“Ahmadinejad unveils world without Israel”

Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad used his speech to the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday to unveil a vision of a world without Israel, in which America and Europe would be freed of what he said was Zionist oppression.

HT: J. Miller

Christianity vs. Islam

I think I have found it. Yes, the exemplar debate. The debate of all debates. This is the debate par excellance. You might recognize these two illustrious scholars, Stephen Colbert and Steve Carrell.  You have to check this out because it is hilarious!  Oh, and for all you logicians out there…take good notes.

Richard Dawkins debate in Birmingham, AL.

Atheist and best-selling author Richard Dawkins will debate his Oxford University colleague, Dr. John Lennox (a scientist and Christian apologist), on October 3rd at UAB’s Alys Stephens Center in Birmingham, AL.  Go here fore more info.

Reinhold Niebuhr Audio

For all of you Reinhold Niebuhr fans out there, you can buy audio of his sermons and lectures here for a relatively inexpensive cost.  These include lectures on ethics, faith and reason, racial tension and the 16th Street Bombing in Birmingham in the 1960’s, as well as some chapel talks and even radio recordings.  By the way, this is Reinhold Niebuhr, who is not to be confused with his brother, Richard Niebuhr nor his son Reinhold Richard Niebuhr, who now teaches at Harvard Divinity School.

Psalm 73-The Problem of Evil psalm

Psalm 73

BOOK THREE

God Is My Strength and Portion Forever

A Psalm of^(A) Asaph.

1Truly God is good to^(B) Israel,
to those who are^(C) pure in heart.
2But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled,
my steps had nearly slipped.
3^(D) For I was^(E) envious of the arrogant
when I saw the^(F) prosperity of the wicked.

Sign of the Times

Democratic State Senator of Nebraska sues God over natural disasters. According to FoxNews.com, “Chambers filed a lawsuit against God in Douglas County Court Friday afternoon…” See here for the story.

HT: My friend Mr. J. Miller.

The Letters of Jane Austen

may be found here.

“A Letter To A Student Of Divinity”

If you have never had the opportunity to hear or read this letter, then please indulge your mind, spirit and soul by doing so. It was composed by John Newton, the writer of the hymn “Amazing Grace.” Newtons’ words are full of profound thought and Christian academic experience. Every Christian student should be required to read this letter. Following is an excerpt:

LETTER II.

EXTRACT OF A LETTER TO A STUDENT IN DIVINITY.

DEAR SIR,

THE subject of your last is important. I can sympathise with your anxiety, having known much of it myself; and therefore willingly devote my first leisure to your service. But shall I indeed condole with you? or shall I rather congratulate you on the perplexity you complain of? I know it is not pleasing; but I hope it will be sanctified and profitable to you.
Though I am no enemy to the acquisition of useful knowledge, I have seen many instances of young men who have been much hurt by what they expected to reap advantage from. They have gone to the academy humble, peaceable, spiri-tual, and lively; but have come out self-wise, dogmatical, censorious, and full of a prudence founded upon the false maxims of the world. I have been ready to ad-dress them with that line of Milton:

“If thou art he—But ah! how fall’n !”

From _The Great Divorce_: A Warning

If you haven’t read C. S. Lewis’s The Great Divorce, shame on you. In the ninth chapter, Lewis encounters George Macdonald. In the course of their conversation, Macdonald is explaining to Lewis about choices. He recounts to Lewis the story of Sir Archibald, a man utterly controlled by his research in both life and the afterlife. When he died Archibald arrived in Heaven, but “[t]his country was no use to him at all.” Why? Because “his occupation was clean gone.” His research was useless in Heaven, so “in the end he went away” becuase it meant more to him than entering into joy. To this story Lewis, in his then ignorance, responds, “How fantastic!”

“Do ye think so?” said [Macdonald] with a piercing glance. “It is nearer to such as you than ye think. There have been men before now who got so interested in proving the existence of God that they came to care nothing for God Himself…as if the good Lord had nothing to do but exist! There have been some who were so occupied in spreading Christianity that they never gave a thought to Christ. Man! Ye see it in smaller matters. Did ye never know a lover of books that with all his first editions and signed copies had lost the power to read them? Or an organiser of charities that had lost all love for the poor? It is the subtlest of all the snares.”

Let us take heed.

A Few Links on the Moral Argument for God’s Existence

John DePoe has a page dedicated to the argument.

Here is the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy’s related entry.

Paul Copan has numerous writings on the Moral Argument. Here is a short treatment by him.

William Lane Craig frequently uses the Moral Argument. Here is his “The Indispensability of Meta-Ethical Foundations for Morality.” Also of interest is Craig’s debate with Kai Nielson: “God, Morality, and Evil.”

This, of course, is a very select list.