Professing to be wise…

Professing to be wise, they became fools,
(Romans 1:22 NASB)

Last Friday night, Dr. James White, Director of Alpha & Omega Ministries, debated Dr. Robert Price, fellow of the Jesus Seminar on the topic of “Is the Bible True?” with Dr. White in the affirmative, and Dr. Price taking the negative. And I have some thoughts…

Oh, not on the debate, I wasn’t there. I look forward to listening to it just as soon as the .mp3’s become available. (Until then, try these!) No, I have some thoughts on an atheist’s comments that were posted online after the debate. You see, yesterday, I did a Google search on the debate, to see what various reviewers were saying, and my search turned up the Free2Think Atheists, Humanists & Freethinkers forum (WARNING: this site contains certain monosyllabic words that always get bleeped on television.) The site is a forum for atheist discussion & “Killer Bud” posted his observations from the debate, which he attended.

In reading through his account, I was first struck by something “Killer Bud” said about his encounter with an unidentified Christian who tried to share the Gospel with him before the debate. “Killer Bud” said, “I had explained to him that it was not just some extemporaneous decision, and that my choice to be an atheist was well thought out.” So, his decision to become an atheist was “well thought out”? After some sort of thorough investigation as to the truth claims of Christianity and other religions?

But, no, it seems that is not the case. Later, as he is discussing the debate itself, “Killer Bud” writes, “To be honest, I had a hard time following a lot of it because I do not know much about the bible. They were quoting Hezekiah, Jeremiah, and I swore I heard Aunt Jemimah [sic]. I realize they both were really educated in biblical stuff but all that Matthew, Acts, and Corinthians stuff just kind of ran together for this laymen [sic] to follow.” Golly! He made a “well thought out” decision to reject the Bible with little or no Biblical knowledge to work from! Huh…

Then, later in the forum, “jedg.1987” said, “But yea, there was a good portion of it that was way over my head, and you have to imagine that if it was over the head of us atheists, the people who actually tend to study the Bible somewhat critically, it had to have gone over the head of 90% of the Christians there.”

Wait, atheists are the ones who “ actually tend to study the Bible somewhat critically ”?! If the debate is over their heads, then the Christians sure wont understand it? Well, sure, because atheists’re so much smarter than any dumb Christian, right? Yeah… Right…

The arrogance displayed in their ignorance is stunning! Atheists love to style themselves as intellectual & informed free thinkers, yet, truthfully, they are often uninformed and their ability to think is always in bondage to their sin.

And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
(2 Corinthians 4:3-4 NASB)

I am praying that God will open these atheists' eyes.

The Squirrel Can Cook – Ham & Cheese Scramble

Once again, we turn our attention to one of my three favorite meals of the day; Breakfast! Today, we’re going to play around with some eggs.

There are so many things on can do with eggs; quiche, omelets, soufflés; eggs can be boiled, baked, fried. Eggs are one the most versatile ingredients that most of us have lying around all the time. Today we’re going to jazz up some scrambled eggs with ham, cheese, and onion.

For our ingredients, we will need:

5 eggs
½ cup chopped onion
½ cup diced ham
½ cup grated cheddar cheese

There are two methods of scrambling eggs. First, there is the French method, which involves cooking the eggs low and slow in a double-boiler while stirring constantly. This takes half the morning to do, and results in very blah eggs which require vast quantities of salsa to be edible.

The second method, often called the American or the Western method involves cooking the eggs fast in a hot pan. It’s quick, and I think it results in a more complex texture and flavor. In short, better scrambled eggs. So, let’s preheat our cast iron skillet over medium-high heat.

Meanwhile, crack you eggs into a medium mixing bowl and scramble well. Scrambling is done, not in the pan, but beforehand, in the mixing bowl. I prefer using a fork to scramble the eggs. Whisks are fine, but a fork works better, I think.


Once our pan is hot (2 to 3 minutes) add a tablespoon of olive oil and the onions to the pan. Stirring frequently, cook the onions just until they start to turn translucent. Then add the ham. Continue to stir for about another minute, until the ham is heated through.


Using your spatula, evenly distribute the onions and ham throughout the skillet, then pour in the eggs. Sprinkle the cheese evenly over the eggs. Now begin to pile the eggs towards the center of the pan until you end up with a heap that holds together. Then leave it alone for a couple of minutes. If you like your fried eggs runny, that’s fine, but we’re not cooking fried eggs. We’re cooking scrambled eggs, and scrambled eggs should be cook through.

Now, if you’ve been good and haven’t messed with the eggs while they were cooking, you should be able to flip the whole heap over with one go. As you can tell from my picture, I hadn’t been good…


Let the eggs cook for a few more minutes on the other side. The eggs should be nice and brown and, due to the presence of the cheese, will actually be quite brown.


