Eric Metaxas wrote a great book titled, BONHOEFFER: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy which we are reading and discussing at church.  He also wrote a children's book a few years ago, on Squanto and the Miracle of Thanksgiving.  Check out this interesting interview about Squanto.

Squanto and the Miracle of Thanksgiving

This entertaining and historical story shows that the actual hero of the Thanksgiving was neither white nor Indian, but God. In 1608, English traders came to Massachusetts and captured a 12-year old Indian, Squanto, and sold him into slavery. He was raised by Christians and taught faith in God. Ten years later he was sent home to America. Upon arrival, he learned an epidemic had wiped out his entire village. But God had plans for Squanto. God delivered a Thanksgiving miracle: an English-speaking Indian living in the exact place where the Pilgrims land in a strange new world.

Link to Book on Amazon

Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford (October 25, 2011) Richard Dawkins was invited by the Oxford student Christian Union to defend his book The God Delusion in public debate with William Lane Craig. The invitation remained open until the last minute. However, Dawkins refused the challenge and his chair remained empty. Craig then gave a lecture to a capacity audience on the weaknesses of the central arguments of the book and responded to a panel of academics. The event, which was chaired by atheist Prof. Peter Millican, was part of The Reasonable Faith Tour 2011 sponsored by UCCF, Damaris & Premier Christian Radio.

Timothy Keller has written a book titled “The Reason for God – Belief in an Age of Skepticism”. In some ways, one could call it an updated, contemporary “Mere Christianity”. Keller, like C. S. Lewis is dealing with some common objections to the idea of God and then also presenting a positive argument for basic Christian belief. I think he does an excellent job and I applaud him. He was also applauded at Google Headquarters a while ago, as he presented some ideas from his book to the Google Staff. The presentation is offered here via YouTube. Seems like the turnout for Keller's talk brought an unusually large crowd of Google employees compared to the many presentations by other visiting authors. I highly recommend the book, but you might also want to watch this video presentation, followed up by interesting questions from Google folks. - Richard Dalton

Amazon Link to Book

Backyard Skeptics, another misguided atheist group, is unveiled a billboard in Orange County, California with a picture of Thomas Jefferson next to a quotation that they attribute to him. The quotation reads, “I do not find in Christianity one redeeming feature, it is founded on fables and mythology.”

The skeptic group is already coming under attack by Christians and conservatives claiming that Jefferson never said or wrote what Backyard Skeptics attribute to him. When questioned about the authenticity of the quotation, the group’s director, Bruce Gleason, admitted that they had not verified the quotation before paying for the billboard

Gleason also admitted that the Jefferson Library Collection in Monticello is the leading authority on Jefferson and his quotations. And it turns out that the Jefferson Library Collection has no record of it.  They do list it on their website, but it is listed in a section of dubious quotations.

Raising the quotation’s origin brings one to a book Six Historic Americans by John E. Remsburg.  According to Remsburg’s book, the quotation came from a letter written by Jefferson to a Dr. Woods. Yet, the Jefferson Library Collection has no record of a Dr Woods or of Jefferson ever writing to such a person.

Faced with the information on the dubious origin of the quotation, Backyard Skeptics are accepting Remsburg’s version to be accurate and will not take any action to alter or remove the quotation from the board.

I would strongly urge Backyard Skeptics and others who claim Jefferson was a deist to do some further research into his writings. Keep in mind that a deist believes that God created everything and then has no involvement in His creation.

I contend that Jefferson was not a deist but did believe in God, although some of his views on Christianity were quite liberal as are many in the church today. Jefferson was not an atheist, so it’s surprising that an atheist group would use him to support their cause. Here are some quotations from Jefferson along with the references. Note his use of the Bible, God’s providence, and prayer (“supplications”) for political guidance:

“I shall need, too, the favor of that Being in whose hands we are, who led our forefathers, as Israel of old, from their native land, and planted them in a country flowing with all the necessaries and comforts of life; who has covered our infancy with his providence, and our riper years with his wisdom and power; and to whose goodness I ask you to join with me in supplications, that he will so enlighten the minds of your servants, guide their councils, and prosper their measures, that whatsoever they do, shall result in your good, and shall secure to you the peace, friendship, and approbation of all nations.”  Thomas Jefferson’s Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1805.

“The practice of morality being necessary for the well-being of society, he has taken care to impress its precepts so indelibly on our hearts that they shall not be effaced by the subtleties of our brain. We all agree in the obligation of the moral precepts of Jesus, and nowhere will they be found delivered in greater purity than in his discourses.”  Thomas Jefferson, Letter to James Fishback, Sept. 27, 1809. Albert Ellery Bergh, ed. The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Memorial Assoc., Washington D.C., 1907, V. 12,  p.315.

