Credible Faith with Dr. Paul Daniel Larson - July 2015

Hello, Everyone!!!

Casey Luskin and I at Seattle Pacific University

Earlier in July, I came to Seattle for the Discovery Institute's summer seminar (July 10-18) and, although many of the speakers have been excellent, what has been remarkable to me has been attendees of the seminar. On the trip to downtown Seattle, which is where the Discovery Institute is located, a geologist from Chile was sitting near me, and we spent a bunch of the trip talking together in Spanish. Two people from São Paulo were here, and we were able to chat in Portuguese. I also talked with another Brazilian who lives and teaches in a different country. A young woman and a young man from Colombia are also here, as is a young man originally from Ecuador who now lives in the USA. There are a number of people who have been involved in or have had some connection with the Ratio Christi apologetics organization, a number of people from Asia who will be doctoral students (one in the US and one in Japan?), and a businessman who lives in Illinois not too far away from me. Though I had thought that there may be some people from South America, it was somewhat surprising to find so many people originally from South America here, and some of them with significant educational or professional qualifications or attainments.

Dr. Stephen Meyer speaking on intelligent design

In regard to speakers, there has been a galaxy of some of the most well-known figures in the intelligent design movement. Speakers have included Jay Richards, Guillermo Gonzalez, Bruce Gordon, Casey Luskin, Stephen Meyer, Michael Behe, Richard Sternberg, Ann Gauger, Winston Ewert, Douglas Axe, Paul Nelson, and John West. Other speakers will have included Eric Jones, Erik Larson, Jonathan Witt, and Jonathan Wells. The science seminar itself has a limited number of persons in it, and in addition to hearing speakers, many participants, including myself, have been able to talk one-on-one with speakers or sit down at lunch time or dinner time with one or more of them. I ate with Jay Richards and Guillermo Gonzalez, and later had some one-on-one time with Casey Luskin in which I gave him an overview of what Credible Faith will be doing in the future. Outside of Sunday, which was a free day, the seminar has packed in a huge amount of information. On Monday, for example, the first session started around nine in the morning, and the last session ended after 21:00, and much of the time in between was spent sitting in a chair listening or eating lunch or dinner in the cafeteria.

Ben Cudia with Eric and Jill

On the family side, my brother Eric and his wife Jill agreed to the buying of a house in Morton, IL, very close to the new home of my sister Angela and brother-in-law Joseph and to the home of my brother Travis and sister-in-law Amy and to the home of my Grandma Ruth. They would take possession of the house in October, if not before. It has been a blessing to have them at Mom and Dad's. I was asked to babysit for a time on some day, and after Jill left, Silas, the youngest of the three boys, actually had a poopy diaper, which resulted in my changing a baby's diaper for the first time ever. Now I am more prepared to be a dad if that happens in the future. We also had the first ever Larson game of poolbox, a variant of the game hotbox in which runners go back and forth between two bases and try not to get hit by two throwers who throw a ball back and forth. This time, instead of the usual one or two bases on one side of the yard, there was a inflatable kid pool with water in it that kids (or Uncle Paul) could jump into. Great game! A friend of Eric, Ben Cudia, also came and visited, and it was great to see Ben after years.



Sincerely,
Paul
Paul

Thursday, July 16, 2015


Rational Reflections (R<sup>2</sup>) Blog

Quote of the Month

A quote from Jonathan Parnell's essay, Why Homosexuality Is Not Like Other Sins:

It’s not the only sin mentioned, but it is different from all the rest, at least right now. At this moment in history, contrary to the other sins listed here, homosexuality is celebrated by our larger society with pioneering excitement. It’s seen as a good thing, as the new hallmark of progress. ... But as far as I know, none of those sins is applauded so aggressively by whole groups of people who advocate for their normalcy. ... Perhaps excepting fornication, these sins are still seen in a pretty negative light. But not homosexual practice, not by those who are now speaking loudest and holding positions of prominence. According to the emerging consensus, homosexuality is different.

As Christians, we believe with deepest sincerity that the embrace of homosexual practice, along with other sins, keeps people out of the kingdom of God. And if our society celebrates it, we can’t both be caring and not say anything. Too much is at stake. This means it is an oversimplification to say that Christians — or conservative evangelicals — are simply against homosexuality. We are against any sin that restrains people from everlasting joy in God, and homosexual practice just gets all the press because, at this cultural moment, it’s the main sin that is so freshly endorsed in our context by the powers that be. Let’s hope that if there’s some new cultural agenda promoting thievery — one that says it’s now our right to take whatever we want from others by whatever means — that Christians will speak out against it. The issue is sin. That’s what we’re against. And that’s what should make our voice so unique when we speak into this debate.

Some would like to see this whole issue of homosexuality divided into two camps: those who celebrate it and those who hate it. Both of these groups exist in our society. There are the growing numbers, under great societal pressure, who praise homosexuality. We might call them the left. And there are people who hate homosexuality, with the most bigoted rationale and apart from any Christian concern. We might call them the right.

The current debate is plagued by this binary lens. Those on the left try to lump everyone who disagrees with them into that right side. If you don’t support, you hate. Meanwhile, those on the right see compromise and spinelessness in anyone who doesn’t get red-faced and militant. If you don’t hate, you support.

But true followers of Christ will walk neither path. We have something to say that no one else is saying, or can say.

Distancing ourselves from both the left and the right, we don’t celebrate homosexual practice, we acknowledge God’s clear revealed word that it is sin; and we don’t hate those who embrace homosexuality, we love them enough to not just collapse under the societal pressure. We speak the truth in love into this confusion, saying, simultaneously, “That’s wrong” and “I love you.” We’re not the left; we say, this is wrong. And we’re not the right; we say, you’re loved. We speak good news, with those sweetest, deepest, most glorious words of the cross — the same words that God spoke us — “You’re wrong, and you’re loved.”

God tells us we’re wrong, that the wages of sin is death, that unrepentant rebellion means judgment, that our rescue required the cursed death of his Son (Romans 3:23; John 3:36; Galatians 3:13). And God tells us we’re loved, that even while we were sinners, Jesus died for us, that while we were unrighteous, Jesus suffered in our place, that though we were destined for wrath, Jesus welcomes us into glory (Romans 5:8; 1 Peter 3:18; Ephesians 2:1–7).

You’re wrong and you’re loved — that’s the unique voice of the Christian. That’s what we say, speaking from our own experience, as Tim Keller so well puts it, “we’re far worse than we ever imagined, and far more loved than we could ever dream.”

That’s our message in this debate, when society’s elites despise us, when pop songs vilify us, when no one else has the resources to say anything outside of two extremes, we have this incomparable opportunity to let the gospel shine, to reach out in grace: you’re wrong and you’re loved. We get to say this.

That’s why homosexuality is not like other sins.





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