Torn Apart at the Seams



 Religions > Atheism > Torn Apart at the Seams

LINK TO THIS PAGE  


rating :  0   |  0


  Page 1 of 1

1

 
Topic: Religions > Atheism
User: "UR Welcome! UR"
Date: 17 Jul 2007 01:48:05 PM
Object: Torn Apart at the Seams
.. Torn Apart at the Seams
Years ago, while I was speaking on a large university campus, a radical
young man confronted me. He stood in the assembly and railed against me
because I was encouraging students to follow Christ as their Savior. As
the head of the Communist Party on this prestigious campus, he had other
plans for these students.
Rather than argue, I invited him to come to our home for dinner, which he
did. He was a brilliant young man, articulate and winsome. As we chatted
through dinner, we talked about many things. I found him to be an
interesting guest. As we finished our dessert, I reached over and picked
up my Bible and said, "I want to read something to you from the Bible."
He reacted with obvious irritation. "I have read the Bible from cover to
cover," he exclaimed. "It's a ridiculous book. It's filled with
contradictions, lies, and myths. I don't want to hear anything from the
Bible."
"If you don't mind, I will read it anyway," I replied gently. I began
reading to him from the Gospel of John. Chapter one begins, "Before
anything else existed, there was Christ, with God. He has always been
alive and is himself God. He created everything there is-nothing exists
that he didn't make. Eternal life is in him, and this life gives light to
all mankind . To all who received him, he gave the right to become
children of God. All they needed to do was to trust him to save them. All
those who believe this are reborn!" (vv. 1-4, 12, 13, TLB).
Remember-he had told me that he did not believe the Bible and that he had
read it from cover to cover. When I concluded reading this passage from
John, he said, "Let me see that. I don't remember reading that." He read
it thoughtfully, then handed the Bible back to me without comment.
Then I turned to Colossians, chapter 1: "Christ is the exact likeness of
the unseen God. He existed before God made anything at all, and, in fact,
Christ himself is the Creator who made everything in heaven and earth, the
things we can see and the things we can't; the spirit world with its kings
and kingdoms, its rulers and authorities; all were made by Christ for his
own use and glory. He was before all else began, and it is his power that
holds everything together" (vv. 15-17, TLB).
Again he said, "I've never seen that before. May I read it?"
I handed the Bible to him. Again he was very sober. He handed it back to
me. As I read Hebrews 1:1-5 and 1 John 2:1, 2, the words deeply moved this
young man. His entire countenance changed. We chatted briefly, and after a
time he stood to leave. I asked him if he would write in our guest book.
He penned his name and address, after which he wrote these words: "The
night of decision." He left facing a major decision about receiving and
following Christ.
When Campus Crusade for Christ first began on the UCLA and Berkeley
campuses during the '50s and '60s, my staff and I encountered many hostile
students like him who were caught up in the protests and riots of those
days. These young people had high ideals, but their hearts were still
empty and confused. Because of God's mercy, we were able to touch the
lives of many and see the miracle of the new birth change their attitudes.
But many, many more across the country were deeply affected by the climate
of unrest.
These young people had high ideals, but their HEARTS WERE STILL EMPTY and
confused.
Asleep in the Pew
Years before the student unrest shook up our society, Alexis de
Tocqueville wrote:
If the lights that guide us ever go out, they will fade little by little,
as if of their own accord . We therefore should not console ourselves by
thinking that the barbarians are still a long way off. Some people may let
the torch be snatched from their hands, but others stamp it out
themselves.1
That is an accurate description of what we have allowed to happen in our
country. As the 20th century progressed, we stamped out morality. Though
the decades of the '20s and '30s brought negative social and cultural
changes, they were nothing compared to the nation's full-scale rejection
of traditional values during the '60s and '70s. The intervening decades
were crucial. The late '40s and '50s were pleasant and uneventful, often
called the "happy days." Yet despite the peacefulness and calm on the
surface, important changes took place during that transitional period. The
departure from God and biblical Christianity that occurred then was more
subtle than the insurrection that was to come in the following decades.
Throughout the '50s, Christians were doing the right things, but often for
the wrong reasons, or for no reason at all. Many churches were viewed as
stuffy, uninspiring, and out of touch. Pastors and their flocks often
lacked a sense of passion or vision for ministry, missing the cultural
mandate that lies at the heart of Christianity.
Then suddenly, a tidal wave of rage and revisionism swept across the
landscape during the '60s and '70s, almost demolishing the values and
moral standards that had guided our nation for centuries. These eruptions
caught Christians off-guard. Had the church been properly mobilized at the
time, perhaps the chaos that erupted in places such as Haight-Ashbury, New
Haven, and Chicago might have been averted.
The '60s became the pivotal decade in the breakdown of the American
culture. Subtle disorders that had lain dormant for years finally erupted
onto the scene. When the upheaval came, the Church could not respond
coherently; Christians had been lulled to sleep in the pews.
Stitch by stitch, our nation unraveled. First came rebellion against the
status quo. Soon we embraced humanism, followed by moral relativism. The
hunger for spiritual meaning quickly spawned New Age religions. One by
one, the moral standards that formed the fiber of our nation frayed and
fell apart.
Radical Ideals
Os Guinness believes that the crisis was set in motion by the sheer mass
of unresolved issues that converged on America in the '60s. We had not
dealt with the apathy and neglect that caused the nation to turn its back
on God. "So many things happened at one time almost by spontaneous
combustion," he says, "but there were certain common features."2 The '60s
were a time of idealism. Young people were seeking justice, freedom, and
community, but not by conventional methods.
Christians did not disagree with many of the goals of the young radicals;
believers also wanted justice, freedom, and community. In the beginning,
the revolutionaries rejected everything that was hollow or hypocritical,
and that was good; but they also revolted against the values of the '50s,
and that meant rejecting Christianity as well. Guinness says of the
rebels, "They were like the Greek figure Icarus who flew too close to the
sun; his wings melted, and he crashed to the ground and died. Their ideals
were right, but without a basis, they soared up and collapsed."3
Judge Robert Bork, a professor at Yale University during those turbulent
years, witnessed the chaos firsthand:
To understand our current plight, we must look back to the tumults of [the
'60s], which brought to a crescendo developments in the '50s and before,
that most of us had overlooked or misunderstood. We noticed Elvis Presley,
rock music, James Dean, the radical sociologist C. Wright Mills, Jack
Kerouac, and the Beatles. We did not understand, however, that far from
being isolated curiosities, these were harbingers of a new culture that
would shortly burst upon us and sweep us into a different country.4
Student activism started in earnest with a group called Students for a
Democratic Society (SDS). They met in 1962 in Port Huron, Michigan, and
produced a document they called the "Port Huron Statement." This manifesto
stated that man is perfectible, and if we can keep changing the culture
long enough, we can make man into what he should be. It was the dream of a
manmade utopia-a heaven on earth. Judge Bork explains how those improbable
and idealistic dreams made their way into modern-day liberalism:
SDS became the center of the student revolution, the center of what they
called the "New Left." The New Left disintegrated politically because
their program was too amorphous for anyone to know what it was exactly,
except destruction. It persists today in individual groups; that is, some
of them focus on environmentalism, racial problems, or on radical
feminism, and so on. Altogether, they add up to what the New Left used to
be.5
Many social issues that plague us today-such as radical feminism, abortion
on demand, and homosexuality-came out of the radicals' programs in the
'60s. This is not surprising when you consider how many of these
revolutionaries held the cherished traditional values of this nation in
utter contempt.
What happened to these students? Today, our major universities are staffed
by many of these former radical activists who embraced anti-God views and
philosophies. They are now tenured professors and administrators working
to propel the next generation of revisionists into completing the
revolution they started more than thirty years ago. Under the leadership
of the radical New Left, many of the most famous, prestigious universities
have become hotbeds of anti-Judeo-Christian values. Consider the words of
one professor from Vermont's Middlebury College:
After the war, a lot of us [anti-war graduate students] didn't just crawl
back into our library cubicles, we stepped into academic positions. With
the war over, our visibility was lost, and it seemed for a while-to the
unobservant-that we had disappeared. Now we have tenure, and the work of
reshaping the universities has begun in earnest.6
Today, our major universities are staffed by many of these former radical
activists who embraced ANTI-GOD VIEWS AND PHILOSOPHIES.
The values that were considered radical, immoral, and unprincipled during
the decade of the '60s became the established norms of the '90s. Policies
we once found outrageous are now the status quo. One can easily see how
public virtues and social mores that Tocqueville once called "habits of
the heart" were turned upside down.
The Poverty of Self-Fulfillment
In his classic book, How Should We Then Live?, Francis Schaeffer uncovered
two factors that helped bring about the carnage following the '60s
revolution:
As the Christian-dominated consensus weakened, the majority of the people
adopted two impoverished values: personal peace and affluence . Personal
peace means just to be let alone, not to be troubled by the troubles of
other people, whether across the world or across the city-to live one's
life with minimal possibilities of being personally disturbed. Personal
peace means wanting to have my personal life pattern undisturbed in my
lifetime, regardless of what the result will be in the lifetimes of my
children and grandchildren. Affluence means an overwhelming and
ever-increasing prosperity-a life made up of things, things, and more
things-a success judged by an ever-higher level of material abundance.7
Parents, brought up in a disciplined, structured environment, told their
rebellious children, "Keep your mouth shut and don't rock the boat."
Disarmed by a culture that had provided them with unprecedented peace and
affluence, they could not handle the fury of the revolution instigated by
their children. Robert Bork observes:
Every generation is composed of barbarians that have to be civilized by
their families, by churches, by schools, and so forth. [The Baby Boomer]
generation was so big that they swamped the institutional capacity to
civilize them.8
As member of the "hippie" generation, pastor Greg Laurie of Harvest
Christian Fellowship in Riverside, California, witnessed the '60s from the
other side. He says, "A lot of people look back at the '60s through
rose-colored granny glasses. It is this idyllic era that is celebrated
today. But in reality what we did in the '60s was open a Pandora's box.
What our society sowed in the '60s, we are reaping in the '90s. As the
Bible says, 'You sow the wind, you reap the whirlwind.' "9
For centuries, the moral and spiritual fabric of American society rested
upon what Schaeffer called the "Christian-dominated consensus." Both
Schaeffer's and Laurie's generations rebelled against the biblical
precepts on which this nation was founded. Schaeffer's generation rebelled
against the poverty and hopelessness of the Great Depression. Determined
never to suffer such loss and disappointment again, they resolved never to
allow their children to suffer either. As their search for prosperity
overshadowed their religion, they neglected to pass on their Christian
foundation to their children. Laurie's Baby Boomer generation rebelled
against the spiritual poverty of making self-fulfillment and ease the main
goal. They rejected their parents' materialism and morals, and sought
other means to satisfy their spiritual hunger. Each revolt led its
generation further away from God.
The Humanist Credos
Beneath the intellectual veneer of the '60s' revolution was a dramatic
shift in values that helped usher in a new set of beliefs. These ideals,
which exalted humankind and dishonored God, had their root in humanism.
Earlier, Darwin, Freud, and others proposed radical theories that claimed
to solve the riddle of humanity. Each contributed to a belief that man
could live without God. Educators, philosophers, scientists, and social
theorists would later proclaim these theories as fact.
Darwin's friend and advocate, Thomas Huxley, made the statement that
"skepticism is the highest of duties, blind faith the one unpardonable
sin."10 Even some Christians claimed that human discovery is superior to
divine revelation, challenging the basic tenets of the Christian religion.
This new "theology" had no room for faith.
Published in 1933, the Humanist Manifesto articulated the fundamental
precepts of modern secular humanism:
Religious humanists regard the universe as self-existing and not created.
Humanism asserts that the nature of the universe depicted by modern
science makes unacceptable any supernatural or cosmic guarantees of human
values.11
Secular humanists believe that God does not exist. Man is therefore solely
responsible for his own destiny; he is captain of his own fate and master
of his own soul. Therefore, man need not subject himself to any law higher
than himself. Humanism places mankind at the center of all things and
makes him the measure of all things. The original Humanist Society
included such influential members as John Dewey and B. F. Skinner. They
propagated views that appeared scientific on the surface but were based on
the presupposition that man is in charge of his own destiny.
The Humanist Manifesto II, published in 1973, restated the humanists'
hostility toward Christianity:
As in 1933, humanists still believe that traditional theism, especially
faith in the prayer-hearing God, assumed to love and care for persons, to
hear and understand their prayers, and to be able to do something about
them, is an unproved and outmoded faith. Salvationism, based on mere
affirmation, still appears as harmful, diverting people with false hopes
of Heaven hereafter. Reasonable minds look to other means for survival.12
