Indus Apologetics Journal

Christian Culture Today, Not Yesterday or Tomorrow, P. Andrew Sandlin

The question is not whether we should work toward a Christian culture. Of course we should. The Reformed Faith - more importantly, the Bible - demands the Lordship of Christ in all of life. This is part of what it means to be Reformed - and, I would add, Christian.

What, by the way, is culture? It is the dominant, inner religious conviction of a society that is manifested externally in its arts, its education, its economics, its law, its politics, its science, its technology, and so on. Religion is the bones, and culture is the skin, of a society. Let’s hear the last line of Henry Van Til’s newly re-issued classic The Calvinistic Concept of Culture: “[A] people’s religion comes to expression in its culture, and Christians can be satisfied with nothing less than a Christian organization of society” (p. 245). We all agree - or should agree-with this conviction.

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Envy , Pavel Bartos

Thou shall not envy! Thou shall not fear envy, nor shall thou feel guilty for the envy of others!

While there are several theories suggested as to the motivation of the suicidal killers who destroyed the lives of thousands in New York and Washington on September 11, very, very seldom do I hear the word “envy” uttered in the official pronouncements from the government authorities, the media, or even in the expert opinions of professional psychologists, sociologists, or theologians in this respect. Yet, I am not only convinced that it was ultimately a certain kind of envy standing behind these terrorist acts as the most fundamental cause, but also that there is a causal relation between envy as the ultimate motivational ground and the horrors of World War I, Hitler’s national socialism, Stalin’s international socialism, as well as all other wars and revolutions, civil or international, all around the world now and in history. In other words, I suggest that envy reaches way back to the original sin representing the main constitutive element thereof, as well as the main perpetual constitutive factor, of the hereditary sin of mankind. This seems to be the main reason for the linguistic tabooization of the term “envy” in human popular speech and communication, especially in the twentieth century and onward.

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The Peril of the Past in the Present, P. Andrew Sandlin

Say not thou, What is the cause that the former days were better than these? For thou dost not enquire wisely concerning this. — Ecclesiastes 7:10

The contemporary dismissal of history is of epic proportions, not only in the broad culture but also within the Christian church. The Danish philosopher-theologian Søren Kierkegaard wrote, “Truth is Subjectivity” and limited meaning largely to the individual’s momentary experience. Today, human history and tradition are considered not so much irrelevant as unreal - they are not within the purview of the reality in which most of us live.

In conscious reaction to this New A-Historical Reality, many conservative Christians and churches have deliberately recovered a profound sense of the historical. This is exhibited, for example, in a healthy interest in the founding of America, the burgeoning of the “classical Christian” educational approach, and the intensity of ecclesiastical confessionalism (a return to the early ecumenical creeds and Reformational confessions). Each of these trends in its own way reflects a creditably sharp rebuke of the absence of the sense of history in the modern world and the Christian church. The first often identifies with the “heroic” definition of history, bringing to the fore such great Christian heroes of the past as John Knox, George Washington, Stonewall Jackson, the Scottish Covenanters, and others. The second perceives great value in the medieval synthesis of Christian and Greco-Roman education, which was Western education for centuries. The third interprets the doctrinal laxity and unbelief in today’s church as a result of apostasy from the precise theological statements of Faith, mainly from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Buttressing each of these (and other history-recovering enterprises) is the healthy motivation to counter the evident depravities of the modern world that spring from a denial of the authority of the past.

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The Reformed Pastor in a Post-Modern World, Rev. Tristan A. Emmanuel

The Office: An increasing dilemma for pastoral ministry in the post-modern world is inculcating a proper view of office. Egalitarian sensibilities have produced two very dangerous tendencies among the churched. It has manifested itself in rampant individualism; the assumption that we are all equals has led some Christians to reject the idea of mutual accountability. In contradistinction to this tendency is the ironic development of co-dependency, the belief that I can’t function as a Christian without someone directing every facet of my life. And so, while one rejects the legitimate ministry of Christ through men, the other replaces Christ with a man. Both are dangerous, both radically undermine the authority of Christ, and both are indicative of a cultural antipathy with office.

