October 5, 2010 The Inerrancy of Scripture
October 7, 2010 Book Review of God’s Battalions by Michael Haykin
October 8, 2010 Athletes Acting Responsibly at Common Wealth Games by Heinz Dschankilic
October 12, 2010 Thankfulness by Ian Clary
October 13, 2010 I Don’t Feel I Should be Revered by Allen Mickle
Some preliminary thoughts about how Christians need to approach the environment.
A recent article has come to my attention in recent days proves yet again the double standard that exists with respect to the Christian Faith. Recently, The Dove World Outreach Centre canceled a scheduled burn a Koran Day after intense public criticism especially from the Muslim community.
In May of this year, the Iranian security forces burned hundreds of copies of the Farsi Bible. First, the left wing media of North America missed this report entirely. Second, you do not see Christians calling for global Jihad, beheadings and violent retribution in the wake of this desecration.
I just received this article from a good friend. This is a must read for all Christians as to the threat of Islam in our day. It seems that they are coming to us as wolves in sheep’s clothing trying to lull the Christians in North America to sleep with rhetoric of peace and tolerance.
Political correctness will be our undoing.
Greetings,
In our previous entry we announced that Dr. Michael Haykin would be taking on an increased role as our Director of Theological Development. In conjunction with that role, we have launched our new blog initiative. It’s goal is to become a resource centre for believers containing articles and book reviews that impact our Reformed worldview.
The current main page will remain as you see. It will contain information pertaining to general news about some of the day to day events pertaining to the operation of the ministry. The bulk of the theological heavy lifting will occur at the new blog site at the link below. We will also keep a permanent tab on the link Page.
http://solascripturaministriesinternational.wordpress.com/
It is has been a season of pleasant additions here at Sola. Yesterday’s post announced the addition of Dr. Michael Haykin in an expanded role as Director of Theological Development. I am pleased again to announce that earlier this summer Rev. Don Neufeld joined our small community of devoted workers.
Don lives in British Columbia and has served as a local church pastor. His brief bio can read here by clicking this link. He is a superb networker and a champion of historic calvinistic doctrine. It is our prayer that he will be our eyes and ears in Western Canada as we seek to bring the Doctrines of Grace to that region of our country.
Welcome Aboard Don.
It has been a warm and slow summer here at the office. We are feverishly preparing for what will hopefully turn out to be a busy and fruitfilled season of ministry. We are praising God for a very positive development in the history of Sola Scriptura. As many of you already know, Dr. Michael Haykin has been involved with the life and work here at SSMI. I am pleased to announce that as of August 1, 2010 Dr. Haykin will step into the role Director of Theological Development. This will mean that Dr. Haykin will be devoting a greater portion of his time to enhance the various ministries of SSMI.
Welcome aboard Michael!
For more information about Dr. Haykin and the rest of the staff at Sola Scriptura, click on the link below:
The Death Penalty on Trial by Dr. Ron Gleason
This book is written by Dr. Ron Gleason, now pastor of the Yorba Linda PCA church in California, and formerly pastor of Bethel Canadian Reformed Church in Thornhill, Ontario. He examines the death penalty from a Biblical perspective and helps Christians understand that capital punishment is not contrary to the New Testament teachings of Jesus and that even the secular state has a duty to bear the sword against what is evil in our society. For those who argue that capital punishment is no longer necessary and is an arbitrary and irrevocable outdated form of punishment, Dr. Gleason convincingly argues that there is a link between punishment and justice. He then proceeds to present a Biblical and historical analysis of the appropriateness of imposing capital punishment for the crime of murder.
Dr. Gleason addresses both the secular and Christian objections to the death penalty. He distinguishes between murder and killing, by pointing out that all murder is killing, but not all killing is murder. Although the Bible forbids murder, it does not prohibit killing. In fact, Romans 13: 4 makes it clear that the civil government bears the sword and is responsible for executing justice.
One of the most common objections to the death penalty today is the concern that there may be an irrevocable miscarriage of justice. Certainly with the advent of DNA evidence, there have been a number of examples of convicted murderers and death row inmates being exonerated. However, Dr. Gleason deals with this issue in a logical and persuasive manner. He points out that miscarriages of justice go both ways. The old adage that it is better for 10 guilty men to go free than one innocent man to be convicted, presupposes that there are 10 miscarriages of justice that justify a lenient approach to capital punishment. Dr. Gleason effectively disassembles this argument by pointing out that no human justice system is perfect. The fact that it is imperfect is not a justification for doing away with it, any more than the possibility of a wrongful conviction is a reason for abandoning capital punishment.
Finally, Dr. Gleason points out that the state authorizes the killing of unborn children by legal abortions (where the only victim is the unborn child), whereas the abolitionist argues that the state should not execute convicted murderers (where there is clearly a victim).
Although Canada has effectively abolished capital punishment, this thought provoking book helps us understand that we should not become complacent about these difficult social justice issues.
Charles Loopstra
In a startling turn of events, Dr. Bruce Waltke has resigned from his position at RTS after the airing of a controversial video at the Biologos Foundation. The video has been removed but austensibly it contained an interview with Dr. Waltke in which the he admitted that evolution could or might be compatable with orthodox Christianity and has admitted that he is committed to a theistic evolution theory of origins. According to Waltke, science explains the “when and the how” of creation while Genesis describes “the who and the why”. For a more detailed explanation of the issue, click here.