20 Cognitive Biases That Affect Your Decisions

Good stuff here from Mental Floss. The first step in avoiding these pitfalls is being aware of them.

Can We Please Do Away With the Ignorant Notion that "Islam is a Religion of Peace"?

One ubiquitous talking point for both politicians and talking heads is that "Islam is a religion of peace."

This idea persists because it is politically correct. However, a glance around the globe tells us otherwise. The Islamic State (or whatever its latest name is) is, well, Islamic. Boko Harem also claims the name of Islam. So does Al-Shabaab.

Remember Al-Qaeda and the Taliban? Both are Muslim groups. The list goes on.

Quite frankly, the above groups' behavior is not surprising. After all, they learned from the founder of their religion: Muhammad. Ever since the starting of Islam it has been bathed in blood. The rapid spread of Islamic ideology and way of life soon after its founding occurred mostly at the end of the sword.

Islam has been consistently violent wherever it has gone, at least until those areas submit wholesale to its rules and laws. Only after a society kneels to the demands of Islam does it become somewhat more peaceful (and even then dissenting residents face the wrath of Islamic rule).

I'm not suggesting that all Muslims everywhere are terrorists. Most are not. However, the reality is that Islam far outpaces any other religion when it comes to violence. Just watch the news. It is all too common.

What we need to understand is that Muslims who are engaged in violent activities are simply following the model they've been given by Muhammad. In light of that, it is understandable why they behave the way they do. More surprising is why more Muslims aren't involved in terroristic acts.

The reality is that any ideology, belief system, or worldview that does not come from Jesus Christ cannot be fully peaceful. The reason for this is that only Jesus is the Prince of Peace. Only Christ brings true peace to the world. Only through the gospel can people come to know what true life and peace are all about.

The world is full of all sorts of false religions. At a spiritual level none of these are peaceful. Probably because of the manner it which it started, Islam appears to be the most violent. How many more atrocities have to be committed in the name of Islam before the talking heads and politicians wake up to this reality?

Islam is most definitely not a religion of peace.

How should we followers of Christ respond to Muslims? I'm glad you asked.


(Before I receive any angry responses about Christianity please let me tell you the name of my next post: "By the Way, Christianity Is Not a Religion of Peace Either.")

A Fun Book on Worldviews

Many theology books are thick, plodding, and dull. The reason for this is not the topic, but rather the writing style. BORING!

What's Your Worldview? is not dull in any way. In fact, it is one of the most enjoyable theology books I've ever read. One of the reasons for this is that this book is written in the style of the Choose Your Own Adventure books. In What's Your Worldview?, author James Anderson asks multiple theology questions about topics such as truth, reason, knowledge, goodness, etc. Based on how the reader answers a question, he then turns to a specific page. This eventually leads to a particular worldview.

Worldview is an issue that many Christians are absolutely clueless about. If you don't know what your worldview is, then you are likely to simply be following that of the secular culture. This is how many Christians live. What's Your Worldview? helps combat worldview illiteracy. Because of its enjoyable format and short length (little over 100 pages), it is a book that almost anyone can easily read. I highly recommend it.

We Talk a Lot

We had another church gathering yesterday. I had a great time and I hope everyone else did, too.  I was encouraged in Christ. I think others were as well.

It struck me as I looked around that we do a lot of talking when we get together.  As soon as we arrived, our family split in different directions. We began talking with adults and kids immediately after coming through the front door. For about the first thirty minutes or so I was engaged in three or four different conversations.

We gradually moved to the living room. The meeting took on a bit more structure as we sat down on couches, chairs, and the floor. We were all invited and encouraged to speak words of testimony, read from scripture, sing, pray, give praise, etc. Not everyone did speak, but everyone had the opportunity to do so. As is usually the case, the dads (who function as elders) did most of the talking.  I'm not suggesting that elders have to talk the most, but this is how things tend to go in our gatherings.

"God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything"

God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything is a significant text by noted atheist Christopher Hitchens.  After its release in 2007 it was a best seller for quite some time.  This book has contributed mightily to the rise of the New Atheism within this country.

Because of its impact, I decided to give this book a try.  Since I'm obviously a theist, I knew that it would be a challenge to read it.  Let's face it: it's always easier to read someone you agree with than someone you don't.

Not wanting to add to Hitchens' already full wallet, I checked this one out of a local library.

I must admit that I selectively skimmed this book.  The reason is that I have no interest in Hitchens' discussion of world religions outside biblical Christianity.  My interest was two-fold.  First, how does Hitchens interact with biblical claims?  Second, what does he propose as the best belief system?

Starting Point for the Christian Worldview

Albert Mohler has written an excellent post entitled The Knowledge of the Self-Revealing God: Starting Point for the Christian Worldview. I encourage you to read it.

I Think He Thinks I'm An Alien

Last night I met a man who probably thinks I'm an alien.

