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Adrian Rogers: The Final Judgment – RA2213
R.G.Lee, Ramsey Pollard and Adrian Rogers in 1972 in front of Bellevue Baptist.
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I grew up at Bellevue Baptist Church where since 1927 we have have had 4 pastors (Robert G.Lee 1927-1960, Ramsey Pollard 1960-1972, Adrian Rogers 1972-2005, and Steven Gaines 2005 to present).
I got to attend Robert G. Lee’s funeral in 1978, and in 1975 heard him preach his famous sermon PAY DAY SOME DAY, and in many ways it reminded me of Adrian Rogers sermon THE FINAL JUDGEMENT. Today I want to look at another great sermon by Dr. Lee on Hell. He really makes a great point that even though this subject is unpleasant the real issue is truth and if the Bible is true then there is a hell.
Dr. Robert Green Lee was born in South Carolina in 1886. After a couple of brief pastorates, Lee went to pastor at First Baptist Church of New Orleans. During his four years there, over 1000 new members came into the church.
In 1927 Lee was called to pastor Bellevue Baptist Church of Memphis, TN. Lee would stay 33 years at Bellevue, not retiring until 1960.
He served an unprecedented four terms as president of the Tennessee Baptist Convention and then an unprecedented three terms as president of the Southern Baptist Convention.
Lee preached another 18 years after his retirement. He traveled 100,000 miles a year preaching in small and large churches, and places like the Moody Bible Institute.
“And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”—Matt. 10:28.
I. The Asking—”Is Hell a Myth?”
A myth? Like Aeolus imprisoning in a leather bag tied with a silver string such winds and tempests as might be hurtful to the further voyage of Ulysses? Like the cranes of Ibycus? Like the Minotaur, the fierce animal with a bull’s body and a man’s head, which demanded a tribute of seven young men and seven young women—and the killing of this beast by Theseus with the aid of Ariadne?
A myth? As when Proserpina cried for help and her voice was heard by all the mothers of earth? As Laocoon, the priest of Neptune, and the serpents of the sea in fierce attack? As Nemesis, the avenging deity of mythology? As the three Furies -Alecto, the relentless -Tisiphone, the avenger -Megaera, the grim –three woman-like creatures, with writhing snakes for hair, a whip of live scorpions in the other?
A myth? As Hercules and the poison garment of Nessus? As Hercules strangling two serpents with his hands at birth? As Hercules and his “Twelve Labors”? As Midas and his golden touch? As Sisyphus who made a chair with automatic workings -so that when a creditor called upon him to collect a debt, Sisyphus invited him to sit down, and no sooner had the fellow taken a seat when one hundred ligaments of steel darted out and bound the fellow fast -and Sisyphus kept him there until he canceled the debt?
A myth? As the winged feet of Mercury? As Ulysses who filled the ears of his crew with wax and bound himself with knotted thongs to the mast -as they neared the sorcerer’s shore?
Asking , “Is Hell a myth?” is but an interrogatory way -on the part of some -of stating the Hell is a myth -as much as the wild mythologies of the Greeks. With playful raillery do many speak of the fact of Hell. With a blighting barriken do many speak of the fact of Hell, With many hell is the wild nightmare of a disordered brain -the fanciful fake of an erratic mind. A myth? Just as well say a lion has the mouth of a mouse! A myth? Just as well say an eagle has a sparrow’s wings! A myth? Just as well say you can cradle a furnace in a thimble! All of which brings us to consider some…
II. Asseverations
Asseverate means “to affirm, to aver positively or with solemnity.” Many there are who, with ridicule of those who disagree, declare that there is no Hell. Atheists tell us that we die like dogs – that our souls perish with our bodies -that when the earth has swallowed us up, we become part and parcel with clay; and that is the end of the whole matter. We, believing not what the atheists say, doubt if the atheists believe themselves.
But note what some say: “Milton’s conception of Hell was inconsistent with the character of God as revealed in Jesus Christ.” “The pulpit teaching about Hell is an unauthorized accretion to the true doctrine -and repugnant to reason.” “Hell-fire is a riot of imaginative genius.” “The Dantesque picture as a place of penal flames, smoke, and physical torture is an absurd picture.” “Indeed, it is to be doubted whether men ever believed fully in the existence of such a Hell, for if preachers believed in the Hell they taught thirty years ago, and had any humanity in them, they would have been unable to sleep in their beds. To talk of a Hell so horrible that no man with a heart in him would throw a dog into it, and yet to preach that the Almighty Father casts the bulk of the human family into it to burn for ever and ever, was to insult the very name of the Being whom we are taught to love.”
And more: “Hell is a state -and not a place. To live in harmony with what we understand to be God’s law is the truest Heaven. To live out of harmony with that law is Hell.” “Heaven and Hell might be the same place -and Heaven will be Hell to the man who loves evil things.” “Many of the terms describing Hell are allegorical or metaphorical or poetic -and imply the spiritual state which is the antithesis of salvation.” “If the Bible teaches ‘everlasting punishment,’ so much the worse for the Bible, because we cannot believe it! We are no longer the slaves of a book, nor the blind devotees of a creed, we believe in love and evolution!”
Now let me ask, if there is no Hell, is not the Bible a bundle of blunders, a myth, a book of fairy tales? Are not the prophets, who spoke of God’s mercy, liars? If there is no Hell, does not Jesus Himself deserve to wear the label of the impostor? Into the valley of Hinnom, outside the city of Jerusalem, the Jews threw the refuse of the city and the dead carcasses of animals -where the worms would eat them and a fire was kept continually burning. Jesus used this great valley of offal to describe the awful reality of Hell.
“And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off” it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into Hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.” Mark 9:43-44
If there is no Hell, is not Calvary, with all its suffering and sacrifice and finished atoning work, a blunder and all the voices thereof a babel of incoherence? By every contemptuous mouthful of spit that befouled His face, by every hair of His beard which cruel fingers tore from His cheeks, by every bruise of His face, by every mark of the scourge upon His back, by every thorn that punctured His brow, by every nail that held Him to the tree, by every breath He drew which was a pang of death, by every beat of His heart which was a throb of agony -by all the shadows that covered the earth when black midnight came at noon-day, we say that if Calvary be not the way of escape from an eternal Hell, then Calvary is a mistake!