The solution is found in the Biblical view of office. Office has reference to a calling, a position. It is not an inherent dignity or virtue. As pastors, men function as Christ’s representative to the flock under their direct charge, not because they are more dignified or innately holier than the flock, but because they’ve been set aside by God’s call. It is God’s call that grants the dignity.

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Doin’ Good Ain’t Bad, Shawn T. Roberson

Sola Gratia! Sola Fide! Reformation battle cries, these two phrases show the emphasis placed upon a correct view of justification. With Paul, the Reformers declared that salvation is solely by grace through faith (Eph. 2:8). Their fight continues today, as many still attempt to give man credit for some small contribution to the work of salvation. Salvation is sometimes illustrated by pictures of a dying man simply having to open his mouth to accept a healing medication from the hands of Christ, or of a drowning man reaching for a lifeline thrown his way by Christ. Problems with these illustrations arise when we consider the fact that Paul says we were dead in our trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1) — not sick or dying. Dead men cannot open their mouths or swallow medicine. They cannot reach out for a rope. All they can do is lie motionless. The condition of death itself prohibits action. If anything is done for a dead man, someone other than himself must do it.

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Philosophy: The Need For It: Who Needs Philosophy? Once a person understands that philosophy is a set of ideas and insights that meaningfully relate life and existence on the earth, he realizes that philosophy is an essential subject related to life and survival. Yet many shrug their shoulders and say they do not need philosophy. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

Human life is a complex phenomenon. A person makes hundreds of thousands of conscious and unconscious decisions during his life, and a good number of those decisions are related to the ultimate realities of life. Nobody can make a right decision without the right philosophy. Consider a schoolteacher in a difficult subject like physics. It is in his power to make the subject easy and interesting, or tough and traumatic. The question is, what motivates him to work hard and do his best, especially if mediocrity is sufficient to keep his job? Further, since he determines the final grades of students in physics, he could easily give the highest possible grades to every student, keeping the students as well as the school management happy. What would motivate him to opt for the tougher path of hard work, good teaching, and honest grading? One might say that the rules imposed upon this person should get the job done, but there are several problems with that approach. First, rules only apply pressure. They do not provide motivation. Second, why should people make rules in the first place if there is no philosophy about essential duties in the first place?

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The Idolatry of Rationalism, Jeremy Swanson

“It is not sufficient for everyone to obey and to listen to the Divine message of the City of Righteousness, the Faithful City. In order to propagate that message among the heathen, nay, in order to understand it as clearly and as fully as is humanly possible, one must also consider to what extent man could discern the outlines of that City if left to himself, to the proper exercise of his own powers.”
– Leo Strauss, The City and Man

These words of prominent twentieth-century political philosopher Leo Strauss are a clear manifestation of his rationalistic spirit, of his rationalistic desiderata. But let’s make this personal: I fear that the impure, unsubmissive, hidden corners of our hearts find a certain needfulness or security in the desiderata of Leo Strauss’ rationalism. May the Holy Spirit be with us as we compare the spirit of these words of the man Leo Strauss with the Word, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. May the Word of God pierce to the bone and marrow; may the contact not be mere external superficiality, mere “argument.”

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The anthropic principle is used to develop scientific explanations in cosmology. It originated from observations that the earth uniquely and perfectly meets the requirements for life, and more specifically human life. Anthropic comes from the Greek word anthropos (Man). It is often set up as being in opposition to the Copernican Principle.

The very presence of life within the universe depends upon an extremely improbable combination of physical conditions. These conditions are so delicately and precisely balanced that even the slightest alteration would make it impossible for life to exist. Everything from the particular energy state of the electron to the exact level of the weak nuclear force seems to be tailored to the needs of existence as we know it. The coincidence of conditions, such as those allowing for the formation of amino acids or the beginning of the nuclear reactions that power the stars, is mathematically improbable to a degree far beyond our ability to comprehend. And yet, here we are. Proponents of intelligent design draw support from this fact because it strongly suggests that the cosmos has been intelligently and intentionally designed.

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