The Wisdom Chronicle is designed to bring nuggets of wisdom from the dozens of books I read every year in all genres. Each week, I endeavor to share the best of what I have gleaned. The determination of relevance lies with you. Blessings, Jim Whiddon
March 17, 2014
41. GENERATIONS “The most considered and balanced statement of politics’ place in the hierarchy of human disciplines came, naturally, from an American. “I must study politics and war,” wrote John Adams, “that my sons may have the liberty to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, and naval architecture, navigation, commerce, and agriculture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry and porcelain.”
Adams saw clearly that politics is the indispensable foundation for things elegant and beautiful. First and above all else, you must secure life, liberty and the right to pursue your own happiness. That’s politics done right, hard-earned, often by war. And yet the glories yielded by such a successful politics lie outside itself. Its deepest purpose is to create the conditions for the cultivation of the finer things, beginning with philosophy and science, and ascending to the ever more delicate and refined arts.”
Excerpt From: Krauthammer, Charles. “Things That Matter.”
42. TYRANNY OF THE MAJORITY “Like other tyrannies, the tyranny of the majority was at first, and is still vulgarly, held in dread, chiefly as operating through the acts of the public authorities. But reflecting persons perceived that when society is itself the tyrant–society collectively, over the separate individuals who compose it–its means of tyrannizing are not restricted to the acts which it may do by the hands of its political functionaries. Society can and does execute its own mandates: and if it issues wrong mandates instead of right, or any mandates at all in things with which it ought not to meddle, it practices a social tyranny more formidable than many kinds of political oppression, since, though not usually upheld by such extreme penalties, it leaves fewer means of escape, penetrating much more deeply into the details of life, and enslaving the soul itself. Protection, therefore, against the tyranny of the magistrate is not enough; there needs protection also against the tyranny of the prevailing opinion and feeling; against the tendency of society to impose, by other means than civil penalties, its own ideas and practices as rules of conduct on those who dissent from them; to fetter the development, and if possible, prevent the formation, of any individuality not in harmony with its ways, and compel all characters to fashion themselves upon the model of its own.
There is a limit to the legitimate interference of collective opinion with individual independence; and to find that limit, and maintain it against encroachment, is as indispensable to a good condition of human affairs, as protection against political despotism.
Excerpt From: John Stuart Mill. “On Liberty.” (1859)
43. TRY AGAIN “I have missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to take the game winning shot….and I have missed. I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is precisely why I succeed.”
— Michael Jordan
44. KNOWING “Most of us know what to do. We fail because we don’t do what we know.”
Excerpt From: Jim Stovall & Tim Maurer. “The Ultimate Financial Plan.”
45. BIAS “Never ask a barber if you need a haircut.” –Warren Buffett
46. COST OF WEALTH “The poorest man would not part with health for money, but the richest would gladly part with all their money for health.”
— Charles Caleb Colton
47. PROTECTING OUR CHILDREN “When doctors inoculate children, they give them a less dangerous form of a pathogen, such as a virus. Billions of children, for instance, have received the smallpox vaccine. They don’t get the full-blown smallpox virus, but the much less virulent cowpox virus injected under their skin. This causes their immune system to kick in and build up a resistance to the virus.
Millions of parents, including Christians, expose their children to deadly ideas and influences for dozens of hours every week. They assume that an hour or two of church a week plus some short conversations at dinner should be enough to counteract thirty-five hours of TV per week, another thirty-five hours of secular schooling—a place where God is “He who must not be named”—another few hours of Internet surfing, and several more hours breathing in the ambient secular culture, not to mention the often unwholesome influence of classmates and friends.
“Christian” education didn’t take. They read a book by an atheist such as Richard Dawkins or Stephen Hawking, or got to graduate school or seminary, and realized they had been given caricatures of what their parents called “worldly ideas.” They were recruited by the very cultural forces that their parents tried to protect them from.
In some cases, the parents thought they were inoculating their kids; but they lacked discernment and taught things about science or history that fell apart when exposed to the evidence or intelligent objections. It was as if the parents opted for mysterious herbal remedies rather than a real smallpox vaccine.
In other cases, the parents spent so much of their energy helping their kids see the flaws in other Christian traditions that they neglected to help them see the glories of Christian history and the debilitating intellectual weaknesses of secularism and atheism. The ranks of prominent atheists are filled, not just with people who were raised in liberal mainline denominations, but with people who were raised in sheltered homes as conservative Christians. They tend to be the angry ones. Some even lost their faith during their time at Christian colleges that cost their parents a hundred thousand dollars.
Inoculation means that we expose our children to the best and strongest ideas that the world has to offer, but expose them in a way, and in an environment, that allows them to build up intellectual immunity.”
Excerpt From: James Robison & Jay W. Richards. “Indivisible.”
48. GOD’S WILL “During World War II, a man in Sussex, England, sent some money to the Scripture Gift Mission. He enclosed a letter saying that he longed to give more, but the harvest on his farm had been very disappointing because of a lack of water. He was also fearful because German bombs were being dropped in the area, and his family and farm were at risk. He asked the workers of Scripture Gift Mission to pray that no bombs would fall on his land.
Mr. Ashley Baker wrote back from the mission and said that while he didn’t feel led to pray that exact prayer, he had prayed that God’s will for their lives would prevail. Shortly after, a huge German missile crashed down on the farm. None of the man’s family or livestock were harmed, but the bombshell went so far into the ground that it liberated a submerged stream. The stream yielded enough water to irrigate the man’s farm as well as neighboring farms. The next year, due to a bountiful harvest, the man was able to send a large offering to the mission.
Sometimes even bombs are blessings. They fall from heaven, make a lot of noise, and liberate something wonderful within us—streams of living water that refresh us and draw us closer to Christ.”
Excerpt From: Jeremiah, David. “Searching for Heaven on Earth.”
