Friday, February 26, 2016

"Risen" through the Eyes of a Nonbeliever

Hollywood Tries To Hide New Movie ‘Risen’ About Jesus

...“Because of the perspective of coming in this through the eyes of a nonbeliever, it feels very comfortable for nonbelievers to try this story on like a jacket. And that's not just assuming it; it's through our testing.”

That’s right - he said testing. The movie has been tested four times in front of large audiences, and so far, the reviews have been great. Rich says,

“What we're seeing from non-Christians and those who do not regularly attend church is that they do not feel preached to. They don't feel kind of hit over the head with Jesus or the Bible. But, they are intrigued by this man and His followers. They are intrigued by the story of what happened, the birth of Christianity and the fact that the infrastructure of Judea, both the Sanhedrin and the Jewish leadership and the Roman leadership were all about crushing this man and crushing His followers. So that automatically lends them credibility."...

And be sure to check out the trailer for Risen below!

Friday, February 19, 2016

New Movie 'Risen' (from a Skeptic's Eyes) Is Just Released

'Risen' Actor 'L oves' Telling Jesus' Resurrection Through Doubter's Eyes (Interview)

BY JEANNIE LAW

"Risen" hits theaters Friday and lead actor Joseph Fiennes says it's a story that allows everyone to uncompromisingly be a skeptic.
'Risen': Hollywood Finally Makes a Great Bible Movie

It's a miracle! Hollywood finally tells a great Bible story

BY ERIC METAXAS

"Risen," directed by Kevin Reynolds and starring Joseph Fiennes, is the story of the manhunt for the corpse of Jesus Christ. Spoiler alert: They don't find it.

Fiennes plays a Roman tribune named Clavius. He's tasked by Pontius Pilate with crucifying the latest batch of Jewish rabbis and self-proclaimed messiahs. The only catch? One of them really is the Messiah.

...A Roman soldier Clavius is tough, and he's immune to Jewish superstition — that is, until Sunday morning. For Clavius, that's when all Heaven breaks loose.

The tomb is empty, the guards aren't talking, and the Disciples of Jesus are spreading the news that He's come back to life. The high priest warns Pilate that they'll have an uprising on their hands if he doesn't put the resurrection story to rest. So Pilate sends Clavius on a grisly, CSI-style hunt for the body of Christ.

That's when our tribune has an encounter that shakes his pagan worldview to the core.

"I have seen two things which cannot reconcile," he says. "A man dead without question, and that same man alive again."

.. it shows an unbeliever's crisis of faith when confronted by the Risen Lord.

In anticipation of Easter, I cannot think of a better reminder of how Christianity, as Tim Keller puts it, forces us to "doubt our doubts."

The empty tomb is the most startling fact of history — something two millennia of skeptics have tried to explain away. But the evidence is just too strong. And "Risen," like a good detective novel, follows that evidence where it leads.

For instance, the Roman officials and Jewish leaders had every motive to produce a body. Yet they couldn't. And Jesus' Disciples had nothing to gain and everything to lose from lying about the Resurrection. But their transformation from cowards to spiritual conquerors testifies that they, like Fiennes' fictional character, saw something — or Someone — who rocked their worlds.

Joe Fiennes, whom I had the pleasure of interviewing on the "Eric Metaxas Show," told BreakPoint that he expects this movie to touch audiences in a unique way precisely because it invites them to examine these events through the eyes of a non-believer.

Tuesday, February 9, 2016

What is the Real Cause of Nazi Holocaust?

Darwinism and the Nazi Race Holocaust

by Dr. Jerry Bergma

Abstract

Leading Nazis, and early 1900 influential German biologists, revealed in their writings that Darwin’s theory and publications had a major influence upon Nazi race policies.

Hitler believed that the human gene pool could be improved by using selective breeding similar to how farmers breed superior cattle strains. In the formulation of their racial policies, Hitler’s government relied heavily upon Darwinism, especially the elaborations by Spencer and Haeckel. As a result, a central policy of Hitler’s administration was the development and implementation of policies designed to protect the ‘superior race’. This required at the very least preventing the ‘inferior races’ from mixing with those judged superior, in order to reduce contamination of the latter’s gene pool. The ‘superior race’ belief was based on the theory of group inequality within each species, a major presumption and requirement of Darwin’s original ‘survival of the fittest’ theory. This philosophy culminated in the ‘final solution’, the extermination of approximately six million Jews and four million other people who belonged to what German scientists judged as ‘inferior races’.

