Randal Rauser's Blog, page 68
November 15, 2019
John Crist, you don’t get to ask your victims for forgiveness
As you’ve probably heard, Charisma Magazine’s investigative reporting identified Christian comedian John Crist’s multiple sexual liaisons with women. The thing that we need to appreciate is that Crist’s behavior is clearly predatory. He identified vulnerable young women who looked up to him, groomed them, and exploited them for his own sexual gratification.
After he was caught, Crist issued a statement in which he wrote, “I am sorry for the hurt and pain I have caused these women and will continue to seek their forgiveness.”This might sound like a step in the right direction, the idea of the offender seeking forgiveness, but the idea of sexual predators continuing to “seek forgiveness” of their victims is actually a deeply narcissistic act. You don’t get to “seek forgiveness”. What you need to do is shut up, go away, and allow your victims to heal. (And if you’ve violated laws, you need to do the time.) If your victims ever choose to contact you in the future in a process of reconciliation then that is their decision, but it isn’t your prerogative to “seek” it.
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November 14, 2019
Hell and the Image of God: A Response to Scott Clifton
Scott Clifton (aka Theoretical BS) offered a response to my YouTube video “If an atheist says they don’t think hell will be so bad, what do you say in reply?”. I’ve included his video below followed by a quick response:
Scott’s main argument in the last half of his video appears to be that I’ve offered an inconsistent view. Why? To recap, I’ve defined human beings as individuals who image God in much the way the moon reflects the light of the sun. Thus, on my view, we can understand why rejection of God is so devastating to human flourishing given that it entails the rejection of that same image in other human beings: if one rejects the light of the sun (i.e. God) then one also thereby rejects the light of the sun reflected in the moon (i.e. human images of God).
And that leads to the alleged inconsistency. In Scott’s words, I’ve defined hell as “total separation from God” and thus akin to “moonlight without the sun”. But one cannot have moonlight without the sun providing that very light. And thus, “either alienation from God does not entail alienation from other people or the very notion of hell that you’re defending is impossible.”
By way of response, first, we need to define “total separation”. This description refers to relationship (more accurately, a reciprocal shalom-bearing relationship). Within a Christian understanding of God, there can be no separation from God in an absolute sense since God preserves the creature in existence every moment by an act of will and God is omnipresent (i.e. present in knowledge and power) to every state of affairs including the state of affairs of that creature’s existing.
For Scott’s objection to be sustained, he must assume that the act of bearing the image of God is something that is only borne in virtue of voluntary relationship (i.e. as a product of that reciprocal shalom-bearing relationship). But that cannot be the case since being in the image of God is a precondition for the creature’s entering into a reciprocal shalom-bearing relationship with God. Thus, there is no inconsistency between the creature being in total separation from God, that is, lacking that reciprocal shalom-bearing relationship, and continuing to reflect the image of God (i.e. the moon reflecting the sun). Thus, there is no incompatibility as Scott alleges.
One more thing: even if one did lose the image of God in hell (i.e. fail to reflect the sun’s light) one of three things would follow:
Bearing the image of God is normative but not necessary for being human
Being human is normative but not necessary for being a particular person
Hell eventually results in the cessation of existence (i.e. annihilationism)
However, one need not even bother with 1-3 since as I first explained, there is no incompatibility to begin with.
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November 13, 2019
November 12, 2019
November 10, 2019
Why would God send people to hell?
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November 7, 2019
Does God answer the prayers of nice rich people who want to purchase a new luxury?
Jones’ newly acquired 1987 Buick GNX. Praise the Lord!
Let me tell you about Jones. He’s a very wealthy businessman, a respected philanthropist who has established an effective and impacting charitable foundation for disadvantaged youth, and a generous Christian who tithes north of 10% of his income to the church as well as an NGO that is providing clean drinking water to villages in sub-Saharan Africa.
Jones is also a car collector and he has focused in particular on amassing a collection of performance Buicks. Why Buicks? Because when Jones was a child growing up in the 1960s, his dad ran a Buick dealership and he has a deep emotional connection with the brand.
On Sunday, you overhear Jones in the church foyer come up to friends and start sharing excitedly about his charitable work with his foundation. And then he says this: “Oh, and praise the Lord, I received an answer to prayer. My bid on that 1987 mint condition Buick GNX was accepted! The Lord is good!”
Jones is clearly a generous person who is doing much good in the world. But what do you think about his statement that God answered his prayer to acquire this Buick GNX? Is that offensive? Fatuous and self-indulgent? Or is it possibly true? And if Jones praises God for victories at his business, his foundation, and his clean drinking water project, is it wrong for him to praise God for a victory in his car collection as well? After all, according to James 1:17, “Every good and perfect gift is from above” and to a Buick collector, the hallowed 1987 GNX is definitely a good gift.
What do you think?
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November 6, 2019
November 5, 2019
November 3, 2019
Open Our Eyes to the Saints in Our Midst
Dr. Helen Huston on a recent visit with Laura.
The Book of Hebrews refers to “a great cloud of witnesses”, faithful servants who have gone before us and who can offer inspiration and direction. The fact is, however, that the quiet and faithful service of these saints is often carried out far from the spotlight. And as a result, we might miss them even when they are in our midst.
As a case in point, the other day I was chatting with one of my former students, Laura Russell. For several years now, Laura has served as a missionary in Argentina and she is presently back in Canada visiting her supporters. Among those supporters is a 92-year old lady named Helen Huston.
Here’s the thing about Helen. While she has supported Laura for years, Laura only recently discovered that Helen is actually Doctor Helen Huston as she received her doctorate in medicine from the University of Alberta in 1951. From there, she devoted 39 years to working with the people of India and Nepal. For several years, she oversaw a 15-bed hospital in Kathmandu. And for more than 30 years, she worked in a small village called Amp Pipal, nestled deep in the mountains 140 kilometers north of Kathmandu. For many years, Dr. Huston was the only western medical person working in the region. In the 1960s she oversaw the building of the first hospital in Amp Pipal.
Dr. Huston working in a Nepalese hospital.
Dr. Huston returned to Canada in 1992 under the demands of mandatory retirement, but her heart remained with the people of Nepal. The impact of her work has been widely recognized. In 1980, Dr. Huston was awarded a lifetime membership in the Nepal Medical Association, the first foreigner to receive the honor. In 1984 she was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from her Alma mater. In 1991, she was the first person to receive the Sir Edmund Hillary Foundation Award for Humanitarian Services, presented by Sir Edmund himself. And she was named to the Order of Canada in 1994. (Note: All the information for this article is drawn from an article on the website for the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta.)
These days, Dr. Huston enjoys a quiet life in assisted living. But her heart remains with mission and service. And so, out of her modest retirement savings, she supports Laura’s ministry with a monthly $10 donation.
If you were to meet Dr. Huston in person, you would consider her a kind and joyous elderly lady. All the while, you might never realize you were speaking to one of the great humanitarians of the twentieth century. And one suspects that that is just the way Dr. Huston would like it.
To learn more about Dr. Huston, you can read the book A Heart for Nepal: The Dr. Helen Huston Story.
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