The evolution versus creationism debate has been raging through the Christian community for a long time now. Some Christians are literal 7 Day, the Earth is 10,000 years old creationists and some believe the earth could be billions of years old, and the God created everything through the mechanism of evolution. Both sides can be dogmatic and overbearing.
One such group that isn’t shy about what the believe in is a ministry called The Way of The Master. Fronted by Christian celebrity Kirk Cameron and quasi-apologist Ray Comfort, this ministry is finding new ways to sneak in the gospel to an unsuspecting audience. (And yeah, these are the same guys who unsuccessfully tried to “prove” that God exists without using the Bible. See the video here)
Watch the video below to see what their new plan is.
I’ll be the very first to admit that I am not a fan of this ministry at all. I think this is a propaganda piece with a lot of false information. Our kids can’t pray in public? Can’t open a Bible at school? What planet are these guys living on?
A friend of mine posted the following rebuttal video on Facebook. There is some minor language, just to let you know.
I gotta say, I like this girl. She is spunky and really feels passionate about what she is saying. She has some bad arguments at the end, but more importantly, she has some very good facts to present at the front of the video.
My original intent in writing this blog post was to talk about differing views of creationism. But after watching the videos again, I have a different problem with Way of the Master.
Why sneak in the Gospel? Are they going to be telling everyone they give the book to that there is a Gospel track inside? Are the life giving words of Jesus something to hide?
[Note to the Reader: This post is a little long, but keep reading as it takes some time to set up my premise!]
I was browsing FoxNews.com today and ran across this story headline:
Did Miss California’s Answer Really Cost Her the Crown?
Now, I don’t follow the Miss California pageant or the Miss America pageant or the Miss Universe pageant or any other pageant. I think these things are shallow and bad examples for our daughters, but that is another post for another day….
I wasn’t quite sure what the story was about, but it had piqued my interest. One can sum up the article with the following quote:
So did her answer to Perez Hilton’s gay marriage question cost Prejean the coveted crown?
This was the last place I would expect to see the Culture War erupt! Another article on the subject is posted at the Dailymail.com. It says:
Prejean, a blonde student was one of the favourites to win the Miss USA title at the pageant held on Sunday at the Planet Hollywood hotel and casino in Las Vegas and shown live on TV.
Having negotiated earlier rounds of modelling in a swimsuit and evening gown, she was down to the final 15 and had to answer a single question from one of the panel of five judges.
Prejean picked celebrity blogger Perez Hilton, who is openly gay and calls himself ‘queen of all media’.
Hilton asked her: ‘Vermont recently became the fourth state to legalise same-sex marriage. Do you think every state should follow suit. Why or why not?’
Prejean paused for a moment before replying: ‘Well, I think it’s great that Americans are able to choose one or the other. We live in a land where you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite marriage.’
She continued: ‘And you know what, in my country, in my family, I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman.
‘No offence to anybody out there, but that’s how I was raised and that’s how I think it should be – between a man and a woman. Thank you very much.’
Gay Marriage and Abortion are the two biggest issues on the Culture War front between Evangelical Christians and the culture at large. But when Christians and the culture talk about gay marriage, I don’t think the questions being asked are in the same categories for both sides.
When someone like Perez Hilton (again, who? I just don’t keep up with media enough!) is talking about gay marriage, or gay rights in general, he is doing so thinking that these “rights” are just as absolute and redeeming as the slave’s right to freedom and the woman’s right to vote. So it is in this context he asks the Miss Universe contestant if she thinks gay marriage should be allowed. To him, it is tantamount to asking, “Do you think Hitler was evil?” Of course the answer should be yes.
Miss Prejean hears the question and automatically filters it through her Christian worldview. She comes to the question of gay marriage with an entirely different context. Being gay is a lifestyle to be chosen. The importance and magnitude of the question isn’t nearly so close to her (and many Christians in general). When she hears “should gay marriage be allowed?” she is hearing a question of morality, a question of right or wrong. It doesn’t really affect her personally.
I never could understand why gay people reacted so critically when disagreed with. This is America right? Aren’t we allowed a dissenting opinion? Aren’t all viewpoints and world views allowed at the table? Do their rights cancel out my rights?
If the question of gay marriage is elevated to the status of questions of racism and prejudice, then yeah, they are correct in getting so ticked off.
This post isn’t an answer to the question. It is me just writing down my thoughts as I ponder this issue. It definitely isn’t as black and white as I used to think!
Wow! It has been a while since I’ve posted anything! Life gets crazy and time just flies away!
I came across an article the other day and thought it’d be a good way to get back in the blogging mentality. You can read the story here or just read below.
Christianity ‘could die out within a century’
By Laura Clout
Last Updated: 2:40PM BST 20/06/2008
More than half of Britons think Christianity is likely to have disappeared from the country within a century, according to a survey.
Research by the Orthodox Jewish organisation Aish found that just over a third of people thought religions like Christianity and Judaism would still be practiced in Britain in 100 years’ time.
Although four in 10 people said they would choose to be a member of the Christian religion, almost the same number said they would rather practice no religion at all.
Buddhism however, proved more attractive than both Islam and Judaism, and was chosen by nine per cent of those questioned.
Aish UK’s executive director Rabbi Naftali Schiff said the results of the YouGov poll of 2,000 people were alarming.
“It clearly demonstrates that religion, including Judaism, is becoming unattractive to the British public.
“At Aish we know that Judaism provides real meaning and enrichment to one’s life. Whilst we have attracted many disinterested Jews back to Jewish identity it is clear there is much work to be done.”
Research published earlier this year suggested that church attendance is declining so fast that the number of regular churchgoers will be fewer than those attending mosques within a generation.
According to Religious Trends, an analysis of religious practice in Britain, the huge drop off in attendance means that the Church of England, Catholicism and other denominations will become financially unviable.
In contrast, the number of actively religious Muslims is predicted to increase from about one million today to 1.96 million in 2035.
Articles like this always have to be read with a little skepticism. After 2000+ years, is Christianity really in danger of extinction? Here’s an answer you might not expect from me….yeah, I think so.
Christianity dead in a 100 years? Could it be true?
This hodgepodge-pick-and-choose-which-scripture-you-like-God-bless-me-with-money-and-health-and-make-sure-no-evil-touches-me-good-ol-boys-club-genie-in-a-bottle caricature of what Christianity has become (mostly in America and the West) will hopefully be dead much sooner than that. But the true Christianity of the New Testament, the Gospel of Peace and Salvation through a God-Become-Human, no, that will never go away.
This would be the usual spot where I’d bring out all the apologetic guns and review all the historical, archaeological, and manuscriptural (is that even a word) evidence that is overwhelming in favor of Christianity. I’m not gonna do that today. I looked at the evidence for and against Christianity and the evidence speaks for itself; thus I’ve become a Christian.
I honestly think people are tired of fakeness regardless of which religion it is. There are some fantastic people and organizations working hard to bring authenticity back to western Churchianity.
Dan Kimball of Vintage Faith fame has written an excellent book entitled, “They Like Jesus But Not The Church“. Kimball gives an “overview of the six most common objections emerging generations have with church and Christianity along with the biblical answers to these objections and examples of how churches are facing this challenge”. Again, the main point is being an authentic person of faith.
I just recently ran across this website about a movie called “Lord, Save Us From Your Followers“. It looks really good! It is in the same vein as Kimball’s book mentioned above. I hope to order the DVD soon.
I know there are many, many good folks across America and the world who love Jesus and are serving Him passionately and authentically. That kind of Christianity will never go away.
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