My fellow South Dakota blogger Cory Heidelberger is right when he says he isn't a theologian.
Today he praises the work of a group of people dedicated to continuing the butchery of innocent human life in the womb, innocent human life created in the image of God.
In addition for his appreciation of this effort, he also mocks the prayers of some Christians that God would "send confusion in the camps of the enemy" who seek to further that butchery.
Now just like Jim Dobson, I'm not a theologian. But isn't asking the Lord to put the whammy on people you don't like a little unChristian? Maybe the Vote Yes for Life folks would make more progress if they shed their macho bull rhetoric of warfare and enemies and focused a little more on love and community.
For one thing, love and community aren't usually manifest in the killing of innocent human beings, or in the killing of one's potential future neighbors. It also isn't a loving act to facilitate the damage abortion does to the physical and emotional health of women in the community.
If Cory was perhaps a bit more familiar with the Bible, he might realize that it is completely Biblical to pray for the confusion of the enemies of God's purpose and what God has said is right. And while God doesn't always answer such prayers in the affirmative, it is a task that he has accomplished on more than one occasion.
Cory often implies that if one doesn't have a seminary degree in theology, one cannot understand theological things and is unqualified to speak of them. I wonder why he seems to continually violate his own tenet?
He admits he has no theology degree, yet frequently expounds on theological matters. Since (according to Cory's implication) theological knowledge cannot possibly be obtained just by reading the Bible, or even imparted from another (outside of a seminary) such as the many experts someone like Dr. James Dobson knows, then Cory's wife's seminary degree does him no good whatsoever.
Why does Cory continue to lecture us about the unsound theology of others when he is, by his own standard, unqualified to make this determination?
Because there is at least one theological truth Cory does understand, but fails to acknowledge: his professed standard of Biblical competency is un-Biblical and unsupportable.
One of the most wonderful things about Christianity is that you don't need to have a degree in theology to understand Christianity and become born again. All of us, great and small, can grasp the essentials of God's truth and understand how to live a life pleasing to God. Even an uneducated fisherman like Peter was considered worthy of carrying on the Lord's work.
You don't need a degree of any kind, or even a high school diploma to grasp God's Truth. All you need is an open mind, a teachable spirit, and a willingness to follow God and His truth where it leads.
Ironically, that can be harder to achieve than a PhD in theology. Separating our will and desires from God's truth is harder to accomplish than earning a degree.
Whether one is a theologian or not, if one fails to grasp even the most basic elements of the Bible and Christian theology, perhaps one shouldn't foray into theological assumptions without a lot more Bible study.
15 comments:
I guess it's also "completely Biblical" to pray that the babies of your enemies are dashed against rocks. Completely Biblical...but not very Christian. It doesn't take a theology degree to know the difference.
I don't know of any Christians who are praying that the babies of their enemies will be dashed against rocks. Do you?
Been reading from Hosea too, huh Kelsey? Evidently, those babies would have grown up to continue the evil of their parents, which makes their murder justified. Or so I've been told from Bob.
But aborting the fetus of an ex-convict, whose parents and parents' parents were ex-convicts? Oh that's wrong!
God knows what people will do in the future. Until we do, we have no business killing unborn children, especially for convenience sake. Even if we did know or think we knew, life and death belong to God; until we're God, we have no business taking innocent human life.
I'm still waiting to hear about those Christians praying for babies to be dashed against rocks.
I know there are some people eager to see babies chopped up by an abortionists knife (enemy or not), but I'm unaware of any Christians praying for babies to be dashed on rocks. Enlighten me, please.
I'll let Kelsey answer for her/himself, but in the meantime, I'll just restate the conclusion you've drawn: God knew that the babies and children he wanted slain in the book of Hosea would grow up to perpetuate their parents' evil deeds, and the men who killed them believed God wanted them to die. Therefore, if you genuinely believed God told you to abort a fetus in the womb on the grounds that you had a divinely inpsired vision of this baby growing up to become a murderer, you'd be justified. I think you backed yourself into a corner.
As an aside, it's pretty despicable, even for you, to say that some people are "eager" to see babies aborted, or chopped up by an abortionist's knife, as you so eloquently put it. I think abortion should be legal in cases of rape, incest, and the safety of the woman's life, but under no circumstances do I believe that anyone makes such a decision lightly. No one walks into an abortion clinic with a smile on her face.
Until a few days ago, I didn't know any Christians were praying for confusion, either. But according to your logic, if there's a handy Bible verse that implies God supports dashing the babies of your enemies against rocks (Psalm 137:9, Hosea 13:16, Isaiah 13:16), it's totally justifiable for folks like those at the Prayer Blog post such a prayer.
