13AR18-32

( - previous issue - )

Apologia Report 18:32 (1,168)

August 28, 2013

Subject: The homicide detective and the four gospels

In this issue:

ATHEISM - guess what happened when a skeptical homicide detective decided to apply Forensic Statement Analysis to the four gospels?

EVANGELISM - "only now in this book do we have a significant treatment of the ethics of such persuasion"

HOMOSEXUALITY - "Individual and religious liberties are not at risk from gay activism." Hardly.

ISLAM - Gerald McDermott responds to Miroslav Volf (and the peanut gallery)

------

ATHEISM

"The Evidentialist: How a Cold-Case Atheist Detective Became a Case-Making Christian" by Terrell Clemmons -- profiles police crime investigator J. Warner Wallace who, as an atheist, decided to apply an investigative technique to the New Testament. Wallace used a methodology called Forensic Statement Analysis (FSA) on the Gospel of Mark. "For a full month, he meticulously picked it apart, hanging on every word, and in spite of deep skepticism going in, ultimately came to the conclusion that the Gospel writer Mark had penned the eyewitness account of the Apostle Peter, exactly what traditional Christianity has held all along. Pressing on, he subsequently reached the conclusion that the other three Gospels also gave every appearance of being exactly what they purported to be - authentic, eyewitness accounts written by men who genuinely believed what they were writing.

"This was a wholly unexpected development. At this juncture Jim's well-honed drive to uncover truth ran square up against his lifelong aversion to all things religious. ...

"Sometime during this Gospel investigation, a friend gave him a copy of Mere Christianity, by C. S. Lewis [1]. After reading it, Jim, ever obsessive once onto the trail of something, went out and bought everything C. S. Lewis had written."

Wallace graduated from seminary seven years after becoming a Christian. "Out of his passion to train believers, particularly young people, to become case-making Christians, he created PleaseConvinceMe.com as a place to post and discuss what he was discovering about the evidence supporting Christianity." Salvo, No. 24 - 2013, pp55-57. <www.ow.ly/o1y6B>

Wallace is also the author of Cold-Case Christianity: A Homicide Detective Investigates the Claims of the Gospels [2] and a faculty member at apologist Greg Koukl's ministry, Stand to Reason <www.ow.ly/okrrx>.

---

EVANGELISM

The Ethics of Evangelism: A Philosophical Defence of Ethical Proselytising and Persuasion, by Elmer John Thiessen [3] -- Gavin Wakefield's review acknowledges that "one of the thorniest [human rights issues] is the tension between the right to hold a religious view and the right to change that view, and more particularly the right of free speech implying the right to persuade others to change their religious views. Religious leaders of many creeds and shades have long assumed the right to persuade other people that their religious views should be adopted, but only now in this book do we have a significant treatment of the ethics of such persuasion. ...

"The author's main objective is 'to respond primarily to the radical rejection of all proselytising as immoral'; somewhat unusually in discussions of this kind, Thiessen has chosen to explore and defend the most loaded word in the debate, proselytising, rather than, say, evangelism or conversion." Thiessen "details his objective in the following way:

* To clarify the charges often made against religious proselytising

* To attempt to answer these charges

* To defend the possibility of ethical proselytising

* To define some criteria that can be used to distinguish between moral and immoral forms of proselytizing

* To apply these criteria to some forms of proselytising

"The author has no difficulty in acknowledging that immoral proselytising exists, such as conversion by physical force or by providing aid conditionally." Thiessen includes "descriptions of proselytising as immoral by using concrete examples: 'Is the Jehovah's Witness standing on a corner seeking to give out the Watchtower Magazine really coercive?' he asks. He wishes to claim that the vagueness of language about supposed coercion might imply that coercion is less prevalent than sometimes thought, and that more objectivity should be sought.

"Psychological coercion particularly with young people is dealt with in a separate section as it is often cited by critics. Thiessen makes a number of points in response. ...

"Intolerance is discussed in a longer section, though his basic point is that 'the traditional modern notion of tolerance had to do fundamentally with persons, not with ideas. This allows him to deal with the inconsistency of epistemological relativism and to argue that even those with a belief in exclusive truth claims can be tolerant of other people. He wants the discussion to 'rest on a philosophically defensible ideal of tolerance.'"

Thiessen summarizes that he "has shown that proselytising is not necessarily immoral, and indeed should be regarded as 'essential to human dignity' and 'that proselytising is a good thing and it is morally right to engage in proselytising even if it can go wrong'. The rest of the book is then a constructive account putting forward criteria to evaluate the morality or otherwise of specific forms of proselytising. ...