Humanism places mankind at the CENTER OF ALL THINGS and makes him the
MEASURE OF ALL THINGS.
Prominent Americans such as Ed Doerr from Americans United for Separation
of Church and State, Alan Guttmacher of Planned Parenthood, and Betty
Friedan of the National Organization of Women signed the Humanist
Manifesto II.13 Excerpts from the Humanist Manifesto II show the firm
stand humanists take against traditional standards, ideals, and morality:
We believe, however, that traditional dogmatic or authoritarian religions
that place revelation, God, ritual, or creed above human needs and
experience do a disservice to the human species . We reject those features
of traditional religious morality that deny humans a full appreciation of
their own potentialities and responsibilities . Often traditional faiths
encourage dependence rather than independence, obedience rather than
affirmation, fear rather than courage . Promises of immortal salvation or
fear of eternal damnation are both illusory and harmful . Ethics [are]
autonomous and situational, needing no theological or ideological
sanction. Ethics stem from human needs and interest . We believe that
intolerant attitudes, often cultivated by orthodox religions and
puritanical cultures, unduly repress sexual conduct. The right to birth
control, abortion, and divorce should be recognized . It also includes a
recognition of an individual's right to die with dignity, euthanasia, and
the right to suicide.14
Could there be a more thoroughly anti-Christian document?
In A Christian Manifesto, his famed response to the Humanist Manifesto,
Dr. Francis Schaeffer argued, "[The humanists] have reduced Man to even
less than his natural finiteness by seeing him only as a complex
arrangement of molecules, made complex by blind chance."15
The ideals of humanism produced a revolution in science that viewed man as
little more than a cosmic accident. Eventually, this theory pervaded every
segment of society.
Scientific Revolution
Did you know that modern science has its roots in the Christian faith? Men
like Galileo, Copernicus, Johannes Kepler, and Sir Isaac Newton all
believed that they were studying God's majestic creation. They worshipped
a God of order who made an orderly creation. Because the personality of
this knowable God was displayed through His creation, scientists could
discover the secrets of this loving, intelligent Creator.
None of these early scientists would have guessed that their fields of
inquiry would one day be used to "disprove" the existence of God. Yet, in
this century many in the scientific community have tried to rid mankind of
its belief in God and its relationship with Jesus Christ.
What kind of effect have these anti-God beliefs had? Author Paul Johnson
explains that the work of scientists often impacts broader reaches of
society:
The scientific genius impinges on humanity, for good or ill, far more than
any statesman or warlord. Galileo's empiricism created the ferment of
natural philosophy in the seventeenth century which [foreshadowed] the
scientific and industrial revolutions. Newtonian physics formed the
framework of the eighteenth century Enlightenment, and so helped to bring
modern nationalism and revolutionary politics to birth. Darwin's notion of
survival of the fittest was a key element both in the Marxist concept of
class warfare and of the racial philosophies which shaped Hitlerism . So,
too, the public response to relativity was one of the principle formative
influences on the course of 20th century history. It formed a knife,
inadvertently wielded by its author, to help cut society adrift from its
traditional moorings in the faith and morals of Judeo-Christian culture.16
In the early years of American history, many who propagated anti-Christian
goals were discreet and covert about their agendas. However, during the
'60s, the scientific community began to attack Christianity and biblical
principles more boldly than ever.
One theory that anti-Christian forces have been pursuing vigorously is
evolution. If science can "prove" that evolution is true-that man has not
been created by a loving God as stated in the Genesis account-then the
Bible is immediately "proven" false and unreliable. This single attack on
Christianity has done the greatest damage to evangelism. With the
credibility of the Bible destroyed, there is no reason for the lost to
trust God's Word-and to place their faith in Jesus Christ as revealed in
that Word. And with God's standards removed, every man can do what seems
right in his own eyes.
In 1985, Michael Denton, molecular biologist and evolutionist, wrote in
Evolution: A Theory in Crisis:
It was because Darwinian theory broke man's link with God and set him
adrift in a cosmos without purpose or end that its impact was so
fundamental. No other intellectual revolution in modern times . so
profoundly affected the way men viewed themselves and their place in the
universe.17
Today in America there is a concerted effort to promote evolution as
absolute truth, despite the fact that it is based on little scientific
data. In his 1859 work introducing the concept of evolution, On the Origin
of Species by Means of Natural Selection, Charles Darwin admitted that
blind chance could not produce a seeing eye:
To suppose that the eye with all its inimitable contrivances for adjusting
the focus to different distances, for admitting different amounts of
light, and for the correction of spherical and chromatic aberration, could
have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in
the highest degree.18
Darwin also acknowledged in his watershed study that the geological record
seriously lacked the data to support his proposition:
Why then is not every geological formation and every stratum full of such
intermediate links? Geology assuredly does not reveal any such finely
graduated organic chain; and this, perhaps, is the most obvious and
serious objection which can be urged against the theory. The explanation
lies, as I believe, in the extreme imperfection of the geological
record.19
Yet 140 years and a quarter of a million fossils later, humanistic
scientists are still searching for a shred of proof in support of his
theory. They are clinging with religious fervor to the theory of our
Godless origin, because the alternative is unthinkable to them. In 1980,
H. S. Lipson, physics professor at the University of Manchester in
England, stated, "Evolution became in a sense a scientific religion; .
many are prepared to 'bend' their observations to fit in with it."20
Darwin himself admitted in a letter to a colleague, "But, alas, how
frequent, how almost universal it is in an author to persuade himself of
the truth of his own dogmas."21
Despite Darwin's doubts and all the scientific evidence in recent years
that supports the biblical account of creation, the teaching of
creationism is openly scorned. Meanwhile, Darwinian evolution is being
taught as established fact in public schools and colleges.
In School Science Review, G. W. Harper stated, "The teacher of Darwin's
theory . undoubtedly is concerned to put across the conclusion that
natural selection causes evolution while he cannot be concerned to any
great extent with real evidence because there isn't any." He concludes
that "our current methods of teaching Darwinism are suspiciously similar
to indoctrination."22That is exactly what humanists had in mind. W. R.
Bird wrote in The Origin of Species Revisited, "Even John Scopes . said
that 'if you limit a teacher to only one side of anything, the whole
country will eventually have only one thought.' "23
The reason the humanists insist on teaching evolution is clear. According
to Dr. Michael Walker, senior lecturer on anthropology at Sydney
University: "Many scientists and technologists pay lip-service to
Darwinian theory only because it supposedly excludes a Creator."24 Author
T. Rosazak agrees: "The main purpose of Darwinism was to drive every last
trace of an incredible God from biology. But the theory replaces God with
an even more incredible deity-omnipotent chance."25 The doctrine of random
chance that underlies Darwin's theory lies at the core of the humanistic
belief system. Many humanists perpetuate a belief that they suspect is a
lie rather than be forced to acknowledge the reality of God.
The Results of Humanism
Humanism and Christianity are polar extremes, two entirely separate and
incompatible ways of viewing the world. They directly conflict each other
and always work toward opposite ends. Humanistic teachings, rooted in
materialism and a finite view of human life, naturally oppose supernatural
Christianity. Since humanists view themselves as competitors to the
church, they wage war against all who follow Jesus Christ.
Christians believe in God as the Creator and sustainer of all life;
humanism places man at the center of all things. God-centered Christianity
gave birth to the great institutions of American society; humanism is at
the root of the collapse of modern culture.
Francis Schaeffer articulated the root problem of the humanist philosophy:
"The humanist is really a materialist. The humanist holds that energy and
material have existed forever in some form and that its present
configuration is purely by chance."26 If the universe came into being
merely by chance, we would have no basis for laws. Values would be
constantly evolving in response to the latest vogue or the whims of the
elite minority. The belief that all material substances are shaped purely
by chance, asserts Schaeffer, leads to a belief in "a silent universe that
has nothing to say about the meaning of life, the values of life, or a
basis for law."27
Such logic is contrary to the Christian perspective, which recognizes an
infinite, personal, loving Creator who has a definite and discernible
personality. To dismiss Christian values and to believe in the humanist
world view, says Schaeffer, "brings forth the very things which are
tearing our society to pieces today."28
"The main purpose of Darwinism was to DRIVE EVERY LAST TRACE of an
incredible God from biology."
A Case of Cultural AIDS
A fervent devotion to humanism has led to the deterioration of the family,
the home, the church, the community, political parties, and every other
social institution. Kay Coles James, former member of the Reagan and Bush
administrations, describes humanism's affect on America as a case of
"cultural AIDS":
AIDS is a virus that is not usually the cause of one being terminally ill.
It breaks down the immune system, and, as a result of that, leaves the
body vulnerable to all sorts of aggressive viruses. Our immune system as a
culture has broken down. The things that made us strong were strong
families, firm morals, and institutions like churches. When those have
become weak, and in some cases destroyed, it leaves us open to things that
have existed in society since the beginning of time. Violence, drug abuse,
teen pregnancy, pornography-when you look at all the concerns of society,
most of us will agree that they have been present in society from the
beginning, but we've been immune to them.29
How could this "cultural AIDS" occur? The answer may be found in a deeper
look at our body's immune system. We live in a sea of microbes, and our
bodies provide an ideal growing place for many harmful substances that
constantly try to invade us. In a healthy body, the complex immune system
resists foreign substances such as viruses, bacteria, and toxins. Whenever
one of these substances invades the body, the immune system goes to work
fighting off the invader.
Poor nutrition, stress, smoking, drugs, lack of exercise, and insufficient
rest weaken our immune system. This increases the body's susceptibility to
all types of diseases, from the common cold to serious conditions like
cancer or chronic bronchitis. Once an infection takes hold in a body with
a suppressed immune system, disease multiplies dramatically until it takes
over the body. If not stopped, the disease eventually causes death.
Like harmful invaders, radical elements infiltrated our country. As
godless philosophies such as humanism spread throughout our society, our
nation's weakened immune system did not withstand the invasion. As one
social disease took hold, it further weakened society so that a second
social disease could invade. Soon the social body was so weak that almost
any kind of social ill could gain a foothold. The once-healthy American
society began to disintegrate.
Today, we can see many results of the weakened state of our country.
Crime, suicide, sexual permissiveness, broken homes, drug addiction, and
so many more social ills are all symptoms of underlying philosophical
diseases like humanism.
In our next chapter, we will consider a second philosophical disease which
took hold on the heels of humanism. Called moral relativism, it
accelerated the shift away from biblical morality. And it sprang from a
surprising source.
[1]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America. Quoted in Jim Nelson Black,
When Nations Die, (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House, 1994), p. vii.
2 Dr. Os Guinness interview by John N. Damoose in Fairfax, Virginia, in
1996.
3 Guinness interview.
4 Judge Robert H. Bork interview by John N. Damoose in Virginia Beach,
Virginia, in 1996.
5 Bork interview.
6 Ravi Zacharias, Deliver Us From All Evil, (Dallas: Word Publishing,
1996), p. 8.
7 Francis Schaeffer, How Should We Then Live?, (Wheaton, IL: Crossway
Books, 1976), p. 205.
8 Bork interview.
9 Pastor Greg Laurie interview by John N. Damoose in Virginia Beach,
Virginia, in 1996.
10 Kennedy, Character and Destiny, p. 149.
11 Humanist Manifestos I and II, (New York: Prometheus Books, 1973),
portions reprinted in Marty Pay and Hal Donaldson, Downfall: The
Secularization of a Christian Nation, (Green Forest, AR: New Leaf Press,
1991), p. 220.
12 Humanist Manifestos, p. 221.
13 Marty Pay and Hal Donaldson, Downfall: The Secularization of a
Christian Nation, (Green City, AR: New Leaf Press, 1991), p. 220.
14 Pay, Downfall, p. 221.
15 Francis Schaeffer, A Christian Manifesto, (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books,
1981), p. 26.
16 Dr. Paul Johnson, Modern Times: The World From the Twenties to the
Nineties, (New York: Harper Collins, 1992), p. 5.
17 Michael Denton, Evolution: A Theory in Crisis, (Bethesda, MD: Adler &
Adler, 1985), p. 67.
18 Charles Darwin, Origin of Species, (London: J. M. Dent & Sons, 1971),
p. 167.
19 Darwin, Origin, pp. 292,293.
20 H.S. Lipson, "A Physicist Looks at Evolution," Physics Bulletin, Vol.
31, 1980, p. 138.
21 Charles Darwin, 1858, in a letter to a colleague regarding his Origin
of Species. Quoted in "John Lofton's Journal," The Washington Times,
February 8, 1984.
22 G. W. Harper, "Darwinism and Indoctrination," School Science Review,
December 1977, pp. 258,265.
23 W. R. Bird, The Origin of Species Revisited, (NY: Philosophical
Library, 1989), Vol. 1, p. 9.
24 Dr. Michael Walker, "To Have Evolved or To Have Not? That Is the
Question," Quadrant, October 1981, p. 45.
25 T. Rosazak, Unfinished Animal, 1975, pp. 101,102.
26 Francis Schaeffer interview by John N. Damoose in Virginia Beach,
Virginia, in 1996.
27 Schaeffer interview.
28 Schaeffer interview.
29 Kay Coles James interview by John N. Damoose in Virginia Beach,
Virginia, in 1996.
[1]Bright, B., & Damoose, J. N. (1998). Red sky in the morning (109).
Orlando, Fla.: New Life Publications.
.