Introduction

Of the many factors that produced the Nazi holocaust and World War II, one of the most important was Darwin’s notion that evolutionary progress occurs mainly as a result of the elimination of the weak in the struggle for survival. Although it is no easy task to assess the conflicting motives of Hitler and his supporters, Darwinism-inspired eugenics clearly played a critical role. Darwinism justified and encouraged the Nazi views on both race and war. If the Nazi party had fully embraced and consistently acted on the belief that all humans were descendants of Adam and Eve and equal before the creator God, as taught in both the Old Testament and New Testament Scriptures, the holocaust would never have occurred.

Expunging of the Judeo-Christian doctrine of the divine origin of humans from mainline German (liberal) theology and its schools, and replacing it with Darwinism, openly contributed to the acceptance of Social Darwinism that culminated in the tragedy of the holocaust.1 Darwin’s theory, as modified by Haeckel,Chamberlain and others, clearly contributed to the death of over nine million people in concentration camps, and about 40 million other humans in a war that cost about six trillion dollars. Furthermore, the primary reason that Nazism reached to the extent of the holocaust was the widespread acceptance of Social Darwinism by the scientific and academic community.

The very heart of Darwinism is the belief that evolution proceeds by the differential survival of the fittest or superior individuals. This requires differences among a species, which in time become great enough so that those individuals that possess advantageous features—the fittest—are more apt to survive. Although the process of raciation may begin with slight differences, differential survival rates in time produce distinct races by a process called speciation, meaning the development of a new species.

The egalitarian ideal that ‘all people are created equal’, which now dominates Western ideology, has not been universal among nations and cultures. A major force that has argued against this view was the Social Darwinian eugenics movement, especially its crude ‘survival of the fittest’ worldview. As Ludmerer noted, the idea that the hereditary quality of the race can be improved by selective breeding is as old as Plato’s Republic but:

‘ … modern eugenics thought arose only in the nineteenth century. The emergence of interest in eugenics during that century had multiple roots. The most important was the theory of evolution, for Francis Galton’s ideas on eugenics—and it was he who created the term “eugenics”—were a direct logical outgrowth of the scientific doctrine elaborated by his cousin, Charles Darwin.’13

Nazi governmental policy was openly influenced by Darwinism, the Zeitgeist of both science and educated society of the time.10 This can be evaluated by an examination of extant documents, writings, and artefacts produced by Germany’s twentieth century Nazi movement and its many scientist supporters. Keith concluded the Nazi treatment of Jews and other ‘races’, then believed ‘inferior’, was largely a result of their belief that Darwinism provided profound insight that could be used to significantly improve humankind.14Tenenbaum noted that the political philosophy of Germany was built on the belief that critical for evolutionary progress were:
‘ … struggle, selection, and survival of the fittest, all notions and observations arrived at … by Darwin … but already in luxuriant bud in the German social philosophy of the nineteenth century. … Thus developed the doctrine of Germany’s inherent right to rule the world on the basis of superior strength … [of a] “hammer and anvil” relationship between the Reich and the weaker nations.’ 14

...

Conclusion

Firmly convinced that Darwinian evolution was true, Hitler saw himself as the modern saviour of mankind. Society, he felt, would some day regard him as a great ‘scientific socialist’, the benefactor of all humankind. By breeding a superior race, the world would look upon him as the man who pulled humanity up to a higher level of evolutionary development. If Darwinism is true, Hitler was our saviour and we have crucified him. As a result, the human race will grievously suffer. If Darwinism is not true, what Hitler attempted to do must be ranked with the most heinous crimes of history and Darwin as the father of one of the most destructive philosophies of history. An assessment by Youngson concluded that the application of Darwinism to society, called eugenics, produced one of the most tragic scientific blunders of all time:

‘The culmination of this darker side of eugenics was, of course, Adolf Hitler’s attempt to produce a “‘master race’ by encouraging mating between pure ‘Aryans’” and by the murder of six million people whom he claimed to have inferior genes. It is hardly fair to Galton to blame him for the Holocaust or even for his failure to anticipate the consequences of his advocacy of the matter. But he was certainly the principal architect of eugenics, and Hitler was certainly obsessed with the idea. So, in terms of its consequences, this must qualify as one of the greatest scientific blunders of all time.’ 75

Is Forgiveness Better Than Vengeance ?