I was mopping when the owner of the daycare came by (we had never met; I'm employed by a cleaning company that contracts with the daycare). I was introduced to him by another worker as, "the preacher man." When I heard this, I purposely glanced behind myself as if to look for anyone else who could be a "preacher man." The owner then said not to be ashamed and to preach if God has called me to it (he does appear to be a Christian). I then said that all Christians should proclaim the gospel of Christ. He proceeded to give me a blank look. I could tell this conversation probably wasn't going to go anywhere profitable. He was beginning to think I'm an alien.

The daycare owner then asked if I'm Baptist, Methodist, etc. Sigh. I told him simply that I'm a follower of Jesus Christ. He responded, "Ahh. Non-denominational." Upon hearing that, I said that denominations can't be found anywhere in the bible. He gave me another blank look. This was further conformation to him that I'm an alien.

A couple minutes later has was talking with the worker who had introduced us. The owner was saying something about how having a lot of kids was too much work (ironic since he owns a daycare). Keep in mind that the other worker has five kids and I have three. When he pointed this out to the owner, the owner acted like we were both crazy. I guess he thinks even three kids are a lot these days. I responded to all this by saying that kids are a gift from the Lord. That statement went nowhere. Instead, the owner just looked at me. He was now convinced beyond a doubt that an alien is cleaning his daycare each night.

As I thought about this, I began to realize that although we both claim to be Christians, the daycare owner has a very different worldview than I do - at least as far as church and family are concerned. He believes in the popular "preacher man" view of the pastor. I clearly do not. He seems to support the existence of denominations. I do not. He thinks more than two kids equals a burden. I do not.

If I had known him better, I'd like to have asked him to support anything he said with scripture. Of course, he would not have been able to do so. His worldview, as is so often the case, is based on cultural norms instead of scripture.

What does the bible say about these things?

The bible tells us that all Christians are responsible to proclaim/preach the gospel. The bible also shows this proclaiming happening in the presence of non-Christians. We never see anyone preaching to the church during a gathering.

As for denominations, the bible does not mention them. Instead, the emphasis is upon unity in the church. All followers of Christ are to be one in Him. Division amongst believers is never portrayed as positive in scripture.

Finally, the bible tells us that children are a gift of God. He is the giver of life. The man with many children is seen as blessed. Children are never described as any sort of burden in the bible.

What should I now do? First, I hope to get to know this man better. If he is a Christian, I'd like to encourage him. I'd also like to eventually challenge some of his beliefs mentioned above.

Also, this experience was a good warning to me. It is so easy to simply adopt cultural values about all sorts of things instead of asking what the bible says about them. We can claim to have a biblical worldview, but in order to do this we must ask questions and seek answers through the pages of the bible. Instead of being prideful, my hope is that this man's views will challenge me to take a hard look at what I believe about a whole range of things.

Is what I believe actually biblical? And, is how I act actually biblical? Instead of falling into pride when seeing others' faults, we should be warned to look closely for our own. I hope I have the chutzpah to do so.

Voddie Baucham Asks the Right Question

I love this video from a few years back:

"Fear Not!"

In our pluralistic society there are many, many different views on what happens when we die. In part because of this diversity (and in part because of biblical ignorance), Christians hold wide-ranging views on what we can expect in death and the life after. Ligon Duncan has written a short book to help clear up this mess of beliefs.

In Fear Not! Death and the Afterlife from a Christian Perspective, Duncan addresses five key questions related to death and eternal life. He deals with these in chapters entitled:

1. What is Death?

2. What Happens After Death?

3. What Happens When Christ Returns?

4. What is the Final Judgment?

5. What is Heaven?

This book is ideal for folks who are confused about what the bible has to say about these issues. Duncan deals strictly with what we can know from scripture. He does not delve into more speculative issues such as the timing of the rapture, the meaning of the 1,000 years, etc. Because of this, Fear Not! is easy to understand for all Christians.

I recommend this book. It is excellent for anyone to read to make sure that what he believes lines up with what scripture teaches. If, however, you are looking for an in-depth study of eschatology, this is not the book for you.

I'd Move

I love living in Savannah. After having grown up in the frozen tundra of western New York State, the warmth here is wonderful. On top of that, we have an historic, fascinating city that is near the beach. The people are friendly, the food is great, and we can get to Florida in two hours. Nice.

So why would I move? I've been thinking about that recently. Quite frankly, there aren't many reasons that I would leave Savannah.

There is one reason, however, that I would vacate quickly (something like the guys in this photo are doing). If the state of Georgia ever told Alice and me that we could no longer educate our own children in our home, we would leave immediately.

