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Attempts at Honesty

Reflections on the interplay of the Bible and Culture

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God’s Crime Scene – Book Endorsement

Posted on October 11, 2015 Written by Mark McIntyre 1 Comment

God's Crime SceneI hesitate to call this a review since I knew from the get-go that I would enjoy this book and find it helpful. I know this because it is the followup volume to J. Warner Wallace‘s previous book, Cold Case Christianity (see my review of Cold Case).

This follow-up volume has the same feel as the first volume in which Mr. Wallace uses stories from his time as a detective to illustrate the truths he is seeking to convey.

In Cold Case, J. Warner Wallace takes on the question of whether the Gospel narratives can be trusted. In God’s Crime Scene, Mr. Wallace takes on the question of whether the evidence points to a divinely created universe.

The book is well researched and well written. The crime scene stories are useful for understanding the principles under which a good detective does his work. The skills required to do a homicide investigation are similar to the skills required to investigate the validity of any claim for truth. A ruthless curiosity combined with a commitment to getting to the real truth no matter where it leads are required.

One advantage of using the stories to illustrate the principles of investigation is that it makes for a more exciting read. Also, Mr. Wallace does a good job of defining any terms that may be unfamiliar to the average reader. So, a person who is not accustomed to reading works on Christian apologetics will not feel daunted by the task of reading this book.

Because of this, I would heartily recommend this book as a resource for a church small group or a book club.

God’s Crime Scene is a book that I know I will re-read and refer to as part of my apologetics library. If you have any interest at all in knowing where the evidence points with regard to the beginning of the universe, I strongly recommend that you pick up a copy of this book. For your convenience, if you click on the picture of the book cover, you will be taken to the page on Amazon.com to purchase God’s Crime Scene.

Filed Under: Book Review Tagged With: beginning, creator, crime, scene, universe

You reap what you sow – values and the criminal element

Posted on July 12, 2012 Written by Mark McIntyre 1 Comment

Apple with worm holeThis post is not about politics. It involves a politician who made an appeal to the values of the gangs in his city. The philosophy behind the statements is in need of comment.

Rahm Emanuel recently made statements regarding the gang violence in the city in which he serves as mayor. In those statements, he suggested to the gang members that they should “take your stuff away to the alley.” The New York Post quotes Emanuel as saying, “It’s not about the crime. It’s about values,” in response to the recent high-profile gang shooting of a 7-year-old girl killed in the crossfire as she sold candy outside her home.

For me, these statements are a classic example of what the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 1:22, “Professing to be wise, they became fools.”

They are criminals

First, Mr. Emanuel is addressing criminals. The very nature of a criminal is that he does not recognize the boundaries that God or society have put in place to maintain an orderly civilization. On what basis does he appeal to the gangs to change their behavior? If they recognized the authority of the police and the government, they would not be criminals and would not be killing people. To ask them to have values is almost as silly as asking my dog to become a bunny or a giraffe. Without a change in their hearts and minds to the point where they recognize a higher authority, no appeal to them will be effective.

Criminals do not share our values

Secondly, on what basis should the gang member value one life over another? Why should the gangster be concerned about the little girl? I’m agreement that he should be concerned about her, but considering that he shows no aversion to shooting people and selling drugs or whatever else his gang does, it does not seem likely that when the opportunity comes to strike at his enemy, rational evaluation will prevent him from pulling the trigger.

Society has contributed to the problem

Our country is becoming increasingly atheistic, to the point that anyone who dares teach transcendent values to children is considered dangerous or kooky. We teach kids in school that they are the product of random mutations. We teach them that the strong will outlive the weak and then we get upset when they put that philosophy into practice.

Similarly, we send the best and the brightest to Ivy League schools where they are taught that there are no objective moral standards. They are taught that morality cannot be legislated; they are free to live as they want with no restrictions. Yet when they become executives and live out this philosophy in the board room, we put them in jail for circumventing the financial regulations.

The party affiliation of Rahm Emanuel has nothing to do with this gaffe. The philosophy and the spirit of our age that he has knowingly or unknowingly ingested have everything to do with it. The idea that children should be free to choose their own belief system is now showing itself to be a delusion at best and a nightmare at worst. It is not a question of whether children will be indoctrinated; it is a question of what will be included in that indoctrination.

We are reaping what we have sown

We are reaping the fruit we planted when we threw off the moral categories on which the country was founded. The apple of freedom that looked so appealing when we first saw it has been found to be full of worms.

Filed Under: Bible Reflection Tagged With: crime, God

What CSI Tells Us About Our Desire for Truth

Posted on September 10, 2011 Written by Mark McIntyre 1 Comment

CSII recently read a post by Jill Carattini of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries. In the post she discusses the reason for the popularity of forensic criminal science dramas on television such as CSI, NCIS and Bones.

The shows center around the desire to find out what really happened to the victim and to bring the murderer to justice. The investigators are driven to solve the mystery through scientific investigation.

What is behind the popularity of these shows? Jill sees part of the answer to this in the need to find truth in the midst of the cacophony of opinions that are in the market of ideas. She writes:

In a world where truth is subjected to the murkiness of taste and opinion, the attraction to a self-evident, one-dimensional truth is understandable. All the lofty humility of the abstract pluralist cannot beautify the noise of a million clashing voices and truth claims; eventually, we grow weary of the end product and seek a less polluted scene. In the words of the illustrious detective Joe Friday, “All we want are the facts.”

This seems right to me. When I have watched these shows, I want the truth to win out and I want the bad guys caught. I assume that this is also true for other viewers and at least a partial explanation of the popularity of these shows. For one hour my world becomes increasingly ordered and the truth is determined and acted upon as the drama is played out.

But where does this desire for truth and justice come from? Apart from the Judeo Christian world view, we are taught that there is no absolute truth; each of us has to make up our own truth. If this anti-god philosophy is true, why then would we care if the truth about a particular murder is found out? What difference does it make? Why invest any energy and resources into solving it?

Could it be possible that in spite of the anti-god bias of much of our educational system, we still desire ultimate truth? We are told that the world is grey. Do we want black and white, right and wrong, good and bad?

I think we do. Perhaps the popularity of these dramas highlights the disconnect between our stated philosophy and the way we live. Even those who most vociferously denounce moral absolutes will call the police when they find they have been robbed. We can’t live as if truth doesn’t matter.

The problem in western society is in determining which truth is the one that we will follow. Science, as it is taught us in the public schools, tells us that the truth can be determined without the aid of God or the Bible. We are taught that the Big Bang started a chain of events and random mutations that resulted in humans living on a planet perfectly suited to their existence. If we are the products of random events apart from any supernatural aid or governance, then we are free to choose our own morality and it is up to humans to determine what is right or wrong.

On what basis then do we condemn Adolf Hitler, Charles Manson or Bernie Madoff? On what basis is my truth better than Herr Hitler’s if we are products of time plus chance? Herr Hitler did what he thought was right for himself and for his country. Yet, with the exception of those whose minds are clouded by hatred of the Jews, Adolf Hitler’s actions are universally condemned.

Perhaps the popularity of dramas like CSI is a clue that we desire absolute truth, and we can find comfort, for one hour at least, that someone is in control and truth will win out.

For those of us who are Christians, we follow the one who claimed to be The Truth. If you are open to it, I suggest you examine his claims. The end result is way better than just catching the bad guy.

Filed Under: Christianity and Culture Tagged With: crime, murder, Truth

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