Memo to Mr. Osteen from John Wesley | By Ben Witherington

Memo to Mr. Osteen from John Wesley

posted by Ben Witherington at 1:36 PM  

Found here

If the Church Doesn’t Clean Its Laundry, the World Will Do It For Her

And that's not good…

CBS News has learned Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, is investigating six prominent televangelist ministries for possible financial misconduct.

Letters were sent Monday to the ministries demanding that financial statements and records be turned over to the committee by December 6th.

According to Grassley's office, the Iowa Republican is trying to determine whether or not these ministries are improperly using their tax-exempt status as churches to shield lavish lifestyles.

The six ministries identified as being under investigation by the committee are led by: Paula White, Joyce Meyer, Creflo Dollar, Eddie Long, Kenneth Copeland and Benny Hinn. Three of the six - Benny Hinn, Kenneth Copeland and Creflo Dollar - also sit on the Board of Regents for the Oral Roberts University.

A spokesperson for Joyce Meyer Ministries provided CBS News with an IRS letter to the ministry dated October 10, 2007, that stated: "We determined that you continue to qualify as an organization exempt from Federal income tax." The letter could not be independently verified in time for this story. The ministry also pointed to audited financial statements for the last three years that are posted on the organization's Web site.

In a statement, Benny Hinn's spokesperson, Ronn Torossian, said the ministry was in the process of determining the best course of action in response to the Senate investigation. "World Healing Center Church complies with the laws that govern church and non-profit organizations and will continue to do so," Torossian wrote.

In a statement to CBS News, Creflo Dollar called his ministry an "open book" and said he would comply with any "valid request" from Grassley. But he noted that the inquiry raised questions that could "affect the privacy of every community church in America."

The other three ministries did not respond to requests for comment from CBS News on Monday.

Because they have tax status as churches, the ministries do not have to file IRS 990 forms like other non-profit organizations - leaving much financial information largely behind closed doors.

The letters sent Monday were the culmination of a long investigation fueled in part by complaints from Ole Anthony, a crusader against religious fraud who operates the Dallas-based Trinity Foundation, which describes itself as a watchdog monitoring religious media, fraud and abuse. "We've been working with them for two years," Anthony told CBS News. "We have furnished them with enough information to fill a small Volkswagen."

Anthony said after twenty years of working with media organizations to expose televangelists, he saw little reform. He says that's why he turned to another tactic, going straight to Grassley. He is confident that Grassley's inquiry will be different, "What we hope is that this will lead to reform in religious nonprofits."

The structure of many televangelist organizations - in which the leadership is often concentrated in one person or one family - has itself been the target of criticism. "Churches like these are ruled as a dictatorship," says Rod Pitzer, who directs research at Ministry Watch in North Carolina, which provides advice for donors to Christian organizations.

Pitzer welcomes the Senate committee investigation. Ministries lacking accountability, he says, "give a black eye to churches and Christians who are trying to do things in the right manner."

By Laura Strickler © MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Found Here

Well, at least someone is doing something about it.

What the church needs now, is love, sweet love…

No amount of theological enquiry, seminars or admonition could get one over the starboard bow like media can - and funny media at that. These two videos pretty much describe the state of the prosperity crowd now a days, including those meddling is soft porn prospertiy gospel.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouNmyx1K-4E[/video]

AND

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUbkn882XBc[/video]

Sin and the Issue of Illegal Immigration

There was a panel discussion on Immigration from a Theological Perspective at the University of Dallas last night. I applaude their efforts at being an insitution that at least tried to address this issue from a theological point of view. There were some good ideas as well as some pointed questions but overall the event went well. However, I wanted to write to some of the participants about an issue that I think should be considered when dealing with the illegal immigrant situation. Below was my email:

Folks, I first want to appreciate the effort that was done to take on this monumental and sticky topic. I know that we did not know what to expect, seeing that this issue has been a hot agenda at the local level. The event was well planned and efficiently moderated with few hiccups, if any. As a Hispanic and a beginning student at the school of ministry, I felt proud to see that the school opened up its door to deal with such topics.

I wished that I had to opportunity to share this but I wanted to be conscious of the time and make room for some of the more seasoned folks to chime in. With that said, I just wanted to mention something that was somewhat, but not explicitly, mentioned during the presentation. It is the basic but essential issue of sin. I know that this word does not amount to much in our postmodern world because we have euphemized it to death. However, a basic understanding of this word tell us a lot about who God us and who we are. Before I develop this notion a bit more and how it relates to the immigration issue, let me say that I was very pleased to hear words and phrases such as “human rights,” “the moral law,” and “made in God’s image.” Much to the emotional upset of some, this at least established a solid platform from which we could see and deal with Immigration, from a Theological Perspective.