It is not credible that the Son of God should have become man and died on the cross merely to save men from the short and temporal consequences of sin. The infinity of the sacrifice implies as infinity of punishment as that from which the sacrifice was intended to deliver those who would accept the sacrifice. If a man accepts the atonement of Christ -how can he doubt the dogma of Hell? Let us ask, can there be a Heaven if there be no Hell? The Bible, book above and beyond all books as a river is beyond all books as a river is beyond a rill in reach speaks of Heaven. But the same Bible also speaks of Hell. The same Bible that speaks of the glories and bliss of Heaven speaks of the woes and pains and miseries of Hell-as the portion of those who reject Christ. So let us consider thee…
III. Actuality
Though some today in the theological and educational world are “fond of a mist that rises from the ground” and rebel against the concrete, the definite, the actual —still there is a Hell. Though many vaporize every great fact and doctrine of the Christian faith and talk as though they believed that only when these great facts and weighty doctrines have been “sublimated into the mythical and poetic” are they worthy of the intellectual–still there is a Hell.
We need realities to meet realities –and we find them in the New Testament, which is not “a collection of Photographed mirages” and does not “tantalize wit vapors a world perishing of thirst.” Watkinson says” To take away Hell is to reject the physician and leave the plague, to overthrow the lighthouse and leave the hidden rock, to wipe out the rainbow and leave the storm, to take away the firelight and leave the fire to rage, to take away the vaccine and leave the smallpox. To take away Hell is to meet the tragic blackness of sin with a candle gospel, to make a mild twilight out of eternal retribution, to take away the trumpet and open the gate to enemies, to take away roses and leave the thorns, to throw away gold and press bankruptcy upon human life.”
In the light of Bible truth, consider the actuality of Hell. If there is NOT a Hell, I do not want to preach that there is. But I would rather believe and preach unpleasant truth than to believe and preach error. And as awful as the thought is, I can have no other conclusion than that there is a Hell –because I believe the Bible is the very Word of God. The Bible is the only book that makes the death room bright. The Bible is an oasis in a desert of despair. I must believe it! In the original purpose of God, there was no manifest provision for Hell. Every being, bearing the image of the Creator, was with Him about the throne of Heaven. There was no necessity for a Hell. Necessity arose when His hosts rebelled in Heaven and were cast out. Then was the “everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”
“Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared, for the devil and his angels.”—Matt. 25:41.
“And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.” —II Thess. 1:7-9
Hell is a terrible actuality.
Yet some say: “Scholarly preachers have given up belief in an orthodox Hell.” If so, they did not give up that belief for reasons of Greek or New Testament scholarship. If so, they gave it up for sentimental and speculative reasons. No man can go to the New Testament and not find Hell there. But suppose it is true that some preachers have given up a belief in Hell. That would not prove anything. Religious scholars have been wrong more than they have been right.
None of the scholars in Noah’s day believed a flood would come. But it did. No scholars, except for Abraham and Lot, believed that fire would fall on Sodom and Gomorrah. But it did. No scholars, except Jeremiah and Baruch, believed Jerusalem would be destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar. But it was! Four leading schools of thought in Jesus’ day scoffed at Jesus’ prediction concerning the coming judgment of God on Jerusalem. But secular history tells us that in spite of the dissent of all the scholars, it came true just as Jesus predicted. No university in the world in the days of Luther and Huss believed in the doctrine of justification by faith. But it was so –and Luther was right –and every university of Germany, France, England and Scotland was wrong. So if all the scholars, preachers, scientist, artists, statesmen, politicians, musicians, and teachers on earth gave up belief in the doctrine of an orthodox Hell, it would not prove anything.
Some say: “I hate hell.” So do I. But nobody can hate Hell out of existence. I hate snakes, but my hatred does not exterminate them. I hate rats, but rats still live. If we are Christians, we hate hypocrisy. But hypocrisy continues. Christians hate all manner of sins, but that hatred does not alleviate the sins. The hatred of Hell does not alter the fact that THERE IS A HELL!
Now consider some…
IV. Attestations
1. The Bible. We have looked at some scripture on the subject already. Here are more verses:
“And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be iveeping and gnashing of teeth.” Matt. 25:30.
“Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.” Matt. 25:41.
“And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” Matt. 10:28.
See also, Rev. 20:15; Mat. 13:40-42; Rev. 14:10-11
2. Dr. R.A. Torrey: “I claim to be a scholarly preacher. I have a right to so claim. I have two degrees, specializing in Greek in one of the most highly esteemed universities in America. I have read the Bible in three languages for many years. I have written between thirty and forty books that have been widely read. I have a right to claim to be a scholarly preacher. Yet I believe the old-fashioned Bible doctrine regarding Hell.”
3. D.L. Moody: “The same Christ that tells us of Heaven with all its glories, tells us of Hell with all its horrors; and no one can accuse Christ of drawing this picture to terrify people, or to alarm them, if it were not true.
4. T. DeWitt Talmage: “Not having intellect enough to fashion an eternity of my own, I must take the word of the Bible. I believe there is a Hell. If I had not been afraid of Hell I do not think I would have started for Heaven.”
5. Charles Spurgeon: “Our joy is that if any one of us are made, in God’s hands, the means of converting a man from the error of his way, we shall have saved a soul from this eternal death. That dreadful Hell the saved one will not know, that wrath he will not feel, that being banished from the presence of God will never happen to him.”
6. Paul Stewart: “The preaching that ignores the doctrine of Hell lowers the holiness of God and degrades the work of Christ.”
7. B. H. Lovelace “There are foregleams of Hell all around us (Rom. 8:22). Read the tragedies that besmear the front pages of our daily newspapers, behold the victim of drink writhing in the tortures of delirium tremens, see the human wrecks strewn all along life’s highway, and hear the sobs and sighs of a sin-cursed world. These are but a few sparks from the Lake of Fire, the eternal abode of the lost. Hell is a logical necessity. It is the ultimate and inevitable consequence of the law of moral gravitation, which begins in life and ends in eternity. What was said of Judas Iscariot will be true of all men, ‘he went to his own place.’ ”
8. William Elbert Munsey “There is a Hell. All principles of quality, character, and state exist in correlative dualities. God and evil are correlates. The very argument which makes Heaven the saint’s reward beyond the grave must, give a correlating punishment to the lost beyond the grave.”
9. Billy Sunday: “You will not be in Hell five minutes until you believe that there is one.”
10. Sam Jones: “I believe in a bottomless Hell, and I believe that the wicked will be turned into Hell. The legitimate end of a sinful life is Hell. Every sinner carries his own brimstone with him. How many men can meet Truth without a tremor in their muscles?”
The popular theory of this age is: “I die like my dog. I die a sinner, and am nowhere ever after. The coffin holds both body and soul so any kind of eternal punishment is an impossibility.” This theory denies the immortality of the soul. God says, “The wicked shall be turned into hell…where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.” Go to your Bibles, men and women! Let us have the truth about the matter, whatever it be! I cite God himself, “The wicked shall be turned into hell..” You may scatter the everlasting mountains or split the sun in two, but you cannot alter God’s Word. I cite the tenderhearted Savior; and three times in one chapter! (Mark 9) He speaks of a worm that never dies, and a fire that never shall be quenched. Take time, you, whoever you are, to read the 9th chapter of Mark. Read it and then tell me, did the Lord Jesus lie when he spoke of unquenchable fire? Did the Son of God picture a lie when He showed us the rich man lifting up his eyes in torments, and begging a drop of water to cool his tongue? Did He purposely put fright in our souls with lying pictures of something which never existed? Scripture says, “It is impossible for God to lie.” Well, then, it is impossible that there is no Hell, and let that forever settle the question.