Despite my joke on my original post, not only do think it's pretty un-Christian to pray for bad things to happen to people, I think it's pretty un-Christian to see your fellow human beings as your enemies. While you can dig up Old Testament verses to justify all kinds of awful stuff, I have a hard time imagining Jesus getting behind it.
God hasn't sanctioned that sort of thing since Christ established the New Covenant. Are you saying that God still does? If so, what evidence do you have? Do you believe women should use such a contention as a justification for abortion? I think you've backed yourself into a corner.
I think the fact that some people vehemently and vociferously defend abortion, even when 84.6% of abortions in South Dakota are done simply because "the mother did not desire to have the child", even when science tells us the child has completely unique DNA that distinguishes it from the mother, even when the child has a beating heart by the time most women even know they're pregnant...when you consider the vehement insistence on the "right" to kill an unborn child in the face of these facts, I think "eager" is fairly apt.
I don't see any logic of mine (or anyone elses for that matter) which says it's Christian to pray for children to be dashed against rocks.
And why would praying for pro-abortion forces to suffer confusion be a "bad" thing? I think it's a good thing for people intent on killing innocent human beings to be confused; hopefully that confusion will render them incapable of advancing and enabling even more deaths.
As for what Christ understood and would "get behind," consider that he identified enemies of his truth and purposes as vipers, an adulterous generation, hypocrites, blind guides, sons of Hell, blind fools, whitewashed tombs, snakes and other things.
Jesus also recognized enemies (Matthew 10:36, Matthew 22:44, Luke 19:27, Luke 19:43).
So did his apostles: Romans 5:10, Romans 11:28, 1 Corinthians 15:25, Philippians 3:18, Colossians 1:21, Hebrews 10:27, Revelation 11:12).
God loves even his enemies and wants them to become his friends, his children, his family. But as long as we oppose God and refuse to obey him, we are his enemies.
All it takes to change that is to admit we've been wrong, admit we're a sinner, ask God to forgive us and walk away from our sin.
You could do that today if you wanted to, Kelsey. And you to, Alex.
Nope, you're still the one in the corner if you believe God doesn't change his mind. Because the New Convenant clearly indicates that God evaluated the situation on earth and decided that something different was in order. Therefore, he realized that his initial plan (Old Covenant?) was no longer appropriate. Whenever you start a sentence with "God hasn't sanctioned that sort of thing since," it means that your 'perfect' deity has changed his mind. Not very befitting of someone who supposedly has foreknowledge.
Yikes, 84.6% of South Dakota's abortions are done because the mother didn't want the child? I guess that's one thing you can't fault gay people for! You heterosexuals have a lot of innocent babies' blood on your hands :)
As could you, Bob. I have no problem confessing my sins and asking for God's forgiveness. But I don't consider the work I do for the health and safety of women and children (which includes making sure women have access to safe, legal abortion) in any way sinful -- in fact, I believe I've been called to it as part of my service to God.
I'm glad you say you have no problem confessing your sins and asking God's forgiveness. But there's one I'm pretty sure you missed: you need to confess the sin of promoting and defending the killing of innocent unborn human beings.
Knowing the human potential for self-delusion as I do, I have little doubt that you actually do believe defending the murder of unborn children is a "service to God."
In addition to the abomination such a statement constitutes (as a profound slander against God's character), the fact that you may believe that is all the more chilling.
I used to be a drunken skirt-chaser before I surrendered my will to God, but at least I knew what I was doing was wrong. Knowing that made it easier to come to terms with the fact that it needed to change. The longer you keep yourself convinced that killing unborn children in the name of convenience is approved of by God, the harder it's going to be to change...and the more heart-wrenching the regret that comes with that change is going to be.
Alex, God doesn't change his mind, or his plans. He knew way back in Genesis 3:15 (even before that, actually) that he was going to send Jesus to establish the New Covenant when he did.
He had one purpose with the Old Covenant (to show us that we could not live up to God's standard of holiness on our own), and a new one with the New Covenant: for Christ to pay the price that none of us could, demonstrating God's love for us despite our sinfulness. You don't eat your burgers on the surface of the grill (or stove), do you? Of course not; when one purpose has been accomplished, you move on to the next.
And yes, we heterosexuals do have a lot of innocent babies' blood on our hands.
I'll pray for you, Bob.
Thanks, Kelsey. I am for you, too.
Thanks, Kelsey. I am for you, too.
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