“The Christian religion, when divested of the rags in which they have enveloped it, and brought to the original purity and simplicity of its benevolent institutor, is a religion of all others most friendly to liberty, science, and the freest expansion of the human mind.”  Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Moses Robinson, The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, The Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association, Washington D.C., 1907, V. 10, pp. 236-237.

“TO DOCTOR BENJAMIN RUSH.

Washington,

April 21, 1803.

Dear Sir,—In some of the delightful conversations with you, in the evenings of 1798-99, and which served as an anodyne to the afflictions of the crisis through which our country was then laboring, the Christian religion was sometimes our topic; and I then promised you, that one day or other, I would give you my views of it. They are the result of a life of inquiry and reflection, and very different from that anti-Christian system imputed to me by those who know nothing of my opinions. To the corruptions of Christianity I am, indeed, opposed; but not to the genuine precepts of Jesus himself. I am a Christian, in the only sense in which he wished any one to be; sincerely attached to his doctrines, in preference to all others; ascribing to himself every human excellence; and believing he never claimed any other.”  Thomas Jefferson, To Benjamin Rush, 21 April, 1803, Albert Ellery Bergh, ed. The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, The Thomas Jefferson Memorial Assoc., 1905, V. 9, pp. 379-381.

If Jefferson was a deist, he never would have included those lines in his second inaugural address. A deist would never ask for the favor of that Being, or believed that He led our forefathers, or who covered the nation’s infancy with His providence, or would go to Him with supplications. Furthermore, how do they explain the words Jefferson wrote to Dr. Benjamin Rush? Why would Jefferson have ever written such things to one of the most prominent people of the day? Additionally, if Jefferson was a deist, he would not believe that Jesus was a real person or the Son of God, yet he admits that Jesus’ moral precepts are the best that can be patterned after.

Bruce Gleason and the Backyard Skeptics are just like all of the rest of the historical revisionists who first try to destroy the integrity of the men and women in American history and then do their best to start re-writing history to make it fit their godless beliefs.  What they end up with is nothing more than a fictional novel like Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code that many gullible people will believe to be true history when in reality it’s just a story.

So even though it has been pointed out to them that there is no proof or documentation that Jefferson ever uttered or penned the words on the billboard, they intend to keep it there and knowingly purport a lie to get their message out there. It reminds me of Isaiah 44:25 which reads:

“Who frustrates the signs of liars and makes fools of diviners, who turns wise men back and makes their knowledge foolish.”

Read more: Atheist Group Misquotes Jefferson on Billboard | Godfather Politics http://godfatherpolitics.com/1814/atheist-group-misquotes-jefferson-on-billboard/#ixzz1dEW1g5Nf

This book will be out in Mid October - Check out the video  interviews about Socrates in the City - the New York Gatherings and the New Book.

Following the extraordinary success of the "New York Times" bestseller "Bonhoeffer," Eric Metaxas's latest book offers inspirational and intellectually rigorous thoughts about the great questions surrounding us all today.

The Greek philosopher Socrates famously said that "the unexamined life is not worth living." Taking this as a starting point, Eric Metaxas founded a speaking series that encouraged busy and successful professionals to attend forums and think actively about the bigger questions in life. Thus "Socrates in the City: Conversations on "Life, God, and Other Small Topics"" was born.

This book is for the seeker in all of us, the collector of wisdom, and the person who asks "What if?" Within this collection of original essays that were first given to standing-room-only crowds in New York City are serious thinkers taking on Life, God, Evil, Redemption, and other small topics. Luminaries such as Dr. Francis Collins, Sir John Polkinghorne, Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks, N.T. Wright, Os Guinness, and Peter Kreeft, and George Weigel have written about extraordinary topics vital to both secular and Christian thinking, such as "Making Sense Out of Suffering," "The Concept of Evil after 9/11," and "Can a Scientist Pray?" No question is too big-in fact, the bigger, the harder, the more complex the better. These essays are both thought-provoking and entertaining, because nowhere is it written that finding answers to life's biggest questions shouldn't be exciting and even, perhaps, fun.

Amazon Link to Book

Just listened to the message titled "Made for Stewardship" given by Pastor Tim Keller from New York City.

I think it's a great one for LABOR DAY.

Click Here For Link to Message

stained glass jesus, originally uploaded by westerndave.

O soul, are you weary and troubled?
No light in the darkness you see?
There’s a light for a look at the Savior,
And life more abundant and free!

Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.

Through death into life everlasting
He passed, and we follow Him there;
Over us sin no more hath dominion—
For more than conquerors we are!

His Word shall not fail you—He promised;
Believe Him, and all will be well:
Then go to a world that is dying,
His perfect salvation to tell!

- Helen H. Lemmel, 1922

Frescos in Østerlars church, originally uploaded by ast2009.

The church's central column is decorated with frescos from 1350 showing biblical scenes. The frescos had been hidden with limewash since the Reformation and were uncovered in 1882.

Read about the Østerlars Church in Wikipedia