Jason Crabb recently stopped by the #CCMmag offices and gave us this impromptu performance of this classic hymn.
(This is a link to a video on The CCM Facebook page. )
Author: Texas Gospel
Religious bigotry or bigotry concerning religion?
Have you ever heard someone claim that religion is bigoted and divisive? This claim is often made by those who fail to see the difference between bigotry concerning religion and religious bigotry.
Any strongly-held belief can be divisive for those who are intolerant. This includes ideas held by atheists who strongly believe there is no God.  This group was very outspoken in their opposition to U.S. President Barack Obama’s appointment of Dr. Francis Collins to head up the National Institutes of Health in 2009. It did not matter to them that he led the team that mapped the human genome, or that he has never made a scientific proclamation based on his religion. They felt his faith in God alone rendered him not worthy. This is bigotry concerning religion, but religion isn’t the source of the bigotry.
The problem is refusal by anyone, atheist or believer, to accept that others hold differing beliefs. The frequent use of loaded language, insults and ad hominem attacks lobbed by non-believers stands as evidence that intolerance is not the result of religion; it’s the result of a flaw in the human condition.
What are your thoughts?
Good works and good feelings
An agnostic friend of mine posted a meme that says, “I try to do good in the world not out of fear for Hell or a reward of Heaven, but because it feels better not to be an (expletive.)
Well, salty language aside, there are a few assumptions made by the person who made the meme.  Firstly, that one should give because it feels good. The Christian stance is that we should do “good” even if it doesn’t feel good. The meme implies that atheists and agnostics do “good” only for the feeling they get. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t mean that, but this is an implication of the meme.  Secondly, he referenced fear of hell or reward of heaven. This is a common presupposition in many atheist sayings and memes. God doesn’t send us to Hell or reward us with Heaven because of our works. God’s gift of salvation is freely given to all who ask in spite of our works. It’s a gift offered to those who do not deserve it. The assumptions made by the meme are false premises often used by those who launch verbal attacks on Christians.
We do not deserve salvation. God’s gift is freely given. It is grace, not a payment to us.
Have you accepted His gift?
U.S. strengthens hate crimes laws to protect churches and religious institutions
U.S. President Donald Trump this month signed a bill into law increasing punishments for criminals who target churches or religiously affiliated organizations. The bill was introduced in response to a growing number of vandalism, bomb threats and other attacks on religious freedom in the U.S.
Existing U.S. law protects abortion clinics and other facilities frequently target by vandals. The new law expands similar protections for churches. According to a news release from the White House, The Protecting Religiously Affiliated Institutions Act of 2018 criminalizes the intentional obstruction of any person’s free exercise of religious beliefs by threat of force against religious real property. It increases the penalty to three years in prison and up to a $5,000 fine for threats that lead to damage. Those offenses were misdemeanors with a maximum one year in jail before the bill was signed.
God – or personal preference?
Is it true that Christians would be immoral without the Bible?
One atheist put it this way, “I’m terrified by theists who would be murders and rapists if they didn’t believe in their sky-daddy’s eternal torture dungeon.”
If you look past his obvious loaded language, his retort demonstrates either confusion over what it means to have a moral standard, or at best, a deflection of the idea that non-believers’ morality is nothing more than a matter of preference.
The Bible gives Christians a standard by which one may justify calling something good or bad.  If the Bible is of God, then its pages give us justification to call something moral or immoral.  But, playing devil’s advocate, if the Bible is not from God, then Christians and Atheists alike have only personal preference as morality, and that’s the point.  There is no true morality without God, only preference.
When a non-believer asks why Christians need the Bible to know that murder is wrong, they presuppose that we wouldn’t know without having a belief in God.  I don’t know any Christian who believes that. Romans tells us God’s law is written on our heart. This gives Christians reason to believe that everyone, atheist and Christians, know it is wrong even without having read a single sentence of any book of the Bible. But by what standard does one use to justify it? God – or personal preference?  Are these not the only two options?