In some of the more liberal-leaning states in the Northeast and West, parents' rights to educate their own children are gradually being taken away. Nowhere has a state yet said that you absolutely cannot homeschool (although Germany has), but several states continue to make it increasingly difficult. How do they do this? They do it by requiring certain educational levels of mothers. Or they require all kinds of paperwork to be turned in to the local public school system. Or they force parents to use state-approved curricula. And the list goes on.

We may ask what motivation that states have for making homeschooling difficult. What is their agenda and/or thinking? Some people in education believe that kids are better off if they are educated by government schools. This way the government can determine exactly what they are learning. Remember, the school system wants to create good citizens of the state.

Christian parents, however, are given the wonderful task of raising godly children. This is not the same thing as creating good citizens. The two can co-exist, but they are not the same thing at all.

Some folks in governmental positions are afraid that homeschooling will bring about people who are not loyal to the state government. I've even read some things that make it sound like homeschooling is dangerous because the kids might end up being extreme in their ideology.

All this is nonsense of course. Homeschooled children always do extremely well in all educational and social criteria. What about socialization you ask? Homeschoolers are fine, thank you.

Homeschooling gives parents the wonderful opportunity to determine what their children are learning. This way, all of the curriculum can be Christ-centered. It can be flexible. It can meet the needs of each child.

I'd like to live in Savannah for the rest of my life. However, if Georgia decides that homeschooling cannot be tolerated, then we'll move. Where? Wherever we can continue to raise godly children according to biblical standards.

No Mention of God

Yesterday I was listening to the radio while driving. I came upon a talk show on NPR where the host was asking questions of a couple of scientists. They were discussing whether or not we should transmit radio waves into space to try to contact alien species. It was actually an interesting discussion because the people involved really took it seriously. They were concerned about any small group of people deciding what would be transmitted because, "Who has the right to speak for the entire human species?" They were also concerned about aliens coming here because they would have much more advanced technology than we do (they had been listening to a worried Stephen Hawking).

The most fascinating aspect of the discussion was that both of the scientists are convinced that aliens exist. They never doubted this for a second. The entire conversation was based on the assumption that they do exist, even though, as they admitted, there is no evidence for this at the present time. One of the scientists briefly discussed Darwinian evolution, saying that we "know how life evolved." However, he also admitted that they do not know how life began (a fairly important thing I would say).

While talking about earth, alien life, space, communication, etc., there was something significant missing. What was missing? God was missing.

Although these scientists (who are clearly secularists) do not know how life began and have no evidence that aliens exist, they still believe they exist. Meanwhile, they refuse to believe that God exists despite obvious evidence in creation for His existence. Throughout the conversation, it was clear that existence of God is not even considered in their worldview. They have ruled Him out.

What is so interesting is the scientists' lack of consistency when it comes to belief and evidence. They believe in alien life despite no evidence for it. At the same time, they do not believe in God despite evidence for Him.

This is a classic case of believing what we want to believe. These scientists want to believe in alien life because it will make their jobs much more interesting. Also, aliens will place no moral/ethical/ spiritual demands upon their lives.

They don't believe in God because they don't want to surrender to His sovereign rule as King. They do not want the constraints that someone else will place upon their lives.

This is just another example of secular scientists do not looking at actual evidence/data to come up with their worldviews. Instead, they believe what they want to believe about the world and then set out to prove it under than name of "science."

Unless we get prideful in looking at this, let us remember that but for the grace of God, we would be just like these secular scientists. So, how do we reach them with the gospel? It won't be from arguments from scripture (at least not at first). The first thing to do is to love them unconditionally and sacrificially in a way the world won't. That will get their attention. Once our love for them piques their curiosity, then we will have an open door for the gospel.

Camp Inquiry or Camp Atheism?

How would you like to send your child to a summer camp for atheistic indoctrination?

If this sounds like something you would like (and I certainly hope you are aghast as opposed to interested), go no farther than Camp Inquiry.

This, by the way, is not a joke.

The stated purpose of Camp Inquiry is to help "youth confront the challenges of living a non-theistic/secular lifestyle in a world dominated by religious belief and pseudoscience."

Different courses offered at the camp include In the Footprints of Darwin ("Experts in the natural sciences will guide campers in understanding the evolutionary model as counter to claims of creationism and intelligent design"), Expressly Human: The Ethical Life ("Campers will participate in conversations and activities designed to address the changing global community, diversity, and the need to act as a responsible moral agent"), and The Character of Character ("Through discussions of film and literature, campers will consider moral and ethical dilemmas faced by both fictional and familiar folks").

The sad and ironic thing about the above courses is that the children are, in essence, being taught the contradictory ideas that life has no meaning and that life has meaning. For example, any class that teaches secular evolution must strongly imply that life is essentially devoid of real meaning. However, the kids are also taking classes that focus on living responsibly.

An additional irony is that the ethics they will be taught about living responsibly will stem, by and large, from the Judeo-Christian worldview.

To learn more about this frightening camp, click here.