Notes from a not so notable pastor, “now concerning…”
The writer of Hebrews says that one of the qualifications of a high priest is that he had to be gentle toward those whom he served; “he can deal gently with the ignorant and misguided, since he himself also is beset with weakness.” (Hebrews 5:2) (more…)
The Primates House was the main attraction at the famous Bronx Zoological Gardens in 1906. But what brought amazed smiles from curious adults and squeals of joy from happy children was no ape—it was a human being named Ota Benga.1 A sign in front of the cage in which this man was confined told viewers that he was a twenty-three-year-old African pygmy, 4 feet 11 inches tall, 103 pounds. Ota was displayed like a blue-ribbon pig at the county fair because here, supposedly, was a crucial link showing that man had evolved naturally from apes. Thus, in a sad twist of irony, evolutionists known for making men out of apes here essentially made an ape out of a man. (more…)
You know the refrain; do not mix religion and politics. Au contraire, I say mix Christianity and politics, lest the politically perceptive be seen as wizards of what ought to be, and the only ones who can make it so.
Christianity informs us how things are to be. For example, why work is important, why human life is valuable, the significance of family, the nature of good government, whether a law is just or not, etc., whereas politics can only enable a culture to implement and protect such ideas. Therefore, the removal of Christianity from the public square transmogrifies “we the people” into “we the means” of politics.
“Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”” (Genesis 1:26-28)
The Hippocratic Oath has gone through many revisions in the quest for the western world to be able to justify abortions, infanticide, and euthanasia. However, like other things, once one starts to unravel it, it unravels to the end.
Often unnoticed is that not only did Hippocrates’s oath elevate human life in not allowing abortions, etc., it also did so by elevating the patient-doctor relationship. Prior to Hippocrates, the best doctors were reserved for Royalty, the average for their courts, etc., and the less capable for everyone else. In other words, they had socialized medicine where the government determined who treated whom, but Hippocrates changed all of that. (more…)