49. PUNS “PEOPLE MAY CLAIM TO HATE PUNS, but most true word lovers have groaned to like them. Every parent should consider punning to be an essential part of good child rearing, if only because kids’ social hierarchy tends to slot young punsters in the nerdy, bookish, law-abiding, sexually late-blooming, high-SAT-score category. In other words, an appreciation for puns practically guarantees your child entry into a prestigious college and a career that supports you in your dotage.”
Excerpt From: Heinrichs, Jay. “Word Hero.”
50. DADS Obviously, being around is better than not being around, but being engaged is invaluable. One simply fills a role. The other anchors a life. It’s obvious when a dad is merely tolerating his kid. No one knows this more than the kid. At the same time, nothing so enlivens the life of a child as a dad who cares. When dad is listening and tracking and caring for his son’s soul, the world is a safer place.
Most dads never notice the deep need for approval their sons carry around. It’s potent. One word of encouragement can have a lifetime of effect. It only takes one sentence to change a son’s life forever, “Son, I’m proud of you.” Those men who’ve never received this type of approval spend a lifetime working for it. Those who get it have a sense of assurance the rest don’t.”
Excerpt From: Byron Forrest Yawn. “What Every Man Wishes His Father Had Told Him.”
What Really Happened at Jesus’ Tomb?
1. Does Truth Exist?, 4. Is the NT True?, Theology and Christian ApologeticsA Look at “The Creed” Through History & Archaeology
For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Then last of all He was seen by me also, as one born out of due time (1 Cor. 15:3-8)
One of the earliest records of the events surrounding the first Easter was recorded in an early saying or “creed” which the Apostle Paul mentions in his epistle (or letter) in 1 Corinthians 15:3-8. It has been called the first Christian “creed” or Credo [Latin for ‘I believe’]. Although Paul refers to it, it is not original to him; it is Pre-Pauline. It very likely dates back to the earliest followers of Jesus – His first Disciples – those who waked with Him, lived with Him, those who watched the drama of His life unfold before their eyes…those who watched Him die…those who ate with Him and spoke with Him and saw Him after He reportedly arose from the dead.
Part of how we know whether or not something happened in the past or not is through eyewitness testimony. Eyewitnesses can be reliable or not. One way (certainly not the only way) we can test whether an eyewitness is speaking the truth is through internal and external evidence that is consistent with other verifiable facts in a particular time period. Unlike mathematics or deductive logic, history allows us to make inferences based on the evidence that we have at hand as we study it carefully and determined if it is reliable.
From this early creed – I would like to consider three facts[1] that it is indeed genuine and bears the key marks of an authentic record of a monumental historical event – namely that Jesus did, in fact, rise from the dead.
Read more
What was the Crucifixion like?
CrossExaminedWhat was the extent of the physical suffering Jesus endured at the crucifixion? Consider that the English word “excruciating” is from the Latin meaning “out of the crucifixion.” I’ve found that the best way to comprehend the magnitude of the Christ’s physical suffering on Good Friday is to read the following description that we’ve adapted from the work of medical doctor, C. Truman Davis (see I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist, p. 380-383). The short video above also illustrates the kind of brutal punishment Christ took to pay for our sins.
WARNING: THIS IS GRAPHIC (You may have a difficult time getting through it).
The whip the Roman soldiers use on Jesus has small iron balls and sharp pieces of sheep bones tied to it. Jesus is stripped of his clothing, and his hands are tied to an upright post. His back, buttocks, and legs are whipped either by one soldier or by two who alternate positions. The soldiers taunt their victim. As they repeatedly strike Jesus’ back with full force, the iron balls cause deep contusions, and the sheep bones cut into the skin and tissues. As the whipping continues, the lacerations tear into the underlying skeletal muscles and produce quivering ribbons of bleeding flesh. Pain and blood loss set the stage for circulatory shock.
When it is determined by the centurion in charge that Jesus is near death, the beating is finally stopped. The half-fainting Jesus is then untied and allowed to slump to the stone pavement, wet with his own blood. The Roman soldiers see a great joke in this provincial Jew claiming to be a king. They throw a robe across his shoulders and place a stick in his hand for a scepter. They still need a crown to make their travesty complete. A small bundle of flexible branches covered with long thorns are plaited into the shape of a crown, and this is pressed into his scalp. Again there is copious bleeding (the scalp being one of the most vascular areas of the body). After mocking him and striking him across the face, the soldiers take the stick from his hand and strike him across the head, driving the thorns deeper into his scalp.
Finally, when they tire of their sadistic sport, the robe is torn from his back. The robe had already become adherent to the clots of blood and serum in the wounds, and its removal—just as in the careless removal of a surgical bandage—causes excruciating pain, almost as though he were being whipped again. The wounds again begin to bleed. In deference to Jewish custom, the Romans return his garments. The heavy horizontal beam of the cross is tied across his shoulders, and the procession of the condemned Christ, two thieves, and the execution party walk along the Via Dolorosa. In spite of his efforts to walk erect, the weight of the heavy wooden beam, together with the shock produced by copious blood loss,
is too much. He stumbles and falls. The rough wood of the beam gouges into the lacerated skin and muscles of the shoulders. He tries to rise, but human muscles have been pushed beyond their endurance. The centurion, anxious to get on with the crucifixion, selects a stalwart North African onlooker, Simon of Cyrene, to carry the cross. Jesus follows, still bleeding and sweating the cold, clammy sweat of shock.
The 650-yard journey from the fortress Antonia to Golgotha is finally completed. Jesus is again stripped of his clothes except for a loin cloth which is allowed the Jews. The crucifixion begins. Jesus is offered wine mixed with myrrh, a mild pain-killing mixture. He refuses to drink. Simon is ordered to place the cross beam on the ground, and Jesus is quickly thrown backward with his shoulders against the wood. The legionnaire feels for the depression at the front of the wrist. He drives a heavy, square, wrought-iron nail through the wrist and deep into the wood. Quickly, he moves to the other side and repeats the action, being careful not to pull the arms too tight, but to allow some flexibility and movement. The beam is then lifted, and the title reading “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews” is nailed in place.
