Volume 3 Number 24 December 24, 2008

MarketFaith Ministries is an equipping ministry which is focused on helping Christians become more effective
in living out their faith in the midst of the increasingly diverse worldview environment of modern society.
Introduction

I am not an alarmist. No matter what happens in the future, good or bad, I am determined to walk the walk. I recognize
that the life I live is not about me and my comfort and material success, it is about allowing God to accomplish his purpose
in my life. There are many paradoxical elements to this life, and sometimes God’s greatest work is accomplished through
some of the worst circumstances.

With that being said, I do want to be prepared for coming tough times, and want you to be ready, as well. There is a defi-
nite tide that is turning in America against the Christian faith in general and Christians in particular. It is being manifested
in many ways, some of them overt and some more subtle. Today we are going to examine one of the more subtle ele-
ments – though it underlies the other. It is the attack on the authority source of our faith. I hope that today’s article gives
you insight which will help you as you stand strong for your faith in Jesus Christ.

Now I want to take this opportunity to thank all of you who have contributed to the Worldview Summit for Ministry Profes-
sionals. It is coming up just after the new year and we are diligently preparing to make it a success. It is still not too late to

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The Authority Wars

So, you think that the reports of the persecution of Chris-
tians in America is overblown? I mean, this is America, right
... the land of free speech and religious freedom?
Well, the increasing attacks on our Christian faith in general
and the expression of that faith in particular is increasing
exponentially. If things continue the way they are going, it
will literally be only a few short years before Christians see
persecution like you might expect in a third world nation.
Just recently, in the cover story of the December 15 edition
of Newsweek Magazine, we got another glimpse of the ten-
dency. This one does not relate to something that a Chris-
tian did and received persecution as a result. Those kinds
of cases are bad enough. But in many ways, this is even
more sinister. What we have here is the religion editor of
Newsweek Magazine, Lisa Miller, writing an article trying to
literally destroy the very foundation of the Christian faith.
The article was in response to the states of California, Flori-
da and Arizona voting to codify heterosexual marriage in
their state constitutions. Since losing these elections, homo-
sexual activists have been livid and have expressed their
anger in multiple ways. We have seen physical assaults on
individuals, the sending of terrorist threats to organizations
who oppose their point of view, vandalism on the homes of
people who supported the amendments, nationwide dem-
onstrations and pressure being put on companies and other
organizations to fire people who contributed to the winning
campaigns.
The Newsweek article is another Molotov cocktail thrown in
this fight. What the religion editor did was to positively as-
sert that the Bible does not say homosexual marriage is
wrong, and she maintained that no sensible modern person
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(Introduction - Continued from page 1)

make a contribution if you would like to help with this. We are working to share this seminar with ministry professionals
in a format which is without cost to the participants because we believe that pastors and other who lead our churches
are key in training the body of Christ to stand strong for him. If you would be willing to help us with this project, please
send your tax deductible donation to MarketFaith Ministries, 321 Anton Dr., Tallahassee, FL 32312. It is also possible to
donate online at the MarketFaith Ministries website at www.marketfaith.org. Simply click on the “donate” button. We
would deeply appreciate your support.

I also want to take this opportunity to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas. We are so blessed to personally know the
one who came to earth to provide eternal life to us. And, as always, please feel free to contact me at any time with your
thoughts, opinions and suggestions. It is always a joy to hear from you.

God bless,
Freddy

(Authority Wars - Continued from page 1)

wants marriage to look like what the Bible describes. There is much more, but essentially what we have here is an all out
assault on the very reliability and authority of the Bible itself.

But that is not all, Newsweek editor Jon Meacham follows up with an editorial backing up the content of the cover article
and denigrating “religious conservatives” as out of touch with reality and telling the Christians to “bring it on.” In other
words, Newsweek has blatantly put its support behind the radical homosexual agenda, and directly and intentionally set
itself in opposition to Bible believing Christians.

So, why is this important? It is important because Newsweek Magazine is one of the major instruments of the American
media. The power they wield is enormous in influencing people. But even more than influencing people, their voice rep-
resents a very large and powerful group of people who are already in place. Since this magazine actually advocates a
position which sanctions the putting down of Christians and their beliefs, we can surmise that overt actions to back up
that position cannot be far behind.

