Christians

At some time during their lives, the following people have publicly identified themselves as Christian.   Inclusion in this list does not indicate approval or disapproval of the person, of their orthodoxy or lack of it, or of their actions.  Some of those listed may surprise you.  Readers are encouraged to suggest persons who should be included on this list.  This is a recurring segment in this blog.

Rene Joseph Letourneau: (b. 1929, Massachusetts, USA – d. 2013) Korean War veteran. Alabama Bowlers Hall of Fame. Roman Catholic.

John Brown: (b. 1763, Ireland – d. 1842) Presbyterian minister.  President of the University of Georgia (USA) from 18111-1816.

Johann Valentin Andreae: (b. 1586, Germany - d. 1654: aka: Johannes Valentinus Andeaea)  Author of Christianopolis (1619), a novel about a democratic utopian society governed by scholars and artisans.  He became interested in esoterics and the occult and was involved in the foundation of Rosicrucianism.

Zewditu I: (b. 1876, Ethiopia –d. 1930; aka: Askala Maryam; Queen of Kings) Daughter of Meneiik II of Ethiopia, Empress of Ethiopia 1916-1930.  She was known to be intensely devout. Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo.

Angela Dorothea Kasner Merkel: (b. 1954, West Germany)  Chancellor of Germany 1994-1998.  Lutheran.

The Christian Origins of Several Science Fiction Writers

Science fiction is often considered to be an atheist endeavor and many science fiction writers would agree.  It is interesting though, how many of them had religious upbringings, many specifically Christian.

Robert A. Heinlein, Baptist; Gene Rodenberry, Baptist; Jules Verne, Roman Catholic; J.R.R. Tolkein, Roman Catholic; Stanislaw Lem, Roman Catholic;  Karel Capek,  Roman Catholic; Anthony Burgess,  Roman Catholic; Jerry Pournelle,  Roman Catholic; George Lucas, Methodist; Stephen King, Methodist; Beverly Cleary, Presbyterian; Piers Anthony, Quaker. 

Book Comment: The Born Again Skeptic's Guide to the Bible

Ruth Hurmence Green (1915 - 1981) is apparently something of a "saint" (atheists please excuse me) to the Freedom From Religion Foundation who published her books, The Born Again Skeptic's Guide to the Bible (1979) and The Book of Ruth (1981). The 1999 cover of her book looks like a brown Bible; it even has "Holy Bible" centered, in large letters, on the front. The Foundation says she "debunked the Bible as no one has done since Thomas Paine."

Ruth read her BIble cover to cover, verse by verse, and she really hated Christianity. She picks out every seeming inconsistency, every hard passage, and every major Christian doctrine and tries to grind them up into sausage.

The only thing about which I almost agree with her is one statement she makes about the Trinity. She believed that the doctrine of the Trinity was cooked up to maintain Christianity's monotheism. I don't believe that it was "cooked up." It was a hard fought controversy for many years as Christians tried to come to a consensus on what they actually thought about the three divine Persons they knew and the monotheistic God of their Jewish heritage. I believe that the doctrine of the Trinity is the only explanation which can account for all the statements made about God and by God in the BIble.

I am presently collecting materials for a book I intend to write about some of the more profound, and even shocking, implications of the doctrine of the Trinity. The doctrine resolves many seeming contradictions and problems in the Bible.