The victim Jesus is now crucified. As he slowly sags down with more weight on the nails in the wrists, excruciating, fiery pain shoots along the fingers and up the arms to explode in the brain—the nails in the wrists are putting pressure on the median nerves. As he pushes himself upward to avoid this stretching torment, he places his full weight on the nail through his feet. Again, there is the searing agony of the nail tear- ing through the nerves between the metatarsal bones of the feet. At this point, another phenomenon occurs. As the arms fatigue, great waves of cramps sweep over the muscles, knotting them in deep, relentless, throbbing pain. With these cramps comes the inability to push himself upward. Hanging by his arms, the pectoral muscles are paralyzed, and the intercostal muscles are unable to act. Air can be drawn into the lungs but it cannot be exhaled. Jesus fights to raise himself in order to get even one short breath. Finally, carbon dioxide builds up in the lungs and in the bloodstream, and the cramps partially subside. Spasmodically, he is able to push himself upward to exhale and bring in the life-giving oxygen. It is undoubtedly during these periods that he utters the seven short sentences that are recorded.
Now begin hours of this limitless pain, cycles of cramping and twisting, partial asphyxiation, searing pain as tissue is torn from his lacerated back as he moves up and down against the rough timber. Then another agony begins. A deep, crushing pain in the chest as the pericardium slowly fills with serum and begins to compress the heart. It is now almost over— the loss of tissue fluids has reached a critical level; the compressed heart is struggling to pump heavy, thick, sluggish blood into the tissues; the tortured lungs are making a frantic effort to gasp in small gulps of air. The markedly dehydrated tissues send their flood of stimuli to the brain. His mission of atonement has been completed. Finally he can allow his body to die. With one last surge of strength, he once again presses his torn feet against the nail, straightens his legs, takes a deeper breath, and utters his seventh and last cry: “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”
Jesus went through all of that so you and I could be reconciled to him; so you and I could be saved from our sins by affirming, Father, into your hands I commit my life. If you haven’t done that, why not?
The Wisdom Chronicle
Wisdom ChronicleThe Wisdom Chronicle is designed to bring nuggets of wisdom from the dozens of books I read every year in all genres. Each week, I endeavor to share the best of what I have gleaned. The determination of relevance lies with you. Blessings, Jim Whiddon
81. OUR NATION “We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” — Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
82. COMPETITION “Being the one who makes your product, process, or service obsolete is the only way to prevent your competitor from doing so.”
Excerpt From: Peter F. Drucker. “The Daily Drucker.”
83. TEAM “Being on the Team vs. Being a Teammate:
Being on the team benefits your personal goals and ambitions. Being a teammate benefits the goals and ambitions of your team and your teammates.
Being on the team can make you a bystander. Teammates intervene in the lives and actions of their teammates.
Being on the team involves personal effort. Being a teammate involves the efforts of every player.
Being on the team means doing what is asked of you. Being a teammate is doing whatever is needed for the team to succeed.
Being on the team can involve blaming others and making excuses. Being a teammate involves accepting responsibility, accountability, and ownership of the team’s problems.
Being on the team makes you “me-optic,” asking what’s in it for me? Being a teammate makes you “we-optic,” asking what’s in it for us?
Sometimes players on the team are drawn together by common interests; teammates are drawn together by a common mission.
Sometimes players on a team like one another; teammates respect one another.
Sometimes players on a team bond together because of a shared background or compatible personalities; teammates bond together because they recognize every player is needed to accomplish the goal of the team.
Sometimes players on a team are energized by emotions; teammates energize one another out of commitment.”
Excerpt From: Joe Ehrmann, Paula Ehrmann & Gregory Jordan. “InSideOut Coaching.”
84. IDEAS “An idea is not responsible for the people who believe in it.” — Don Marquis
85. OLD JOKE “An old married couple in their nineties contact a divorce lawyer, who pleads with them to stay together. “Why get divorced now after seventy years of marriage? Why not last it out? Why now?” The little old lady finally pipes up in a creaky voice: “We wanted to wait until the children were dead.”
Excerpt From: John Allen Paulos. “Innumeracy.”
86. SINNERS “Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future.”
— Chris Seidman
87. POLITICIANS “Political solutions can never put us on a sound economic footing. Politics is not interested primarily in the good of the nation. Instead, politics has to do with gaining and exercising power over your opponents, rewarding your biggest donors, and benefitting the priority constituencies of your party. If, in doing these things, you also accomplish something that is good for the country at large, that’s great. But such an outcome is more an afterthought in the political process than it is a primary focus.”
Excerpt From: Hovind, Chad. “Godonomics.”
88. PILGRIM CAPITALISM “Bradford decided to search the Scriptures and seek insight from God. He found three principles that saved the [pilgrim] village and possibly even the great nation that would follow. The foundational principles were property rights, incentive, and freedom. In the Bible, he discovered a blueprint for a new economic system. If socialism didn’t work in this best-case scenario with devout Christians, why would we think a less-than-ideal paradigm would work? In other words, if a mostly devout Christian community in the past couldn’t make it work, is there any hope Washington, DC will get it right today? God’s economic principles of property rights, incentive, and personal freedom are central to what I refer to as Godonomics.”
Excerpt From: Hovind, Chad. “Godonomics.”
89. WINSTON CHURCHILL CLASSICS
Concerning PM and Socialist Leader Clement Atley: “He is a modest man with much to be modest about. He is a sheep in sheep’s clothing.”
Concerning PM Stanley Baldwin: “Occasionally he stumbles over the truth, but hastily picks himself up as though nothing had happened. ”
Concerning PM Lord Balfour: “If you wanted nothing done, he is the best man for the task. There is absolutely no equal to him.”