Serve with toast & hashbrowns. Feeds two. Enjoy!

The Squirrel shall not live by bread NUTS alone!

The Squirrel's Nut Cache - 5/6/2010

The Nut Cache - a collection of recent things I found interesting, or amusing, or nutworthy.

We all know that people are not supposed to drink and drive. Sometimes, people who drink and drive hit things with their cars. Then the police come. Since you've already been caught, and are sure to get a ticket, if not hauled off to jail, you might as well finish your beer while chatting with the cops...

Tragedy has struck the Gulf Coast, no doubt. Lose of life followed by a massive oil spill. The efforts to clean up the oil spill have been hampered by bad weather and faulty equipment. But, have no fear! There's a man in Boulder, Colorado who has a plan that'll fix the whole thing! (h.t. Rush Limbaugh

"Dude!" "Yeah?" "Dude, the guy on this wanted poster looks like you... Dude, what've you been doing?" A joke in poor taste led to a police report, which led to a wanted poster being put up all around town. Basically, sounds like a good kid. He turned himself in. Still, must have been a shock to see himself on a wanted poster!

One thing that everybody needs to remember, don't insult women. It's rude. Especially in the Midwest. Midwest girls a different, I think. Tougher. More resilient. And, at 3am at a house party, I'd also suspect they'd been drinking. Drunk Midwestern girls can be mean. Really mean. Don't insult them. It's rude, and it's a bad idea. This guy found out just how bad an idea it is.

We've not gotten on very well with Iran since the Shah was overthrown in 1978. Now they've got a crazy guy as president, and he wants nukes. All this is to say that tensions are high. There so high, that you'd think that a pilot of an Iranian military plane wouldn't buzz a United States Navy ship in the Persian Gulf. How about a capital ship? Oh, why not buzz an entire Carrier Battle Group? Lucky for the crazy pilot, our boys are a bit more level headed & didn't shoot the idiot down!

Everybody warned that, if homosexuals were allowed to "wed", then other... perverse... "weddings" would follow. Well, it seems like it's happening. A German man has now married his cat. Strange people out there... Anyway, when informed of this, my friend Wonky73 said of his cat, "Me and Jobu could be a same sex inter species marriage." I'm 94.7% certain that he was just kidding... But he does like that cat...

What could be better then finding a run down Victorian-era building "built into the cliffside overlooking Scarborough's North Bay." Sure, it had been abandoned for a few years, but it would make a nice home, wouldn't it? Tracy and Graham Woodhouse thought so. So they bought the old public bathroom and went to work... Yes, I said "bathroom". They live in a old loo...

This one I just watched last night. I majored in history in college & I've read volumes of histories of World War II, and I'd never heard about this before. It seems that, during WWII, the Imperial Japanese Navy had developed submarine aircraft carriers! They build two, the I-400 & the I-401. America captured both at the end of the war, examined them, then sunk them off of Hawaii, to keep the Russians from seeing them. Sounds like it gave us a big leg up on the Soviets in Cold War submarine design. Who knew?

"Hello? Police? Come quick! They've got guns and they might just shoot..." a movie? Police get called to break up a robbery scene being shot by a film company. Poor actor with a fake gun almost got blown away. "Cut cut cut cut CUT! The police aren't supposed to enter yet! Haven't you guys read the script? Okay, everybody, break for lunch!"

Photographic evidence from Canada shows that the pond in Confederation Park might have a monster to rival the one at Loch Ness. Bird watcher Tom Badeau spotted the creature, and took photographs to local officials, who have been searching the pond ever since. To date, the creature has not been located, but few locals doubt its existence.

I really wish I was making this up. I really do. The fact that it's real makes me want to cry. It's also funny. Laugh-out-loud funny. There's so many things wrong with the church in this story that I don't even know where to start. Maybe I should just let you read it for yourselves.

And the Nuttiness goes on and on...

If It Was A Song, CT's Article Would Be Off Key

I’ve been wondering for a while just how long it would take before national media outlets got around to the Ergun Caner story. It’s the kind of story many reporters dream of, with Lies and Corruption in High Places. It fits most all the templates established since Watergate. The more that becomes known about Ergun Caner, the more enticing the story must look to a good reporter.

I’d been watching the story pick up steam for several months in the blogosphere, and, two weeks ago, after finally writing about it myself, I received a request from John W. Kennedy of Christianity Today for an interview, which I granted. As you can imagine, I’m not at all accustomed to getting calls from the press, but my interview with Mr. Kennedy was quite pleasant and professional.

Well, yesterday, Mr. Kennedy’s article for Christianity Today’s was posted on line. I’ve read it carefully, and I have a few thoughts and a few questions.