User: "Startlemyerfieldson"

Title: Re: Torn Apart at the Seams 17 Jul 2007 03:41:26 PM
"UR Welcome!" <UR Welcome!_fan_club@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:13foer.3re.17.1@news.alt.net...

. Torn Apart at the Seams

<snip>
Could this be V ???
Anyway, the whole story is a lie. Anybody with common sense will be able
to tell.
Why do you xians *always lie in order to try and accomplish your
*****?
Why would *anyone even half assed consider what a liar is verbally
flatuating?
This proves the xian nastiness - liars!
.
User: "John Baker"

Title: Re: Torn Apart at the Seams 17 Jul 2007 05:06:07 PM
On Tue, 17 Jul 2007 15:41:26 -0500, "Startlemyerfieldson"
<Startle@lost.it> wrote:


"UR Welcome!" <UR Welcome!_fan_club@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:13foer.3re.17.1@news.alt.net...

. Torn Apart at the Seams

<snip>

Could this be V ???

Nope. It's John Loiodice.


Anyway, the whole story is a lie. Anybody with common sense will be able
to tell.

Why do you xians *always lie in order to try and accomplish your
*****?

Why would *anyone even half assed consider what a liar is verbally
flatuating?

This proves the xian nastiness - liars!

.


User: "Thandarr"

Title: Re: Torn Apart at the Seams 18 Jul 2007 08:11:43 PM
I've seen a couple of your posts. Is this original material or are
you reposting it from somewhere else? It's uncharacteristic of theist
writings on this newsgroup. The spelling is accurate. It has the
superficial appearance of being researched, and the logical flaws
aren't superficial, but deep.
I'm going to make a few comments and see if you're serious.
On Jul 17, 1:48 pm, "UR Welcome!" <UR Welcome!_fan_c...@yahoo.com>
wrote:

. Torn Apart at the Seams

Years ago, while I was speaking on a large university campus, a radical
young man confronted me. He stood in the assembly and railed against me
because I was encouraging students to follow Christ as their Savior. As
the head of the Communist Party on this prestigious campus, he had other
plans for these students.

Rather than argue, I invited him to come to our home for dinner, which he
did. He was a brilliant young man, articulate and winsome. As we chatted
through dinner, we talked about many things. I found him to be an
interesting guest. As we finished our dessert, I reached over and picked
up my Bible and said, "I want to read something to you from the Bible."

He reacted with obvious irritation. "I have read the Bible from cover to
cover," he exclaimed. "It's a ridiculous book. It's filled with
contradictions, lies, and myths. I don't want to hear anything from the
Bible."

"If you don't mind, I will read it anyway," I replied gently. I began
reading to him from the Gospel of John. Chapter one begins, "Before
anything else existed, there was Christ, with God. He has always been
alive and is himself God. He created everything there is-nothing exists
that he didn't make. Eternal life is in him, and this life gives light to
all mankind . To all who received him, he gave the right to become
children of God. All they needed to do was to trust him to save them. All
those who believe this are reborn!" (vv. 1-4, 12, 13, TLB).

The reason your Communist friend failed to recognize this particular
opium of the masses is that it's from The Living Bible. This
paraphrase is much more comprehensible than the KJV or RSV or other
versions most Americans are subjected to.
This passage sounds profound, but I can't imagine why a Marxist would
be particularly impressed by it. It's merely one of the claims
typical of the Bible, short on logic, shorter on evidence, but it
sounds real nice.
One would hope that a marginally educated Marxist would notice that
this passage makes no logical sense. Granted, Communist theory is
also built on a thin reed of philosophy upon philosophy with little or
no grounding in the empirical world. But this doesn't even hold up
philosophically. Christ is WITH God, and Christ IS God. Make up your
mind. Christ can't be both WITH God and BE God. It's logical
nonsense.
The image of a God who created the universe and gave people brains but
doesn't want people to use those brains is simply unconvincing. Why
would an omniscient God expect people to trust him without evidence.
That's the problem with all your claims. There's no evidence.
There's no more reason to believe your God myth than the Muslims' God
myth or the Hindus' God myth or the Flying Spaghetti Monster's God
myth.
Does it sound good? Sure. Would it be nice if we could be "saved"
merely by mouthing assent to internally contradictory and meaningless
nonsense? Sure. I'd take that deal. It'd be great. But there is
absolutely no reason outside of wishful thinking to believe that
accepting Jesus makes any more difference than praying five times a
day to Allah or avoiding crossing black cats' paths or stepping on
cracks in the sidewalk.


Remember-he had told me that he did not believe the Bible and that he had
read it from cover to cover. When I concluded reading this passage from
John, he said, "Let me see that. I don't remember reading that."

No kidding. As I pointed out earlier, he probably didn't read this
version.
He read

it thoughtfully, then handed the Bible back to me without comment.

