We applaud Sandy Rios for taking the argument to the next level. Let us return to the meaning of constitutionalism and to the original covenant.

Re: http://townhall.com/columnists/SandyRios/2009/12/09/tigers_story_has_consequences_for_us_all

Our Constitution involved the implementation of an existing covenant into a framework of government. A constitution may include reaffirmation of the original covenant, as does the Massachusetts Constitution of 1780…

PREAMBLE  

‘The end of the institution, maintenance, and administration of government is to secure the existence of the body-politic, to protect it, and to furnish the individuals who compose it with the power of enjoying, in safety and tranquility, their natural rights and the blessings of life…’

‘The body politic is formed by a voluntary association of individuals; it is a social compact by which the whole people covenants with each citizen and each citizen with the whole people that all shall be governed by certain laws for the common good…’

‘We, therefore, the people of Massachusetts, acknowledging, with grateful hearts, the goodness of the great Legislator of the universe, in affording us, in the course of His providence, an opportunity, deliberately and peaceably, without fraud, violence, or surprise, of entering into an original, explicit, and solemn compact with each other, and of forming a new constitution of civil government for ourselves and posterity; and devoutly imploring His direction in so interesting a design, do agree upon, ordain, and establish the following declaration of rights and frame of government as the constitution of the commonwealth of Massachusetts.’

http://www.nhinet.org/ccs/docs/ma-1780.htm

[To be continued…]

The OT prophets prophesied of Christ’s coming, and when He came He prophesied of His coming again. Our faith in the promises are warranted because of the unveiling of God’s purpose in the progression observed in redemptive history, which testifies that our God is a covenant keeping God; His faithfulness endures to all generations and His mercy is everlasting.

We often hear of faith being challenged as if faith were somehow contrary to science. What this challenge is really about concerns the Biblical record of origins. But the evidence here is clearly seen in what God has created and in what remains of the earth since the Genesis Flood. These things testify to the truthfulness of the Genesis accounts.

We have defined neo-science as the religious practice of radical naturalism that professes that a creator God is unnecessary to explain the existence of the universe and life and the mind of man.

Like any religion they have a belief system and extremists who declare that their beliefs are truth and not a matter of faith. They hold to macro-evolution and the belief that death and the survival of the fittest is the natural order of things, rather than the result of man’s sin. Their faith is not based on fulfilled covenant promises from the self-revealed God, but on wishful thinking and presumption that their doctrine is true.

Like any false religion they abuse the revelation and supply their own interpretation to the evidence. They invent the concept of macro-evolution and apply it to a fictitious geologic column. This is their view of the results of the Genesis Flood. The contrast is as great as our views of life and death.

Re: http://townhall.com/columnists/StarParker/2009/12/07/will_baltimore_succumb_to_culture_of_death

What saith the Scriptures?

‘Behold, children are a gift of the LORD,
         The fruit of the womb is a reward.
Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,
         So are the children of one's youth.
How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them’ [Psalm 127:3-5 NAS].

And again…

“Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God” [Luke 18:16].

The Christian view is taking responsibility and doing what is right in whatever circumstance, because God is always sovereign over the sins of men and the sins of those in authority over us and even over our own sins.

Consider the testimony of Joseph to his brothers, which gives us a glimpse of Jesus Christ in the OT…

‘You meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive’ [Genesis 50:20].

And again we have the apostolic testimony concerning Christ…

“Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know—Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death; whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it…” [Acts 2:22-24]

Now, consider the testimony of Him who has put to death sin and death by the sacrifice of Himself and now reigns with all authority as the first fruits of the resurrection from the dead…

“If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? [Matthew 16:24-26]

Making self your priority is the way that leads to death. However, self denial and the act of considering others as more important than yourself is the way of life. There is no better way to find your life than investing yourself in the life of another.

Note that the soul is of infinite worth because that is the part of man that bears the image of God. Now will God hold them guiltless who unjustly enable the destruction of His image bearers? There is nothing that man can give in exchange for his soul, but God has paid the ransom in blood to redeem a multitude of sinners that no man can number from every kindred, tribe, nation and tongue.