It is one thing to disagree with an opposing point of view and voice that opposition. As Christians, we do the same thing.
But it is another thing altogether to take your opponent’s authority source and interpret it in ways which are not consistent
with what it actually says. It is absolutely fair to analyze a belief system’s authority source and evaluate its legitimacy, but
the analysis must be handled truthfully.

A worldview’s authority source is the very foundation of its legitimacy. It is in making this analysis that we are able to de-
termine whether or not the belief system represents the truth. If the authority source validly expresses the truth, the
worldview belief is true. If it does not, the worldview falls apart. So, an analysis of the authority is important. But, if the
one doing the analysis has an agenda and does not truthfully approach the task, the analytical process becomes mali-
cious and the result is unreliable.

So, what about the Newsweek article? What is the basis upon which the religion editor makes her critique?

(Continued on page 3)

Find these books along with other

great worldview resources at
www.marketfaith.org

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(Authority Wars - Continued from page 2)

When analyzing a worldview authority, the first step is to determine the worldview position that the belief system repre-
sents. In this case, Christianity represents a Theistic belief system. Based on that understanding, one must then deter-
mine its authority source and break it down to see whether or not it stands up to scrutiny.

In Newsweek’s case, however, they never did the first step. They assume Naturalistic presuppositions from the beginning
and do their analysis based on that. In other words, they assume from the beginning that the Bible is merely an ancient,
man made holy book and that there is no transcendent God who revealed the content of the book. The way this is ap-
proached in the article is that the truths contained in the Bible have to be reinterpreted in each generation to make them
relevant to the times. As such, the assertion is that the truth itself is relative. What they have done is to interpret one
worldview through the lens of another in order to discredit the one they don’t like.

In taking this approach, Newsweek runs into a massive problem. It puts their own worldview in the block for analysis. And
when that is done, the Newsweek approach comes up woefully short.

Since, the Newsweek article is approached from a Naturalistic point of view, we must ask, “Where does Lisa Miller get her
authority to interpret the Bible the way she does? The short answer is that she made it up herself. The underlying authori-
ty for a Naturalistic approach to worldview is human reason. For the Naturalist there is nothing else. They do not acknowl-
edge the existence of anything supernatural, so the natural is all they have to draw on. When it comes to affirming their
beliefs, only human beings are capable of contemplating religious ideas, so only human reason is available to draw upon.

But who arbitrates between conflicting interpretations when

different humans reason to different conclusions? How
does a Naturalist deal with questions which do not have
empirical answers? And supposing the supernatural actual- Subscription Information
ly does exist, how could a Naturalist even talk about the
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Her conclusion is an attempt to impose a Naturalistic an-
swer on a belief system which asserts that the supernatural Past Issues of Worldview Made Practical are available
does exist. If she is intent on discrediting the Christian be- free of charge in .pdf (Acrobat) format in the archives at
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come up with new ideas about how to interpret the Bible
based on a different worldview (which is what she tries to
do). Rather, she must show that the Bible itself tells un- PERMISSION TO REPRINT: If you wish to reprint this
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So, what is the endgame that Newsweek is trying to ac-
complish? Plain and simple, they are trying to destroy the Reprinted from Worldview Made Practical; a free e-zine
Christian faith. While this is not the only publication that produced by MarketFaith Ministries featuring practical
has turned blatantly anti-Christian, it is a big one. And, as teaching and life tools to help Christians become more ef-
Christians, we better prepare ourselves for the onslaught. fective in their faith life. Discover MarketFaith Ministries at
This is not a cry to hunker down and try to weather the www.marketfaith.org.
storm. It is a call to prepare ourselves to do battle. The
Christian faith has more to commend it than anything Natu-
ralists can come up with. But our weapons are no good if
we do not know how to use them.
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I want to encourage you to get up to speed on your under-
standing of worldview and give you courage as you stand
The purpose of MarketFaith Ministries is to equip the Body
strong in the face of opposition. God’s truth is powerful and
of Christ to become more effective by sharing the practical
it will ultimately win out. But for it to win out in our lives indi-
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In the next Issue: Why Worldview Matters: the Effect of
tries, 321 Anton Dr., Tallahassee, FL 32312.
Worldview on How You Live Life