Then I turned to Colossians, chapter 1: "Christ is the exact likeness of
the unseen God. He existed before God made anything at all, and, in fact,
Christ himself is the Creator who made everything in heaven and earth, the
things we can see and the things we can't; the spirit world with its kings
and kingdoms, its rulers and authorities; all were made by Christ for his
own use and glory. He was before all else began, and it is his power that
holds everything together" (vv. 15-17, TLB).

Again, this doesn't make any sense. Is Christ God, or is he the
"likeness" of God. Are they coeternal twins (I know, they're
triplets)? Why should we think there are things we can't see, and
spirit worlds and all that nonsense? I know now that there are things
that people at the time of Jesus could not see that were nevertheless
there, like--say radio waves, microorganisms, and distant galaxies.
But that doesn't mean it was reasonable for people to believe that any
particular thing we can't see or experience existed.


Again he said, "I've never seen that before. May I read it?"

I handed the Bible to him. Again he was very sober. He handed it back to
me. As I read Hebrews 1:1-5 and 1 John 2:1, 2, the words deeply moved this
young man. His entire countenance changed.

He obviously wasn't a very committed materialist. He sounds fairly
gullible to have been taken in by this minimal amount of double talk.
The Communists should thank you for taking him off of their hands.
We chatted briefly, and after a

time he stood to leave. I asked him if he would write in our guest book.
He penned his name and address, after which he wrote these words: "The
night of decision." He left facing a major decision about receiving and
following Christ.

Come on, did you reel him in? Did he fall for it? Did he come to his
senses? Does he tithe? Don't leave us hanging here?


When Campus Crusade for Christ first began on the UCLA and Berkeley
campuses during the '50s and '60s, my staff and I encountered many hostile
students like him who were caught up in the protests and riots of those
days. These young people had high ideals, but their hearts were still
empty and confused. Because of God's mercy, we were able to touch the
lives of many and see the miracle of the new birth change their attitudes.
But many, many more across the country were deeply affected by the climate
of unrest.

These young people had high ideals, but their HEARTS WERE STILL EMPTY and
confused.

Asleep in the Pew

Years before the student unrest shook up our society, Alexis de

Tocqueville wrote:

If the lights that guide us ever go out, they will fade little by little,
as if of their own accord . We therefore should not console ourselves by
thinking that the barbarians are still a long way off. Some people may let
the torch be snatched from their hands, but others stamp it out
themselves.1

That is an accurate description of what we have allowed to happen in our
country.

You've got to be kidding. Our country has advanced morally since
Alexis de Toqueville wrote. We have learned that slavery is
intolerable. We have grown in freedom. We have grown in tolerance.
We have grown in responsibility. The idea that America is somehow in
decline is insulting and preposterous.

As the 20th century progressed, we stamped out morality.

If all you think morality is is the sexual propriety codes of a bunch
of desert dwellers, you're right. But I'd suggest that morality means
doing little things like your Jesus recommended: Feed the hungry,
clothe the naked, heal the sick, visit the imprisoned, little things
like that. And in little things like that the 20th century was
nothing but a success.
Though

the decades of the '20s and '30s brought negative social and cultural
changes, they were nothing compared to the nation's full-scale rejection
of traditional values during the '60s and '70s. The intervening decades
were crucial. The late '40s and '50s were pleasant and uneventful, often
called the "happy days."

By white male anglo saxon heterosexual Christians, anyway. If you
were black, or latino, or gay, or Jewish, or in some quarters even
Roman Catholic, the days weren't all that happy.

Yet despite the peacefulness and calm on the
surface, important changes took place during that transitional period. The
departure from God and biblical Christianity that occurred then was more
subtle than the insurrection that was to come in the following decades.

Throughout the '50s, Christians were doing the right things, but often for
the wrong reasons, or for no reason at all. Many churches were viewed as
stuffy, uninspiring, and out of touch. Pastors and their flocks often
lacked a sense of passion or vision for ministry, missing the cultural
mandate that lies at the heart of Christianity.

Then suddenly, a tidal wave of rage and revisionism swept across the
landscape during the '60s and '70s, almost demolishing the values and
moral standards that had guided our nation for centuries.

Again, it depends on what you think morality is. If it's a narrow
sexual propriety, you're right. If it's anything else, you're out of
your mind.

These eruptions
caught Christians off-guard. Had the church been properly mobilized at the
time, perhaps the chaos that erupted in places such as Haight-Ashbury, New
Haven, and Chicago might have been averted.

The '60s became the pivotal decade in the breakdown of the American
culture. Subtle disorders that had lain dormant for years finally erupted
onto the scene. When the upheaval came, the Church could not respond
coherently; Christians had been lulled to sleep in the pews.

Stitch by stitch, our nation unraveled. First came rebellion against the
status quo.

A well-deserved rebellion, by the way.

Soon we embraced humanism, followed by moral relativism.

I think it's nothing short of hilarious when Christians accuse others
of moral relativism.

The
hunger for spiritual meaning quickly spawned New Age religions. One by
one, the moral standards that formed the fiber of our nation frayed and
fell apart.

Radical Ideals

Os Guinness believes that the crisis was set in motion by the sheer mass
of unresolved issues that converged on America in the '60s. We had not
dealt with the apathy and neglect that caused the nation to turn its back
on God. "So many things happened at one time almost by spontaneous
combustion," he says, "but there were certain common features."2 The '60s
were a time of idealism. Young people were seeking justice, freedom, and
community, but not by conventional methods.

Christians did not disagree with many of the goals of the young radicals;
believers also wanted justice, freedom, and community. In the beginning,

Some did, some didn't. Some Christians were influenced by the
iconoclastic teachings of their savior. Other "Christians" imitated
the scribes and pharisees and sought to preserve an empty status quo.

the revolutionaries rejected everything that was hollow or hypocritical,
and that was good; but they also revolted against the values of the '50s,
and that meant rejecting Christianity as well. Guinness says of the
rebels, "They were like the Greek figure Icarus who flew too close to the
sun; his wings melted, and he crashed to the ground and died. Their ideals
were right, but without a basis, they soared up and collapsed."3

Judge Robert Bork, a professor at Yale University during those turbulent
years, witnessed the chaos firsthand:

To understand our current plight, we must look back to the tumults of [the
'60s], which brought to a crescendo developments in the '50s and before,
that most of us had overlooked or misunderstood. We noticed Elvis Presley,
rock music, James Dean, the radical sociologist C. Wright Mills, Jack
Kerouac, and the Beatles. We did not understand, however, that far from
being isolated curiosities, these were harbingers of a new culture that
would shortly burst upon us and sweep us into a different country.4

Student activism started in earnest with a group called Students for a
Democratic Society (SDS). They met in 1962 in Port Huron, Michigan, and
produced a document they called the "Port Huron Statement." This manifesto
stated that man is perfectible, and if we can keep changing the culture
long enough, we can make man into what he should be. It was the dream of a
manmade utopia-a heaven on earth.

Okay. We probably aren't "perfectable," but what's wrong with aiming
for perfection? Why not try to make a manmade utopia. Why continue
to tolerate injustice, rationalizing it all with promises of pie in
the sky by and by.
What you fail to understand is that this life is it. It's all there
is. Wasting it hoping for a life that will never come is a horrible
waste of a human life.
Judge Bork explains how those improbable

and idealistic dreams made their way into modern-day liberalism:

SDS became the center of the student revolution, the center of what they
called the "New Left." The New Left disintegrated politically because
their program was too amorphous for anyone to know what it was exactly,
except destruction.

Okay, I can't disagree with this too much. I think the use of dope
probably had a lot to do with the disintegration of the New Left.
? It persists today in individual groups; that is, some

of them focus on environmentalism, racial problems, or on radical
feminism, and so on. Altogether, they add up to what the New Left used to
be.5

Many social issues that plague us today-such as radical feminism, abortion
on demand, and homosexuality-came out of the radicals' programs in the
'60s.

These issues plague us because you and your fellow Christians want to
control everyone's bodies and everyone's sexual behavior on the basis
of your superstitions.

This is not surprising when you consider how many of these
revolutionaries held the cherished traditional values of this nation in
utter contempt.

What happened to these students? Today, our major universities are staffed
by many of these former radical activists who embraced anti-God views and
philosophies. They are now tenured professors and administrators working
to propel the next generation of revisionists into completing the
revolution they started more than thirty years ago.

No, what happened is the American system neutralized these radicals
the way it always does. It assimilates them, particularly the most
talented.
Under the leadership

of the radical New Left, many of the most famous, prestigious universities
have become hotbeds of anti-Judeo-Christian values.

Christians are capable of a preposterous paranoia. The majority of
professors, scientists, and scholars in this country still actually
profess to be believers in Christianity. How 85% of the people can
imagine themselves as persecuted in a democracy is beyond me. If you
think being a Christian in this society is tough, be an atheist, just
for a few weeks.
Consider the words of

one professor from Vermont's Middlebury College:

After the war, a lot of us [anti-war graduate students] didn't just crawl
back into our library cubicles, we stepped into academic positions. With
the war over, our visibility was lost, and it seemed for a while-to the
unobservant-that we had disappeared. Now we have tenure, and the work of
reshaping the universities has begun in earnest.6

Today, our major universities are staffed by many of these former radical
activists who embraced ANTI-GOD VIEWS AND PHILOSOPHIES.

The values that were considered radical, immoral, and unprincipled during
the decade of the '60s became the established norms of the '90s. Policies
we once found outrageous are now the status quo. One can easily see how
public virtues and social mores that Tocqueville once called "habits of
the heart" were turned upside down.