Now along with these attestations, I would have you think of some…
V. Adjectives
Here are some adjectives that describe the severe nature of Hell.
1. “Everlasting Fire” I am not going to split hairs to prove the fire of Hell is literal fire any more than I would split hairs to prove the gold of Heaven is literal god. I believe when God says “fire,” He means “fire.” When He says “gold” he means ” gold.” Those who would deny the “fire” of Hell have only removed part the physical pain, which is the least significant feature of its character. Hell is the madhouse of the universe where remorse and an accusing memory cause unspeakable torture. All words are incapable of describing that awful place. The very thought of Hell ought to make one uncomfortable. No music -but the weeping, wailing gnashing of teeth. No rest -but the wicked wanting rest, yet forever tired. No fragrance -“smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever.”
2. “Everlasting fire is a real PLACE.” The rich man of Luke 16 is in Hell bodily. He wanted his brothers to know that where he was after death was a PLACE. Jesus taught that the body would be in Hell along with the soul. (Mat. 10:28)
3. A place of TORMENT. “The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.” Rev. 14:10-11
4. A place of VILE COMPANIONSHIPS. “But the fearful, and unbelieving and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and birmstone: which is the second death.” Rev. 21:8 The Devil will be there with all his demons. Read the list of the wicked persons in Romans 1:29-31…
5. A place from which there is NO EXIT. In public halls we find in bold letters, “EXIT.” But “exit” is a word not in the vocabulary of Hell. In other places there may be signs to help point the way out. But there are no exit signs in Hell. Jesus says “there is a great gulf fixed…” It is impossible to escape from Hell to a better place.
6. A place that is ETERNAL. ” And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.” Matt. 25:46 No one has any trouble believing the “eternal life” part of this verse. But by every known law of exegesis, it must mean the same thing in the other part of the verse. This word means “unto the ages of the ages.” It is an unimaginable duration, a length of time that cannot be expressed. Sometimes it is used to describe the duration of the blessings of the saints, other times it describes the suffering of those in Hell. Eternal… Without end…. There are 10,000 grains of wheat in one bushel, let us day. Multiply that by all the grains in the millions of bushels of wheat grown every year. Multiply that by all the leaves on all the trees of the world. Now multiply that number by all the grains of sand on all the seashores of the globe. Now take that number and multiply it by the number of stars in the sky. The number you would get after making such a calculation, if you could, would not even begin to count the length of eternity. Hell would not be Hell if it were just a 10-year sentence.
The Greek word “Gehenna” means a place of everlasting punishment. Southeast of Jerusalem was a valley where, for a long time, the idol Molech was worshipped. Little children were thrown into his fiery arms and consumed in the flames. Because of their cries it came to be know as the Valley of Lamentation, or the Valley of Hinnom. Those horrible sacrifices were abolished by Josiah. (2Kings 23:10) The jews so abhorred the place that they cast into it all manner of refuse, dead bodies of animals, and of criminals who had been executed. Fires were constantly needed to consume the dead bodies and so the place was called “Gehenna of fire.” It is the word “Gehenna” that the New Testament uses to describe the place of punishment appointed for the unsaved after death.
What a terrible place Hell must be. A world where the Holy Spirit never strives, where every soul is fully left to its own depravity; and where there is no leisure for repentance, even if there was a desire for it. Richard Fuller called it “An immortality of pain and tears: an infinity of wretchedness and despair; the blackness of darkness across which conscience will forever shoot her clear and ghastly flashes -like lightning streaming over a desert when midnight and tempest are there; Weeping a wailing and gnashing of teeth: long, long eternity, and things that will make that eternity seem longer, making each moment more miserable than the last…”
But now I would have you to think of the….
VI. Assistance
Now I speak of the assistance the doctrine of Hell is in preaching to win the lost. The preaching of this doctrine is ever an asset -never a hindrance- to the success of gospel preaching. The minister of the Gospel is under obligation to preach the whole truth of God’s Word. If he does, God will take care of the results. We are to preach “as a dying man to dying men,” as Richard Baxter wrote. If we are to preach at all, we must preach the whole message, and that includes the doctrine of Hell.
Mary Slessor, who became a missionary to West Africa, heard a message on Hell. She feared for her soul and turned to Christ. Look at the thousands who have been saved because of Mary Slessor’s ministry. Preachers must preach the doctrine of Hell to wake up sinners to their lost condition. Salvation implies a danger. There is a place for fear in preaching if the danger is real. If we are never to preach on Hell, what is one saved from?
A.C. Dixon said, “If we had more preaching on Hell in the pulpit, we might have less hell in the community.” General Booth said, “If I had my way I would not give any of my workers a three-year training in a college, but I would put each of you twenty-four hours in Hell -the best training for earnest preaching you could have.”
We need to preach this doctrine along with the truth of the cross. Preach it -not as dainty tasters of intellectual subtleties. Preach it -not as dealers in finespun metaphysical disquisitions. Preach it -not as administrators of laughing gas for the painless extraction of sin. Preach it -not with stammering tongue but as a trumpet that gives no uncertain sound. Preach it -with broken heart and yearning soul. Believing in the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ for the sins of the whole world, we must accept the doctrine of Hell -for no lesser fate can they expect who, having heard the offer of the Gospel, deliberately reject it. How great the folly of suppressing the revealed fact of Hell!
But think now of the…
VII. Agonizing
Not only of those agonize in Hell, but the agony of soul we should have in prayer and in preaching with concern to save the lost. If this city had a pestilence descending on it -what would we not do to stop its onslaught? If your children were in danger of smallpox -how concerned you would be! If a mad dog were loose in a school -how you would risk your life to save children from the virus of rabies from the dog’s fangs! How much more when there are souls in danger of Hell -eternal Hell!
Who can arrange or describe fitting funeral obsequies of a lost soul? All the tears ever shed by all the graves and tombs of earth cannot. All the moans and sobs and sighs ever uttered cannot. If the inanimate world could break her silence—would that do it? If all seas should utter their deep and dreadful wails—would that do it? If all the mountains should lift up rumbling voices—would that do it? If the sun should drape in darkness—would that do it? If the moon should refuse to give her light—would that do it? If all the stars turned to clay—would all these fitly show the dire catastrophe of a lost soul? No songs on earth, no prayers, no words can fitly show what it means to be lost!