First, he did quote me accurately & I thank him. I stand by what I said. But I must say that I find the whole focus of the article to be very much “off target,” beginning with the title itself.

The article is titled “Bloggers Target Seminary President” when it really should be “Seminary President’s Dishonesty Exposed”. The actions of bloggers in uncovering Caner’s… um… embellishments, while interesting, is totally secondary. It might have made a good sidebar to the main article, but it isn’t the main thing here. The whole tone of the article – “Well, look at that! People are asking questions! I wonder why?” – is off the mark.

CT’s article also makes it sound as if a bunch of Calvinists were going after Caner because he opposes Calvinist doctrine. This is an attempt to deflect away from the real issue, which is Caner's record of dishonesty. If the charges are true, the theological position of the person bringing the charges is irrelevant. It is just a red herring. In regards to myself, sure I disagree with Caner's stance on Calvinism, but there are a lot of other publically known pastors, preachers, and teachers, with whom I have theological differences, but whose integrity I have absolutely no reason to question. The real story should be about Dr. Caner’s nine-year penchant for bending the truth about his past.

Mr. Kennedy completely fails to deal with any of the evidence which has been gathered and documented that shows Dr. Caner’s pattern of falsehood. I know that Mr. Kennedy spoke with Jason Smathers; both Mr. Kennedy and Mr. Smathers told me so. Why is none of the evidence that Mr. Smathers collected discussed in the piece? It’s not like these are wild, unsubstantiated rumors, Mr. Smathers has gathered court records and other documents that directly contradict the timeline presented in Dr. Caner's readily available speeches on audio and video.

As the left-wing atheistic People for the American Way put it, “These are no vague or reckless charges, but carefully documented exposés that draw from Caner’s sermons, speeches, and online videos, and other public records.” If worldlings (c.f. 1 John 2:15)can understand what this story is really about, why doesn’t Christianity Today “get it?”

While both Ergun & Emir Caner declined to speak to Christianity Today (maybe the first time ever that Ergun Caner has turned down a request for an interview by a national media outlet), we now have official statements from Liberty University, in the person of Dr. Elmer Towns.

Dr. Towns, age 77, was co-founder, along with Jerry Falwell, of Liberty University back in 1971, and now serves as Vice President of Liberty University & Dean of Liberty’s School of Religion. According to Christianity Today, Dr. Towns and the Board of Directors of Liberty University “are satisfied that Caner has done nothing theologically inappropriate.” Theologically inappropriate? What in tarnation does that mean?

"It's not an ethical issue, it's not a moral issue," Christianity Today quotes Dr. Towns as saying. "We give faculty a certain amount of theological leverage. The arguments of the bloggers would not stand up in court." Repeatedly lying over a period of nine years is not an ethical or moral issue? A pattern of distorting the truth is simply “theological leverage?” Wow! I shudder to think how far someone might have to go before Dr. Towns would classify his actions as unethical or immoral!

And, as far as the evidence that has been gathered “not stand(ing) up in court,” I think that it fully accords to established rules of evidence and easily meets the standard of “preponderance of the evidence” required in civil court, and would, in my decidedly unlawyerly opinion, also meet the standard of “Beyond a Reasonable Doubt” required in criminal cases.

Further, Christianity Today reports that Dr. Towns believes that these are just attacks against Caner because of his opposition to the “Camel Method” of evangelizing Muslims. That doesn’t stand up to even the most cursory of examinations. Dr. Caner made his publicized remarks about the “Camel Method” in February of this year, yet James White was asking for help locating recordings of Ergun Caner’s debates over four months prior, back in October of 2009. Also, Dr. White has stated that he pretty much agrees with Dr. Caner’s opinion of the “Camel Method.”

Dr. Town’s statements, as reported by Christianity Today, raise new questions as to just how in touch Liberty University’s leadership really is with what is going on, and Liberty University’s academic integrity is now even more in doubt.

I have no doubt that Dr. Caner and Liberty University want this to just all go away. Who wouldn’t? But it isn’t going to go away. The situation continues, and needs to be dealt with honestly, forthrightly, and soon.

Postscript:
Because it was mentioned in the article, I want to briefly discuss the proposed resolution to the Southern Baptist Convention that I brought up quoted here. I exchanged e-mails with the author of the proposed draft resolution. He told me that he has been advised by good and Godly leaders in the SBC, not necessarily friends of Ergun Caner's, not to pursue such a resolution. As the CT article stated, "But in recent years, the SBC Committee on Resolutions has ruled as out of order nearly all efforts against individuals." So, don't look for anything to come to the floor at the Convention regarding this matter. (And I just caught this... I didn't tell CT that a blogger had written the draft, that is an assumption on Mr. Kennedy's part.)
Also:
James White, Fred Butler, & Tom Chantry all weighed in on the Christianity Today article yesterday.