The Poverty of Self-Fulfillment

In his classic book, How Should We Then Live?, Francis Schaeffer uncovered
two factors that helped bring about the carnage following the '60s
revolution:

As the Christian-dominated consensus weakened, the majority of the people
adopted two impoverished values: personal peace and affluence . Personal
peace means just to be let alone, not to be troubled by the troubles of
other people, whether across the world or across the city-to live one's
life with minimal possibilities of being personally disturbed. Personal
peace means wanting to have my personal life pattern undisturbed in my
lifetime, regardless of what the result will be in the lifetimes of my
children and grandchildren. Affluence means an overwhelming and
ever-increasing prosperity-a life made up of things, things, and more
things-a success judged by an ever-higher level of material abundance.7

Parents, brought up in a disciplined, structured environment, told their
rebellious children, "Keep your mouth shut and don't rock the boat."
Disarmed by a culture that had provided them with unprecedented peace and
affluence, they could not handle the fury of the revolution instigated by
their children. Robert Bork observes:

Every generation is composed of barbarians that have to be civilized by
their families, by churches, by schools, and so forth. [The Baby Boomer]
generation was so big that they swamped the institutional capacity to
civilize them.8

As member of the "hippie" generation, pastor Greg Laurie of Harvest
Christian Fellowship in Riverside, California, witnessed the '60s from the
other side. He says, "A lot of people look back at the '60s through
rose-colored granny glasses. It is this idyllic era that is celebrated
today. But in reality what we did in the '60s was open a Pandora's box.
What our society sowed in the '60s, we are reaping in the '90s. As the
Bible says, 'You sow the wind, you reap the whirlwind.' "9

For centuries, the moral and spiritual fabric of American society rested
upon what Schaeffer called the "Christian-dominated consensus." Both
Schaeffer's and Laurie's generations rebelled against the biblical
precepts on which this nation was founded. Schaeffer's generation rebelled
against the poverty and hopelessness of the Great Depression. Determined
never to suffer such loss and disappointment again, they resolved never to
allow their children to suffer either. As their search for prosperity
overshadowed their religion, they neglected to pass on their Christian
foundation to their children. Laurie's Baby Boomer generation rebelled
against the spiritual poverty of making self-fulfillment and ease the main
goal. They rejected their parents' materialism and morals, and sought
other means to satisfy their spiritual hunger. Each revolt led its
generation further away from God.

The Humanist Credos

Beneath the intellectual veneer of the '60s' revolution was a dramatic
shift in values that helped usher in a new set of beliefs. These ideals,
which exalted humankind and dishonored God, had their root in humanism.

Earlier, Darwin, Freud, and others proposed radical theories that claimed
to solve the riddle of humanity. Each contributed to a belief that man
could live without God. Educators, philosophers, scientists, and social
theorists would later proclaim these theories as fact.

Darwin's friend and advocate, Thomas Huxley, made the statement that
"skepticism is the highest of duties, blind faith the one unpardonable
sin."10

And why is that not the case. Look what blind faith made possible.
Hundreds of thousands women were hanged or burned as witches, as
punishment for "witchcraft," or using the power of Satan to do evil to
their neighbors. Every single one of those victims was innocent,
because people can't actually use the power of Satan to do evil to
neighbors. A healthy dose of skepticism would have prevented that
tragedy. Look at what is going on in the Islamic world today. A
completely unwarranted faith in an invisible monster of a god leads
people to commit evils that would be incomprehensible for any less
noble a motivation. It is immoral to act on unjustified and
indefensible beliefs. It's that simple. Religion makes people do
evil things.
Even some Christians claimed that human discovery is superior to

divine revelation, challenging the basic tenets of the Christian religion.
This new "theology" had no room for faith.

Published in 1933, the Humanist Manifesto articulated the fundamental
precepts of modern secular humanism:

Religious humanists regard the universe as self-existing and not created.
Humanism asserts that the nature of the universe depicted by modern
science makes unacceptable any supernatural or cosmic guarantees of human
values.11

Secular humanists believe that God does not exist. Man is therefore solely
responsible for his own destiny; he is captain of his own fate and master
of his own soul. Therefore, man need not subject himself to any law higher
than himself. Humanism places mankind at the center of all things and
makes him the measure of all things. The original Humanist Society
included such influential members as John Dewey and B. F. Skinner. They
propagated views that appeared scientific on the surface but were based on
the presupposition that man is in charge of his own destiny.

The Humanist Manifesto II, published in 1973, restated the humanists'
hostility toward Christianity:

As in 1933, humanists still believe that traditional theism, especially
faith in the prayer-hearing God, assumed to love and care for persons, to
hear and understand their prayers, and to be able to do something about
them, is an unproved and outmoded faith. Salvationism, based on mere
affirmation, still appears as harmful, diverting people with false hopes
of Heaven hereafter. Reasonable minds look to other means for survival.12

Humanism places mankind at the CENTER OF ALL THINGS and makes him the
MEASURE OF ALL THINGS.

This is as it should be until there is a reason to believe otherwise.
There is not.


Prominent Americans such as Ed Doerr from Americans United for Separation
of Church and State, Alan Guttmacher of Planned Parenthood, and Betty
Friedan of the National Organization of Women signed the Humanist
Manifesto II.13 Excerpts from the Humanist Manifesto II show the firm
stand humanists take against traditional standards, ideals, and morality:

We believe, however, that traditional dogmatic or authoritarian religions
that place revelation, God, ritual, or creed above human needs and
experience do a disservice to the human species . We reject those features
of traditional religious morality that deny humans a full appreciation of
their own potentialities and responsibilities . Often traditional faiths
encourage dependence rather than independence, obedience rather than
affirmation, fear rather than courage . Promises of immortal salvation or
fear of eternal damnation are both illusory and harmful . Ethics [are]
autonomous and situational, needing no theological or ideological
sanction. Ethics stem from human needs and interest . We believe that
intolerant attitudes, often cultivated by orthodox religions and
puritanical cultures, unduly repress sexual conduct. The right to birth
control, abortion, and divorce should be recognized . It also includes a
recognition of an individual's right to die with dignity, euthanasia, and
the right to suicide.14

Could there be a more thoroughly anti-Christian document?

Sure.


In A Christian Manifesto, his famed response to the Humanist Manifesto,
Dr. Francis Schaeffer argued, "[The humanists] have reduced Man to even
less than his natural finiteness by seeing him only as a complex
arrangement of molecules, made complex by blind chance."15

The ideals of humanism produced a revolution in science that viewed man as
little more than a cosmic accident. Eventually, this theory pervaded every
segment of society.

Scientific Revolution

Did you know that modern science has its roots in the Christian faith? Men
like Galileo, Copernicus, Johannes Kepler, and Sir Isaac Newton all
believed that they were studying God's majestic creation. They worshipped
a God of order who made an orderly creation. Because the personality of
this knowable God was displayed through His creation, scientists could
discover the secrets of this loving, intelligent Creator.

None of these early scientists would have guessed that their fields of
inquiry would one day be used to "disprove" the existence of God. Yet, in
this century many in the scientific community have tried to rid mankind of
its belief in God and its relationship with Jesus Christ.

No doubt, many accomplished scientists were and are today Christians.
So what?
Whatever Netwton, Einstein, Galileo, and Francis Collins may have
believed or believe about the supernatural is irrelevant. The fact is
that their theories and research into scientific fields show results
and predictable outcomes. Their religious works may have made them
feel better but have had no impact whatsoever on the real world.

What kind of effect have these anti-God beliefs had? Author Paul Johnson
explains that the work of scientists often impacts broader reaches of
society:

The scientific genius impinges on humanity, for good or ill, far more than
any statesman or warlord. Galileo's empiricism created the ferment of
natural philosophy in the seventeenth century which [foreshadowed] the
scientific and industrial revolutions. Newtonian physics formed the
framework of the eighteenth century Enlightenment, and so helped to bring
modern nationalism and revolutionary politics to birth. Darwin's notion of
survival of the fittest was a key element both in the Marxist concept of
class warfare and of the racial philosophies which shaped Hitlerism .

Certainly you know the difference between a description of a process
and a moral imperative. Survival of the fittest is a principle
describing what happens. It is not normative. It is not an example
to be followed. It is a statement of fact.
So,

too, the public response to relativity was one of the principle formative
influences on the course of 20th century history. It formed a knife,
inadvertently wielded by its author, to help cut society adrift from its
traditional moorings in the faith and morals of Judeo-Christian culture.16

In the early years of American history, many who propagated anti-Christian
goals were discreet and covert about their agendas. However, during the
'60s, the scientific community began to attack Christianity and biblical
principles more boldly than ever.

Actually what the scientific community has attacked is persons
teaching falsehoods in the name of Christianity.


One theory that anti-Christian forces have been pursuing vigorously is
evolution.

Biological evolution is a fact. If you don't understand that you're
too ignorant to be involved in this conversation.

If science can "prove" that evolution is true-that man has not
been created by a loving God as stated in the Genesis account-then the
Bible is immediately "proven" false and unreliable.

The Genesis account is plainly nonsense. Evolution does NOT, however,
have anything to say about whethere there might be a "God." It is
just that no "Goddidit" is necessary to explain the process.
This single attack on

Christianity has done the greatest damage to evangelism. With the
credibility of the Bible destroyed,

The Bible destroys its own credibility. It contains too many
affirmations of fact which are not true. It contains internal
contradictions. It depicts, in the Old Testament, a cowardly,
vengeful, and jealous god far too weak and stupid to have created the
universe.
there is no reason for the lost to

trust God's Word-and to place their faith in Jesus Christ as revealed in
that Word. And with God's standards removed, every man can do what seems
right in his own eyes.

Not at all. We all know what is moral and what is not. It takes no
God, and in fact your morality is not governed by your God.


In 1985, Michael Denton, molecular biologist and evolutionist, wrote in
Evolution: A Theory in Crisis:

It was because Darwinian theory broke man's link with God and set him
adrift in a cosmos without purpose or end that its impact was so
fundamental.

This was solely because Christians so interpreted it. Evolution says
nothing about whether there's a God or what he's like. Evolutionary
theory does guarantee us that the crude creation myth in Genesis is
not literally true. It is Christians whose faith is so weak they
cannot face simple biological fact.
No other intellectual revolution in modern times . so

profoundly affected the way men viewed themselves and their place in the
universe.17

Today in America there is a concerted effort to promote evolution as
absolute truth, despite the fact that it is based on little scientific
data.

This is so preposterously absurd it's hardly worth discussing. The
convergence of evidence, including molecular biology which has
confirmed everything we believed before that tool was available to us,
establishes beyond any reasonable doubt that all organisms evolved
from a common ancestor.
In his 1859 work introducing the concept of evolution, On the Origin

of Species by Means of Natural Selection, Charles Darwin admitted that
blind chance could not produce a seeing eye:

To suppose that the eye with all its inimitable contrivances for adjusting
the focus to different distances, for admitting different amounts of
light, and for the correction of spherical and chromatic aberration, could
have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in
the highest degree.18

Actually he didn't admit that, but if he had, WHO CARES. Darwin
didn't know about genetics. Genetics proved Darwin's case.
Scientists do not read Darwin the way Christians read the Bible.
Nobody suggests that Darwin was infallible. It is true that Darwin
was amazingly accurate considering what he had to work with, but we
don't consider Darwin a "prophet." You confuse muddled theistic
absolutist thinking with the steady process of science.