Yet I fear we agonize not as did Abraham over the wickedness of Sodom and Gommorah. Nor as Moses who pleaded for God to blot him out rather than the people. Nor as Jacob over the disappearance of his son Joseph. Nor as Samuel wept all night over Saul. Nor as David who cried all night over Absalom. Nor as Jeremiah who wept like a brokenhearted archangel. Nor as Ezekiel who ate filth to show the horrors of slavery. Nor as Job who asked God questions through lips that festered with disease. Nor as Paul who counted all things but loss.
I fear that we as Christians treat our main business as an incidental. We should be like Whitefield who said, “I am willing to go to prison and to death for you, but I am not willing to go to Heaven without you.” When fishermen are sent to the river, they fish. When nurses are sent to the hospital, they nurse. When painters are sent to a house, they paint. When soldiers are sent to the battle, they fight. But when our God sends us into the world to win souls, we sing “Throw Out the Lifeline” but do not throw. We sing “I Love to Tell the Story” and do not tell it. Our singing and our practice are so strangely at variance.
We need the passion that girded Francis Asbury as he traveled a distance equal to five circuits around the world every five years, on the average, for forty-five years -and that mainly on horseback. We need the passion that fired Livingstone and kept him aflame amid jungle dangers and twenty-seven attacks of African fever -the passion that was the power working in the heart of David Brainerd who said: “I care not what hardships I endure, if only I can see souls saved” -the passion that drove General Booth who said, “God shall have all there is of William Booth.”
And lastly let us examine the…
VIII. The Antithesis
We cannot leave speaking without giving the antithesis to Hell. Allow me to say a word about Heaven. Heaven is the place where no hostility can reach us, where no temptations can assail us, where no pain can pierce us, where no night can shadow us. Heaven is the most beautiful place the wisdom of God could conceive and the power of God could prepare.
Dr. Biederwolf tells us of a little girl who was blind from birth and only knew the beauties of the earth from her mother’s lip. A noted surgeon worked on her eyes and at last the operations were successful, and as the last bandage dropped away she flew into her mother’s arms and then to the window and the open door. As the glories of earth rolled into her vision, she ran to her mother with tears, crying, “Oh Mama, why didn’t you tell me it was so wonderful?” “I tried to tell you,” she said, “but I couldn’t do it.”
And one day when we go sweeping through those gates of pearl and catch our first vision of the enrapturing beauty all around us, I think we may hunt up the Apostle John and say, “Why didn’t you tell us it was so beautiful?” And John will say, “I tried to tell you when I wrote the twenty-first and twenty-second chapters of the last book in the Bible after I got my vision, but I couldn’t do it.”
Heaven -the land of no heartaches, no graves, no wars or poverty, no hearse rolls its dark way to the tomb. Let us have and hold and preach the Bible conception of Hell. Let us have and hold and preach the antithetical conception of that perfect vision of God which we call home -Heaven. Every human must make his choice. We pray that choice is Heaven!
The late Adrian Rogers was my pastor at Bellevue Baptist when I grew up and I sent his sermon on evolution and another on the accuracy of the Bible to many atheists to listen to and many of them did. I also sent many of the arguments from Francis Schaeffer also.
Many of these scholars have taken the time to respond back to me in the last 20 years and some of the names included are Ernest Mayr (1904-2005), George Wald (1906-1997), Carl Sagan (1934-1996), Robert Shapiro (1935-2011), Nicolaas Bloembergen (1920-), Brian Charlesworth (1945-), Francisco J. Ayala (1934-) Elliott Sober (1948-), Kevin Padian (1951-), Matt Cartmill (1943-) , Milton Fingerman (1928-), John J. Shea (1969-), , Michael A. Crawford (1938-), (Paul Kurtz (1925-2012), Sol Gordon (1923-2008), Albert Ellis (1913-2007), Barbara Marie Tabler (1915-1996), Renate Vambery (1916-2005), Archie J. Bahm (1907-1996), Aron S “Gil” Martin ( 1910-1997), Matthew I. Spetter (1921-2012), H. J. Eysenck (1916-1997), Robert L. Erdmann (1929-2006), Mary Morain (1911-1999), Lloyd Morain (1917-2010), Warren Allen Smith (1921-), Bette Chambers (1930-), Gordon Stein (1941-1996) , Milton Friedman (1912-2006), John Hospers (1918-2011), and Michael Martin (1932-).
THIRD, there is hope that an atheist will reconsider his or her position after examining more evidence. Twenty years I had the opportunity to correspond with two individuals that were regarded as two of the most famous atheists of the 20th Century, Antony Flew and Carl Sagan. I had read the books and seen the films of the Christian philosopher Francis Schaeffer and he had discussed the works of both of these men. I sent both of these gentlemen philosophical arguments from Schaeffer in these letters and in the first letter I sent a cassette tape of my pastor’s sermon IS THE BIBLE TRUE? You may have noticed in the news a few years that Antony Flew actually became a theist in 2004 and remained one until his death in 2010. Carl Sagan remained a skeptic until his dying day in 1996.Antony Flew wrote me back several times and in the June 1, 1994 letter he commented, “Thank you for sending me the IS THE BIBLE TRUE? tape to which I have just listened with great interest and, I trust, profit.” I later sent him Adrian Rogers’ sermon on evolution too.
The ironic thing is back in 2008 I visited the Bellevue Baptist Book Store and bought the book There Is A God – How the World’s Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind, by Antony Flew, and it is in this same store that I bought the message by Adrian Rogers in 1994 that I sent to Antony Flew. Although Antony Flew did not make a public profession of faith he did admit that the evidence for God’s existence was overwhelming to him in the last decade of his life. His experience has been used in a powerful way to tell others about Christ. Let me point out that while on airplane when I was reading this book a gentleman asked me about the book. I was glad to tell him the whole story about Adrian Rogers’ two messages that I sent to Dr. Flew and I gave him CD’s of the messages which I carry with me always. Then at McDonald’s at the Airport, a worker at McDonald’s asked me about the book and I gave him the same two messages from Adrian Rogers too.
in many of these letters that I would send to famous skeptics and I would always include audio messages from Adrian Rogers. Perhaps Schaeffer’s most effective argument was concerning Romans 1 and how a person could say that he didn’t believe that the world had a purpose or meaning but he could not live that way in the world that God created and with the conscience that every person is born with.