Trump Is Wrong, Forgiveness Better Than Vengeance Forgiveness Better Than Vengeance

Trump Is Wrong, Forgiveness Better Than Vengeance

Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/donald-trump-wrong-forgiveness-better-vengeance-christian-tenet-bible-156445/#hmtpce2hoMRjvHEO.99

During a recent interview with Fox News host Bill O'Reilly, Donald Trump was asked if he could forgive someone who had offended him. O'Reilly stated that Donald claimed to be a Christian and "forgiveness is a "Christian tenet." Donald replied that while forgiving might "probably" be the "right thing to do" he preferred another biblical tenet, that of "An eye for an eye."

...a big fat myth in our society. "Time heals all wounds." Right? Wrong.

Listen, dear friend. Time does not heal all wounds. Time will provide many opportunities for you to get healing, but that healing always involves forgiveness for the pain we experienced (and taking the pain to Jesus). I have met numerous angry, bitter seventy-year old people who were relatively cheerful when they were six years old. Time doesn't automatically heal all wounds. We get better or we get worse as we get older. We can choose to forgive. And that brings a lot of healing into our hearts.

Another myth: "They didn't mean to hurt me." Ok. They didn't "intend" to hurt you (whatever that is …).

I didn't mean to shoot my brother-in-law through the left arm with a 30.06 when we were hunting groundhogs together in 1987, either. (That's a story I'll save for later). I told him I was sorry during our hi-speed race to the hospital as I squeezed his left elbow with my right hand hard enough to break bones (slowing down the blood flow).

The fact that I didn't mean to shoot his arm (the gun jammed while unloading it) didn't heal the wound. He had to spend a couple days in the hospital. A person may not have intended to hurt us, but that doesn't erase the wound.

...There's a better way. We can choose to forgive those who have hurt us. This makes the consequences go away. It's that simple and that profound!

Lastly, a failure to forgive will defile those around us (Hebrews 12:15). How many people does it take to get anger flowing through a family or a church? Just one. One person negatively affects another, who affects others, and so it goes. There is a better way, and that way is found in Paul's letter to the Ephesians.

"Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ forgave you." (Ephesians 4:31–32)

I began by saying forgiveness is not optional for a Christian. It isn't. Really. But it is optional at the most basic level of human choice. We don't have to forgive — we can choose bitterness. And to choose bitterness is to choose the slow death of our heart (1 John 3:19–21).

There is something in forgiveness for us. A benefit. Isaiah tells us that God's forgiveness is an extension and benefit of His own character (Isaiah 43:25). There is tremendous reward in forgiveness.

But it evidently seems too expensive for Donald. He likes the "eye for an eye" stuff because he can control the transaction.

For all of his business experience he is missing the tremendous profit and freedom that forgiveness brings into our lives. Forgiveness is profitable, both emotionally and spiritually. You would think a businessman would realize that. A true Christian one will.

There's a better way. We can choose to forgive those who have hurt us. This makes the consequences go away. It's that simple and that profound!

"Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ forgave you." (Ephesians 4:31–32)

There is something in forgiveness for us. A benefit. Isaiah tells us that God's forgiveness is an extension and benefit of His own character (Isaiah 43:25). There is tremendous reward in forgiveness.

But it evidently seems too expensive for Donald. He likes the "eye for an eye" stuff because he can control the transaction.

Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/donald-trump-wrong-forgiveness-better-vengeance-christian-tenet-bible-156445/#hmtpce2hoMRjvHEO.99

Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/donald-trump-wrong-forgiveness-better-vengeance-christian-tenet-bible-156445/#6dl2soU9shesCDg1.99

Thursday, February 4, 2016

Archaeology Backs up the Book of John

Archaeologists Find Pool of Siloam, Confirm Gospel of John Accurate

...The Gospel of John isn't the only book of the Bible being archaeologically verified in the immediate area. As the Review tells readers, "the origins of the Siloam Pool reach back even further in history — at least seven centuries before the time of Jesus."

