Book Comment: Christianity on the Offense (Part 1)

I very strongly recommend that you read Christianity on the Offense: Responding to the Beliefs and Assumptions of Spiritual Seekers (1998), by Dan Story.  Story discusses the underlying presuppositions of several modern world views,presenting their strengths and weaknesses, their intellectual consistency or lack of it, and presents strategies to use in evaluating the truth claims of of each worldview.  This is a powerful book of Christian apologetics which shows us clearly that we do not have to back down from our Christian truth claims.  It also takes a novel, highly aggressive approach to the inadequacies and logical inconsistencies of non-Christian and non-orthodox Christian world views.  Here is a link where you can find the book.


Story examines traditional orthodox Christianity and shows how it stands up under historical, scientific, and legal scrutiny.  "People who claim that they are being open-minded by accepting all religions as gateways to truth are actually being empty-headed. ... If we are to make heads-or-tails out of reality and if religious truth is to be known at all, we must adhere to the rudimentary rules of logic that govern all other areas of knowledge."

Did you realize that the strongest legal evidence is eyewitness testimony?  Paul understood this.  Mosaic law said that two witnesses were needed to prove a point as true.

“At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is worthy of death be put to death; but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death.”  Deuteronomy 17:6

Paul says that over five hundred people saw Jesus after His resurrection and that most of them were still alive at the time he wrote 1 Corinthians.  What he was saying was, "If you don't believe me, ask them!"

“For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,  that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,  and that he appeared to Peter,  and then to the Twelve.  After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep.  Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.”  1 Corinthians 15:3-8

 After demonstrating that the Christian truth claims are internally consistent, logically consistent, consistent with reality, and based on provable facts,  Story examines several of the major world views, each held by millions of people and each having affected the modern Christian Church, the ἐκκλησία,  sometimes positively and sometimes negatively.  

Film Comment: Rubber

Rubber (2010) is a film only a true film geek (like me) could appreciate.  It is an absurdist horror film about a serial killer who is a rubber automobile tire.  This sounds silly, and would lead one to expect something similar to the inspired insanity of the comedic cult classic, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes.  Rubber is not a comedy.


Robert (the tire) rises up from the desert sand one day and stands up on his tread.  Then he starts to roll.  Along his randomly meandering way he learns that he can, by intense concentration, cause things (tin cans, birds, rabbits) to explode.  It is only one small step up from rabbits to people.  The killings are depicted in all the gore and visual nastiness of the most extreme horror films.


Killing randomly as he goes, Robert becomes obsessed with, and begins to follow, a young woman who is driving alone on the desert highway.


Robert, of course, is not real, he is a character in a film which is being observed by a group of people, the audience, standing in the desert sand, using binoculars to observe the events as they progress.


The audience is totally helpless, exposed to the elements and the desert, so engrossed in watching the action that they fail to take care of their own needs.  No one even thinks to eat.  Late that night they all fall asleep on the desert sand.  When the members of the audience wake up, they are very hungry and selfishly fight among themselves for their share when their desert guide throws a cooked turkey into the sand.  The guide doesn't tell them that he has loaded the turkey with poison and they all die a painful death.  Only an old man in a wheelchair survives, because he was suspicious and refused to eat the turkey.


Of course, none of this makes any sense.  That's the entire point of the film.  In the first scene, one of the main characters tells us, "The film you are about to see is an homage to "no reason," that most powerful element of style."


The internet is buzzing with discussions about this film.  Most say that this is not about the tire at all, but is about the relationship between movies and their audiences, more specifically, how skilled directors can draw their audiences in and cause them to become involved in the film, in some cases becoming part of the film.  I see something deeper, I see "no reason."


We all have underlying world-views, presuppositions we use to make sense of the world around us.  In the case of this film. "no reason" is the real message of this film.  Life is meaningless. There is no purpose.  There is no absolute truth.  The only constant is randomness.  Whatever happens, happens for no reason.  Whatever one believes or does is acceptable and no one has any basis for questioning the actions or beliefs of anyone else.  Does this sound familiar?  It is the aggressively and rapidly growing worldview known as post-modernism, the logical and inevitable end result of secular humanism.  Though it grew out of naturalism, rationalism, and humanism, it declares all religious, philosophical, and political paths to be equally valid, even when their truth claims are mutually exclusive.  In its declaration that all "truths"are true, it in effect declares that there is no such thing as truth, there are multiple truths.  Your truth might not be my truth.  Nonsense rules.  Logic and rational thought are rejected.


The Bible has an answer to this nonsense:

"And as they spake unto the people, the priests, and the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees, came upon them,  Being grieved that they taught the people, and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead.  And they laid hands on them, and put them in hold unto the next day: for it was now eventide. Howbeit many of them which heard the word believed; and the number of the men was about five thousand.
 And it came to pass on the morrow, that their rulers, and elders, and scribes,  And Annas the high priest, and Caiaphas, and John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the kindred of the high priest, were gathered together at Jerusalem.  And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, By what power, or by what name, have ye done this?  Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people, and elders of Israel,  If we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what means he is made whole;  Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole.   This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner.  Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.  Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus"
Acts 4:1-13.