On Nov. 20, 2009, the Manhattan Declaration was released in a press conference in Washington DC, with many religious leaders signing this 4700-word statement in support. The statement focuses on 1) the sanctity of human life, 2) the dignity of marriage as the conjugal union of husband and wife, and 3) the rights of conscience and religious liberty. While these points may be good, I have found extremely significant and monumental faults with the Manhattan Declaration, mainly that they lack the essence of the Gospel.
I am a simple-minded person, and I can't help but see there is something undoubtedly wrong when both "Christian evangelical leaders" and "Roman Catholic priests" are bunched together. It's disheartening to see evangelical leaders I admire such as Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr., Dr J. Ligon Duncan signing a declaration that could be misconstrued by non-believers or the weaker brothers in Christ.
I would have to agree with Dr. John MacArthur, Dr. James White, Alistair Begg, Frank Turk, and Tim Challies in their decision to not sign the Manhattan Declaration. It compromises the essence of Gospel message, excludes its utmost importance, and promotes ecumenicism.
The following are some links that address the Manhattan Declaration from both sides. MacArthur and James White explains it a lot more coherently than myself.
Those who did not sign and their explanations for not signing:
- John MacArthur
- James R. White
- Alistair Begg
- David Doran
- Frank Turk
- Tim Challies
Those who signed and their explanations for signing:
- Al Mohler
- Kevin DeYoung
- Timothy George
Other Related Links:
Reformed Voices
Defending. Contending.
5 Pt. Salt
Friday, November 27, 2009
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Origin of Species Book Give-away at UCLA
How awesome that my first post happens to be after I've come back from a successful day of passing out "The Origin of Species," the 150th Anniversary Edition by Charles Darwin at UCLA, where Ray Comfort, Kirk Cameron, and Tony Miano were. I've been wanting to meet them ever since I was saved from being a false convert two and a half years ago and have been encouraged by their ministry and evangelistic approach in using the Law before Grace while presenting the Gospel.
Ray has such a crazy sense of humor. He's like a huge kid. I love that guy. :D And Tony the Lawman is so awesome, with his outdoor voice. You know a guy open-air preaches a lot when the volume of his voice is always above 95 decibels. :D And Kirk was very amiable and all smiles, as usual. :) I hope I get a chance to evangelize with them again, with Todd Friel in the mix. Hopefully they start making UCLA a more regular venue for evangelistic opportunities.
We finished passing out all 2,000 copies of the book with the spiffy 54 page introduction by Ray, complete with the Gospel, within an hour at Bruinwalk. Had a couple one-on-one conversations and passed out some million-dollar tracts, and then listened to Ray, Kirk, Tony, and Chad open-air preach to a crowd of students, many which were professing atheists. I was standing next to a bunch of the noisiest atheists in the crowd who were trying their hardest to heckle and interrupt the flow of the preaching. All the arguments they presented were nothing new under the sun. I've heard it all before, having been a Biology major in university, even taking an Evolutionary Biology class where I tried to question the theories and then got reprimanded for it by my evolutionary biologist professor. Anyhow, all these arguments have gotten old a long time ago. You would think they would come up with something new. But it was amusing that they tried to counteract our event by passing out cheap Banana (in an effort to make fun of Ray) bookmarks promoting Darwinism and evolution.
I've also had the privilege to see a couple of Richard Dawkins fanatics come up to me, posing as very interested and amiable well-wishers, and then proceed to rip out the 50-page introduction in front of my eyes, exclaiming, "These are all lies! You are all liars and deceitful!" when they received the book. Richard Dawkins must be a scared and desperate man if he has to tell his followers to go and tear out pages of harmless books. Funny how they accuse us of intolerance and narrow-mindedness. You would think "tolerant" and "clear-thinking" (as Dawkins describes himself) people would not go around ripping and tearing out pages of a book just because they don't agree with it. Guess they aren't so tolerant or clear-thinking after all.
The fact that they can't even keep their scruples in front of me suggests to me that they are afraid of the Gospel and just want to feel justified for their immorality, sin and utter depravity. Their religion of Evolution has been threatened after all. I pray that among the people who have received this book, that there are some who actually take the time to read the introduction, and as a result, get exposed to the Gospel and put their trust in Christ and repent.
Related links:
- Ray Comfort's blog, Atheist Central
- Living Water's Post on Origin into Schools
The atheists' outrage is heartening.
Ray has such a crazy sense of humor. He's like a huge kid. I love that guy. :D And Tony the Lawman is so awesome, with his outdoor voice. You know a guy open-air preaches a lot when the volume of his voice is always above 95 decibels. :D And Kirk was very amiable and all smiles, as usual. :) I hope I get a chance to evangelize with them again, with Todd Friel in the mix. Hopefully they start making UCLA a more regular venue for evangelistic opportunities.
We finished passing out all 2,000 copies of the book with the spiffy 54 page introduction by Ray, complete with the Gospel, within an hour at Bruinwalk. Had a couple one-on-one conversations and passed out some million-dollar tracts, and then listened to Ray, Kirk, Tony, and Chad open-air preach to a crowd of students, many which were professing atheists. I was standing next to a bunch of the noisiest atheists in the crowd who were trying their hardest to heckle and interrupt the flow of the preaching. All the arguments they presented were nothing new under the sun. I've heard it all before, having been a Biology major in university, even taking an Evolutionary Biology class where I tried to question the theories and then got reprimanded for it by my evolutionary biologist professor. Anyhow, all these arguments have gotten old a long time ago. You would think they would come up with something new. But it was amusing that they tried to counteract our event by passing out cheap Banana (in an effort to make fun of Ray) bookmarks promoting Darwinism and evolution.
I've also had the privilege to see a couple of Richard Dawkins fanatics come up to me, posing as very interested and amiable well-wishers, and then proceed to rip out the 50-page introduction in front of my eyes, exclaiming, "These are all lies! You are all liars and deceitful!" when they received the book. Richard Dawkins must be a scared and desperate man if he has to tell his followers to go and tear out pages of harmless books. Funny how they accuse us of intolerance and narrow-mindedness. You would think "tolerant" and "clear-thinking" (as Dawkins describes himself) people would not go around ripping and tearing out pages of a book just because they don't agree with it. Guess they aren't so tolerant or clear-thinking after all.
The fact that they can't even keep their scruples in front of me suggests to me that they are afraid of the Gospel and just want to feel justified for their immorality, sin and utter depravity. Their religion of Evolution has been threatened after all. I pray that among the people who have received this book, that there are some who actually take the time to read the introduction, and as a result, get exposed to the Gospel and put their trust in Christ and repent.
Related links:
- Ray Comfort's blog, Atheist Central
- Living Water's Post on Origin into Schools
The atheists' outrage is heartening.
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