Concerning PM N. Chamberlin: “You had a choice between war and dishonor. You chose dishonor, and you will have war. He has a lust for peace.”
Concerning T.E Lawrence (of Arabia): “He was not in complete harmony with the normal.”
90. CIVIL WAR “Lincoln had to have the grace to fight the bloodiest war in our history without “demonizing” the enemy with propaganda. If he had done that, he might have been able to galvanize the resolve of the North much faster, facilitating a quicker military victory. However, it would have made the reunion after the war much more difficult. Because he was truly fighting to preserve the Union, Lincoln never made the men and women of the South the enemy, but rather the evil that held them in bondage.”
Excerpt From: Joyner, Rick. “The Final Quest.”
The Wisdom Chronicle
Wisdom ChronicleThe Wisdom Chronicle is designed to bring nuggets of wisdom from the dozens of books I read every year in all genres. Each week, I endeavor to share the best of what I have gleaned. The determination of relevance lies with you. Blessings, Jim Whiddon
71. TRADING UP “The cool thing about taking Jesus up on His offer is that whatever controls you doesn’t anymore. People who used to be obsessed about becoming famous no longer care whether anybody knows their name. People who used to want power are willing to serve. People who used to chase money freely give it away. People who used to beg others for acceptance are now strong enough to give love. When we get our security from Christ, we no longer have to look for it in the world, and that’s a pretty good trade.”
Excerpt From: Goff, Bob. “Love Does.”
72. POWER CORRUPTS “Because power corrupts, humanity’s need for those in power to be of high character increases as the importance of the position of leadership increases. We are discussing character, correct? Not intelligence. Some of the most intelligent leaders in history have brought disaster to their nations because intelligence is powerless to modify character. Great leadership is a product of great character. And this is why character matters.”
Excerpt From: Andrews, Andy. “How Do You Kill 11 Million People?.”
73. BE A LENDER “Jews always viewed putting one’s capital at risk to enable someone else to make a profit as an honorable way to earn a living and to help others. The Jewish hierarchy of charity regards lending someone money to go into business as more noble than simply giving him the money. The latter condemns the recipient to be a beggar without enough self respect to launch his or her own enterprise. However, lending money to a needy man elevates him into an independent businessman. This way his dignity is preserved, and he retains the psychological self image so necessary to conducting business successfully.”
Excerpt From: Rabbi Daniel Lapin. “Thou Shall Prosper.”
74. BIBLE Another thing that’s so good it’s scary is His Word. Take a look at what Hebrews 4:12 says about it: “For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” Can you say that about any other book?”
Excerpt From: Budziszewski, J. “How to Stay Christian in College.”
75. BOOKS “All great books point out the emerging truth in a way that allows us to stop overlooking it.”
Excerpt From: Simmons, Annette. “The Story Factor.”
76. BOYS “The growing achievement gap between boys and girls today. “By almost every benchmark, boys across the nation and in every demographic group are falling behind,” wrote Peg Tyre. “In elementary school, boys are two times more likely than girls to be diagnosed with learning disabilities and twice as likely to be placed in special-education classes. High-school boys are losing ground to girls on standardized writing tests.” According to the American Council on Education, young men now represent only 43 percent of college undergraduates, with women comprising nearly 60 percent. Making the problem even larger is the number of boys growing up with fathers who are physically present but emotionally distant and uninvolved.”
Excerpt From: Rainey, Dennis. “Stepping Up.”
77. BUSINESS BAD GUYS ? “In his book Hollywood vs. America, Michael Medved wrote that prior to 1965, television shows portrayed businessmen as good guys twice as often as bad guys. This ratio was reversed in the 1970s, when audiences were treated to two business villains for every good guy. “As a group, corporate types commit more murders on TV than any other occupational category—even career criminals.”
Excerpt From: Rabbi Daniel Lapin. “Thou Shall Prosper.”
78. INVESTING PER THE BIBLE: “Solomon was one of the richest men in history, and his legendary wisdom encompassed money management. To this day, some of the best financial advice ever written is contained in the book of Proverbs. And here, in this passage in Ecclesiastes, we see the invention and advancement of the widely lauded strategy of financial diversification.
Notice verse 1: “Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days.” This is one of the most quoted verses in Ecclesiastes, but what does it mean?
As it happens, Solomon had quite a fleet of ships. “King Solomon also built a fleet of ships at Ezion Geber, which is near Elath on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom” (1 Kings 9:26).
The next chapter talks about ships transporting gold, precious stones, and expensive woods (1 Kings 10:11). We read of his traveling merchants, his income from international trade, and of yet more ships bringing in the wealth of the world, including “gold, silver, ivory, apes, and monkeys” (verses 15, 22).
Then as now, one of the main trade commodities was grain. The merchants of Solomon’s day would load their grain ships and send them off. The Israelites were “casting” [their] bread upon the water.” But notice that with Solomon, the word is plural: “cast your bread on the waters.” In other words, don’t put all your grain in one ship. Put your wheat in several ships, and send it out in a diversified way so that if one of the ships should sink, you’ll not be ruined.
Grandma called this not putting all your eggs in one basket; we call it diversifying our portfolio. Solomon is telling us that since life is so uncertain, we should spread out our investments. In fact, he goes so far as to recommend that we diversify using seven or eight different places. Look at Ecclesiastes 11:2: “Give a serving to seven, and also to eight, for you do not know what evil will be on the earth.”
That is God’s counsel regarding our financial investments. Spread them out because life is uncertain.”
Excerpt From: Jeremiah, David. “Searching for Heaven on Earth.”
79. CAREER The most frequent conundrum upper middle-class couples find themselves in: They went and got their priorities caught in success. “What is work anyway? It’s not who I am. I may be a salesman, doctor, or teacher, but that is just a means to an end. It’s what I do. Who I am is a husband and dad saved by grace. One simply provides the opportunity to do the other. When we confuse the means and the end we inevitably fall off one of these two edges—a want of meaning or a misplaced identity. If my greater desire is to be successful rather than faithful, I’m in trouble. It’s the greater reality that keeps the other in proper perspective.”
