The Razor's Edge of Doctrinal Purity

I was re-reading about the rise of Arianism in the early church last night, and I was reminded how subtle heresy can be. Arianism was started in the 300's by a guy named Arius who had studied theology in Antioch and was ordained in Alexandria. History tells us that he quickly departed from the orthodox teachings about Christ and began to proclaim that Jesus was a created being. To quicken the spread of his false teaching, Arius went so far as to compose catchy songs/tunes about his doctrine that were picked up by travelers to his region.

Arius was extremely sly because he used what appeared to be all the right Christian lingo, but - and this is important - he interpreted the words differently, which is something all cults do today.

In 325, the council of Nicea ruled decisively against Arianism and it is very instructive to see how detailed and committed they were to preserving the key doctrine of Christ's deity - it basically came down to one small letter. All that Arius and crew wanted was to have it said that Christ and His Father were homoiousion, or "of like substance". But the orthodox council instead insisted that Christ and the Father were homoousion, or "of the same substance". One letter- an "i" - meant all the difference to the early Christian apologists. The famous Nicene Creed clearly spells this out, with the first part reading:

We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of all things visible and
invisible; and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only-begotten of
his Father, of the substance of the Father, God of God, Light of Light, very God
of very God, begotten not made, being of one substance with the Father.

No mistaking that position! I so wish the church today was as detailed and vigilent about protecting the key doctrines of the Christian faith as were our previous defenders.

I just completed a new set of materials on one of the modern day Arian movements - the Jehovah's Witnesses - who cling to the false doctrine that Christ was made and is not fully God. You can find the article, summary sheet, powerpoint, and podcast on my web site at http://www.confidentchristians.org/resources.html.

New warning label for the Bible

While working on a quick research paper, I came across the sometimes-seen "warning label for the Bible that's out on the Web. Not so long ago in the news (May 2007), the city of Hong Kong began to consider an option to label the Bible as an indecent work. Responding to over eight hundred complaints, the proposed ordinance would force a warning label to be wrapped around the book with only those over eighteen years of age being allowed to purchase it. If you can't make out the warning label on the pic, it says:

WARNING: This is a work of fiction. Do NOT TAKE it literally. CONTENT ADVISORY: Contains verses descriptive or advocating suicide, incest, bestiality, sadomasochism, sexual activity in a violent context, murder, morbid violence, use of drugs or alcohol, homosexuality, voyeurism, revenge, undermining of authority figures, lawlessness and human rights violations and atrocities. EXPOSURE WARNING: Exposure to contents for extended periods of time or during formative years in children may cause delusions, hallucinations, decrease cognitive and objective reasoning abilities, and in extreme cases, pathological disorders, hatred, bigotry, violence including but not limited to fanaticism, murder and genocide.

Actually, I'm all in favor of a label being attached to God's Word as it certainly is active and powerful, and can cause changes to occur in a person. But let's at least put a truthful one on it. I propose the following:

WARNING – This book is the Word of God and should be taken seriously. CONTENT ADVISORY: Contains accurate statements describing, but not agreeing with, the depraved heart of mankind that consists of murder, violence, homosexuality, revenge, undermining of authority figures, lawlessness, human rights violations and atrocities, and lays out the one and only solution for its cure. EXPOSURE WARNING: Exposure to contents for extended periods of time or during formative years in children will cause thinking that runs contrary to the heart of natural man and will result in violent opposition from those who disagree with it. It ultimately will change the life of the individual in such a way that they draw near to God and He near to them, with the effect being a clear and truthful understanding of their origin, meaning, morality, and destiny. The end result that follows will be a joyous life and worship of the book’s Author.

My new website: Confident Christians

Hi everyone -

One of my field projects for school is to create a new Christian apologetic organization and accompanying website that's devoted to relaying the strong evidences that exist for the Christian faith and helping answer questions from those who have honest and hard questions about what we believe.

Well, I've got the new site up and I welcome everyone to visit it and let me know what you think. The new organizations is Confident Christians, and the website address is www.confidentchristians.org.

I've only got one topic posted so far, but more will be coming. The idea is to supply four different media types for each topic that is addressed:

• An in-depth article
• A one-page summary sheet
• A Powerpoint presentation
• A Podcast

I sure would like to hear what you think, so please contact me when you've had a chance to visit.