When intelligence is unintelligible

I love this quote by William A. Dembski in his book, The Design Revolution. Writing about Darwinists who are skeptics of intelligent design, he says:
"Thus, for the skeptic, the world is intelligible only if it starts off without intelligence and then evolves intelligence. If it starts out with intelligence and evolves intelligence because of a prior intelligence, then, for the skeptic, the world becomes unintelligible." (William A. Demski, The Design Revolution, Downer's Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 2004, p. 202.)

How can I criticize Mother Teresa?

I just finished reading Mother Teresa: A Simple Path. I was asked to read this book to see if it should be placed in our church library. I am recommending that we do put it in the library because of its positive elements and for the Christian reader to be informed about her historical work, but with a statement of caution in the flyleaf. Why is that?

Mother Teresa is well known for her work with "the poorest of the poor" in Calcutta, India and around the world, for which she received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. This book is a collection of thoughts by Mother Teresa and her followers on her philosophy of life and ministry. This path is summed up on page 1 of the book this way: "The fruit of silence is prayer, the fruit of prayer is faith, the fruit of faith is love, the fruit of love is service, and the fruit of service is peace."

The book is inspiring in its devotion to love the poor by loving Jesus Christ through the poor. There are many inspiring testimonies from volunteers, prayers, and simple statements that show how she kept her focus on her mission. She had a wonderful appreciation for the value of every human life, including the unborn. On p. 55 she asks why people worry about children being killed in wars but do not oppose mothers killing their own children.

I hesitate to say anything critical about Mother Teresa, because she has done far more for the needy in the name of Jesus than I have. However, I must point out that in an attempt to be non-judgmental, Mother Teresa falls into the error of universalism. That is, she teaches that any religion is an equally valid way to get to Heaven. For example, on p. 31 she says, "I've always said we should help a Hindu become a better Hindu, a Muslim become a better Muslim, a Catholic become a better Catholic." This contradicts the words of Jesus, who said He was the only way to the Father (John 14:6), and the words of the apostle Paul, who said that there is salvation in no other name than the name of Jesus (Acts 4:12). We should not be surprised that Mother Teresa takes this viewpoint, as universalism is a common view of salvation among Roman Catholics. Nevertheless, Protestants who are inspired by her devotion should be cautious of her as a theologian.

Since Mother Teresa has died, she will no doubt be made a "saint" by the Roman Catholic Church (actually all believers are called "saints" in scripture, as we see in Philippians 1:1.) Her work is truly inspiring and deserving of recognition. However, her teaching about salvation sadly falls short of the teachings of the Bible.

Ministry in Virgin Islands

Here are some more pictures of the mission trip to the Virgin Islands sent to me by Jason McNair, our student minister. You can see our team and the VBS.

Wade in Virgin Islands

Our son Wade took these pictures on the youth mission trip to the Virgin Islands. Apparently, they had a lot of fun. There is a picture of Bovoni Baptist Church where they did a VBS, and some kids from the VBS who caught a chicken, and pictures of Wade trying to manage the kiddie pool during VBS recreation, with Jonas H. wearing a kickball they busted, wearing a facemask with Danielle F. and confronting an iguana (I assume you can tell which picture is which).

90 Minutes in Heaven

I just finished reading 90 Minutes in Heaven by Don Piper. I have already read 23 Minutes in Hell by Bill Wiese. The two books have similar titles and both books discuss experiences in the opposite extremes of eternity, but that is where the similarities end. 90 Minutes in Heaven is a much better book that rings much more true and encouraging, because it deals so realistically with pain, death and suffering.

I'm not saying that Bill Wiese didn't have a real experience with Hell. I believe that he did experience something, and his book is faithful to the Bible on the subject. But Don Piper's experience in and the way that it is told makes it much more than a book on Heaven.

Piper tells about being "killed" in a car wreck, and how a pastor at the scene prays for him and sings hymns, even though the sheet has covered Piper's body, and 90 minutes later the pastor hears Don singing with him. Don shares how during those 90 minutes he experienced an incredible peace and joy at the gates of Heaven, as a welcoming party of all of his deceased loved ones and Christian friends met him. But then Don came back to earth.

The rest of the book describes the bitterly painful experience of a long, slow and wrenching recovery, and how even to this day Don is in constant pain. Despite his pain, he has found his purpose in encouraging other people who endure serious injuries and people who face death, because he has experienced their pain and he has experienced the certainty of Heaven.

This is the perfect book to give to any person who is dying or is enduring a long illness or slow recovery from an injury. It is raw and honest about suffering, yet wonderfully encouraging about eternal life through faith in Christ. No wonder it is a best seller.