Excerpt From: Byron Forrest Yawn. “What Every Man Wishes His Father Had Told Him.”
80. CHILDREN “Philosopher James K. A. Smith encourages parents with this poignant observation: “[Your children are] going to break your heart. Somehow. Somewhere. Maybe more than once. To become a parent is to promise you’ll love prodigals.”
Excerpt From: Kinnaman, David. “You Lost Me.”
The Qur’an, Muhammad and Modern Science: Scientific Miracles or Blunders?
IslamAnyone who has had even a mild exposure to Islamic apologetics will have encountered the argument for the Qur’an’s divine origin based on its purported scientific miracles — that is, scientific assertions contained within the Qur’an which have only been validated by modern science. Out of all of the arguments for the Islamic religion, this is the one which, in my judgment, comes closest to being a real argument. Indeed, this is probably the best they’ve got, and it is frequently a lead argument by Muslim polemicists. Nonetheless, the argument has always appeared very strange to me. If the Qur’an is unrivaled at anything, assuredly it is only in its ability to conceive of a Universe so wildly disconnected from reality.
One problem with the positive Islamic argument is that it can only be falsified if one allows both correct and incorrect scientific statements to potentially validate or refute the Qur’an’s divine origin. If correct scientific statements provide evidence for the Qur’an’s divine origin, then surely incorrect scientific statements provide support for the opposite conclusion. For the argument to work, therefore, one must demonstrate not only that the Qur’an contains specific scientific information that could not have been known by a seventh century Arab, but also that the Qur’an does not contain demonstrable scientific errors that we might expect from a seventh century Arab. Unfortunately, it is usually the case that only the passages that are believed by Muslims to comport with modern science are presented in Muslim polemical literature. Read more
A Simple Reason Why The Qur’an Cannot Be The Word of God
IslamPremise 1: Either the Bible is the Word of God or it is not.
Premise 2: If the Bible is the Word of God, the Qur’an is not.
Premise 3: If the Bible is not the Word of God, the Qur’an is not.
Conclusion: Therefore, the Qur’an is not the Word of God. Read more
The Culture Chronicle
Culture CrossExaminedThe following list of events is a representative sample lifted from recent headlines and compiled in this format to offer some perspective concerning the current trends in our culture. Items included were selected at my sole discretion. Jim Whiddon.
March 2014
Greenpeace co-founder Patrick Moore has angered environmentalist groups after saying climate change is “not caused by humans” and there is “no scientific proof” to back global warming alarmism. (The Independent)
NYC mayor Bill de Blasio kept his campaign promise to teacher’s unions and refused to let three new charter schools open. The schools were previously approved to open by former mayor Michael Bloomberg. (Wall Street Journal)
Tim Cook, CEO of Apple – the US’ most valuable company – made an impassioned speech which included a request that climate change “deniers” refrain from buying his company’s stock.
Kadena Air Base, Japan. What is believed to be the first drag show on a US military base was thrown in support for the base’s recently formed OutServe-SLDN chapter, a nonprofit advocacy group for the army’s LGBT community. The expected crowd of 75 grew to 400 in attendance. (The Week)
Starting in 2015, the Boy Scouts of America’s policy banning adult leaders who are gay will cost the organization donations from the Walt Disney Co. (LA Times)
A basketball team in Canada made up of 10-year-old boys was disqualified from playing in their tournament championship game for being undefeated in a league which “de-emphasizes winning” while emphasizing equal participation. (The Blaze)
The Dalai Lama, a long time avowed Marxist, leads prayer in US Senate and gives speech at National Cathedral.
The scene outside a marijuana industry career fair in Denver “looked like a throwback to the Great Depression.” Thousands of people waited for hours with resumes in hand in a line that stretched several blocks. (CBS)
Lawrence Torcello, a philosophy professor with the Rochester Institute of Technology has called for the incarceration of any American who actively disagrees that climate change is solely caused by human activity. (infowars.com)
Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel announced that free condoms will be made available at 24 high schools. (CBS)
The widely released film, “Noah”, has zero mentions of God in its dialogue but “numerous dramatic fabrications and heavy-handed ecological doomsday” themes. (The Hollywood Reporter)
University of Oklahoma professor Gerald Gurney estimates that 10% of athletes in revenue-producing college sports read at less than a fourth grade level. (Real Sports)
Former President Jimmy Carter says he corresponds with foreign leaders the old-fashioned way – through snail mail – because he suspects his communications are watched by intelligence agencies. (Politico)
Poll indicates that 78% of Americans favor requirement of proof of citizenship in order to vote – up from 71% one year ago. (Rasmussen)
Senate Dems proposed “Shield Law” for news reporters is seen as “totally inconsistent with the notion of a free press and the First Amendment,” according to Senator John Cornyn (R) from Texas. Dems claim they have the votes to pass the controversial bill which would require “licensing” from the federal government. (Breitbart)
A George Mason University law professor was pepper sprayed in his classroom. Ironically, the school says he was teaching a unit on vigilantes. (ABC)
At a University of Michigan exhibition called “4000 Years for Choice”, abortion is referred to as the “life-sustaining act” of the ages. The display is dedicated to defending and glamorizing the history of abortion and runs though May 29. (The College Fix)
According to a study in Alcohol Treatment Quarterly, children who attend church regularly are less likely to experiment with alcohol and drugs.
White House looks to reduce cow flatulence as part of its climate agenda calling for a 25% reduction in methane gas from dairy farmers by 2020. (WSJ)
The Oxford Junior Dictionary has removed several words related to Christianity including “sin” as well as “bishop” “chapel” and “disciple”. (Daily Mail)
“Cast your burden upon the LORD and He will sustain you;
He will never allow the righteous to be shaken.”
