The Nobility of Soldiering

On this Veterans' Day I thought I would share some brief reflections on the nobility of the profession of soldiering. Specifically, I want to point out four ways that we can see the nobility of soldiering in the Bible. In Scripture, the nobility of soldiering can be seen in. . .

1. The positive portrayal of soldiers. In the Old Testament consider especially Joshua and David, two military men are are heroes of the faith (and heroes of the faith at least in part because of their soldiering. In the New Testament, there is, first, the centurion who asked Jesus to heal his servant (Matt. 8:5-10). When the centurion expressed his belief (based on his own experience as a military officer who expected his subordinates to carry out his orders) that Jesus could heal his servant with just a word, Jesus said, "I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel." Second, we have the example of Cornelius (Acts 10), the God-fearing centurion who was the first Gentile convert to Christianity.

2. The prayers for success in war. In numerous places, God's people prayed for success in battle against their enemies and God answered their prayers positively (Num. 21:1-3; Josh. 10:12-14; Judges 16:28-31; etc.). Especially poignant is David's praise to God in Psalm 144:1: "Blessed be the Lord, my Rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle."

3. The direct biblical legitimizing of the idea of a just war and of soldiering. In Ecclesiastes 3, we have a well-known poem (think of The Birds famous song, "Turn, Turn, Turn") that gives us a series of contrasting human activities all of which have their appropriate times. Among these we read, "A time for war and a time for peace" (v. 8). The idea is that sometimes war is the right thing to do. Also, in Luke 3:10-14, we read of soldiers who came to John the Baptist to repent of their sins and be baptized. They ask John what they are to do now with their lives. Implied is the question, "Should we quit the army?" John tells them simply, "Do not take money from anyone by force, or accuse anyone falsely, and be content with your wages." Hereby we have as clear an endorsement of the legitimacy of soldiering as we could ask.

4. The use of military metaphors to describe the Christian life. I will leave it to the reader to check out how many times the New Testament speaks of Christians as "soldiers" and likens our pursuit of Christ-likeness as a war (cf., e.g., 2 Cor. 10:3-6; Eph. 6:10-13; 2 Tim. 1-4).

In these and other ways, the Bible underscores the nobility of being a soldier. Let us honor those who serve well in defense of our country.

States Rights and Liberty

I have been watching with great interest the growing states' rights movement. Many states have introduced and some have recently passed resolutions asserting their sovereignty over the federal government under the 10th Amendment, an constitutional amendment all but forgotten these days by conservatives and liberals alike. This amendment was designed to make explicit what was implicit in many parts of the constitution and was presupposed by most of the Founders, namely, that the United States was a federation of sovereign, independent states (read: nations), and not a singular nation. The federal goverment was not designed as a national government, but as an extention of the various state governments designed to serve their collective interests. The set-up was intended, in part, to preserve the sovereignty of the states except within a very narrow range of responsibilities delegated the federal government. Thus, it was also intented to preserve individual liberties.

The current states' rights movement is trying to prevent and roll back the incroaching tyranny of an all-encompassing and all-powerful national government that is presently, let's face it, leading us gradually (but not too gradually!) into socialism and the eradication of personal liberty. I encourage the readers to learn more about this movement by visiting the website of the Tenth Ammendment Center (www.tenthamendmentcenter.com). For some history of the constitution's emphasis on liberty and states' rights and its application for today, read this helpful article by Frank Chodorov:

http://www.tenthamendmentcenter.com/2009/09/30/state-sovereignty-a-revolutionary-movement/

Atheists Endorse ID Theory

Believe it or not, a growing number of atheists and agnostics are endorsing intelligent design theory as legtimate science. Some are even going so far as to say that it provides evidence for a purposive designer (though not necessarily God) that is superior to to any evidence in favor of Darwinism. The "wedge" that Phillip Johnson started hammering in the 1990s into the "log" of Darwinist hegemony over science is finally starting to split the log! Read about this amazing development in an article by Peter Williams at the website of the Evangelical Philosophical Society. Here's the link:

http://epsociety.org/library/articles.asp?pid=66&ap=1

Interview for The Love of Wisdom

Jim Spiegel and I have been interviewed by Joe Gorra at the website of the Evangelical Philosophical Society concerning our new book, The Love of Wisdom: A Christian Introduction to Philosophy. You can link to the interview here:

http://www.epsociety.org/blog/labels/love%20of%20wisdom%20(book).asp

Article on Women's Subordination

For those who have an interest in the debate among evangelicals regarding the subordination of women to their husbands and male leadership in church, my article "The Metaphysics of Subordination: A Response to Rebecca Merrill Groothuis," has just been published in the Journal of Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. You can read the article here:

http://www.cbmw.org/Journal/Vol-14-No-1/The-Metaphysics-of-Subordination-A-Response-to-Rebecca-Merrill-Groothuis

The gist of the article is this: Groothuis argues that the common distinction made by complementarians between women being subordinate in role but equal in being/value is logically incoherent. I argue that she is mistaken, that the distinction is coherent. Unless I am mistaken, this exchange between Groothuis and myself represents the first time that more or less pure philosophy has entered into this debate.

Article on the Meaning of Life

I was just invited to post a short article on the meaning of life from an evangelical perspective on the Patheos Public Square website. This is a cite that posts multiple viewpoints on important and current topics that impact our society. You can read my piece at:

http://www.patheos.com/Explore/Additional-Resources/Why-Me-God-and-the-Meaning-of-Life.html

Enjoy!

Thomas Sowell on Obama's Supreme Court Pick

Barack Obama has made his first Supreme Court appointment, justice Sonia Sotomayor. Even the most casual follower of the story can see that she is the posterchild for postmodern political correctness and judicial activism. By her own testimony her gender and ethnicity will influence her decisions. And she thinks that someone (like herself) of a particular ethnicity and gender may be better equipped to make certain decisions because of her ability to "empathize." Forget the rule of law and the facts of the case--what matters is empathy! One wonders, given her postmodern view of law and culture, if she can empathize with a white male who stands before her bar looking for justice? On her own terms, we already know the answer. I encourage readers to read the commentary by Thomas Sowell on Sotomayor's appointment at this link:

http://townhall.com/Columnists/ThomasSowell/2009/05/27/sotomayor__empathy_in_action?page=full&comments=true

The Missing Link? Gimme a Break!

Before you watch the HistoryChannel's "The Link" program tonight about the new primate fossil "Ida" that is all the rage the last few days, take a look at this link:

http://www.arn.org/blogs/index.php/2/2009/05/20/ida_the_holy_grail_of_evolutionary_specu_1

The author easily debunks all the hype.

Good Discussion of Waterboarding

Rich Lowery has written an insightful post on the ethics of waterboarding, making some points that are seldom heard in the debate--such as the fact that the morality of this practice depends on the context or circumstances in which it is used. Obviously, there are situations where it would clearly be wrong, but that doesn't rule out the possibility of morally permissible cases. See Lowery's column at this link:

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=OTE1NGU4NDQxOWU2YTZiOWM2N2Q4YjQ4OGEzZjZhZGM=&w=MQ==

Spiegel on Cowan and Spiegel's Book

Please check out Jim Spiegel's comments concerning our new book The Love of Wisdom (B&H, 2009) on his blog (link below). He does a great job explaining some of our reasons for writing the book and the benefits we hope it gives the readers. Look for comments of my own in the next few days.

http://wisdomandfollyblog.com/