In 1967 sociologist Peter Berger, published The Sacred Canopy. He argued that a culture is held together by a number of shared religious notions that form an unquestioned (often unconscious) "sacred" covering that includes common ideas of goodness, beauty and justice. For centuries Western Civilization has lived under the canopy of Christendom. But that canopy now lies in rags on the cultural floor. A new covering floats over our heads.
International travel has helped me see this. I just returned from a trip to Colombia, France and Holland. In Holland we discussed "The New Europe," which is no longer Christian. My lecture, "Neo-Paganism: Step-child of Secular Humanism," suggested that the new Europe will be either Moslem or Pagan. There I met a South African theologian who noticed how much the "native" regime in the "New South Africa" fosters ancestor worship. In France, the students agreed that Cartesian French secular humanism was breathing its last.
I received an astute email recently. "Dear Dr. Jones," it began, "you make a big distinction between monism and theism, between understanding God as the divine force within the world over against God as the transcendent Creator above it. But it seems to me," continued the note, "that Jesus was a monist, because he says quite clearly in Luke 17:21, 'the kingdom is inside of you.'"
Please enjoy this quick interview that Resurgence had with Lee Strobel, a New York Times best selling author and believer in Jesus. Apologies in advance for the interview being so short due to my lingering side effects of being a jock. Lee Strobel has just came out with a very helpful resource The Case for the Real Jesus and he does an excellent job again at investigating to the core the six major challenges today brought up against Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. You will want this book in your library.
On Thursday, May 31st, 2007, at Mars Hill Church's West Seattle campus, Pastor James Harleman gave the fifth of a five-part lecture series called "Christianity and..." James' topic was Christianity and Culture.
What is Culture?
"By the word culture, we have to understand the sum total ways of living developed by a group of human beings and handed on from generation to generation. Central to culture is language. The language of a people provides the means by which they express their way of perceiving things and of coping with them. Around that center one would have to group their visual and musical arts, their technologies, their law, and their social and political organization."
"And one must also include in culture, and as fundamental to any culture, a set of beliefs, experiences, and practices that seek to grasp and express the ultimate nature of things, that which gives shape and meaning to life, that which claims final loyalty. I am speaking, obviously, about religion. Religion—including the Christian religion--is thus part of culture." Lesslie Newbigin
Why do we create culture?
God is our Creator and He made us creative to create culture (Genesis 1:28). The cultural mandate remains in effect even though sin has entered the world (Genesis 9:7). People create culture simply because they bear the image of God the Creative Creator.
On Thursday, May 3rd, 2007, at Mars Hill Church's West Seattle campus, Pastor Gary Shavey gave the first of a five-part lecture series called "Christianity and..." Pastor Gary's topic was Christianity and Liberalism. Listen as he lays out a little bit of history on just what Liberalism is, and what it's role in today's culture is, as well as what our Biblical response to Liberalism should be.
A Discovery Channel movie claims that the limestone boxes with the names of two Mary's, Joseph, Jesus and the "Judah, son of Jesus" discovered in 1982 in Jerusalem actually contain the DNA of Jesus, his parents and his "wife" Mary and his child.
ARCHEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE
According to Joseph Zias, an Israeli archeologist, within a two mile radius of this tomb in Talpiyot there are 70 graves/ossuaries with the name Jesus and 2 with the name Jesus son of Joseph; 48% of women at that time had the name Mary/Miriam;
this was a middleclass family and the family of Jesus was poor;
the family tomb would more than likely be in Nazareth.
Where are the other family members, James, Simon and the sisters?
The cosmic characteristic most extensively described in the Bible is the ongoing expansion of the universe.1 No other holy book of the world's religions describes this feature, nor was it anticipated by secular scholars before the development of Einstein's theory of general relativity.2 Therefore, evidences for a continuously expanding universe provide an impressive tool for demonstrating the divine inspiration of the Bible. Such evidences just received a huge boost.
Many lines of proof exist for demonstrating that the universe is expanding. The velocities with which galaxies are moving away from each other, the verifications of general relativity, the relative age and crowding of galaxies seen at greater distances (thus farther back in time), the measurable cooling of the cosmic background radiation—these four offer a sampling.3 Richard Tolman of the California Institute of Technology proposed one of the best tests as early as 1930, a test involving measurement of galaxies' surface brightnesses.4
"What difference does it make? As long as I'm not hurting anyone else, I should be able to live with my girlfriend." "I never loved my wife. Don't I deserve to be happy?" "I needed that money more than he did, so it's okay that I took it. Besides, he owes me for the time when…" Justification for sin comes easily to most people—including Christians. However, conscience has an ally: physics. Observation and personal experience suggest that physical laws work on the side of obedience to God's laws.
When I began studying physics at the age of seven a particular dilemma plagued my mind. I wanted to know why the laws of physics were set up in their prescribed manner. In spite of serious study over the following twelve years, no satisfying answers came forth. Not until I became a Christian at age 19 (the year I also began formal education in classical and statistical mechanics, thermodynamics, and electromagnetism theory), did I recognize that the physics of the cosmos reveal not only God's existence but also God's delight in elegance and beauty. Through the physical design of the cosmos, God richly endows a home for humanity.
Debates over global warming—how to measure it, the causes and effects, what to do about it and when—have raged for decades, with no resolution yet in view. Huge media coverage and multiplied millions of research dollars have focused on the possible impact of a fraction-of-a-degree average temperature increase worldwide over the span of a century or so.
Meanwhile, in a quiet corner, scientists express amazement at discoveries of the intricate pattern of events supporting survival through a solar warming so huge as to render the current (potentially devastating) crisis miniscule. In addition to stirring concern for the environment, global warming studies help highlight one of the greatest unsolved puzzles of nature since life first entered Earth's formless void.
Scientists focus enormous effort on turning detections (observations and measurements) into predictions. Meteorologists use data to predict temperatures, wind, and precipitation. Astronomers use data to predict meteor showers and eclipses. Physicists use data to predict the existence of fundamental particles. Seismologists use data to predict volcanic eruptions and earthquakes.
How do they do it? The answer gives fresh significance to a familiar and (for some) favorite childhood pastime: model building. This pastime carries on into adulthood for more than just the avid hobbyist. Model building plays an important role in the work of architects and engineers, automobile and aircraft designers, medical doctors and biology researchers, mathematicians and philosophers, geologists and, among many others, cosmologists—those who study the characteristics of the universe.