PSALM 55:22
The Wisdom Chronicle
Wisdom ChronicleThe Wisdom Chronicle is designed to bring nuggets of wisdom from the dozens of books I read every year in all genres. Each week, I endeavor to share the best of what I have gleaned. the determination of relevance lies with you. Blessings, Jim Whiddon
61. TRY THIS AFTER YOU’RE PUT ON HOLD
This works with most bureaucrats. Pretend you have all the time in the world, and present your choice as the lesser of two evils. They either cut you a break or waste more time with you. Functionaries, like water, follow the path of least resistance.”
Excerpt From: Heinrichs, Jay. “Thank You For Arguing, Revised and Updated Edition.”
62. FAILED GLORY “In great attempts it is glorious even to fail.”
—Wilfred A. Peterson
63. COMMERCE HISTORY “When a merchant in Venice gave a sum of money to a local Jewish banker, the merchant could rest assured that his supplier in Amsterdam would receive the equivalent funds from another Jewish banker in Holland. What was so vital was that the two Jewish bankers trusted one another. It was this intangible system of trust that made commerce and wealth creation possible, but there was another reason, too. Both Christians and Moslems accepted a rather literal interpretation of the Bible’s prohibition against charging interest to borrowers. This absolutist view effectively eliminated banking as a profession for the faithful of those religions. A Jewish understanding of the Bible on the other hand, depends on what Jews refer to as the “Oral Torah,” whose ecclesiastical authority fully matches that of its written counterpart. It is from the oral Torah that Jews were able to learn under exactly which circumstances God permitted interest to be levied against a loan and precisely how that loan contract needed to be drawn.
Excerpt From: Rabbi Daniel Lapin. “Thou Shall Prosper.”
64. DADS “I’m afraid for them [sons]. This world is brutal, especially for men. It’s a grinder. So I try not to waste a moment. I give them every ounce of wisdom I have to give about everything I can imagine. This includes simple and mundane things. Why you should never cut into a steak to see if it’s done. Why prevent defense never works. How you swing a hammer by holding it at the end of the handle. Then there are larger realities. Integrity. Love. Sex. Money. I never stop thinking about them and their future wives and kids. But mostly I pray. I know full well I’m a sinner raising sinners. Only God can do what needs to be done in their lives. I’m just an instrument”
Excerpt From: Byron Forrest Yawn. “What Every Man Wishes His Father Had Told Him.”
65. AMBITION “I saw no point in being the richest man in the cemetery.”
Excerpt From: Peter F. Drucker. “The Daily Drucker.”
66.ABRAHAM LINCOLN’S LETTER TO HIS SON’S TEACHER
He will have to learn, I know,
that all men are not just,
all men are not true.
But teach him also that
for every scoundrel there is a hero;
that for every selfish Politician,
there is a dedicated leader…
Teach him for every enemy there is a friend,
Steer him away from envy,
if you can,
teach him the secret of
quiet laughter.
Let him learn early that
the bullies are the easiest to lick…Teach him, if you can,
the wonder of books…
But also give him quiet time
to ponder the eternal mystery of birds in the sky,
bees in the sun,
and the flowers on a green hillside.
In the school teach him
it is far more honourable to fail
than to cheat…
Teach him to have faith
in his own ideas,
even if everyone tells him
they are wrong…
Teach him to be gentle
“with gentle people,
and tough with the tough.
Try to give my son
the strength not to follow the crowd
when everyone is getting on the band wagon…
Teach him to listen to all men…
but teach him also to filter
all he hears on a screen of truth,
and take only the good
that comes through.
Teach him if you can,
how to laugh when he is sad…
Teach him there is no shame in tears,
Teach him to scoff at cynics
and to beware of too much sweetness…
Teach him to sell his brawn
and brain to the highest bidders
but never to put a price-tag
on his heart and soul.”
67. JESUS IN PSALMS The New Testament quotes from the Psalter more often than from any other Old Testament book.
• Of the 283 direct quotes of the Old Testament in the New, 116 (41 percent) are from the Psalms.
• The Psalms are used more than fifty times in the Gospels to allude to the person and work of Jesus Christ.
• When the author of Hebrews sought biblical proof that Jesus was God, at least seven of his citations were from the book of Psalms.”
Excerpt From: Murray, David. “Jesus on Every Page.”
68. BIBLE “The Bible is not a rule book. It is a treasure book.” — Unknown
69. CHRISTIANITY vs. SCIENCE “Every person of faith must learn how to live the in-but-not-of discipleship that Christ calls us to. Managing the tensions between science and faith is part of that journey. We need to develop young leaders who can capably serve in science, but not be so habituated to scientism that faith becomes untenable. More than half of churchgoing thirteen- to seventeen-year-olds say they hope to train for a science-related career. This includes medical and health-related industries (23 percent), engineering and architecture (11 percent), research science (8 percent), technology (5 percent), and veterinary studies (5 percent). Yet issues of science are a surprisingly rare topic in U.S. churches. Only 1 percent of youth pastors told us that they have addressed a subject related to science during the last year. I am not suggesting that churches should change their entire mission approach to address science, but if only 1 out of 100 youth workers are talking about issues of science, how can we possibly hope to prepare a generation to follow Jesus in our science-dominated culture?”
Excerpt From: Kinnaman, David. “You Lost Me.”
70. COACHING Sports engage more individuals, more families, and more communities in a shared experience than any single cultural activity, organization, or religion in America. Twenty to 30 million kids play recreational sports, while another 10 million teens play interscholastic sports. This means that between 30 and 80 million parents are invested and involved in their children’s sports. There are at least 5 million coaches with the potential to become one of the most influential adults in a young person’s life. Forever.”
Excerpt From: Joe Ehrmann, Paula Ehrmann & Gregory Jordan. “InSideOut Coaching.”
