Forthright Magazine http://www.forthright.net Straight to the Cross ---- A Funny Thing by Stan Mitchell Where The Heart Relies - A Contemporary Parable by Barry Newton ---- COLUMN: Reality Check A Funny Thing by Stan Mitchell A funny thing happened on the way to Secular Humanism. The philosophy that began with man as the center of the universe, a self-aggrandizing, god-like individual who didn't need God, has now become nothing more than just another of the planet's inhabitants. Ingrid Newkirk, the founder of PETA declares, "There is no rational basis for saying that a human being has special rights. When it comes to having a central nervous system, and the ability to feel pain, hunger and thirst, a rat is a pig is a dog is a boy. Six million died in Jewish concentration camps, but six billion broiler chickens will die this year in slaughter houses." How starkly different is the Bible's view of humanity. On the one hand, there is nothing on earth as valuable as a human soul. Jesus asked what good it would be "for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his own soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?" (Matthew 16:26). Humanism degrades humanity; God values it above all else! After all, humans are created, uniquely, in God's image (Genesis 1:16,17). In what sense are we an image of God? Think of a shadow, an image that imperfectly, but distinctly, follows the image of its maker, or a son, who carries many, though not all, of his father's characteristics. So is man, reflecting God's glory, yet not quite attaining it. Yet the thing that worries me is not the thought of an animal rights activists denouncing my T-bone steak, but that when we lower our estimation of a human's value, it lowers our expectation of his behavior. A cat isn't responsible for disrespecting holy things, but a human is. An elephant cannot despise another race; humans do. Baboons cannot disregard God's will, they don't understand it; humans do both! And one day one creature will stand before the God of all the earth, and he will be responsible for his actions. A rat is not a pig, is not a dog, is not a boy. One of them is a reflection, no less than of God himself. ---- Join the conversation. Read this article online and share your thoughts with us. Click here: http://www.forthright.net/reality_check/a_funny_thing.htm ---- COLUMN: Hands-on Faith Where The Heart Relies - A Contemporary Parable by Barry Newton Two mothers within blocks of each other on a Sunday morning helped their kids through the morning routine in preparation for a worship service. Perhaps it is ironic that these families would be headed toward the same building, for although they would sing the same songs, participate in the same prayers, and listen to the same sermon, their hearts sought relational security with God from vastly different sources. If someone could have peered into their hearts, images of Jesus' tale about a Pharisee and a sinner would have sprung to life. Both sinner and "saint" had gone through the same rituals of prayer at the Temple, but the result could not have been more dramatic. The Pharisee's confidence rested upon himself to have done everything just right, while the sinner threw himself upon God's mercy to restore relationship. The sinner, not the "saint," had gone home justified. In a similar manner, the confidence of one woman rested upon her ability to worship the right God in the right manner having been baptized with the right baptism, while the other had been and would continue to rely upon Jesus. As pendulums are known to oscillate from one extreme to another, so too one day the self- righteous mother realized the error of her way. Instead of adopting a servant's heart trusting in God and worshiping him as he had requested, she declared herself free from her former slavish devotion to doing things in the right way. Empowered by her new sense of freedom and claiming a new found devotion to God, she launched out to serve God under the tutelage of her own will. Meanwhile, the children of the other mother learned that their hope rested upon God, not their ability to do everything just perfect. Nevertheless, they also learned the value of heart whose motive is "not my will but yours be done." And so they grew up to worship the right God, to be baptized with the right baptism and to offer the worship which God had requested from them. What does a story like this tell me? Realizing that our confidence should be in Christ does not release us from doing things in biblical ways. To abandon biblical ways might just reveal that the wrong object of faith has been replaced by serving the wrong will. ---- Join the conversation. Read this article online and share your thoughts with us. Click here: http://www.forthright.net/handson_faith/where_the_heart_relies_a_contemporary_parable.htm ---- You can help us get the word out. Here's how: http://www.forthright.net/editorial/lend_a_hand.htm