Google “Adrian Rogers Francis Schaeffer” and the first 8 things that come up will be my blog posts concerning effort to reach these atheists. These two great men proved that the scriptures Hebrews 4:12 and Isaiah 55:11 are true, “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” and “so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”
Critics – Part 1
By Dr
You can’t have it both ways. If the Gospel writers were allowed to adapt their message to a particular audience then it can’t be claimed that God literally took their hand and wrote the scriptures. If we allow the Gospel writers to adapt their message, then we had better get ready to accept the fact that Paul interjected his own opinion about so many matters that he was personally opposed to or were culturally dominant at the time he wrote it. God would not have written inconsistencies in His Scriptures unless we want to admit that God has a sense of humor.
Hank Hanegraaff the director of CRI has noted:
“Can anything involving human beings contain the inerrant Word of God”?
The short answer to that question is “yes.” It’s true that humans are fallible vessels that they’re prone to error, but that in no way precludes the inerrancy of the Bible. All Scripture is God breathed. All Scripture is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Tim. 3:16-17). The Apostle Paul there puts a very significant premium of the accuracy of all Scripture.
The Apostle Peter does essentially the same thing. He says that prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
The doctrine of inspiration tells us that God did something miraculous in inspiration. He worked through fallible human prophets, He utilized their individual personalities, all to pen what is authoritative, infallible, and sacred as Scripture. In fact we can demonstrate that the Bible is divine as opposed to human in origin. If you look just at archeology, you find what is concealed in the soil, corresponds to what is revealed in the Scriptures, and that with minute precision. I’m talking about people, and places, even particulars. So we know, we have evidence that the Bible corresponds to reality, and therefore it is truth, and a miracle—the miracle of infallible inspiration, the inspiration that comes from the Holy Spirit.
Now we don’t suppose that the disciples walked around with tape recorders, or we’re programmed automatons, but what we do suppose is that the believers who are used by God to pen the Scriptures captured the essential voice of God in the Scripture. Not the exact words they heard. For example, if you look at the Sermon on the Mount, you’ll see that there are various versions of the Sermon on the Mount given by Mark, Matthew, and Luke. And you see that the Sermon on the Mount is given in a different way but is essentially the same, because through their own personalities Matthew and Luke capture the essential voice of Jesus not the exact verbiage that Jesus used, and that’s why there can be differences and yet complete agreement because there’s no difference in the message that is being communicated in either case.
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I remember listening to a 90 minute lecture by Francis Schaeffer on the conclusions the great American archaeologist (William F. Albright) who changed his views over the years because of the archaeological evidence. Below is some of that evidence. (You can access some of the evidence that convinced William Ramsey concerning the Book of Luke and Acts here.)
I went and secured a copy of the interview and read it myself. In a 1963 interview with Christianity Today magazine, William F. Albright (1891-1971) stated:
In my opinion, every book of the New Testament was written by a baptized Jew between the forties and eighties of the first century A.D. (very probably sometime between about 50 and 75 A.D.)(Christianity Today, VII, 359, January 18, 1963, “Toward a More Conservative View,” interview with William F. Albright.)
. John Ankerberg, Dr. John Weldon
| Biblical Archaeology, Silencing the critics (Part 1)Significantly, even liberal theologians, secular academics, and critics generally cannot deny that archaeology has confirmed thebiblical record at many points. Rationalistic detractors of the Bible can attack it all day long, but they cannot dispute archaeological facts. Consider the weekly PBS series “Mysteries of the Bible.” Despite some shortcomings, such as the theologically liberal experts and non-Christian commentators, this program has offered example after example, week after week, of the archaeological reliability of the Bible.To further illustrate, probably the three greatest American archaeologists of the twentieth century each had their liberal training modified by their archaeological work. W. F. Albright, Nelson Glueck, and George Ernest Wright all “received training in the liberal scholarship of the day, which had resulted from the earlier and continuing critical study of the Bible, predominantly by German scholars.”1 Despite their liberal training, it was archaeological research that bolstered their confidence in the biblical text:Albright said of himself, “I must admit that I tried to be rational and empirical in my approach [but] we all have presuppositions of a philosophical order.” The same statement could be applied as easily to Gleuck and Wright, for all three were deeply imbued with the theological perceptions which infused their work. Albright, the son of a Methodist missionary, came to see that much of German critical thought was established upon a philosophical base that could not be sustained in the light of archaeological discoveries…. Nelson Glueck was Albright’s student. In his own explorations in Trans-Jordan and the Negev and in his excavations, Glueck worked with the Bible in hand. He trusted what he called “the remarkable phenomenon of historical memory in the Bible.” He was the president of the prestigious Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion and an ordained Rabbi. Wright went from the faculty of the McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago to a position in the Harvard Divinity School which he retained until his death. He, too, was a student of Albright.2Glueck forthrightly declared, “As a matter of fact, however, it may be clearly stated categorically that no archaeological discovery has ever controverted a single biblical reference. Scores of archaeological findings have been made which confirm in clear outline or exact details historical statements in the Bible.”3In fact, “Much of the credit for this relatively new assessment of the patriarchal tradition must go to the ‘Albright school.’ Albright himself pointed out years ago that apart from ‘a few diehards among older scholars’ there is hardly a single biblical historian who is not at least impressed with the rapid accumulation of data supporting the ‘substantial historicity’ of patriarchal tradition.”4And, in fact, this is true not just for the patriarchal tradition but the Bible generally. The earlier statement by assyriologist A. H. Sayce continues to hold true today: “Time after time the most positive assertions of a skeptical criticism have been disproved by archaeological discovery, events and personages that were confidently pronounced to be mythical have been shown to be historical, and the older [i.e., biblical] writers have turned out to have been better acquainted with what they were describing than the modern critics who has flouted them.”5