Nevertheless, let me relate an experience I had when I first received the press release of this event and how this will tie with the above topic. I decided to circulate this to several “Christian” circles to see if anyone was interested in attending. I then received a response from one gentleman who was a Christian researcher of some kind and proceeded to tell me that “These people are just people who placate illegal immigration.”  “I speak with experience.” “I do a Cable show exposing illegal immigration and have gone through it all with these people, especially the Churches.” “The "Alien Resident" argument doesn't apply here.” He then proceeded to direct me to one of his “cable shows” on the internet that “exposed illegal immigration.” The video did not mince words and at times seemed a bit vitriolic and borderline hateful. Moreover, the show aired a clip of another show where the gentleman there was going to “tell it like it is” and proceeded to call all illegal immigrants “filthy cockroaches.” To be honest, this disturbed me deeply – that those within our camp would have such a horrid description of illegal immigrants. It was futile to engage in any reasonable conversation with someone who had such a terrible social, and psychological bent of hatred and disrespect.

Back to the event - while this did not have any of the marks of the above situation, there was a question or two that sparked the above concept of sin and the human condition as it related to illegal immigration. There were some great points that were raised as well as some challenging questions. But the issue I would like for us to introspectively ask is “what is the condition of my heart in regards to these issues?” Or better yet, “what is the real motivation for my strong opinion on this matter?” I think we (myself included) need to take ourselves to task and ask these penetrating questions when dealing with any issue that has to do with humans. It gave me a chuckle to hear statements like “what part of illegal immigration do you not understand?” I think that most of us understand illegal immigration very well but we are tied to the political, socio-economical, post 9-11 everyone across our borders is a terrorist, agendas that stagnate the congressional waters of our “legal system.” Nevertheless, a more fundamental question should be “what part of illegal immigration is an actual legitimate issue and what part of it is an emotional, or even (may I say?) sinful one?

I couldn’t of agreed more with some of the solutions proposed by Owen Ross as well as some of the more stringent ones proposed by members of the audience. I will also admit that this is a serious issue and that we need to fix and implement whatever immigration laws need to be in place in order to perpetuate the survivability of our country as well as the protection of our security interest in addition to meeting the most basic human needs (legal or illegal). Nevertheless, I will challenge each one of the readers that we be a bit more honest and ask if these issues are motivated by the above principals only or if his or her judgment has been clouded because we feel as though “our space” is slowly being consumed by these “illegals,” who deplete our resources and are erasing what we know to be “the American way of living.” Why am I saying this? Do I know the intentions of the heart? That would be a resounding no! Only God knows the true intentions of the heart and the last time I checked the closest thing to a throne in my house is called a commode. Nevertheless, I can speak from experience. Even I, as a Hispanic, Latino, Mexican-American or whatever I am to be called, have had these feelings with my own kind! I will admit my sin and territorial arrogance when I say that sometimes, just sometimes, I am not too happy with everything that comes across the border. But once I realized that, I asked myself, “is it really about a border per say?” I think that a more fundamental issue is at stake and you could call it by its subcategories such as arrogance, sectarianism, pride, or even racism. However, sin is at the root of all of it.

In some cases I would venture to say that if it were really about laws (a very much discussed thread at tonight’s panel discussion), then why don’t we see people protesting about tougher laws against speeding. You don’t see the multitudes going to congress by the droves declaring that it is so unfair that there are so many people breaking the speeding laws that we just need to impose tougher restrictions, heavier fines, sophisticated equipment, etc. If you think about it, speeding has also caused a lot of damage such as fatal accidents, children’s safety compromised, higher insurance premiums and so on. Nevertheless, since it doesn’t carry much of the emotional baggage that immigration does, we just don’t see it as an issue we care to talk about….unless, we get a ticket for speeding. I think that what I’m suggesting  is (I’m still working this out) that lets be careful of not letting our prejudices and violated comfort zones cloud our judgment when it comes to immigration policies. As was mentioned last night, there were many laws that were in place such as slavery and women’s status in society that just because they were laws didn’t mean that they were right. In fact, the bible tell us of a rich young ruler who kept all of the laws since he was a boy (Mark 10:18-21). However, Jesus knew his heart and since his vertical relationship was not in line, Jesus proceeded to expose him horizontally and see if he could at least give everything he had. The Bible says that he “went away sad because he had great wealth.” Let me steal this analogy and say that we might come up with a great and reformed immigration policy that will accomplish what is needed to fix this situation, but what after that? If the vertical is not in line with God, it doesn’t matter if we are successful. We have already failed on the inside.

