Ok, so it's long weekend coming up and I wanna go to bed, so I'm gonna keep this entry short. The topics I'll be throwing up into the air is particularly things that i discussed with my oldest brother, Attila last week. I think it's good to document and reflect on his points in case I forget them and because some lead to big issues which will need to be explored all on their own.
Here's an outline:
-Propaganda
-Conditioning
-Biblical Contradictions - a God that condemns himself and a God of changing character
-The Historcity of the Bible and Jesus...more conspiracy theories
-Bible's appearance relative to homo sapien species existence on earth
Propaganda
When I came home on saturday night with a CD set called 'Tough Questions" by Matthias Media, given to me ny a friend, I showed it to Attila and offered to lend it to him sometime. He skimmed the contents page and rejected my offer - proclainimg that it's Christian Propaganda.
Well when you think about it, he's right. The talks are by a Christian. He's coming to it from a Christian perspective. The aim is to deal with issues Biblically such that one's faith will be strengethened afterwards.
Let's be nerdy about this and look up the dictionary definition of propaganda:
The systematic propagation of a doctrine or cause or of information reflecting the views and interests of those advocating such a doctrine or cause.
Source:
"propaganda." The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. 23 Jan. 2009.
So then, technically speaking, Christian resources could be said to be propaganda as they are made publicly accessible, reflect the Christian views of the writers, and encourage others to see that point of view and perhaps either strengthen their faith, or help in the conversion process into deciding to be a Christian.
One could go so far as to say that Christian resources are something that Christians read just to reinforce what they already believe and reassure themselves that it's all true and that their's a biblical response to all the [important] issues in life.
But, I just wanna add 2 things to that. 2 responses to get a balanced point of view going:
1. As far as I know, the writers or speakers of Christian resources tend to be genuinely committed believers who believe that the Bible is true and therefore a valid source of authrity for responding to issues in the world. They are merely presenting their findings from the Bible. That is, putting forward the Bible's perspective. If there's any imperative for change or whatever, it's not the writer's authority, but the Bible's authority that demands it.
So then, rather than the writer going 'hey I wanna convert some people', or 'hey i wanna encourage these believers to continue believing', I think they're just trying to synthesise and summarise how the Bible responds to something and that the Bible itself is the force pushing a view.
2.We're surrounded by propaganda. From posters of Barrack Obama, through to ads for Coke, through to anything really. All things made by or said by humans have some degree of bias, no matter how slight, and so it's just a part of the world we live in. Sharing opinions, beliefs etc isn't a bad thing. So to put Christianity or its down on the claim that it's propaganda seems kinda weak. Propagandas are worth exploring as they are the front of some fact or idea - and it's good to expose oneself.
More
Hm, nah, I'm too tired. I'll continue this after I get some Zzzzs. Night!
It's interesting to note that the CD Set of talks called "Tough Questions" is considered by some to be Christian propaganda. The dictionary definition of propaganda (quoted in post on 24/02/09) states that it is the "...systematic propagation of a doctrine or cause...".
ReplyDeleteThe key words in that definition are "systematic" and "propagation". Now the Macquarie Pocket Dictarus defines "systematic" as: "having, showing, or involving a system, method, or plan." "Propagate" is defined by the Macquarie Dictaurus as "to spread (a report, doctrine, practice, etc.) from person to person."
We can further define propaganda as a system, method or plan of spreading a report, doctrine, practice, etc. from person to person. Against this definition, the claim that Christian resources are “propaganda” (particularly those available for purchase on the Matthias Media website) does not stand, given that there is no system, method or plan in place by the authors or publishers to spread the content of these resources from person to person. Indeed I would argue that the statement that “…technically speaking, Christian resources could be said to be propaganda…” fails to acknowledge the diversity that exists in the content of such material available. That is, all Christian resources do not all say the same thing. For example, on the Matthias Media website (www.matthiasmedia.com.au) one can find a book titled “Simply Christianity: A Modern Guide to the Ancient Faith”, along with other book titles such as “Pure Sex”, “Forgiving Hitler” and “If I were God I’d end all the pain”. In other words, Christian resources are not all produced with the intention of spreading the same report, doctrine, practice etc from person to person, with the intention of bringing all people to subscribe to the same way of thinking and acting.
I am interested to read your thoughts on the third point on your outline Nicolette:
“Biblical Contradictions - a God that condemns himself and a God of changing character”
I am not aware of any reference in the Bible to God “condemning himself”. Jesus tells us that God condemns those who have not “…believed in the name of the only Son of God” (John 3:18). I also fail to see why God would “condemn himself”. The word condemn means to either “express strong disapproval of” or to “pronounce to be guilty” (as per the Macquarie Dictaurus). I am curious to know what action could God have taken that He would “disapprove of” or what charge is he “guilty of”?
The Bible reveals to us the God who’s character is unchanging and consistent. This can be seen from the way the Bible describes His love as “steadfast” (Deut. 5:10, Psalm 118). I would like to see some evidence to support the claim that the Bible presents “a God that condemns himself and a God of changing character!”
A final comment regarding your postings so far Nicolette, I am finding that they tend to contain either yours or others' thoughts/opinions on certain topics without any hard evidence or proof to substantiate or justify the reasoning behind the thought or opinion. Perhaps you could factor this in when composing future blog posts??
However, I look forward to hearing your response to my comments Nicolette - I am enjoying reading your posts, can I encourage you to continue your "Search for the Truth", may God continue to reveal to you His good, pleasing and perfect will. =)