Winning America's Heart Back by Amanda Read (11/16/09)

How often have you looked at someone who passionately disagrees with everything you stand for and thought, “just look at the facts! You can’t argue with facts, if these people would just look at the truth they would have to change their minds!”? I’m discovering that with some people, no matter how often the facts are crammed down their throats, their beliefs will not change.

This summer a little book by C.S. Lewis caught my attention. In The Abolition of Man: How Education Develops Man’s Sense of Morality, Lewis taps into how the educational establishment controls the way people believe. His analysis surprised me, but the more I thought about it, the more it appeared to be true. The secret to educators’ success in controlling the culture is not their appeal to intelligence or rationality, but their appeal to emotions. To put it memorably, brainwashing has more to do with the heart than the mind...

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Why Study Historical Costume? Analysis by Jennie Chancey

Jennie Chancey gives a fascinating analysis of why the study of historical costume is more than just an enjoyable hobby:

"...The study of clothing isn’t therefore just a frivolous hobby for me or something I do for the sheer fun of it. It is fun, but I take it as seriously as I take the study of any other facet of history or literature. Clothing has told a story from the Garden of Eden onward, and to ignore the story or pretend it doesn’t matter is to become bound up in our own age as the be-all and end-all of civilization–which it most certainly is not. When I study portraits of my foremothers, I see character leap from the canvas. I gain a better understanding of biography, of place, of historical antecedents. It’s why I’m so grateful I have photographs of my ancestors dating back to the 1840s. It’s why I absolutely love the fact that the Proverbs 31 woman is represented as clothed with feminine dignity..."

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Comprehensive Atheist Bible Study on the Gospel of Luke (by Ray Comfort)

Ray Comfort is doing a study of the Gospel of Luke at his blog, Atheist Central.

"However, thanks to Bruce and his Bible, I was inspired during the following night to begin a comprehensive atheist Bible study on the Gospel of Luke. Why Luke? Because that’s what I had been reading and thinking of how atheists should read this wonderful book.

So, we are going to give Luke an autopsy and dissect every verse, scrutinize it, find out its meaning, and leave the conclusion to the skeptic who has dared to set aside his prejudices and look solely at the evidence, wherever it may lead him. My hope is that, as with each of the four gospels, it will lead you to the cross. Feel free to join me. Get your scalpel ready. Here goes..."

Continue reading the series below:

Circular Reasoning
The Catholic Church and Peter
Steven Spielberg Blew it
Extra Terrestrial Beings
Unbelief for Dummies
Don't be Like Them
A Word Atheists Shouldn't Use
How to Read the Bible and Stay in the Dark
"Sorry Elizabeth." Richard Gunther (cartoonist)
Back to Doctor Luke
...and more

From "Circular Reasoning":

"God was the author, and men were simply the "pens" He used to communicate His Word to humanity. Does it live up to this claim? After searching the Scriptures daily for almost 40 years, I am persuaded beyond doubt that it does.

Luke was also the (Ghost-writing) author of the Book of Acts. As a doctor, his narrative is methodical, and very meticulous. The book was written around 60 years after Christ (1).

It begins, as does the Book of Acts, by addressing a man named "Theophilus." It would seem that this "most excellent Theophilus" was a Roman official, and not merely a friend or associate of Luke. Yet nothing is known about him from other historical evidence. Perhaps he was simply a Roman officer who expressed an interest in Christianity, and who better to write to him than a man who said that he "had perfect understanding of all things from the very first"? So the question comes down to, do we trust Doctor Luke? Should we unquestioningly swallow everything he prescribes in this letter? Of course not. More than 200,000 people die each year because they trusted the medical profession(2). Honest skepticism is healthy.

The reason why Luke wrote to Theophilus "an orderly account," was that he "may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed." In a world of uncertainty, Luke was hoping to give him the certainty of a solid rock upon which he could build--an "anchor of the soul" upon which he could trust."

