Tag Archives: veracity

December 5, 2012

Nativity Redux

By Clarke Morledge
A typical nativity creche that you can get through your Christian bookstore.... replete with Joseph, Mary, the baby Jesus, a shepherd and the "Three Kings of Orient are," much like the one I grew up with. Historically accurate? Maybe not.

A typical nativity creche available through your local Christian bookstore…. replete with Joseph, Mary, the baby Jesus, a shepherd and the “Three Kings of Orient are,” much like the one I grew up with. Historically accurate? Maybe not.

When I was a kid, I liked setting up our wooden nativity creche during Advent season. The creche had Joseph and Mary in the stable, with barnyard animals all around. There were the shepherds, and of course, the three wise men. I lost the little infant baby Jesus under the couch one year, but found him a few weeks later. I loved this nativity scene. And I was really excited about it…. until I started to actually read the Bible.
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November 30, 2012

The Scandal: Pluralism #3

By Clarke Morledge

Pssst! Have you heard about the “scandal”? All curious ears, listen in.

The Scandal of Particularity: Is there really only one way?

Yes, it is the greatest “scandal” of all. Theologians have called it the “scandal of particularity”. In a particular time. In a particular place. In a particular person. God spoke. God acted. Who is the scandal about? Simply put. Jesus Christ. There is just no other way around Jesus. This is indeed a scandal to a post-modern culture that resists particular truth claims. It sounds so exclusive. So intolerant. And that doesn’t sound so good. Right?
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November 24, 2012

Cherry Picking Kierkegaard

By John Paine
The Coffee Gathering Pombo

“La tertulia del café de Pombo” by José Gutiérrez Solana, 1920

Generally I’m more apt to hang out with grill-in-the-driveway, figure-it-out-yourself, change-your-own-oil, workaday kind of guys than intellectuals. When I was younger and thought I knew what was important, I developed an anti-intellectual prejudice that continues to the present day. But as Tim Keller says, “You cannot be a Christian without using your brain to its uttermost,” so game on.

Many of us have a tendency to read Bible passages simplistically, without empathizing or thinking beyond the sacred page. Teachers like Michael Card encourage reading “at the level of our imaginations,” but that takes time and work.

Take the story of the testing of Abraham in Genesis 22 for example.  Danish philosopher, theologian, and Lutheran ethicist Søren Kierkegaard thought about the anguish that Abraham felt while walking for three days to Mount Moriah to sacrifice Isaac.  To Kierkegaard this is not a simple story to be read dryly or mechanically from one punctuation mark to the next.  Kierkegaard thought about the huge weight being placed upon Abraham’s conscience, and posited ideas about the teleological suspension of the ethical.  This isn’t (actually) a post about Kierkegaard, but just to help set the background, here are a few of his quotes: Continue reading

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November 15, 2012

Conflict Avoidance: Pluralism #2

By Clarke Morledge

OK. I admit it. I hate conflict. John Paine does not like it either, so I am glad I am not alone.

Cowboys or the Redskins? Duke or North Carolina? Red Sox or the Yankees? Me? I’ll just watch the ball game, thank you. Some love a feisty contest. But it is one thing to engage in competitive sports talk. Conversing about “God” in a pluralistic culture is a much more serious ball game.

Nothing like some good ole’ competition!

There is much at stake when it comes to conflicting truth claims regarding religious belief … or “non-religious” belief … let us not forget atheism. The consequences are great. Eternal matters hang in the balance. Heaven and hell. Life and death.

Imagine you are at a water cooler somewhere in corporate America, and the topic of religion comes up. A disagreement emerges. You feel the tension in the hallway as the conversation heats up. Someone tries to resolve the tension in the conversation and says, “You know, I believe that all religions basically teach the same thing.”

The “conflict avoidance” part of me wonders….”What a powerful and attractive idea”…..
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November 8, 2012

Common vs. Saving Grace: Pluralism #1

By Clarke Morledge

Perhaps you have been around this “conversation killer”. You are at the water cooler with a group of co-workers and the subject of “religion” comes up. Someone jumps in and declares, “You know, all of the great religions of the world teach basically the same thing. There are many different paths to God. No one path is better than any other”. A second person responds with, “But the Bible says that there is only one way to God. Jesus said ‘I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except by me‘ (John 14:6)…. Christianity beats any other religion. All other religions are false, demonic lies!”

Bumper Sticker Theology for a New Age…. To borrow from Rodney King during the 1992 Los Angeles riots, “Can we all get along?” … How does the Christian apologist respond to the challenge of religious pluralism?

Silence enfolds the water cooler. Awkward glances abound. A couple of folks begin to straggle off back to their offices. Another person tries to break the silence with, “Did you see the Virginia Tech game last night? How ’bout them Hokies??” The first person turns away and mutters, “Christians. They are such narrow people. Why do they think they always have a lock on the truth?”

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