Dr Paul Allen

When Nietzsche famously declared, “God is dead,” we often assume the atheist philosopher said it triumphally. Yet Nietzsche didn’t pronounce the death of God—by which he meant the idea of God and religion had died following the triumph of reason and science—as a wholesale victory. While on the one hand, it was a triumph (as he understood it), on the other hand, Nietzsche saw the cost: “our entire European morality.” Nietzsche prophesied a dark time to follow, a process of crumbling and terror when there would be no reason to be “moral.” He predicted a post-God world would result in the loss of “Christian” morality, descent into meaninglessness, and the breakdown of a unified sense of self, identity, and purpose. In the post-Christian West, we’re seeing Nietzsche’s predictions play out. If there's any hope of navigable meaning, something else must take the place of God. God’s absence must be filled by some presence—and many candidates are vying to fill the void. In particular, we’ve...

A recent documentary claims that a “mistranslation” of the Bible is to blame for Christians believing homosexuality is a sin. Directed by self-identified “lesbian Christian” Sharon “Rocky” Roggio, the film asserts that the word homosexual did not appear in any version of the Bible until 1946. Translators for the Revised Standard Version (RSV) used it for the first time then, in their translation of 1 Corinthians 6:9. Rather than haggle over a specific word, I’d like to step back and consider the larger issue at stake, which impacts all of humanity: the issue of idolatry. The LGBT Movement is Based on Idolatry To define oneself primarily in terms of a sexual appetite or inclination is to make an idol out of sexuality and its expression. It is worshipping an aspect of creation rather than the Creator. It leads straight toward treating others as sexual objects for our own gratification or bolstering our ego. It’s one thing to love those we love or to have strong feelings toward those who ...

Those interested in the cultural context of the Bible are familiar with the association between animals and idolatry . The idolatrous worship of the golden calf (egel; Exod 32:1–24) makes the connection explicit. Even after the Israelites entered into a covenant relationship with Yahweh at Sinai, Moses and Aaron had to act to prevent the people from sacrificing to “goat demons” (se’irim) in the wilderness (Lev 17:7). GOAT DEMONS Centuries later, the apostasy of King Jeroboam returned this idolatry to the northern kingdom of Israel (“He appointed his own priests for the high places and for the goat idols [se’irim] and for the calves [agalim] that he had made”; 1 Chr 11:15). The reference to “goat demons” (se’irim) in the wilderness and their idols is of special interest because the link between the demonic and the desert has strong Old Testament precedent. The connection would have been apparent to Israelites because a range of wild animals and birds were specifically associa...

The Shack Movie is not another C.S. Lewis ’ Narnia. Several well-meaning friends have expressed the idea that The Shack is no different than the very creative Narnia series by C.S. Lewis. Again, we turn to the writing of Tim Challies where in his blog “ Why Papa of The Shack Is not Aslan of Narnia. ” He suggests three reasons why the two are not the same: different genres (allegorical fiction vs didactic fiction), different persons ( Jesus vs God the Father , God the Son and God the Holy Spirit ), and different messages (Aslan is like Jesus vs Papa is God). Challies wraps up his blog with the following: I have argued on three grounds that Papa of The Shack is not Aslan of Narnia. They appear in different genres of literature, represent different characters, and teach different messages. Narnia is an allegorical tale; The Shack is didactic fiction. Aslan is a Christ-like figure from a parallel world and its fabricated mythology; Papa is God the Father in the real-world and ...

The day  The Shack  sold its hundred thousandth copy, it became likely there would be a movie adaption. The day it sold its millionth, it became practically guaranteed. And, sure enough, it comes to theaters, starring Sam Worthington , Octavia Spencer , and Tim McGraw . I am sure that watching and reviewing  The Shack  would be an unwise and even sinful spiritual decision. For that reasonI will not be seeing or reviewing  The Shack . Let me explain why. The Shack in Brief I trust you are familiar with  The Shack , the book that came from nowhere to sell more than twenty million copies. It is the story of Mack, a man who has suffered a terrible tragedy and whose faith has been left in tatters. But then he receives an unexpected invitation to return to the scene where that tragedy unfolded.  In a little shack, he encounters Father, Son, and Holy Spirit , each in human form—Papa, an African-American woman, Son, a middle-aged Middle-Eastern ...

“Do ye thus requite the LORD, O foolish people and unwise? is not he thy father that hath bought thee? hath he not made thee, and established thee?” ( Deuteronomy 32:6 ) This rebuke was by Moses, as he warned the people of God just before their entrance into the Promised Land. It contains the first use of the Hebrew nabal (translated “fool” or “foolish”) in the Bible. Here it is applied to God’s chosen people after they had been redeemed out of Egyptian slavery by God. This implies that the most foolish of all people are those who have known about God and His great salvation and yet have turned away from His Word. Paul writes in similar scathing terms of those who had known of God’s great deliverance of their fathers from the evil world before the Flood, and yet then abandoned Him for idolatry. “When they knew God, . . . their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools” ( Romans 1:21-22 ). David used the same word about those who decide they ca...

