A Reaction to a comment by Bill Maher in Transcendent Man

Posted on August 8, 2011 Written by Mark McIntyre 17 Comments

A friend of mine, @jimworth, invited me to view a panel discussion featuring Ray Kurzweil which was entitled “Transcendent Man.” The subject of the discussion was Mr. Kurzweil’s documentary of the same title.

As part of the panel discussion, a clip of comments by Bill Maher was included. In the clip, Mr. Maher made the statement that it is wrong for believers to use modern technology to get out their message. He made the seemingly witty comment that “you must choose your century.” The implication is that religion is a relic from the unenlightened past and modern technology should not be used to promote such an outdated message.

I have news for Mr. Maher. Christianity has always outlived its pall bearers. It has done so because Christianity is not a set of beliefs but a relationship. It is a relationship with Jesus Christ who has also outlived his pall bearers.

Hebrews 4:12 tells us that the Word of God is living and active. Since it is living and active, modern communication methods are the perfect media for getting that Word out to the world that needs to hear it. The Word of God contains the good news about Jesus Christ.

One of the themes of “Transcendent Man” is that technology will be able to solve the problems of mankind. I will most likely have another post regarding the panel discussion but until then I would say that given their respective track records, my money is on Jesus Christ and the Word of God having a better effect on man than technology ever will.

I Am Still Ambivalent About Harry Potter

Posted on July 26, 2011 Written by Mark McIntyre 3 Comments

Keeping some perspective on Harry Potter

I was forwarded a recent article denouncing Christianity Today for not taking a strong Anti Harry Potter stance. While I have had my own issues with some of the writers at Christianity Today and there are things in that CT article with which I do not agree, let’s put all the hyperbole aside and take a deep breath.

If your desire is to remove magic from your kids’ reading list, some of the best literature must be taken away. Need I remind you that Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia and just about every other fantasy novel or series have magic in them? Magic is a staple of the genre. In a previous post in this blog, I made some observations about this genre which point to our need for something bigger than ourselves. There is value in using literature to explore the big questions that confront us. These are question such as, who are we, why are we here and where are we going? These are subjects that fantasy literature explores.

With the release of the first Harry Potter book, some in Christendom began predicting that J. K. Rowling and Harry Potter would team up to destroy the faith every child and convert them to occultic practice. I haven’t seen evidence of this. Before we restart the anti Harry Potter hysteria, let’s find some evidence that the predicted impact is in fact taking place. The burden of proof is on the side of the doom-sayers.

So Why Am I Ambivalent?

I am ambivalent because there are some things in the Harry Potter books that I did not like. Like real life, the good characters sometimes do things that are wrong. They break rules, are sometimes disrespectful and tell lies. In this, Rowling has done nothing more egregious than present heroes that are flawed. Yet, at times while reading the books, I wanted to shout “shame on you.”

To be fair, I should point out that heroes are what they are because they get the most important thing right in a particular situation. Pick any hero from sports, war, history, religion, science or the arts and you will find a flawed individual who did well in his chosen endeavor. While I don’t like the flaws, they are what they are and flaws in book characters are consistent with flaws in real people.

Are the Harry Potter books great literature? I’m not qualified to determine this. I can say that they present a compelling story and force the reader to examine important questions. The Harry Potter books are entertaining and engaging; they do draw you in. Yet, I can’t say that I would watch the movies or read the books again. I have lost count of the times I’ve read The Lord of the Rings but Harry Potter does not compel me back in the same way.

The Harry Potter books are here to stay, which is perhaps an indicator of their quality as literature. Since they are here to stay, why not use them as a starting point for substantive discussion as opposed to using them as a jumping off point decrying the general decline of western culture and Christian influence? The books could be a good starting point for discussion about right and wrong, what is important and the purpose of life.

What do you think?

What is Caesar’s and What is God’s?

Posted on July 20, 2011 Written by Mark McIntyre Leave a Comment

Matthew 22:21, Mark 12:17 and Luke 20:25 record the familiar phrase “render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s.” The fact that all three of the Synoptic Gospels record this saying is an indication to me that it is very important. There is something here that I am supposed to get.

Hearing this taught while growing up in the church and reading the Gospels for myself, I never encountered any idea that this passage might be saying anything more than it is right to pay taxes.

The government has the authority to demand taxes and we are called to be obedient and pay them. Recently, when reflecting on this verse, it seems to met that In addition to taxes, the government, or world system, can demand our time, our effort and our intellectual power. In short, Caesar, as representative of the world system can demand our resources from us.

The world can demand our resources but what are we to render to God?

1 Corinthians 6:20 tells us that we, as believers, have been purchased for God, therefore we belong to God. The thing that we need to render to God is us. To render myself to God is to acknowledge that he is in the ownership position and I am to do his bidding. We get a sense of this from openings verses of Paul’s letters where he refers to himself as a bond slave of Jesus Christ. Paul had that sense of ownership that we are to have.

We are to render our resources to the world and our selves to God. This seems very straight forward and should be easy, right?

it is not so easy. I have observed in myself and others that the opposite often takes place. It is too easy to have a punch-the-clock mentality with regard to our Christianity. Put in the time, give our tithe, perform that ministry, and we satisfied our obligation. I sometimes get it backwards and give myself to pursuit of what the world tells me I should value while being content to give a small portion of my resources to God. It is to easy to get this entirely backwards.

Jesus, quoting from Isaiah 29:13, said of the Israelites of his day, “this people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. (Matthew 15:8). There are times when I’m going through the motions and my heart is not wholly devoted to God, even when participating in church or ministry.

Perhaps the beginning of revival is for us to examine ourselves for misplaced affections, repent and give to God what is his. He bought us at a very high price.

Fighting The Wrong Enemy

Posted on June 23, 2011 Written by Mark McIntyre 1 Comment

I read this morning in Mark 9:40, that whoever is not against us is for us. These are the very words of Jesus Christ but often forgotten by those that bear his name. We expend energy in fighting other believers and ignoring the real enemy.

Too often doctrinal litmus tests are developed to see who is in and who is not. We spend effort dividing over Bible translations, pet doctrines, music styles, dress style, building style and other non-essential issues.

The King James Only crowd think us reprobate because we read and teach from a “modern” translation. The reformed people have great sport bashing the dispensationalists. The dispensationalists retaliate with derision for reformed eschatology. The list of reasons to divide is seemingly endless. These are a few examples of the disputes within the community of those who take the Bible seriously and seek to live out what it says.

This post is not a plea to water down or soften or eliminate a hard stand on what the Bible says. We do not need to compromise what we believe. There are passages which speak directly to the issues of today and we need to uncompromisingly teach them.

There are groups which have beliefs that are clearly in conflict with Scripture, usually recognizing other “sacred” books which are necessary for understanding the Bible. We are not to compromise on doctrine, nor should we cease to point out the error in these false religions. Jesus is not saying that all interpretations of Scripture are equally valid.

I think that the point Jesus makes in this verse is that we are to concentrate on fighting the real enemy and stand shoulder to shoulder with anyone who is willing to join us in the battle, whether we agree with them on every doctrinal point or not.

My guess is that when the battle is finally over we will all find out that our own knowledge was incomplete and some of the people we bashed along the way had as much truth as we.

Anyone who is bringing people into relationship with Jesus Christ is our ally. Anyone who is pointing people to Scripture as the foundation for belief and practice is our friend. Those who are not against us are for us.