Confessions of a Seminarian

God on Trial Debate

Attention St. Louisans!

On Wednesday September 10th at 7PM, Fixed Foundation will be hosting “God on Trial,” a debate between Christian Dinesh D’Souza and Atheist Christopher Hitchens at Powell Symphony Hall.

Dinesh D’Souza is a noted writer and speaker on conservative politics as well as Christian apologetics. Born in Mumbai, India, he graduated from Dartmouth College and served as a policy analyst for the Reagan administration. D’Souza is also the author of several bestselling books.

Christopher Hitchens is a political observer, journalist, and literary critic. A British-American and antitheist, he was educated at Cambridge and Oxford and has been a columnist for Vanity Fair, The Atlantic, and The Nation, among others. “God on Trial” will pit Hitchens’ views as expressed in his best-seller God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything - against Christianity. D’Souza will defend the significance and uniqueness of the Christian faith, drawing arguments from his latest best-seller, What’s So Great About Christianity. }

A few of us at COAS are planning on going, and if you are in the area and would like to check it out with us (Christian, Atheist, or otherwise), head on over to the “Contact Us” page and let us know!  We’d love to meet you personally and maybe grab a drink afterwards.  It is sure to be entertaining!  Things like this don’t pop up everyday, and especially not in St. Louis!

Leggo My Ego!

One of my professors recently said the biggest hurdle to authentic Christianity in Western culture is the idol of “personal autonomy.”  We see it everywhere.  Self-fulfillment is the foundation for much of what drives our society.  The slogan for a new casino in St. Louis, is “Whatever turns you on.”  Pick a political issue. At its core, it is a disagreement between personal autonomy/choice and perceived government control: abortion, gay marriage, Second Amendment rights, national security, etc.  It’s even in the Declaration of Independence: the common rights to “life, liberty (personal autonomy), and pursuit of happiness (self fulfillment).”

Because there exists such emphasis upon the priority of the self, or “Ego,” we tend to reject concepts that emphasize submission to authority or that communicate judgment.  Even community service and charity is marketed to the ego: “Feel good about yourself for doing the right thing.”  Heaven forbid that we do the right thing simply because it is the right thing to do!

To say the Bible cuts against this grain is an understatement.  Read more »

Towards a Biblical Masculinity (Part 1)

Genesis 3:1-6
(1) Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made.

He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” (2) And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, (3) but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.”

(4) But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.  (5) For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

(6) So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.

The Fall is often blamed on Eve, who listened to the serpent’s lies and ate from the Tree of The Knowledge of Good and Evil.  Some feminists have argued this passage has been used to justify oppressive treatment of women in the church, and conclude that Christianity is misogynistic and abusive towards women.  I would agree, but come to a different conclusion.  Read more »

Men: “Few in the Pews”

Wow.  Much thanks to Anthony Bradley for drawing attention to a recent article in USA Today on the glaring lack of men in church.  I told you all that I was not crazy, that this is not an imagined problem.  Anthony has been harping on it for years, and I’ve been writing about it for months.  It’s sad to see that the majority of responses are either “You’re crazy, there is not problem,” or “That’s the way it should be, women are finally getting their due.”  The pendulum swinging too far in the other direction is still too far.  When will people actually respond to this problem instead of merely reacting to it?  This article is jam-packed with some very disturbing statistics about the plight.  Here are a few excerpts: Read more »