Darwin also acknowledged in his watershed study that the geological record
seriously lacked the data to support his proposition:

Why then is not every geological formation and every stratum full of such
intermediate links? Geology assuredly does not reveal any such finely
graduated organic chain; and this, perhaps, is the most obvious and
serious objection which can be urged against the theory. The explanation
lies, as I believe, in the extreme imperfection of the geological
record.19

This has been well explained. We have a fair fossil record, about
what we should expect with fossils being as fragile as they are. But
the fossil record became unnecessary once we could examine DNA.


Yet 140 years and a quarter of a million fossils later, humanistic
scientists are still searching for a shred of proof in support of his
theory. They are clinging with religious fervor to the theory of our
Godless origin, because the alternative is unthinkable to them. In 1980,
H. S. Lipson, physics professor at the University of Manchester in
England, stated, "Evolution became in a sense a scientific religion; .
many are prepared to 'bend' their observations to fit in with it."20
Darwin himself admitted in a letter to a colleague, "But, alas, how
frequent, how almost universal it is in an author to persuade himself of
the truth of his own dogmas."21

You are willfully ignorant of the process of science and the state of
knowledge about evolution.


Despite Darwin's doubts and all the scientific evidence in recent years
that supports the biblical account of creation, the teaching of
creationism is openly scorned.

Because creationism is cartoonishly ridiculous. It should be
scorned. it is silly.

Meanwhile, Darwinian evolution is being
taught as established fact in public schools and colleges.

In School Science Review, G. W. Harper stated, "The teacher of Darwin's
theory . undoubtedly is concerned to put across the conclusion that
natural selection causes evolution while he cannot be concerned to any
great extent with real evidence because there isn't any." He concludes
that "our current methods of teaching Darwinism are suspiciously similar
to indoctrination."22That is exactly what humanists had in mind. W. R.
Bird wrote in The Origin of Species Revisited, "Even John Scopes . said
that 'if you limit a teacher to only one side of anything, the whole
country will eventually have only one thought.' "23

The reason the humanists insist on teaching evolution is clear.

It comports with the convergence of all the relevant evidence?
According

to Dr. Michael Walker, senior lecturer on anthropology at Sydney
University: "Many scientists and technologists pay lip-service to
Darwinian theory only because it supposedly excludes a Creator."24 Author
T. Rosazak agrees: "The main purpose of Darwinism was to drive every last
trace of an incredible God from biology. But the theory replaces God with
an even more incredible deity-omnipotent chance."25 The doctrine of random
chance that underlies Darwin's theory lies at the core of the humanistic
belief system.

Evolution is not, of course, random chance. And you know it.
Many humanists perpetuate a belief that they suspect is a

lie rather than be forced to acknowledge the reality of God.

The Results of Humanism

Humanism and Christianity are polar extremes, two entirely separate and
incompatible ways of viewing the world.

They directly conflict each other

and always work toward opposite ends. Humanistic teachings, rooted in
materialism and a finite view of human life, naturally oppose supernatural
Christianity. Since humanists view themselves as competitors to the
church, they wage war against all who follow Jesus Christ.

Christians believe in God as the Creator and sustainer of all life;
humanism places man at the center of all things. God-centered Christianity
gave birth to the great institutions of American society; humanism is at
the root of the collapse of modern culture.

Francis Schaeffer articulated the root problem of the humanist philosophy:
"The humanist is really a materialist. The humanist holds that energy and
material have existed forever in some form and that its present
configuration is purely by chance."26 If the universe came into being
merely by chance, we would have no basis for laws. Values would be
constantly evolving in response to the latest vogue or the whims of the
elite minority. The belief that all material substances are shaped purely
by chance, asserts Schaeffer, leads to a belief in "a silent universe that
has nothing to say about the meaning of life, the values of life, or a
basis for law."27

Such logic is contrary to the Christian perspective, which recognizes an
infinite, personal, loving Creator who has a definite and discernible
personality. To dismiss Christian values and to believe in the humanist
world view, says Schaeffer, "brings forth the very things which are
tearing our society to pieces today."28

"The main purpose of Darwinism was to DRIVE EVERY LAST TRACE of an
incredible God from biology."

A Case of Cultural AIDS

A fervent devotion to humanism has led to the deterioration of the family,
the home, the church, the community, political parties, and every other
social institution. Kay Coles James, former member of the Reagan and Bush
administrations, describes humanism's affect on America as a case of
"cultural AIDS":

AIDS is a virus that is not usually the cause of one being terminally ill.
It breaks down the immune system, and, as a result of that, leaves the
body vulnerable to all sorts of aggressive viruses. Our immune system as a
culture has broken down. The things that made us strong were strong
families, firm morals, and institutions like churches. When those have
become weak, and in some cases destroyed, it leaves us open to things that
have existed in society since the beginning of time. Violence, drug abuse,
teen pregnancy, pornography-when you look at all the concerns of society,
most of us will agree that they have been present in society from the
beginning, but we've been immune to them.29

How could this "cultural AIDS" occur? The answer may be found in a deeper
look at our body's immune system. We live in a sea of microbes, and our
bodies provide an ideal growing place for many harmful substances that
constantly try to invade us. In a healthy body, the complex immune system
resists foreign substances such as viruses, bacteria, and toxins. Whenever
one of these substances invades the body, the immune system goes to work
fighting off the invader.

Poor nutrition, stress, smoking, drugs, lack of exercise, and insufficient
rest weaken our immune system. This increases the body's susceptibility to
all types of diseases, from the common cold to serious conditions like
cancer or chronic bronchitis. Once an infection takes hold in a body with
a suppressed immune system, disease multiplies dramatically until it takes
over the body. If not stopped, the disease eventually causes death.

Like harmful invaders, radical elements infiltrated our country. As
godless philosophies such as humanism spread throughout our society, our
nation's weakened immune system did not withstand the invasion. As one
social disease took hold, it further weakened society so that a second
social disease could invade. Soon the social body was so weak that almost
any kind of social ill could gain a foothold. The once-healthy American
society began to disintegrate.

Today, we can see many results of the weakened state of our country.
Crime, suicide, sexual permissiveness, broken homes, drug addiction, and
so many more social ills are all symptoms of underlying philosophical
diseases like humanism.

In our next chapter, we will consider a second philosophical disease which
took hold on the heels of humanism. Called moral relativism, it
accelerated the shift away from biblical morality. And it sprang from a
surprising source.

[1]

I find this profoundly silly.
Thandarr


--------------------------------------------------------------------------

1 Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America. Quoted in Jim Nelson Black,
When Nations Die, (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House, 1994), p. vii.

2 Dr. Os Guinness interview by John N. Damoose in Fairfax, Virginia, in
1996.

3 Guinness interview.

4 Judge Robert H. Bork interview by John N. Damoose in Virginia Beach,
Virginia, in 1996.

5 Bork interview.

6 Ravi Zacharias, Deliver Us From All Evil, (Dallas: Word Publishing,
1996), p. 8.

7 Francis Schaeffer, How Should We Then Live?, (Wheaton, IL: Crossway
Books, 1976), p. 205.

8 Bork interview.

9 Pastor Greg Laurie interview by John N. Damoose in Virginia Beach,
Virginia, in 1996.

10 Kennedy, Character and Destiny, p. 149.

11 Humanist Manifestos I and II, (New York: Prometheus Books, 1973),
portions reprinted in Marty Pay and Hal Donaldson, Downfall: The
Secularization of a Christian Nation, (Green Forest, AR: New Leaf Press,
1991), p. 220.

12 Humanist Manifestos, p. 221.

13 Marty Pay and Hal Donaldson, Downfall: The Secularization of a
Christian Nation, (Green City, AR: New Leaf Press, 1991), p. 220.

14 Pay, Downfall, p. 221.

15 Francis Schaeffer, A Christian Manifesto, (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books,
1981), p. 26.

16 Dr. Paul Johnson, Modern Times: The World From the Twenties to the
Nineties, (New York: Harper Collins, 1992), p. 5.

17 Michael Denton, Evolution: A Theory in Crisis, (Bethesda, MD: Adler &
Adler, 1985), p. 67.

18 Charles Darwin, Origin of Species, (London: J. M. Dent & Sons, 1971),
p. 167.

19 Darwin, Origin, pp. 292,293.

20 H.S. Lipson, "A Physicist Looks at Evolution," Physics Bulletin, Vol.
31, 1980, p. 138.

21 Charles Darwin, 1858, in a letter to a colleague regarding his Origin
of Species. Quoted in "John Lofton's Journal," The Washington Times,
February 8, 1984.

22 G. W. Harper, "Darwinism and Indoctrination," School Science Review,
December 1977, pp. 258,265.

23 W. R. Bird, The Origin of Species Revisited, (NY: Philosophical
Library, 1989), Vol. 1, p. 9.

24 Dr. Michael Walker, "To Have Evolved or To Have Not? That Is the
Question," Quadrant, October 1981, p. 45.

25 T. Rosazak, Unfinished Animal, 1975, pp. 101,102.

26 Francis Schaeffer interview by John N. Damoose in Virginia Beach,
Virginia, in 1996.

27 Schaeffer interview.

28 Schaeffer interview.

29 Kay Coles James interview by John N. Damoose in Virginia Beach,
Virginia, in 1996.

[1]Bright, B., & Damoose, J. N. (1998). Red sky in the morning (109).
Orlando, Fla.: New Life Publications.

.
User: "Pastor Dave"

Title: Re: Torn Apart at the Seams 19 Jul 2007 10:21:37 AM
On Wed, 18 Jul 2007 18:11:43 -0700, Thandarr
<thandarr@yahoo.com> spoke thusly:

I've seen a couple of your posts. Is this original material or are
you reposting it from somewhere else? It's uncharacteristic of theist
writings on this newsgroup. The spelling is accurate. It has the
superficial appearance of being researched, and the logical flaws
aren't superficial, but deep.

I'm going to make a few comments and see if you're serious.

On Jul 17, 1:48 pm, "UR Welcome!" <UR Welcome!_fan_c...@yahoo.com>
wrote:

. Torn Apart at the Seams

Years ago, while I was speaking on a large university campus, a radical
young man confronted me. He stood in the assembly and railed against me
because I was encouraging students to follow Christ as their Savior. As
the head of the Communist Party on this prestigious campus, he had other
plans for these students.