English: Jeroboam's idolatry, 1 Kings 12:25-33, illustration from a Bible card published 1904 by the Providence Lithograph Company (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing.” ( Exodus 20:4 )   There are several reasons why idolatry is forbidden. The most obvious it that the triune Creator is too great to attempt to visualize ( Exodus 34:5-7 ). There is no thing or experience in human existence that can represent the immortal and invisible Creator ( 1 Timothy 6:16 ).   Thus, God sees any effort to “picture” Him (idolatry) as rebellion ( Jeremiah 5:19-25 ). It does not matter how we may attempt to “see” God. “Any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth” ( Exodus 20:4 ) are all totally incapable of expressing God’s person.   Romans 1:18-32 reveals the heart of an idolater. Those who hold the truth in unrighteousness (v...

Sistine Chapel, fresco Michelangelo, detail of the destruction of the idol of Baal (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) “You shall not make for yourself a carved image , or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth” (v. 4).  - Exodus 20:4–6 Paul in Romans 1:18–32 tells us that fallen humanity’s tendency is not toward atheism but rather to idolatry . Having rejected the God who does exist, sinners are prone not to abandon worship altogether; rather, we make up all manner of other gods to “take the place” of the Creator of heaven and earth. Apart from grace, we remain in Adam , hating the One who has revealed Himself in nature and in the Bible , and we fashion other deities in our own image. Some people make statues to represent these gods — consider the many deities of Hinduism , for example. Others create mental ideas about the god they want to worship — “my God would certainly never condemn anyone to ...

English: Religious symbols from the top nine organised faiths of the world according to Major world religions From left to right: 1st Row: Christian Cross, Jewish Star of David, Hindu Aumkar 2nd Row: Islamic Star and crescent, Buddhist Wheel of Dharma, Shinto Torii 3rd Row: Sikh Khanda, Bahá'í star, Jain Ahimsa Symbol (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) In the first chapter of Romans , the wrath of God is revealed against distortions of God that culminate in various religious practices called idolatry . God is by no means always pleased with the operations and functions that we call religion. I would say that Christianity first and foremost is not a religion, even though we use that term to describe it from a sociological perspective . The term religion describes human practices—practices of worship , of cultic involvement, of belief in a god, and of obeying certain rules that come from the god or gods. There are various kinds of religions in this world. There is a religious aspect ...

English: Worshiping the golden calf, as in Exodus 32:1-35, illustration from a Bible card published 1901 by the Providence Lithograph Company (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Deuteronomy 4:15–31 “Beware lest you raise your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, you be drawn away and bow down to them” (v. 19). Our English term Deuteronomy is derived from the Greek words deuteros, which means “second,” and nomos, which means “law.” Deuteronomy means “second law” and is the name of the fifth book of Moses because it repeats many of the same stipulations given in Exodus , Leviticus , and Numbers. It is a second giving of the Law, necessary because the nation of Israel failed to follow the Law upon its first revelation. On the edge of Canaan God repeated His covenant demands so that the people might not engage in the sins of their fathers. Idolatry was the main reason why it was necessary for ...

Image via Wikipedia "For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God." ( 1 Thessalonians 1:9 )   There are "gods many, and lords many" ( 1 Corinthians 8:5 ) in today's world, just as there were in the ancient pagan world. In fact, the worship of many of these ancient deities is being revived in various dark corners of the so-called " New Age " movement today. Idol worship can also involve adulation of men and women--such as music idols, professional athletes, and movie idols, not to mention the humanistic worship of such political/religious leaders as Lenin , Mao , Hitler , Khomeini , and an increasing assortment of gurus and false prophets.   There is, however, only one true God, the God who created all things. "To us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ , by whom are all things, and we b...

Image by jimforest via Flickr “ You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth” (v. 4). -  Exodus 20:4–6 Paul in  Romans 1:18–32  tells us that fallen humanity’s tendency is not toward atheism but rather to idolatry .  Having rejected the God who does exist, sinners are prone not to abandon worship altogether; rather, we make up all manner of other gods to “take the place” of the Creator of heaven and earth.  Apart from grace, we remain in Adam , hating the One who has revealed Himself in nature and in the Bible , and we fashion other deities in our own image. Some people make statues to represent these gods — consider the many deities of Hinduism , for example.  Others create mental ideas about the god they want to worship — “my God would certainly never condemn anyone to hell.” The fallen human heart, John Calvin reminds...