I'm not certain where to post this thread, but since the Golden Compass thread is here, this seemed like a good place.
There is an organization out there called the Westar Institute. Thier "experts" are going all over the United States (and perhaps elsewhere) with a seminar that purports to discuss the "historical" Jesus.
Now I'm all for historical studies to reconcile secular human history with Truth. As mankind comes to learn more and more about the world, we find all sorts of little tidbits that affirm our faith in our Lord. Just recently, it made the news that archaeologists found part of a wall mentioned in Scripture that detracting scholars refused to believe was ever actually there, for example.
But these people have an agenda, and it's not reconciliation of historical theory with the Truth of Jesus Christ. They've set up their scholars to determine which parts of the Bible in general and the NT in specific are "true" and which "are not."
In fact, the top assertions of the organization are as follows:
1. There is not a personal god out there external to human beings and the material world.
2.The doctrine of special creation of the species died with the advent of Darwinism and the new understanding of the age of the earth and magnitude of the physical universe.
3. Prayer is meaningless when understood as requests addressed to an external God for favor or forgiveness and meaningless if God does not interfere with the laws of nature.
4. We should give Jesus a demotion. It is no longer credible to think of Jesus as divine. . . . We must find a new plot for a more credible Jesus.
5. The Bible does not contain fixed, objective standards of behavior that should govern human behavior for all time. This includes the ten commandments as well as the admonitions of Jesus.
What makes this group different from most other groups out there is that despite those assertions, they do not bill themselves as anti-Jesus or anti-Christianity. They go on and on at length about how they are "helping to confirm the truth" about Jesus.
But whose "truth" is that?!?
The Bible does not *need* defense nor confirmation from humanity. It was, is, and forever will be true without any "help" from us.
Our Lord warned us that false prophets and hypocrites would come after Him and here they are. If these people come to your area, warn family and friends that they are wolves in sheeps clothing and to steer clear of this "factual seminar" supposedly based on "objective academic research" into the historical life of the person of Jesus Christ.
God bless,
Janette
There is an organization out there called the Westar Institute. Thier "experts" are going all over the United States (and perhaps elsewhere) with a seminar that purports to discuss the "historical" Jesus.
Now I'm all for historical studies to reconcile secular human history with Truth. As mankind comes to learn more and more about the world, we find all sorts of little tidbits that affirm our faith in our Lord. Just recently, it made the news that archaeologists found part of a wall mentioned in Scripture that detracting scholars refused to believe was ever actually there, for example.
But these people have an agenda, and it's not reconciliation of historical theory with the Truth of Jesus Christ. They've set up their scholars to determine which parts of the Bible in general and the NT in specific are "true" and which "are not."
In fact, the top assertions of the organization are as follows:
1. There is not a personal god out there external to human beings and the material world.
2.The doctrine of special creation of the species died with the advent of Darwinism and the new understanding of the age of the earth and magnitude of the physical universe.
3. Prayer is meaningless when understood as requests addressed to an external God for favor or forgiveness and meaningless if God does not interfere with the laws of nature.
4. We should give Jesus a demotion. It is no longer credible to think of Jesus as divine. . . . We must find a new plot for a more credible Jesus.
5. The Bible does not contain fixed, objective standards of behavior that should govern human behavior for all time. This includes the ten commandments as well as the admonitions of Jesus.
What makes this group different from most other groups out there is that despite those assertions, they do not bill themselves as anti-Jesus or anti-Christianity. They go on and on at length about how they are "helping to confirm the truth" about Jesus.
But whose "truth" is that?!?
The Bible does not *need* defense nor confirmation from humanity. It was, is, and forever will be true without any "help" from us.
Our Lord warned us that false prophets and hypocrites would come after Him and here they are. If these people come to your area, warn family and friends that they are wolves in sheeps clothing and to steer clear of this "factual seminar" supposedly based on "objective academic research" into the historical life of the person of Jesus Christ.
God bless,
Janette