The pool was part of the preparations that King Hezekiah — the subject of a recent BreakPoint — made in anticipation of a siege by King Sennacherib of Assyria.

According to 2 Chronicles 32, "it was Hezekiah who blocked the upper outlet of the Gihon spring and channeled the water down to the west side of the City of David."

While the existence of such a tunnel has been known since the late 19th century, many scholars were hesitant to associate it with the one mentioned in 2 Chronicles. Reich's and Shukron's extensive excavation of the area has led them to conclude that the account in 2 Chronicles attributing it to Hezekiah is in fact correct...

Click the link below for more photos

http://www.bible.ca/archeology/bible-archeology-pool-of-siloam.htm

For years, some scholars have doubted the historical accuracy of the fourth Gospel. But a dip in the pool of Siloam will cure that.

The Gospel of John Chapter 9 tells the story of Jesus' healing of a man born blind. After telling his disciples that the man's blindness had nothing to do with either the man's sins or those of his parents, Jesus applied mud to the man's eyes and told him to wash it off at the Pool of Siloam.

Since at least the fifth century, Christians had identified a spot in Jerusalem as the Pool of Siloam and the site of the miracle. But it was not until a decade ago that archaeologists found what they are certain is the ancient pool of Siloam.

Like so many such finds, it was almost by accident. During construction work to repair a water pipe near the Temple Mount, Israeli archaeologists Ronny Reich and Eli Shukron found "two ancient stone steps."

According to Biblical Archaeology Review, "Further excavation revealed that they were part of a monumental pool from the Second Temple period, the period in which Jesus lived." The pool was trapezoidal in shape and 225 feet long.

The Gospel of John isn't the only book of the Bible being archaeologically verified in the immediate area. As the Review tells readers, "the origins of the Siloam Pool reach back even further in history — at least seven centuries before the time of Jesus."

The pool was part of the preparations that King Hezekiah — the subject of a recent BreakPoint — made in anticipation of a siege by King Sennacherib of Assyria.

According to 2 Chronicles 32, "it was Hezekiah who blocked the upper outlet of the Gihon spring and channeled the water down to the west side of the City of David."

While the existence of such a tunnel has been known since the late 19th century, many scholars were hesitant to associate it with the one mentioned in 2 Chronicles. Reich's and Shukron's extensive excavation of the area has led them to conclude that the account in 2 Chronicles attributing it to Hezekiah is in fact correct.

According to an inscription in one of the tunnels, called the "Siloam inscription," two teams dug in opposite directions — one from the north and the other from the south — and met in the middle. The result was a reliable source of water that enabled Judah to withstand the Assyrian siege.

The story about the discovery of the Pool of Siloam also highlights the growing scholarly appreciation for the historical qualities of the fourth Gospel. Traditionally, more liberal scholars not only discounted the historicity of the Gospel of John, they blamed it, a least in part, for the rise of anti-Semitism. They pointed to the repeated use of the phrase "the Jews."

But as Pope Benedict XVI wrote in "Jesus of Nazareth," the Gospel of John "rests on extraordinarily precise knowledge of times and places, and so can only have been produced by someone who had an excellent firsthand knowledge of Palestine at the time of Jesus."

What's more, it's become clear "that the Gospel thinks and argues entirely in terms of the Old Testament and that its whole way of arguing is deeply rooted in the Judaism of Jesus' time."

The point is that it's become increasingly clear that the default scholarly position of disbelieving the Bible because it is the Bible is untenable.

Of course, Christians should already know that. But it's still gratifying to see that other people are able to see it as well. Even if they have to go to the Pool of Siloam to do it.

*Discovery of the actual pool:
While digging a drainage pipe, a tractor his some large stone under the dirt. Work was halted and archaeologists Eli Shukrun and Ronny Reich (Pictured in red) quickly revealed a series of steps leading down. The pool is about the size of two football fields.

Pool of SiloamJohn 9:6-7; Nehemiah 3:15; Isaiah 8:6; John 7:37-38the Hebrew word Siloam means "sent"

In Lions' Den 獅穴尋光

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