Update from Virgin Islands

I talked to Jason McNair, our student minister, today by phone from St. Thomas, the U.S. Virgin Islands, where he is leading a youth mission trip from our church.
Jason says that they have 47 kids in VBS at one location, and 39 kids at another VBS, that our group is leading simultaneously. He said that 6 children have accepted Christ and have been counseled by the local pastor! They were excited to get Bibles that have the "ABC's of Salvation" in them, and Jason plans to ship them additional copies of these Bibles.
Jason said that they painted five large rooms at the mission and they completely remodeled the nursery.
We had heard reports that the girls had insect bites from chiggers, but Jason said that was incorrect, that it was mosquito bites, but they were recovering from that pretty well.
They will be returning to Rincon late on Friday night. Pray for their safe return.

SBC President Frank Page speaks at our church

Dr. Frank Page, president of the Southern Baptist Convention, spoke at our church last night as part of our annual "Marvelous Mondays in July." He brought an excellent message from Luke 13:1-8 about the barren fig tree. He pointed out that we are like the tree in several ways: 1) we are planted where we are for a purpose to produce fruit, 2) if we produce no fruit we are useless, 3) if we produce no fruit we are taking up soil and preventing others from being useful, and 4) God in His grace is willing to give us another chance. So we had better get on the ball!

You can read the Savannah Morning News report about Dr. Page's visit to our church here.

After the service, my wife Mary and I took Dr. Page out to eat at El Real Mexican restaurant. He was very gracious and encouraging to us about our ministry in Rincon. He gets phone calls all of the time from the candidates for president, both Republicans and Democrats, wanting him to say something good about them, but he says he has no plans to endorse anybody.

Pray for Dr. Page as he speaks on behalf of Southern Baptists, that what he says will glorify the Lord. He is doing a great job, and needs our prayers.

Report from Virgin Islands

Brittany McNair passes along the following report on our youth mission trip which she just received from Jason McNair, our student minister:

VBS at Towne Center is about 42 kids; VBS at Country Center is about 38 kids, both going great—Thursday they will take the kids from Towne Center out to Country Center and have a “big” VBS together (and water day).

Laura Mesmer is certifying the teachers in first aid and CPR. The original plan was to do that while the youth did VBS with the kids. That plan was altered and Laura teaches them in the afternoon so the youth do VBS in the AM with the kids then after lunch, they watch them again (preschoolers are sleeping so some of the youth get a “break” and the others are entertaining the school-agers).

Gerald Turner has experience in plumbing and has been fixing a lot of their problems (lots of little stuff plus has two showers working that didn’t before). This has been an unexpected blessing added to the center.

They had plans to paint the centers. That has been delayed because some of the walls hadn’t even been put up yet and the paint just arrived this morning. They should be able to begin painting this afternoon or tomorrow depending on when the “mudd” dries. They have been cleaning and preparing the old walls earlier this week.

They will be cleaning out a basement today. The yards have needed a lot of TLC, so 1/3 of the group will work on that today.

They have been singing nightly at a revival/crusade. Tonight Danielle F. will dance while Susanne H. signs. The choir will also sing two numbers tonight.

Two of our youth went forward at last night's service (a recommitment and one who feels that God may be calling him to missions—wants prayer to be the man God wants him to be where ever he is called.)

The youth are having a hard time adjusting to the “slow” pace of island living. They feel like they aren't doing enough. They are getting up at 6 a.m. to do morning prep for the day (b’fast, devotions, VBS prep, +++), doing VBS, lunch break, watching kids during teacher training, afternoon work around center, dinner, crusade (participating in and with the church), evening church group time. There are down times between each of those things and the kids get restless because they want to work. (That’s good.)

So things are going great, pray for everyone to relax and go with the flow/don’t rush things/enjoy the experience.

Sunday in the Virgin Islands

Our son called late Sunday night from St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, where he is on the mission trip with the youth group from our church.
He said that the area is hilly, and the water is very clear, it is "very hot," and he got a little sunburned. They are staying "on top of each other" in an apartment building that is part of the mission church.
On Sunday they sang at Mt. Calvary Missionary Baptist Church, and they set up for Vacation Bible School, which begins on Monday and goes through Thursday. He said that everybody is doing well.

Youth on way to St. Thomas

Our church youth and adult chaperones boarded the bus for Charlotte yesterday, and got on a plane in Charlotte this morning. They will stop over in Miami before arriving in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands.

Pray for them as they do Vacation Bible School, paint and sing at a Baptist church.

I will post any updates and pictures that I receive on this blog.