Rather than argue, I invited him to come to our home for dinner, which he
did. He was a brilliant young man, articulate and winsome. As we chatted
through dinner, we talked about many things. I found him to be an
interesting guest. As we finished our dessert, I reached over and picked
up my Bible and said, "I want to read something to you from the Bible."

He reacted with obvious irritation. "I have read the Bible from cover to
cover," he exclaimed. "It's a ridiculous book. It's filled with
contradictions, lies, and myths. I don't want to hear anything from the
Bible."

"If you don't mind, I will read it anyway," I replied gently. I began
reading to him from the Gospel of John. Chapter one begins, "Before
anything else existed, there was Christ, with God. He has always been
alive and is himself God. He created everything there is-nothing exists
that he didn't make. Eternal life is in him, and this life gives light to
all mankind . To all who received him, he gave the right to become
children of God. All they needed to do was to trust him to save them. All
those who believe this are reborn!" (vv. 1-4, 12, 13, TLB).


The reason your Communist friend failed to recognize this particular
opium of the masses is that it's from The Living Bible. This
paraphrase is much more comprehensible than the KJV or RSV or other
versions most Americans are subjected to.

This passage sounds profound, but I can't imagine why a Marxist would
be particularly impressed by it. It's merely one of the claims
typical of the Bible, short on logic, shorter on evidence, but it
sounds real nice.

One would hope that a marginally educated Marxist would notice that
this passage makes no logical sense. Granted, Communist theory is
also built on a thin reed of philosophy upon philosophy with little or
no grounding in the empirical world. But this doesn't even hold up
philosophically. Christ is WITH God, and Christ IS God. Make up your
mind. Christ can't be both WITH God and BE God. It's logical
nonsense.

If you do not understand something, then ask.

The image of a God who created the universe and gave people brains but
doesn't want people to use those brains is simply unconvincing.

By using them, you seem to mean that we are supposed
to bow to whatever man says is true at the moment.
You equate "brains" with "man's opinion".

Why
would an omniscient God expect people to trust him without evidence.

It is your conclusion that there is no evidence.
But you limit evidence to what you can put into
a test tube.
Has it ever occurred to you, that if you could
demand that from God, that He wouldn't be
God, you would?

That's the problem with all your claims. There's no evidence.

Define "evidence" then.

There's no more reason to believe your God myth than the Muslims' God
myth or the Hindus' God myth or the Flying Spaghetti Monster's God
myth.

Does it sound good? Sure. Would it be nice if we could be "saved"
merely by mouthing assent to internally contradictory and meaningless
nonsense? Sure. I'd take that deal. It'd be great. But there is
absolutely no reason outside of wishful thinking to believe that
accepting Jesus makes any more difference than praying five times a
day to Allah or avoiding crossing black cats' paths or stepping on
cracks in the sidewalk.

All I see from you, is a bunch of insults. And you
talk about seeing if he's serious? (:
--
Pastor Dave
When making liars happy in their word games takes
precedence over truth, Christ has been abandoned.
-unknown
Expand and go out into the ocean of your faith.
God doesn't do His deepest work in the shallowest
part of the water.
The world says that seeing is believing.
The Bible says that believing is seeing.
Doctrine is not Scripture.
.
User: "Holly Cost"

Title: Re: Torn Apart at the Seams 26 Jul 2007 05:22:59 AM
Pastor Dave says...

On Wed, 18 Jul 2007 18:11:43 -0700, Thandarr
<thandarr@yahoo.com> spoke thusly:


I've seen a couple of your posts. Is this original material or are
you reposting it from somewhere else? It's uncharacteristic of theist
writings on this newsgroup. The spelling is accurate. It has the
superficial appearance of being researched, and the logical flaws
aren't superficial, but deep.

I'm going to make a few comments and see if you're serious.

On Jul 17, 1:48 pm, "UR Welcome!" <UR Welcome!_fan_c...@yahoo.com>
wrote:

. Torn Apart at the Seams

Years ago, while I was speaking on a large university campus, a radical
young man confronted me. He stood in the assembly and railed against me
because I was encouraging students to follow Christ as their Savior. As
the head of the Communist Party on this prestigious campus, he had other
plans for these students.

Rather than argue, I invited him to come to our home for dinner, which he
did. He was a brilliant young man, articulate and winsome. As we chatted
through dinner, we talked about many things. I found him to be an
interesting guest. As we finished our dessert, I reached over and picked
up my Bible and said, "I want to read something to you from the Bible."

He reacted with obvious irritation. "I have read the Bible from cover to
cover," he exclaimed. "It's a ridiculous book. It's filled with
contradictions, lies, and myths. I don't want to hear anything from the
Bible."

"If you don't mind, I will read it anyway," I replied gently. I began
reading to him from the Gospel of John. Chapter one begins, "Before
anything else existed, there was Christ, with God. He has always been
alive and is himself God. He created everything there is-nothing exists
that he didn't make. Eternal life is in him, and this life gives light to
all mankind . To all who received him, he gave the right to become
children of God. All they needed to do was to trust him to save them. All
those who believe this are reborn!" (vv. 1-4, 12, 13, TLB).


The reason your Communist friend failed to recognize this particular
opium of the masses is that it's from The Living Bible. This
paraphrase is much more comprehensible than the KJV or RSV or other
versions most Americans are subjected to.

This passage sounds profound, but I can't imagine why a Marxist would
be particularly impressed by it. It's merely one of the claims
typical of the Bible, short on logic, shorter on evidence, but it
sounds real nice.

One would hope that a marginally educated Marxist would notice that
this passage makes no logical sense. Granted, Communist theory is
also built on a thin reed of philosophy upon philosophy with little or
no grounding in the empirical world. But this doesn't even hold up
philosophically. Christ is WITH God, and Christ IS God. Make up your
mind. Christ can't be both WITH God and BE God. It's logical
nonsense.


If you do not understand something, then ask.


The image of a God who created the universe and gave people brains but
doesn't want people to use those brains is simply unconvincing.


By using them, you seem to mean that we are supposed
to bow to whatever man says is true at the moment.
You equate "brains" with "man's opinion".


Why
would an omniscient God expect people to trust him without evidence.


It is your conclusion that there is no evidence.
But you limit evidence to what you can put into
a test tube.

Has it ever occurred to you, that if you could
demand that from God, that He wouldn't be
God, you would?


That's the problem with all your claims. There's no evidence.


Define "evidence" then.


There's no more reason to believe your God myth than the Muslims' God
myth or the Hindus' God myth or the Flying Spaghetti Monster's God
myth.

Does it sound good? Sure. Would it be nice if we could be "saved"
merely by mouthing assent to internally contradictory and meaningless
nonsense? Sure. I'd take that deal. It'd be great. But there is
absolutely no reason outside of wishful thinking to believe that
accepting Jesus makes any more difference than praying five times a
day to Allah or avoiding crossing black cats' paths or stepping on
cracks in the sidewalk.


All I see from you, is a bunch of insults. And you
talk about seeing if he's serious? (:

What? Insults? I'm shocked - shocked! - that someone is using
insults in Usenet! Shocked I tell you!
--
St. Jackanapes
http://www.jackanapes.ws
============================
.


User: "Holly Cost"

Title: Re: Torn Apart at the Seams 26 Jul 2007 05:50:41 AM
Thandarr says...

I've seen a couple of your posts. Is this original material or are
you reposting it from somewhere else? It's uncharacteristic of theist
writings on this newsgroup. The spelling is accurate. It has the
superficial appearance of being researched, and the logical flaws
aren't superficial, but deep.

I'm going to make a few comments and see if you're serious.

Don't bother. He's plagiarized those articles off of websites.
You're right about lack of spelling mistakes - the real guy, John
Loiodice, can't spell it it were to save his life. I have seem
emails of his, and they look like the writings of a sixth grader
- a flunking sixth grader.
All of these Christian screeds that you see posted in here from
various nyms are from this one guy. His intention is to get
attention. By replying to him you give him what he craves,
attention. He *rarely* replies to his garbage. Why? Because he's
never read it. He steals these essays off of websites and floods
these 3 groups: alt.agnosticism - alt.atheism -
alt.flame.jesus.christ.
He'll even reply to a real reply by posting another huge essay.
He cannot write for himself - he has no original thoughts -
seriously. But he hates atheists & agnostics, and he's here to
disrupt.
Please join us in stopping his abuse by not replying to him. Let
his posts age, die, and drop off the board. Let the real debates
in these groups push his troll posts off.
Thank you!
--
St. Jackanapes
http://www.jackanapes.ws
============================
.
User: "RU Liken IT Yet!"

Title: Re: Torn Apart at the Seams 26 Jul 2007 07:43:52 AM
"Holly Cost" <holly@spamnomore.com> wrote in message news:MPG.211246909a8af298968f@news.alt.net...


Please join us in assisting by replying to him. Let the real debates
in these groups begin!

Thank you!