The Wisdom Chronicle
Wisdom ChronicleThe Wisdom Chronicle is designed to bring nuggets of wisdom from the dozens of books I read every year in all genres. Each week, I endeavor to share the best of what I have gleaned. The determination of relevance lies with you. Blessings, Jim Whiddon
March 24, 2014
51. TAXATION “An unlimited power to tax involves, necessarily, a power to destroy; because there is a limit beyond which no institution and no property can bear taxation.”
–Chief Justice John Marshall, McCulloch v. Maryland, 1819
52. ACTION “We live in a world that, when it’s all said and done, there’s a lot said and very little done.”
— Jim Stovall
53. THE NEXT GENERATION “I think with you, that nothing is of more importance for the public weal [or welfare], than to form and train up youth in wisdom and virtue. Wise and good men are, in my opinion, the strength of the state; more so than riches or arms. I think also, that general more so than riches or arms. I think also, that general virtue is more probably to be expected and obtained from the education of youth, than from the exhortations of adult persons; bad habits and vices of the mind being, like diseases of the body, more easily prevented than cured. I think, moreover, that the talents for the education of youth are the gift of God; and that he on whom they are bestowed, whenever a way is opened for the use of them, is as strongly called as if he heard a voice from heaven….”
— Benjamin Franklin
54. COLLEGE “In the sprawling zoo of bad ideas, the five-hundred-pound gorillas are relativism and materialism. Sending your children off to college without thoroughly arming them against these simian behemoths is like pushing them into a jungle river filled with parasites and piranhas and expecting the experience to toughen them up. No one should be surprised if they get killed by an infection or eaten alive.”
Excerpt From: James Robison & Jay W. Richards. “Indivisible.”
55. WHY EVIL? “The only way to get a bad thing is to take a good thing and spoil it. For example, darkness isn’t made up from nothing; you get it by blocking the light. Disease isn’t made up from nothing; you get it by ruining health. Notice that this doesn’t work the other way around—you can’t get light by blocking darkness or health by ruining disease. So God created only good things, but some of them have been spoiled. That’s even true about Satan. He’s just a created being—an angel who was made good but went bad. To be evil at all, Satan needs good things that he can abuse, things like intelligence, power, and will. Those good things come from God.”
Excerpt From: Budziszewski, J. “How to Stay Christian in College.”
56. ROLE MODELS “No written word nor spoken plea Can teach our youth what they should be. Nor all the books on all the shelves. It’s what the teachers are themselves.”
—Unknown
57. GOD’S WORD “One of the disciplines I have found helpful in meditation is to repeat the verse again and again, putting the inflection on a different word each time. It is amazing how much insight comes from this simple practice for the young and the seasoned believer alike. The early church father Augustine said, “God’s Word is shallow enough not to drown the young, but deep enough that the greatest theologian will never touch the bottom.”
Excerpt From: O. S. Hawkins. “The Joshua Code.”
58. THE TRINITY “The Bible translates the Hebrew word Elohim here as God. The significance is that the word is in its plural form. It is a plural noun, thus hinting to us in the initial verse of Scripture that God is one pictured as three: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Interestingly, the verb created, which follows this noun, is in the singular form, seemingly making a mockery of grammar. Yet it should be singular in that He is the great Three in One. We see this truth revealed later in Genesis 1 when we read, “Let Us make man in Our image” (Genesis 1:26, emphasis added). And then the following verse reads, “So God created man in His own image” (v. 27, emphasis added). The doctrine of the Trinity is one of the great mysteries of the Bible. Yet, beginning with this first verse, the idea of the Trinity is woven throughout the Scripture. It is often illustrated by its similarities to H2O, two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen. We all know this to be water—a liquid. However, it can also be a solid (ice) or a vapor (steam). Yet, in all three manifestations, it is still the same in nature: H2O. And so it is with God manifesting Himself in three persons.”
Excerpt From: O. S. Hawkins. “The Joshua Code.”
59. INTERNET REGRET “Tattoos were once thought to be permanent. Now, they can largely be removed by special lasers. Your vasectomy can be reversed, death penalties can be commuted, and lifetime bans from sports rarely are. But the Internet? That, my friends, is forever.”
Excerpt From: David Avrin & Joe Calloway. “It’s Not Who You Know — It’s Who Knows You!.”
60. CARBON TAX “A British parliamentary committee proposed that every citizen be required to carry a carbon card that must be presented, under penalty of law, when buying gasoline, taking an airplane or using electricity. The card contains your yearly carbon ration to be drawn down with every purchase, every trip, every swipe. There’s no greater social power than the power to ration. And, other than rationing food, there is no greater instrument of social control than rationing energy, the currency of just about everything one does and uses in an advanced society.”
Excerpt From: Krauthammer, Charles. “Things That Matter.”
The Wisdom Chronicle
Wisdom ChronicleThe Wisdom Chronicle is designed to bring nuggets of wisdom from the dozens of books I read every year in all genres. Each week, I endeavor to share the best of what I have gleaned. The determination of relevance lies with you. Blessings, Jim Whiddon
March 17, 2014
41. GENERATIONS “The most considered and balanced statement of politics’ place in the hierarchy of human disciplines came, naturally, from an American. “I must study politics and war,” wrote John Adams, “that my sons may have the liberty to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, and naval architecture, navigation, commerce, and agriculture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry and porcelain.”
Adams saw clearly that politics is the indispensable foundation for things elegant and beautiful. First and above all else, you must secure life, liberty and the right to pursue your own happiness. That’s politics done right, hard-earned, often by war. And yet the glories yielded by such a successful politics lie outside itself. Its deepest purpose is to create the conditions for the cultivation of the finer things, beginning with philosophy and science, and ascending to the ever more delicate and refined arts.”
Excerpt From: Krauthammer, Charles. “Things That Matter.”