The recent global warming fraud has already breeched the facade of scientific objectivity and integrity. But is it really the greatest fraud of modern science as some are saying? No! A much greater fraud exists that gives credence to the possibility of global warming: that the world’s existence and stability is without design or purpose and therefore subject to human intervention. But what saith the Scriptures?

Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the LORD smelled a soothing aroma. Then the LORD said in His heart, “I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done.”

“While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease.”  [Genesis 8:2-22]

Creationists have reported for over a decade on the science journal articles published about soft tissue found inside dinosaur remains. Media outlets have largely been silent on the subject. But a recent segment that aired on CBS’s 60 Minutes finally broke the news to a broader audience. The soft tissue issue is gaining traction.

Paleontologist Mary Schweitzer made an unexpected discovery in 2000 of “elastic, like living tissue” from inside the femur of a recently excavated T-rex fossil. 60 Minutes reported, “It looked like the soft tissue she would have expected to find if it had been modern bone. This was impossible. This bone was 68 million years old!” The report replayed some of the original video of the tissues taken in 2000. “They were there. Things that looked suspiciously like flexible, transparent blood vessels.”

“Being a fossil, there should have been nothing left. But there was…Blood vessels, and even what seemed to be intact cells, pose a radical challenge to the existing rules of science, that organic material can’t possibly survive even a million years, let alone 68 million.” [CBS 60 Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl]

But it is not some arbitrary “rule of science” that dictates that flesh usually rots quickly. It is extremely well established by common observation, as well as by decades of easily repeatable experiments, that protein decay occurs in mere days. Instead, the “existing rules of science” are being challenged; that is, the deep-time evolutionary dogma that remains widely held despite contradictory evidence.

When Schweitzer’s work was originally published in the journal Science, it was greeted with more than just skepticism. Her laboratory was suspected of accidentally contaminating the samples, or worse. But her original findings were firmly established when her team—after taking great pains to prevent contamination or spoiling of specimens from the field to the lab—found even more soft dinosaur tissue, this time in another species, that was verified by a third party.

Viewing “80-million-year-old” tissue through a microscope, Stahl asked, “Is that a blood vessel?” Schweitzer replied, “This is a blood vessel. Do you see the branches right there? And look at all of them.”

But even with the evidence in front of their eyes, and despite their own incredulity, they still accepted the story that organic remnants that should have rotted long ago had somehow been preserved.

I plan on posting a quote from Messiah daily for discussion for anyone who has an interest. How is Christ revealed in the Old Testament? How does the New Testament fulfill what is written of Christ? What is Handel’s theology?

Re: http://townhall.com/columnists/DennisPrager/2009/12/01/left_destroys_more_than_it_creates

When we hear the Left cry ‘separation of church and state’, is their meaning that the state should never institute a policy that violates a man’s conscience? We know that this is not the case. The Left has no concept of liberty, including the liberty of conscience. They will not recognize that the conscience is subject to different religious convictions, and that God alone has power over the conscience. They are not content to coexist with an authority that binds the conscience. In violation of our most basic right under the Constitution, they would impose their own religious beliefs on the rest of us.

Having taken my family to see this film, I can agree with everything Star has said about it. However, I want to add something that struck me about the story of Michael Oher.

Re: http://townhall.com/columnists/StarParker/2009/11/30/the_blind_side_should_trouble_as_well_as_inspire

The film presented a contrast between Michael and the other young men around him, but to a greater extent between Michael and Stephen. They both had the same opportunity, but their outcomes were radically different.

There is more to the story than personal choices and responsibility. The other important factor, often unspoken, is the sovereignty of God. It is also about the sovereign and unconditional election of grace. It is written that ‘God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise…and the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty…that no flesh should glory in His presence’ [1 Corinthians 1:27-29].

This young man was taken from a system that graphically illustrates the failure of modern liberalism and its idea of compassion. He was captive to the culture of dependency with no opportunity of escape. Through the Providence of God he is presented with much more than provision and opportunity. He has another person and loving family invested in his welfare and development as a person. This is what made the difference in Michael’s life that resulted in his success.

At the age of 12, Edwards wrote an essay on colors, in which it was clear that he had studied the work of Isaac Newton on Opticks. But his primary interest was God. Even as a child he fasted and often took solitary walks in the forest where he meditated on God. His interest in science was merely a means to pursue more profound truths about the Creator.

