For nearly 2,000 years, Christian believers have differed concerning the proper role of earthly governments and what, if anything, Christians should seek to accomplish through them. For more than four centuries, they lived under the authority of imperial Rome, which sometimes looked like God's agent (Rom. 13:1-7) and at other times like an enemy beast (Rev. 13). Jesus acknowledged Caesar's limited realm (Luke 20:19-25) but reminded Pilate that all authority came from God (John 19:10-11). Some believers would use the state as an arm of the church. Within a century after Constantine legalized … [Read more...]
Archives for November 2010
Reconciling the Bible and Science A BOOK REVIEW
God has no controversy with evolution and evolution poses no threat to faith in God. That is the message (though not a direct quote) of Reconciling the Bible and Science: A Primer on the Two Books of God, by Lynn Mitchell and Kirk Blackard (self-published, 2009, softcover, 266 pages). The fight is not between creation and science, these authors insist. The fight is either between creation and scientism (which they say claims too much for itself and assumes there is no God), or it is between science and creationism (which they say misuses the Bible by wrongly reading Genesis as if it were … [Read more...]