42. TYRANNY OF THE MAJORITY “Like other tyrannies, the tyranny of the majority was at first, and is still vulgarly, held in dread, chiefly as operating through the acts of the public authorities. But reflecting persons perceived that when society is itself the tyrant–society collectively, over the separate individuals who compose it–its means of tyrannizing are not restricted to the acts which it may do by the hands of its political functionaries. Society can and does execute its own mandates: and if it issues wrong mandates instead of right, or any mandates at all in things with which it ought not to meddle, it practices a social tyranny more formidable than many kinds of political oppression, since, though not usually upheld by such extreme penalties, it leaves fewer means of escape, penetrating much more deeply into the details of life, and enslaving the soul itself. Protection, therefore, against the tyranny of the magistrate is not enough; there needs protection also against the tyranny of the prevailing opinion and feeling; against the tendency of society to impose, by other means than civil penalties, its own ideas and practices as rules of conduct on those who dissent from them; to fetter the development, and if possible, prevent the formation, of any individuality not in harmony with its ways, and compel all characters to fashion themselves upon the model of its own.
There is a limit to the legitimate interference of collective opinion with individual independence; and to find that limit, and maintain it against encroachment, is as indispensable to a good condition of human affairs, as protection against political despotism.
Excerpt From: John Stuart Mill. “On Liberty.” (1859)
43. TRY AGAIN “I have missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to take the game winning shot….and I have missed. I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is precisely why I succeed.”
— Michael Jordan
44. KNOWING “Most of us know what to do. We fail because we don’t do what we know.”
Excerpt From: Jim Stovall & Tim Maurer. “The Ultimate Financial Plan.”
45. BIAS “Never ask a barber if you need a haircut.” –Warren Buffett
46. COST OF WEALTH “The poorest man would not part with health for money, but the richest would gladly part with all their money for health.”
— Charles Caleb Colton
47. PROTECTING OUR CHILDREN “When doctors inoculate children, they give them a less dangerous form of a pathogen, such as a virus. Billions of children, for instance, have received the smallpox vaccine. They don’t get the full-blown smallpox virus, but the much less virulent cowpox virus injected under their skin. This causes their immune system to kick in and build up a resistance to the virus.
Millions of parents, including Christians, expose their children to deadly ideas and influences for dozens of hours every week. They assume that an hour or two of church a week plus some short conversations at dinner should be enough to counteract thirty-five hours of TV per week, another thirty-five hours of secular schooling—a place where God is “He who must not be named”—another few hours of Internet surfing, and several more hours breathing in the ambient secular culture, not to mention the often unwholesome influence of classmates and friends.
“Christian” education didn’t take. They read a book by an atheist such as Richard Dawkins or Stephen Hawking, or got to graduate school or seminary, and realized they had been given caricatures of what their parents called “worldly ideas.” They were recruited by the very cultural forces that their parents tried to protect them from.
In some cases, the parents thought they were inoculating their kids; but they lacked discernment and taught things about science or history that fell apart when exposed to the evidence or intelligent objections. It was as if the parents opted for mysterious herbal remedies rather than a real smallpox vaccine.
In other cases, the parents spent so much of their energy helping their kids see the flaws in other Christian traditions that they neglected to help them see the glories of Christian history and the debilitating intellectual weaknesses of secularism and atheism. The ranks of prominent atheists are filled, not just with people who were raised in liberal mainline denominations, but with people who were raised in sheltered homes as conservative Christians. They tend to be the angry ones. Some even lost their faith during their time at Christian colleges that cost their parents a hundred thousand dollars.
Inoculation means that we expose our children to the best and strongest ideas that the world has to offer, but expose them in a way, and in an environment, that allows them to build up intellectual immunity.”
Excerpt From: James Robison & Jay W. Richards. “Indivisible.”
48. GOD’S WILL “During World War II, a man in Sussex, England, sent some money to the Scripture Gift Mission. He enclosed a letter saying that he longed to give more, but the harvest on his farm had been very disappointing because of a lack of water. He was also fearful because German bombs were being dropped in the area, and his family and farm were at risk. He asked the workers of Scripture Gift Mission to pray that no bombs would fall on his land.
Mr. Ashley Baker wrote back from the mission and said that while he didn’t feel led to pray that exact prayer, he had prayed that God’s will for their lives would prevail. Shortly after, a huge German missile crashed down on the farm. None of the man’s family or livestock were harmed, but the bombshell went so far into the ground that it liberated a submerged stream. The stream yielded enough water to irrigate the man’s farm as well as neighboring farms. The next year, due to a bountiful harvest, the man was able to send a large offering to the mission.
Sometimes even bombs are blessings. They fall from heaven, make a lot of noise, and liberate something wonderful within us—streams of living water that refresh us and draw us closer to Christ.”
Excerpt From: Jeremiah, David. “Searching for Heaven on Earth.”
49. PUNS “PEOPLE MAY CLAIM TO HATE PUNS, but most true word lovers have groaned to like them. Every parent should consider punning to be an essential part of good child rearing, if only because kids’ social hierarchy tends to slot young punsters in the nerdy, bookish, law-abiding, sexually late-blooming, high-SAT-score category. In other words, an appreciation for puns practically guarantees your child entry into a prestigious college and a career that supports you in your dotage.”
Excerpt From: Heinrichs, Jay. “Word Hero.”
50. DADS Obviously, being around is better than not being around, but being engaged is invaluable. One simply fills a role. The other anchors a life. It’s obvious when a dad is merely tolerating his kid. No one knows this more than the kid. At the same time, nothing so enlivens the life of a child as a dad who cares. When dad is listening and tracking and caring for his son’s soul, the world is a safer place.
Most dads never notice the deep need for approval their sons carry around. It’s potent. One word of encouragement can have a lifetime of effect. It only takes one sentence to change a son’s life forever, “Son, I’m proud of you.” Those men who’ve never received this type of approval spend a lifetime working for it. Those who get it have a sense of assurance the rest don’t.”
Excerpt From: Byron Forrest Yawn. “What Every Man Wishes His Father Had Told Him.”