In those days science had not yet turned against Christianity. Newton (1642-1727) was one on the greatest scientific minds in the history of the West and spent much of his time in the study of Bible prophecy. Science was then an inquiry into the laws that God had established to rule the material world. Faith and knowledge illuminated each other. Wherever one looks there is order and beauty in the universe, and this Newton thought was a cogent proof of God’s existence and love for man. This view would disqualify him from today’s ‘scientific’ community, which illustrates the radical beliefs that have corrupted modern science.

From an early age Edwards shared Newton's view of faith and science. So America owes much to Newton and to science in general. Good science influences good theology evident in the life of Jonathan Edwards. And as we know today, bad science influences bad theology.

Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing.

Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

The new reality of the darwinites is based on the irrational concept that information and design are independent of an intelligent designer and that the immaterial conscience of man is derived from the material, whether it be matter or energy.

When an attempt is made to redefine reality, the consequences are that truth is exchanged for lies resulting in cultural warfare.  

There is no greater fraud in science than the continued propagation of macro-evolution as a serious theory in the light of the discovery of the DNA/RNA system common to all living things. The genius of this system is declared 10 times in Genesis 1 so ignorance is no excuse. God made them to reproduce ‘after their kind’. But those who suppress the truth want to see ‘common descent’ rather than a common designer.

The formative principle of theology presented in the Reformation is that the Bible alone is sufficient. The apostolic testimony serves as the foundation of the Church. Paul says of the household of God that it is built upon “the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the chief corner stone” [Ephesians 2:20].

There is a sense in which the Church then is built upon the foundation of the Apostles as they confess Christ truly and faithfully. They provide the foundation for the Church as the authorized spokesmen for Jesus. Peter’s confession of Christ must be seen in this light as representing the apostolic testimony which we have in the New Testament.

The Bible teaches that our convictions are not to be based upon human wisdom. Human wisdom isn’t always wrong; sometimes people use their intellect and their independent ability to research, and find facts and come to truths which are very valuable. The problem is not that human wisdom is always wrong, but that it is fallible, and not a sufficient foundation for believing anything about God. Because only God is adequate to witness to Himself.

Therefore the doctrinal convictions of the people of God are not based upon human wisdom. The Christian faith is based upon God’s own self-revelation rather than the conflicting opinions of men or the untrustworthy speculations of men [I Corinthians 2:4-5].

Re: http://townhall.com/columnists/StarParker/2009/11/23/sodom_in_the_nations_capital

The Bible instructs us concerning the men of Sodom and the only man to escape its destruction…

So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law…and said, “Get up, get out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city!” But to his sons-in-law he seemed to be joking. [Genesis 19:14]

The faith of the holy man, Lot, appeared first in this, that he was completely awed and humbled at the threatenings of God; secondly, that in the midst of destruction, he yet laid hold of the salvation promised to him. In inviting his sons-in-law to join him, he manifests such diligence as becomes the sons of God; who ought to labor by all means, to rescue their own families from destruction. But when Moses says, ‘he appeared as one who mocked’; the meaning is, that the pious old man was despised and derided, and that what he said was accounted as a fable; because his sons-in-law supposed him to be seized with delirium, and to be vainly framing imaginary dangers…

Where there is no religion, and no fear of God, whatever is said concerning the punishment of the wicked, vanishes as a vain and illusory thing. And hence we perceive how fatal an evil security is, which so inebriates, yea, fascinates, the minds of the wicked, that they no longer think God sits as Judge in heaven; and thus they stupidly sleep in sin, till, while they are saying, ‘Peace and safety’, they are overwhelmed in sudden ruin…

The Constitution is the law of the land. When its authority is ignored by the magistrates, then they cease being God’s minister for good. It is our duty to resist their unlawful acts. Even our Declaration of Independence says as much. A passive Christianity did not give rise to a free America nor will our freedom be sustained by it.

How absurd is it to say that the thief and the liar are not sinful because they were born that way. In the same way all sexual perversion is condemned because the Law says, ‘Thou shalt not commit adultery’. The only legitimate expression of human sexuality is in the marriage union as ordained by God.