Millar Burrows of Yale points out that, “Archaeology has in many cases refuted the views of modern critics. It has been shown in a number of instances that these views rest on false assumptions and unreal, artificial schemes of historical development….” And, “The excessive skepticism of many liberal theologians stems not from a careful evaluation of the available data, but from an enormous predisposition against the supernatural.”6 Many other examples could be given of how firsthand archaeological work changed the view of a critic. One of the most prominent is that of Sir William Ramsay. Ramsey’s own archaeological findings convinced him of the reliability of the Bible and the truth of what it taught. In his The Bearing of Recent Discovery on the Trustworthiness of the New Testamentand other books, he shows why he came to conclude that “Luke’s history is unsurpassed in respect of its trustworthiness” and that “Luke is a historian of the first rank … In short, this author should be placed along with the very greatest of historians.”7 As part of his secular academic duties, Dr. Clifford Wilson was for some years required to research and teach higher critical approaches to the Bible. This gave him a great deal of firsthand exposure and insight to the assumptions and methodologies that go into these approaches. Yet his own archaeological research was found to continually refute such skeptical theories, so much so that he finally concluded, “It is the steady conviction of this writer that the Bible is … the ancient world’s most reliable history textbook….”8 In a personal communication he added the following, I was not always the “literalist” I am today. I’ve always had a profound respect for the Bible, but accepted that the use of poetic forms meant that the record could often be interpreted symbolically where now I take it literally—though of course there are times when symbolism is clearly utilized. Thus in later Scriptures “Egypt” can be a geographic country or a symbolic term. That liberalism is especially true in relation to Genesis chapters 1 through 11, often considered allegorical or mythical, where my researches have led me to the conclusion that this is profound writing, meant to be taken literally. There was a real Adam, creation that was contemporaneous for the various life forms as shown in Genesis chapter 1, and a consistent style of history writing—such as the outlines given in Genesis one, then zeroing in on the specifics relating to mankind in Genesis chapter 2; the history of all the early peoples in Genesis chapter 10, then the concentration on Abraham and his descendants from Genesis chapter 11 onwards. Early man, “the birth of the lady of the rib,” long-living man, giants in the earth (animals, birds, and men), the flood, the Tower of Babel—and much more—point to factual, accurate recording of history in these early chapters of Genesis. Over 40 years have passed since I first became professionally involved in biblical archaeology and my commitment to the Bible as the world’s greatest history book is firmly settled. As Psalm 119:89 states, “Forever O Lord, your word is established in heaven.” Indeed one of the most valuable contributions of modern archaeology has been its reputation of higher critical views toward scripture. Consider for example the discovery of the Dead Sea scrolls. J. Randall Price (Ph.D., Middle Eastern Studies) currently working on a forthcoming apologetic text on biblical archaeology writes, “Those who expect the [Dead Sea] scrolls to produce a radical revision of the Bible have been disappointed, for these texts have only verified the reliability and stability of the Old Testament as it appears in our modern translations.”9 He further points out how the Daniel fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls should require scholars to abandon a Maccabean date. The same kind of evidence forced scholars to abandon Maccabean dates for Chronicles, Ecclesiastes, and many of the Psalms. But so far, most scholars refuse to do this for Daniel: “Unfortunately, critical scholars have not arrived at a similar conclusion for the Book of Daniel, even though the evidence is identical.”10 In fact, according to Old Testament scholar Gerhard Hasel, a date for Daniel in the sixth or fifth century BC “has more in its favor today from the point of view of language alone than ever before.”11 The Dead Sea Scrolls also provide significant evidence for the unity and single authorship of the Book of Isaiah. Dr. Price concludes, “The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, then, has made a contribution toward confirming the integrity of the biblical text and its own claim to predictive prophecy. Rather than support the recent theories of documentary disunity, the Scrolls have returned scholars to a time when the Bible’s internal witness to its own consistency and veracity was fully accepted by its adherents.”12 (to be continued) Notes: 1 Keith N. Scoville, Biblical Archeology in Focus (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1978), p. 163. 2 Ibid., p. 163. 3 Norman L. Geisler and Ron Brooks, When Skeptics Ask: A Handbook on Christian Evidences (Wheaton, IL: Victor, 1990), p. 179. 4 Eugene H. Merrill, Professor of Old Testament Studies, Dallas Theological Seminary, “Ebla and Biblical Historical Inerrancy” in Roy B. Zuck (Genesis ed.), Vital Apologetic Issues: Examining Reasons and Revelation in Biblical Perspective (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel, 1995), p. 180. 5 A. H. Sayce, Monument Facts and Higher Critical Fancies (London: The Religious Tract Society, 1904), p. 23, Cited in Josh McDowell, More Evidence That Demands a Verdict(Arrowhead Springs, CA: Campus Crusade for Christ, 1975), p. 53. 6 As cited in Josh McDowell, Evidence that Demands a Verdict (Arrowhead Springs, CA: Campus Crusade for Christ, 1972) p. 66. 7 William M. Ramsay, The Bearing of Recent Discovery on the Trustworthiness of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Bookhouse, 1959), p. 91; cf. William M. Ramsay, Luke the Physician, pp. 177-79, 222 from F. F. Bruce, The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable? (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1971), pp. 90-91. 8 Clifford Wilson, Rocks, Relics and Biblical Reliability (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan/Richardson, TX: Probe, 1977), p. 126 9 J. Randall Price, Secrets of the Dead Sea Scrolls (Eugene, OR: Harvest House, 1996), p. 146. 10 Ibid., p. 159. 11 Ibid., p. 163.
Published on Jul 9, 2012 Contemporary Art Trends [ARTS 315], Jon Anderson The Fully Present Object: Minimalism September 16, 2011 [ARTS 315] Contemporary Liturgies: Performance Art and Embodied Belief – Jon Anderson
Published on Apr 5, 2012 Contemporary Art Trends [ARTS 315], Jon Anderson Contemporary Liturgies: Performance Art and Embodied Belief November 4, 2011 _______________ The mythological event from Hindu religion describes at 5:00. Five Sculptors: Anish Kapoor
___________________________ Kapoor, Anish – by Nigel HallidayReview of Anish Kapoor at the Royal Academy, 2009Royal Academy, Piccadilly, London, until 11 December 2009by Nigel Halliday Anish Kapoor is one of Britain’s leading talents in Conceptual Art. Whereas some exponents in this area seem flash and savvy, and others superficial or downright vacuous, Kapoor combines thoughtfulness, creativity and a traditional respect for beauty, even though the resultant forms are non-traditional. As Steve Turner says in his book Imagine, if Christians are going to engage constructively in the arts, our first question about a work should not be the narrow one, ‘Is it Christian?’ but the broader one, ‘Is it any good as a work of art?’ This exhibition certainly contains a number of very powerful and effective works, which we cannot help but admire, even if our understanding of reality and transcendence is very different. Kapoor was formed amongst an interesting range of influences. He was born and brought up in India, son of a Punjabi father. His mother was from a Jewish-Iraqi family who moved to India when she was a small child. As a teenager Kapoor spent time in Israel, before coming to Britain as an art-student. Kapoor’s work is not about his ethnicity, but it does seem to be shot through with a mindset influenced by Buddhism. The visitor is greeted in the Academy’s forecourt by Tall Tree and the Eye, a beautiful, towering arrangement of large silvery shiny balls, cleverly arranged with minimal physical contact between them, so they seem to float upwards. They sharply reflect the viewer and all that surrounds us, but with a weightlessness that suggests the ‘lightness of being’. Inside, in the first room, When I am pregnant is a large bump in the gallery wall, which emerges so subtly that one misses it at first. It seems to suggest a Buddhist sense of being merging seamlessly into nothingness. Yellow, a gorgeous, enormous construction in the second room seems to be on a similar theme. Recessed into a wall, it toys with being and nothingness, as solidity dissolves imperceptibly into space. The achievement of this imperceptibility is a sign of his genuine creativity and craftsmanship. In the main room a series of wonderful distorting mirrors invite the viewer to meditate on the different ways in which we perceive the world. These are both interesting and fun, inviting you to walk towards a mirror, appearing distorted, and then suddenly see yourself as you really are. The most eye-catching work is the home-made cannon, which every twenty minutes fires a twenty-pound projectile of red wax across the gallery, through a door way, and against the far wall. This is one of a couple of works which will actually change over the course of the exhibition: the red gunge gradually accumulates in the second room and spreads back over the floor into the first.There is no doubt, judging from the audience’s reaction, that this is seen as a piece of comic theatre, an entertainment involving suspense followed by release through laughter. But there is nothing in the work, and especially the po-faced studio assistant who loads and fires the gun like an officiant at a religious ritual, to suggest anything less than total seriousness. The assistant is clearly under instructions not to engage with, or even acknowledge the presence of, the audience. He steps through the crowd, avoiding eye-contact and deaf to any and every question. He loads the missile and charges the gun with a solemn efficiency of one laying out the eucharist. He then stands in perfect contemplative stillness while the air pressure builds, before with a single, decisive action he pulls the lever and the missile is launched.Kapoor notes that he is interested in the random, chancelike effects that this procedure will generate. To him, one imagines, the work speaks of a postmodernist loss of confidence in rationality and human control: that there are forces in the world which are far outside our capacity to predict, that we stand in awe and wonder at their effects, and in some way find meaning in them.In an earlier generation Christians would have revolted at this embracing of chance and rejection of rational control. But, as I watched, I wondered if this work is more in tune with a Biblical worldview than was probably intended. The work does not demonstrate that life is random and meaningless, because the very nature of its components – the building of the gun, the targeting, the control of the compressed air that fires the projectile – all speak clearly of rationality and control. But the uncontrolled effects of the work speak equally powerfully about chaos theory, the unpredictability of the effects of our actions. They also embody some of the ‘complaint’ of the writer of Ecclesiastes: that we labour away in the world, and yet seem to have so little certainty about it; we know God is in control of it, but we can’t grasp the meaning ourselves, nor control the outcomes of all our labour. Unlike this work, we can accept apparent randomness, and even sometimes enjoy its effects, without finding meaning itself in the randomness. But what I like about Kapoor is that he is clearly trying to engage with genuine issues, to put three-dimensional form on the perceptions that many people share: that they have lost confidence in their ability to grasp reality, or even to perceive themselves with confidence.And because Kapoor is a serious artist, reflecting on the human condition, there is much that is good in his work that Christians can engage with constructively. First published in Evangelicals Now, December 2009 www.nigelhalliday.org/anish-kapoor-ra-2009/ Related posts:Taking on Ark Times Bloggers on various issues Part I “Old Testament Bible Prophecy” includes the film TRUTH AND HISTORY and article ” Jane Roe became pro-life”I have gone back and forth and back and forth with many liberals on the Arkansas Times Blog on many issues such as abortion, human rights, welfare, poverty, gun control and issues dealing with popular culture. Here is another exchange I had with them a while back. My username at the Ark Times Blog is Saline […] John MacArthur on fulfilled prophecy from the Bible Part 2I have posted many of the sermons by John MacArthur. He is a great bible teacher and this sermon below is another great message. His series on the Book of Proverbs was outstanding too. I also have posted several of the visits MacArthur made to Larry King’s Show. One of two most popular posts I […] John MacArthur on fulfilled prophecy from the Bible Part 1I have posted many of the sermons by John MacArthur. He is a great bible teacher and this sermon below is another great message. His series on the Book of Proverbs was outstanding too. I also have posted several of the visits MacArthur made to Larry King’s Show. One of two most popular posts I […] John MacArthur: Fulfilled prophecy in the Bible? (Ezekiel 26-28 and the story of Tyre, video clips)Prophecy–The Biblical Prophesy About Tyre.mp4 Uploaded by TruthIsLife7 on Dec 5, 2010 A short summary of the prophecy about Tyre and it’s precise fulfillment. Go to this link and watch the whole series for the amazing fulfillment from secular sources. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvt4mDZUefo ________________ John MacArthur on the amazing fulfilled prophecy on Tyre and how it was fulfilled […] John MacArthur on the Bible and Science (Part 2)John MacArthur on the Bible and Science (Part 2) I have posted many of the sermons by John MacArthur. He is a great bible teacher and this sermon below is another great message. His series on the Book of Proverbs was outstanding too. I also have posted several of the visits MacArthur made to Larry […] John MacArthur on the Bible and Science (Part 1)John MacArthur on the Bible and Science (Part 1) I have posted many of the sermons by John MacArthur. He is a great bible teacher and this sermon below is another great message. His series on the Book of Proverbs was outstanding too. I also have posted several of the visits MacArthur made to Larry […] Adrian Rogers: “Why I believe the Bible is true”Adrian Rogers – How you can be certain the Bible is the word of God Great article by Adrian Rogers. What evidence is there that the Bible is in fact God’s Word? I want to give you five reasons to affirm the Bible is the Word of God. First, I believe the Bible is the […] The Old Testament is Filled with Fulfilled Prophecy by Jim WallaceIs there any evidence the Bible is true? Articles By PleaseConvinceMe Apologetics Radio The Old Testament is Filled with Fulfilled Prophecy Jim Wallace A Simple Litmus Test There are many ways to verify the reliability of scripture from both internal evidences of transmission and agreement, to external confirmation through archeology and science. But perhaps the […] Taking on Ark Times Bloggers on various issues Part M “Old Testament prophecy fulfilled?”Part 3(includes film DEATH BY SOMEONE’S CHOICE)I have gone back and forth and back and forth with many liberals on the Arkansas Times Blog on many issues such as abortion, human rights, welfare, poverty, gun control and issues dealing with popular culture. Here is another exchange I had with them a while back. My username at the Ark Times Blog is […] Evidence for the BibleHere is some very convincing evidence that points to the view that the Bible is historically accurate. Archaeological and External Evidence for the Bible Archeology consistently confirms the Bible! Archaeology and the Old Testament Ebla tablets—discovered in 1970s in Northern Syria. Documents written on clay tablets from around 2300 