International Conference on Natural Theology | Beyond Paley: Renewing the vision for Natural Theology

International Conference on Natural Theology
 
Beyond Paley: Renewing the vision for Natural Theology
 
23-25 June 2008, Museum of Natural History, 
Oxford University

A major international conference on natural theology will be held at Oxford University from 23 – 25 June 2008, entitled “Beyond Paley: Renewing the Vision for Natural Theology”. The conference will review every aspect of the question of whether the divine can be known through nature, aiming to stimulate discussion of the scientific, theological, historical, philosophical and broader cultural aspects of this important issue.

The conference is named after William Paley (1743-1805), whose celebrated Natural Theology (1801) is widely regarded as one of the most important historical statements of this approach. It is clear that the approach stands in need of substantial renewal and redirection, in the light of the many scientific, philosophical and theological criticisms directed against it. The conference will aim to craft new approaches in the light of developments since then.

This conference, in addition to reviewing past approaches, will seek to chart some new directions for natural theology, especially in the light of recent scientific exploration of so-called “anthropic” phenomena. There is considerable interest in these questions at every level of the academic world, as well as in the media. This conference is likely to attract much attention from the media and academy, and is certain to catalyse further discussion for years to come.

This conference will be held in the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, designed by John Ruskin. Appropriately enough, at one stage it was proposed to name this building the “Museum of Natural Theology”. This magnificent neo-Gothic Grade I listed building contains scientific collections gathered over a period of three centuries. It was opened in 1860, and is widely regarded as one of the finest of its kind. The Museum includes a state of the art lecture theatre, fully equipped for digital presentations. Accommodation will be at St Anne’s College, close to the conference venue, but conference delegates are welcome to make their own arrangements with local hotels and guest houses.

We are negotiating to see if it may be possible for conference delegates to view the room (no longer open to the public) in which Samuel Wilberforce and Thomas Huxley debated Darwin's Origin of Species during the 1860 meeting of the British Association.

Confirmed speakers and topics include:

Dr Justin Barrett, Senior Director of the Centre for Anthropology and Mind, Oxford University. His publications include Why Would Anyone Believe in God? (AltaMira, 2004), described by Pascal Boyer as “a brilliant and challenging presentation of the cognitive study of religion, by a psychologist who practically invented the field.” Dr Barrett will explore the relevance of the emerging field of the cognitive science of religion for natural theology.

Topic: How “natural” is natural theology?

Jeremy Begbie, Professor of Theology at the University of St Andrews, Scotland, and Associate Principal of Ridley Hall, Cambridge. Professor Begbie’s research interests are principally in the interplay between theology and the arts. His publications in this field include Voicing Creation’s Praise: Towards a Theology of the Arts (T&  Clark, 1991) and Theology, Music and Time (Cambridge University Press, 2000).

Topic: Natural theology and the arts.

John Hedley Brooke, formerly Andreas Idreos Professor of Science and Religion, Oxford University, and presently Fellow of the Institute of Advanced Studies, Durham University. Professor Brooke has a long-standing interest in the development of natural theology. His publications include the prize-winning book, Science and Religion: Some Historical Perspectives (Cambridge University Press, 1991), and more recently, Heterodoxy in Early Modern Science & Religion, co-edited with Ian Maclean (Oxford University Press, 2005).

Topic: The historical development of British natural theology.

Simon Conway Morris, FRS, Professor of Evolutionary Palaeobiology at the University of Cambridge. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society aged 39, was awarded the Walcott Medal of the National Academy of Sciences in 1987, and the Lyell Medal of the Geological Society of London in 1998. His publications include The Crucible of Creation (Oxford University Press, 1998) and Life’s Solution: Inevitable Humans in an Lonely Universe (Cambridge University Press, 2003). His 2007 Gifford Lecture at the University of Edinburgh was entitled “Darwin's Compass: How Evolution Discovers the Song of Creation”.

Topic: New developments in evolutionary biology and the redirection of natural theology.