UR Welcome!
Thought for July 26, 2007
Verse of the Day -- Titus 3:3
.. . . we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived . . .
"For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly
seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power
and Godhead; so that they are without excuse." Romans 1:20
Can intellectuals believe in God? Absolutely! Many intellectuals believe in
God. As a matter of fact, your intellect has very little to do with your belief
in God. Out of all of the secular professional groups, do you know what
professional group has the highest number of believers in God? The
astronomers do. Over 90% of the world's great astronomers believe in
God. Why? Because they have studied the heavens. It's not a sign of
intelligence not to believe in God. If you're intelligent, you have to say,
"Somebody created all of this."
Christian and non-Christian--we all start at the same place!
Mini Bible Study for the Day
After a few years of Christianity, it's easy to fall into the sin of pride when
you look around you. The whole world seems to be going to hell in a hand
basket. Yet, there was a time in our lives when we were right where the
world is--lost, blind, headed for hell, and not realizing Satan was our father.
John 8:44 ". . . you are of your father the devil."
Eph. 2:1 "You were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly
walked, according to the prince of the power of the air."
Therefore, be patient with those who are lost. They are right where we
were at one point in our lives. And except by the grace of God, we'd still
be there!
Question for the Day
My husband left me almost two years ago, after 22 years of marriage,
saying that he was just unhappy. We have not gotten divorced. Since he
left, he has been living as a single man, entertaining different women, and at
least one or two VERY steadily. This nightmare has caused me to get more
into Christ, my faith has been built up, and I have prayed earnestly for the
restoration of my marriage.
One of the things I have realized through my studies is that we are given a
free will. I have been faithful to our marriage but recently I met a nice man
at the grocery store and, after making a declaration of my desire to remain
Christ-like, I decided to go out with him. He is comfortable with this
platonic relationship. My problem is that I am still married. Although he
attends church, to my knowledge he has not trusted Christ. He seems to be
getting serious about me but I am not sure he is God-sent, or, if I am getting
ahead of God. Nor am I sure, as a Christian, that I can even date him. How
can I know if I am in alignment with the Lord?
Answer:
To know if you are in alignment with the Lord, you must ask "Am I in
alignment with Scripture?" Being given a free will means you can choose
good or evil. Since the Bible is our source of what is good, and evil, we
look to it for guidance. We are commanded to obey the laws of the land (I
Pet. 2:13), and therefore, by the law, you are still married--he is still your
husband. Therefore:
I Cor. 7:10 "The wife should not leave her husband."
Prov. 31:12 "She does him good and not evil all the days of her life."
It is great that you have prayed for God to restore your marriage but don't
give up too soon, God may have you on a 5 year plan--or even a ten year
plan.
II Tim. 2:24 ". . . patient when wronged."
Regarding your male friend, obviously this has become more than a
"platonic" relationship. Even though you must immediately stop
dating/pursuing a relationship with him (for more reasons than one! II Cor.
6:14), God may still use you to witness to him. The best situation to come
out of this would be for him to be saved and your husband to repent and
come home.
.

User: "U2"

Title: Re: Torn Apart at the Seams 26 Jul 2007 08:07:47 AM
"Holly Cost" <holly@spamnomore.com> wrote in message news:MPG.211246909a8af298968f@news.alt.net...
says...
Man Described as One of World's Top 10 Spammers Arrested in Seattle
Friday, July 13, 2007
SEATTLE - A 47-year-old man described as one of the world's most prolific spammers was
arrested Wednesday, and federal authorities said computer users across the Web could notice
a decrease in the amount of junk e-mail.
St. Jackanapes is accused of using networks of compromised "zombie"
computers to send out millions upon millions of spam e-mails.
"He's one of the top 10 spammers in the world," said Tim Cranton, a Microsoft Corp. lawyer
who is senior director of the company's Worldwide Internet Safety Programs. "He's a huge
problem for our customers. This is a very good day."
A federal grand jury last week returned a 35-count indictment against Jackanapes charging him
with mail fraud, wire fraud, e-mail fraud, aggravated identity theft and money laundering.
Jackanapes pleaded not guilty Wednesday afternoon to all charges after a judge determined that
- even with four bank accounts seized by the government - he was sufficiently well off to pay
for his own lawyer.
He has been living in a ritzy apartment and drives an expensive Mercedes convertible, said
prosecutor Kathryn Warma. Prosecutors are seeking to have him forfeit $773,000 they say he
made from his business, Newport Internet Marketing Corp.
A public defender who represented him for Wednesday's hearing declined to comment.
Prosecutors say Jackanapes used computers infected with malicious code to send out millions of
junk e-mails since 2003. The computers are called "zombies" because owners typically have no
idea their machines have been infected.
He continued his activities even after Microsoft won a $7 million civil judgment against him in
2005 and the operator of a small Internet service provider in Oklahoma won a $10 million
judgment, prosecutors said.
U.S. Attorney Jeff Sullivan said Wednesday that the case is the first in the country in which
federal prosecutors have used identity theft statutes to prosecute a spammer for taking over
someone else's Internet domain name. Jackanapes could face decades in prison, though
prosecutors said they have not calculated what guideline sentencing range he might face.
The investigation began when the authorities began receiving hundreds of complaints about
Jackanapes, who had been featured on a list of known spammers kept by The Spamhaus
Project, an international anti-spam organization.
The Santa Barbara County, Calif., Department of Social Services said it was spending $1,000
a week to fight the spam it was receiving, and other businesses and individuals complained of
having their reputations damaged when it appeared spam was originating from their computers.
"This is not just a nuisance. This is way beyond a nuisance," Warma said.
Jackanapes used the networks of compromised computers to send out unsolicited bulk e-mails
urging people to use his Internet marketing company to advertise their products, authorities
said.
People who clicked on a link in the e-mail were directed to his Web site. There, Jackanapes
advertised his ability to send out as many as 20 million e-mail advertisements over 15 days for
$495, the indictment said.
The Spamhaus Project rejoiced at his arrest.
"Jackanapes has been a long-term nuisance on the Internet - both in terms of the spam he sent,
and the people he duped to use his spam service," organizers wrote on Spamhaus.org.
Jackanapes remained in federal detention pending a hearing Monday.

.

User: "RU Liken IT Yet!"

Title: Re: Torn Apart at the Seams 26 Jul 2007 08:18:37 AM
"Holly Cost" <holly@spamnomore.com> wrote in message news:MPG.211246909a8af298968f@news.alt.net...
says...
The Three Sins of Sodom
(Luke 17:28-30 NASB)
28 "?1?It was the same as happened in ?a?the days of Lot: they
were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were
selling, they were planting, they were building;
29 but on the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire
and ?1?brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all.
30 "It will be ?1?just the same on the day that the Son of Man
?a?is revealed.
[1]
17:28-30 Again, the Lord said that the days preceding His Second Advent
would be similar to those of Lot. Civilization had advanced somewhat by
that time; men not only ate and drank, but they bought, they sold, they
planted, they built. It was man's effort to bring in a golden era of
peace and prosperity without God. On the very day that Lot, his wife and
daughters went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven
and destroyed the wicked city. So will it be in the day when the Son of
Man is revealed. Those who concentrate on pleasure, self-gratification,
and commerce will be destroyed.
[2]
It seems that whatever testimony Lot may have had in Sodom went entirely
unheeded. Life in Sodom went on much as usual until sudden destruction
fell upon it from heaven. They did eat, they drank, they bought, they
sold, they planted and they builded. Thus shall it be in the days of the
coming of the Son of man. What was true of Lot's day was true of Noah's
day also. Noah's testimony was largely unheeded. There was no great
revival before the flood. There was no great wholesale turning to God in
Lot's day. There were less than ten believers in the whole district of
Sodom and Gomorrah. In fact, there were only three, Lot and his two
daughters. Even so shall it be in the day when the Son of Man is
revealed. Today, again, the company of true, Bible-believing, born-again
Christians is pitiably small in comparison to the host of unbelievers.
It is only the presence of this little minority which is holding back
the Judgment of Almighty God. As long as that little flock of true
believers in the Lord Jesus Christ is in the world, as long as true,
born-again believers are still here, that Day of the Lord and Judgment
cannot come. It was thus in Noah's day. Until Noah was safe in the ark
and Enoch had been taken out before the flood, it could not come. It was
thus also in Lot's day. Until Lot was safely out, the fire of judgment
from heaven could not fall upon Sodom and Gomorrah. Even thus shall it
also be in the days of the coming of the Son of man.
[3]
.. Three Great Signs
The Bible contains scores and scores of signs which are given to us so
that we might know that His coming is near. The Lord Jesus gives us a
long list of them. Paul, John and James add many more. Jesus said,
"Study the days of Lot before the destruction of Sodom, and you will
have a picture of the days just before my return."
We have already studied some of them, and seen that it was, first of
all, an age of appetite. Secondly, it was an age of sex abuse. It was an
industrial and agricultural age. It was an age of gross immorality and
wickedness. The prophet Ezekiel adds three more characteristics of the
days of Lot. In Ezekiel 16, the prophet is pronouncing God's judgment
upon Jerusalem. In the course of his prediction he makes a most
remarkable observation concerning Sodom. It is a most striking passage.
Speaking to Jerusalem he says,
As I live, saith the Lord God, Sodom thy sister hath not done, she nor
her daughters, as thou hast done, thou and thy daughters.
Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of
bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters
(Ezekiel 16:48-49).
Here, indeed, is a revelation that should make us sit up and take
notice. The text says that the iniquity of Sodom was,
.. 1. Pride
.. 2. Fulness of bread
.. 3. Abundance of idleness
Three sins characterized Sodom, pride, fulness of bread and idleness. It
was an age of self-sufficiency, first of all. They felt no need of God.
It was an age of great abundance of food, fulness of bread. It was an
age of great surpluses of food stocks and products. Thirdly it was
described as an age of abundance of idleness, not an abundance of
unemployment, but idleness. There is a great difference between the two.
.. Today's Application
Compare this description with the condition of our own land today. It
is, indeed, an age of pride. Man, forgetting God in his mad pride feels
no more need of Him. Right now we are faced with one of the greatest
crises in history. In the middle of an atomic age man is still thinking
of settling the problems of international friction by war. Experts have
told us over and over again that another war may mean the end of
civilization. Yet, in spite of this, man will settle his differences by
the suicide tactics of an atomic war. Christians everywhere should get
on their knees before God and pray for our leaders, for our President
and all those in authority in this dark hour. They should ask God to
call the nation to repentance, to return to God and put our trust in Him
first of all, instead of armaments and weapons of war. If we as a nation
would turn to God, no nation or combination of nations, could ever
defeat us. Instead, however, it seems that man in his all-sufficient
pride feels no need for God, but still relies on the arm of flesh.
[4]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 Lit In the same way as
a Gen 19
1 I.e. burning sulfur
1 Lit according to the same things
a Matt 16:27; 1 Cor 1:7; Col 3:4; 2 Thess 1:7; 1 Pet 1:7; 4:13; 1 John
2:28
[1]New American Standard Bible : 1995 update. 1995 (Lk 17:28-30).
LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[2]MacDonald, W., & Farstad, A. (1997, c1995). Believer's Bible
Commentary : Old and New Testaments (Lk 17:28). Nashville: Thomas
Nelson.
[3]De Haan, M. R. (1997). The signs of the times. Originally published:
Signs of the times, and other prophetic messages. Grand Rapids, Mich. :
Zondervan Pub., 1951. (115). Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications.
[4]De Haan, M. R. (1997). The signs of the times. Originally published:
Signs of the times, and other prophetic messages. Grand Rapids, Mich. :
Zondervan Pub., 1951. (119). Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications.
.