B.C. demonstrate that personal and place […] Related posts: FRANCIS SCHAEFFER ANALYZES ART AND CULTURE Part 53 THE BEATLES (Part E, Stg. Pepper’s and John Lennon’s search in 1967 for truth was through drugs, money, laughter, etc & similar to King Solomon’s, LOTS OF PICTURES OF JOHN AND CYNTHIA) (Feature on artist Yoko Ono)The John Lennon and the Beatles really were on a long search for meaning and fulfillment in their lives just like King Solomon did in the Book of Ecclesiastes. Solomon looked into learning (1:12-18, 2:12-17), laughter, ladies, luxuries, and liquor (2:1-2, 8, 10, 11), and labor (2:4-6, 18-20). He fount that without God in the picture all […] FRANCIS SCHAEFFER ANALYZES ART AND CULTURE Part 52 THE BEATLES (Part D, There is evidence that the Beatles may have been exposed to Francis Schaeffer!!!) (Feature on artist Anna Margaret Rose Freeman )______________ George Harrison Swears & Insults Paul and Yoko Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds- The Beatles The Beatles: I have dedicated several posts to this series on the Beatles and I don’t know when this series will end because Francis Schaeffer spent a lot of time listening to the Beatles and talking […] FRANCIS SCHAEFFER ANALYZES ART AND CULTURE Part 51 THE BEATLES (Part C, List of those on cover of Stg.Pepper’s ) (Feature on artist Raqib Shaw )The Beatles in a press conference after their Return from the USA Uploaded on Nov 29, 2010 The Beatles in a press conference after their Return from the USA. The Beatles: I have dedicated several posts to this series on the Beatles and I don’t know when this series will end because Francis […] FRANCIS SCHAEFFER ANALYZES ART AND CULTURE Part 50 THE BEATLES (Part B, The Psychedelic Music of the Beatles) (Feature on artist Peter Blake )__________________ Beatles 1966 Last interview I have dedicated several posts to this series on the Beatles and I don’t know when this series will end because Francis Schaeffer spent a lot of time listening to the Beatles and talking and writing about them and their impact on the culture of the 1960’s. In this […] FRANCIS SCHAEFFER ANALYZES ART AND CULTURE Part 49 THE BEATLES (Part A, The Meaning of Stg. Pepper’s Cover) (Feature on artist Mika Tajima)_______________ The Beatles documentary || A Long and Winding Road || Episode 5 (This video discusses Stg. 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(Feature on artist Rodney Graham)Crimes and Misdemeanors: A Discussion: Part 1 ___________________________________ Today I will answer the simple question: IS IT POSSIBLE TO BE AN OPTIMISTIC SECULAR HUMANIST THAT DOES NOT BELIEVE IN GOD OR AN AFTERLIFE? This question has been around for a long time and you can go back to the 19th century and read this same […] FRANCIS SCHAEFFER ANALYZES ART AND CULTURE PART 46 Friedrich Nietzsche (Featured artist is Thomas Schütte)____________________________________ Francis Schaeffer pictured below: __________ Francis Schaeffer has written extensively on art and culture spanning the last 2000years and here are some posts I have done on this subject before : Francis Schaeffer’s “How should we then live?” Video and outline of episode 10 “Final Choices” , episode 9 “The Age of Personal Peace and Affluence”, episode 8 […] |
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How accurate is the Old Testament we hold in our hands? It’s popular today to attack the accuracy of the Bible on the grounds of its lack of effective transmission. Popular authors claim the Bible we have today has simply been copied too many times, with too many textual errors, to be believed as the very words of God handed down to us over the millennia.
With all the careful scribal work a shockingly few number of Old Testament ancient manuscripts exist until today. The silver amulet scroll is by far the oldest. The scroll was mentioned as #4 in this top ten series. The amulet scroll dates way back to 600 BC. This is fantastic but it is only a couple verses of the entire Bible. So we can get a feel for the accuracy of those couple verses but not be able to get a good representative sample for the entirety of Scripture.
Codex Aleppo is the oldest entire Old Testament possessed by humanity. The manuscript dates to around 900AD. The priceless manuscript is indeed magnificent. When analyzing the more than 2.7 million writing details that make up the Old Testament, the manuscript appears to be very precise in its creation. Although we have such a beautiful manuscript, the elephant in the room is that this manuscript dates from 900AD. Many New Testament manuscripts are older than our oldest Old Testament manuscript. Most of the Old Testament was written over 1500 years before Codex Aleppo.
The greatest biblically relevant archaeological discovery, made in the winter of 1946-47, would shake up the biblical and archaeological world. John C. Trever has done a good job reconstructing the story of the scrolls from several interviews with the Bedouin people.
The scrolls were first taken to a dealer named Ibrahim ‘ljha in Bethlehem. In one of those famous dumb moments of history ‘ljha returned them saying they were worthless. Undaunted, thankfully, the Bedouin went to a nearby market, where a Syrian Christian offered to buy them. A sheikh joined their conversation and suggested they take the scrolls to a part-time antiques dealer. The Bedouin left one scroll with the dealer and then sold three scrolls to another for the ridiculous sum of $29!
After examining the scrolls and suspecting their astronomical worth, he expressed interest in purchasing them. Four scrolls found their way into his hands. More scrolls continued to arrive on the scene. By the end of 1948, nearly two years after their first discovery, scholars had yet to locate the source of the manuscripts.
Archaeologists were able to track down the origin of the first scrolls and together with the Bedouins ended up finding a total of 972 manuscripts from 11 different caves. All 11 caves are in the southeastern Dead Sea area of Israel. The area receives almost no rainfall making it a perfect climate for ancient manuscripts to last thousands of years without decomposing.
The scrolls, for some insane reason, were put up for sale in the Wall Street Journal on June 1, 1954. They were purchased for $250,000 and brought to Jerusalem where they eventually became housed in a museum called the Shrine of the Book where they reside today when not circulating in museums around the world. The scrolls today are considered priceless. Just to purchase a replica facsimile copy of 3 of the scrolls currently will run you $60,000 (a donation of replica scrolls to Parchment & Pen will not be turned down).
The scrolls are still, after decades, a discovery still being digested. The 972 manuscripts have shed great light on the accuracy and complexity of the Old Testament. The Isaiah Scroll, in comparison to Codex Aleppo and other manuscripts, show that the message of the Old Testament has not been changed over millennia. More articles and books have been written about the Dead Sea Scrolls than any other archaeological discovery with biblical significance. The scrolls are shedding a great deal of light on the Jewish religious world of roughly 200BC-90AD. The scrolls are generally showing the modern-day Old Testament to be an extremely accurate representation of the original writers.
Google has announced a new deal with the Israeli Antiquities Authority to photograph all of the scrolls in order to make high-resolution photos available to anyone online for free. The scrolls continue to amaze and delight us; where we once had only a couple fragments of the ancient Old Testament we now enjoy an abundant library.
Richard Avedon Foundation. Eli Reed. ‘Tupac Shakur’ 1992 (printed 2013)
Richard Avedon. Charlie Chaplin Leaving America. NYC, September 13 1952
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George Bush below:
Henri Cartier-Bresson – Photographer Richard Avedon, Carmel Snow and Marie-Louise Bousquet, Paris 1951
The Daily Hatch 