had not had a good growing season.”

On November 29, 1623, two years after the first Thanksgiving, Governor William Bradford made an official proclamation for a second day of Thanksgiving. In it Governor Bradford thanked God for their abundant harvest, bountiful game, protection from “the ravages of savages…and disease,” and for the “freedom to worship God according to the dictates of our own conscience.” Well over a hundred Natives attended, bringing plenty of turkey and venison along with them.

The Pilgrims, and the Puritans who followed them, had the proper perspective. As Bradford would so discernibly note, “As one small candle may light a thousand, so the light kindled here has shown unto many, yea in some sort to our whole nation…We have noted these things so that you might see their worth and not negligently lose what your fathers have obtained with so much hardship.”

May the light of those first Thanksgivings never be extinguished.

Copyright 2018, Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of The Miracle and Magnificence of America
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com

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