"There is some concluding attention given to recent attempts by religious groups to draw up guidelines as advocated in the book." (Two examples are offered: <www.ow.ly/o2n7M> and <www.ow.ly/o2niF>)

Wakefield concludes that the book "will be a key text for those groups seeking to reflect on [the topic] for some time to come. The comprehensive range of the subjects discussed and the range of references ensure its value." Studies in Christian Ethics, 26:2 - 2013, pp259-262.

A positive sign from the cult-watching community: Thiessen led a well-attended workshop at last year's conference of the International Cultic Studies Association in Montréal.

---

HOMOSEXUALITY

"Comply & Demand: You Must Affirm the Homosexual Agenda, or Else" by Marcia Segelstein -- observes that although homosexual activists continue to cry that individual and religious liberties are not at risk from gay activism, there are numerous examples to the contrary. Segelstein discusses the hounding of mild objectors, the trials of Proposition 8 supporters, the "new orthodoxy" in Canada, and indoctrination in schools.

She adds: "In December 2009, the Quebec Ministry of Justice released an official 'policy against homophobia.' Apparently believing the legal normalization of homosexuality to be insufficient, the government has decide to normalize it socially. Writing for the Catholic Civil Rights League website <www.ow.ly/okrU9>, McGill University professor Douglas Farrow sounded a warning about what this policy truly means. "What is thus promulgated is no ordinary policy document, for it aims at the conversion, not merely of this or that piece of public infrastructure, but of the psychological and moral and sexual infrastructure of a generation.' ...

"Farrow believes that the Quebec government is, in effect,

rejecting heterosexuality as a social norm as a matter of public

policy." Segelstein concludes that "much is at risk: tolerance for

religious beliefs, loss of parental rights over their children's

education and moral upbringing, the very concept of heterosexuality as normative for human beings, and the basic freedom to practice religion without government interference." Salvo, No. 24 - 2013, pp20-24.

For a glimpse of how one group of activists sees the impact of pro-homosexual policy changes in Massachusetts, see <http://massresistance.org/>.

---

ISLAM

"No, the God of the Qur’an Is Not the God of the Bible" by Gerald R. McDermott -- poses the big question: "Do Christians and Muslims worship the same God?" McDermott begins: "Yale theologian Miroslav Volf answers the question in a recent book (Allah: A Christian Response [4]) with a nuanced but insistent Yes: Christians and Muslims do indeed worship the same God. In a review of Volf’s book, Baylor historian Thomas Kidd faults Volf for sidestepping the question of salvation - and therefore the question of true worship - and for not being critical enough in his evaluation of the identity of the God or gods of these two religions.

"Kidd is quite right; indeed, there are deeper problems with Volf’s thesis." McDermott discusses them in detail.

However, our respect for McDermott has unexpectedly increased as a result of reading his ongoing dialog with those who have commented on this article. Visit the link below and you'll see what we mean. A representative sampling:

* "In all the cases which [a comment] cites, love from God [in Islam] is conditional. Allah loves only those who are devoted to him. This is quite different from the God of the Bible who loves all."

* "[C]onsider this: if Christians and Muslims agree that God is Creator and Sovereign but nevertheless ascribe remarkably different characters to that Creator, are they really worshipping the same referent?"

* "[O]n the one hand you ask for biblical texts to support my claim that the biblical God loves all, and then you dismiss proof-texting as a basis for theology."

* "My point all along has been to focus on the God of the Qur'an and to insist that that God has a different character from the God depicted in the Bible."

First Things, Jun '13, <www.ow.ly/o2qEu>

-------

SOURCES: Monographs

1 - Mere Christianity, by C.S. Lewis (HarperSanFrancisco, 2001, paperback, 227 pages) <www.tinyurl.com/2exlzjz>

2 - Cold-Case Christianity: A Homicide Detective Investigates the Claims of the Gospels, by J. Warner Wallace (David C. Cook, 2013, paperback, 288 pages) <www.ow.ly/o1yi9>

3 - The Ethics of Evangelism: A Philosophical Defence of Ethical Proselytizing and Persuasion, by Elmer John Thiessen (Routledge, 2012, hardcover, 336 pages) <www.ow.ly/o2lLc>

4 - Allah: A Christian Response, by Miroslav Volf (HarperOne, 2011, hardcover, 336 pages) <www.j.mp/hkvAjC>

--------

( - next issue - )