Hilary Fraser, Geoffrey Tillotson Professor in Nineteenth-Century Studies, and Head of School, English & Humanities, Birkbeck College, University of London. In her Beauty and Belief: Aesthetics and Religion in Victorian Literature (Cambridge University Press, 1986), Dr Fraser explored the link between natural beauty and religion, a theme which she will develop in this conference address with particular reference to natural theology in the writings of John Ruskin and Gerard Manley Hopkins. Her more recent publications include The Victorians and Renaissance Italy (Blackwell, 1992), and English Prose of the Nineteenth Century (Longmans,1997).

Topic: Natural beauty and natural theology in Nineteenth Century Writers

Peter Harrison, Andreas Idreos Professor of Science and Religion, Oxford University. He has published extensively in the area of cultural and intellectual history with a focus on the philosophical, scientific and religious thought of the early modern period. His publications include 'Religion' and the Religions in the English Enlightenment ( Cambridge University Press, 1990) and The Bible, Protestantism, and the Rise of Natural Science (Cambridge University Press, 1998).

Topic: Reading the “Book of Nature” in the Early Modern Period

John Haught, Landegger Distinguished Professor of Theology at Georgetown University, Washington, DC. He was the winner of the 2002 Owen Garrigan Award in Science and Religion. He has written extensively on the importance of Darwinism for Christian theology, including God After Darwin: A Theology of Evolution (Westview Press, 2000), and Deeper Than Darwin: The Prospect for Religion in the Age of Evolution (Westview Press, 2003).

Topic: The Challenges of Darwinism for Natural Theology

Alister McGrath, Professor of Historical Theology, Oxford University. Dr McGrath has a special interest in the relation of the natural sciences and Christian theology. His recent publications include A Scientific Theology (3 vols, T&T Clark, 2001-3) and the forthcoming The Open Secret: A New Vision for Natural Theology (Blackwell, 2008). He will deliver the Gifford Lectures at the University of Aberdeen in 2009 on the theme of the place of anthropic reasoning in contemporary natural theology.

Topic: The theological basis of natural theology

Richard Swinburne, FBA,  Emeritus Nolloth Professor of the Philosophy of the Christian Religion, University of Oxford. Dr Swinburne is one of the best-known and most widely read contemporary philosophers of religion. His recent publications include new editions of his Faith and Reason (Clarendon Press, 2005) and The Existence of God (Clarendon Press, 2004). He has dealt with natural theology at many points in his writings.

Topic: Natural theology: the current state of the debate within philosophy of religion.

Keith Ward, FBA, Gresham Professor of Divinity, Gresham College, London, and formerly Regius Professor of Divinity, Oxford University. Dr Ward has written extensively in this field, especially in relation to the interface of science and religion. His works include God, Chance and Necessity (Oneworld, 1996)and Pascal’s Fire: Scientific Faith and Religious Understanding (Oneworld, 2006).

Topic: The Arthur Peacocke memorial lecture: the future for natural theology. [This lecture will be open to the public, and will take place in the University Church of St Mary the Virgin, Oxford].

Other speakers are being approached. A conference brochure is in preparation, which will be published in various formats, including a version to be distributed on the web.

Applications will be received from 1 January 2008.

Call for papers:

Papers are invited for presentation at the conference and publication on the web site. These should be limited to 15 minute oral presentations, although longer versions of the paper can be posted on the website. Applications should be received by 15 November 2007; decisions will be notified to the e-mail address supplied by 1 January 2008. We particularly encourage submission of papers in the following broad areas, although other areas are also welcome:

The history of natural theology

The philosophical foundations of natural theology

The place of the natural sciences in natural theology

The theological evaluation of natural theology

Applications should take the following form: A 200-300 word description of the topic to be addressed, including your assessment of its significance; a brief curriculum vitae (no more than a single side) including publications relevant to your proposed topic; and an e-mail address that will be active up to the time of the conference itself. Please submit applications as a Word attachment by e-mail, marking the message “Proposed Paper for Oxford Natural Theology Conference” to the convenor, Professor Alister McGrath, at the following address:

Alister.McGrath@hmc.ox.ac.uk

Bursaries

We will be offering a limited number of student bursaries to promising graduates who might wish to develop research in this area, and will provide further details of this shortly. These bursaries will cover the conference fee but not accommodation costs.

You are welcome to circulate this updated notice to anyone who might be interested in attending this conference.

Alister E. McGrath, Convenor
Professor of Historical Theology, Oxford University

Last updated: 24 September 2007