ALERT: Christian Girl From Muslim Family Runs For Her Life in U.S.A.

Rifqa Bary is the 17-year-old daughter of Muslim immigrants from Sri Lanka that reside in Ohio. She says she came to know Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior four years ago, and when her parents discovered her conversion this summer she fled to Florida to escape the very real possibility of being taken back to Sri Lanka to be disposed of in an "honor killing" or to be placed in an insane asylum. Listen to Rifqa explain her peril in her own words:



The girl's full name is said to be Fathima Rifqa Bary, but she only calls herself Rifqa, which is actually a form of the Biblical name Rebekah. Let us keep her in our prayers.
Pamela Geller of Atlas Shrugs has exclusive in-depth research on the case at http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/rifqa-bary-slow-motion-honor-killing/.

Origin of the Unoriginal: Episode I by Amanda Read, (8/18/09)

Are you prepared for the drama…the romance…the comedy…of the original science fiction story? Ironically, it happens to be a true story. Sit right back and you’ll hear how the unbelievable hypothesis became the darling tale of a once scientific Western Civilization.

The origin of the universe is the ultimate nucleus of all debate. “Where did we come from?” – that very question, in all its cliché simplicity, is the prequel to the ultimate factors that determine an individual’s worldview. It challenges a person to decide how to regard life, death, the universe and morality. There is no detouring around it, though there are so many intellectual “scientific” thinkers that insist upon imagining fine print complexities and tut-tutting away all supposedly childish speculations because they would much rather have the public quietly accept their theoretical spoon feeding. Perhaps this sort of situation has always existed in civilization to some extent. In the past two centuries, so much has happened so quickly that probably few have given much thought to the fact that the debate of origins was given a very peculiar treatment not too long ago. Ah, it doesn’t appear too out of the ordinary anymore, because we have grown up immersed in it, regardless of which side of the debate we actually stand on. But there are plenty of extraordinary things in history that no one likes to talk about any more. Perhaps this has become one of them...

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Resurrecting Two Great Queens by Anna Sofia & Elizabeth Botkin, (7/16/09)

We think it is important for us to study the great women of the past — to be inspired by their examples, to learn from their mistakes, to study how God uses people for His glory.

For the Reformation 500 Celebration in Boston two weeks ago, we were given the opportunity to come as historical reenactors — a new experience for both of us, but one we’re very grateful for...

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(Image by Luke Historians, with photographs from Visionary Daughters)

UPDATE:
Also check out the Botkin family's latest completed project, Illustrated Timeline of the Reformation, available at the First Pacific Media store.

Cream Puff Culture by Amanda Read (7/09/09)

“One reason why sin flourishes is that it is treated like a cream puff instead of a rattlesnake.”

– Billy Sunday

I recall reading that quote in one of my Christian Daily Planner journals when I was about ten years old. It didn’t strike me as being a very profound quote at the time, but it remained vivid in my mind. Then one day I fully comprehended the point – people treat sin like a cream puff by telling themselves, “Just a little taste of it here and there won’t hurt anybody,” when they should be avoiding it like a deadly, venomous snake. Perhaps out of fear of working too hard to be pure and righteous – as many fantasize our old-fashioned ancestors to have done – our nation at the relatively youthful age of 233 is a land of cream puffs that don’t see the serpent coming.

“We’ll overtake you soon because we have more children than you,” a Muslim doctor once told my great-uncle. I’m sure we’ve all heard some variation of the fact before: the average Muslim family has 8.1 children, while the American birth rate barely reaches the bare minimum for a culture to survive beyond 25 years – 2.11 children – and that is counting the influx of Latino immigration. Discounting the immigrants, the fertility rate of American citizens is a scanty 1.6. This means that there is a good chance the United States of America could become an Islamic-dominated nation (along with European nations) within 50 years unless something changes soon...

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UPDATE:

A new article provides more insight: Fact Checking Muslim Demographics

(Image by The Cross-Eyed Blog and Webzine)