Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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2 -1
CHALCEDON REPORT, OCTOBER 1994
industrial setting. Today the U . S . literacy rate lags
ILLUSIONS & severely behind other developed nations. T h i s lag is
caused by the low scores of students in the inner cities -
Basic Definition
I n its most basic sense, the term "disciple" simply
DISCIPLESHIP! means " a student." T h e word "student" though often
carries certain conceptual baggage that confuses the is-
TRAINING THE NEXT sue. Some of us remember our student days with less than
fond reflection (and if schools had memories, they might
GENERATION OF regard us the same way . . . ) . Others, especially if edu-
WARRIORS cated in the public school system, may remember their
experiences as a time of fun and frolic, meeting new
By Rev. Brian M. Abshire people and generally having a good time. I n this sense
being a "student" was the price one paid in order to
A hot topic in the business world is called "mentoring." 'party hearty.' B o t h of these concepts obscure the signifi-
It seems that business has "discovered" that the most cance of the word "student" and thus can color our un-
effective way of passing on the skills, knowledge and derstanding of the term "disciple."
insights of the older generation is through developing an
intimate, personal relationship with young hopefuls. I t ' s The Disciple as an Apprentice
not just business acumen that is important, but the entire T h e word translated "disciple" in our English Bibles is
life-style of the mentor. T h e hit films Wall Street in the the G r e e k term mathetes. T h e word "mathetes" was used
eighties and The Firm in the nineties both show young in several different ways at the time of Jesus. Mathetes
college graduates being indoctrinated into the " R e a l was sometimes used much like our word "apprentice."
World." O f course, this also required mentoring the young T h e first century G r e c o - R o m a n world did not send its
men into sin, vice, greed, corruption and godless living. young people to technical training colleges in order to
Many "user friendly" churches, taking their cue from equip them to be craftsmen. Instead, a young man who
the business world, are also talking about "mentoring" desired to learn an honest trade would be apprenticed to
these days. T h e r e are several popular books available, all an older, skilled craftsman who took him into his house,
offering unique "insights" on how the Church can adopt made the lad a member of his family and instructed him
this secular model of training. A s I began this article, I in the skills of his craft.
had intended writing a penetrating acerbic and (hope- T h e young man often lived in the craftsman house,
fully) witty critique of "mentoring," exposing yet another swept his floors and cleaned his tools. A s the lad showed
humanistic infiltration into the church. B u t after reflec- faithfulness and diligence he would be allowed greater
tion and prayer, I am going to resist temptation. Y e s , and greater responsibility. T h e senior craftsman taught
excesses, apostasy and sin must be exposed. T h e r e is a the young man more than just the technical skills he
desperate need for critical thinking among Christians. needed to perform his job. A vital part of an apprentice's
W e live in a "crooked and perverted generation" and The education would be to learn the value system of the
Chalcedon Report is the best of a very few publications members of his profession. T h e craftsman taught the ap-
that has the courage and wisdom to expose the crooks prentice to be a responsible and careful worker, giving
and perverts Biblically. B u t an old friend once said the good value for money. H e was taught diligence, honesty
best way to show that a stick is twisted is by laying a and craftsmanship. T h e results of such an education can
straight one beside it. be seen in the quality of the ancient craftsman's work.
Thus I ' d rather focus on what the Bible teaches we T h e prolific remains of ancient G r e e k and R o m a n civili-
should do, rather than just criticize what we too often do zation abound throughout Europe. T o be the mathetes in
(or don't do). T h e simple fact is that we desperately need the sense of being an apprentice meant to be trained into
trained men for the cultural battles we are facing. Sadly, the complete world view of his master. It meant to learn
seminaries can't do it and churches won't do it. Most of more than just the skills of the craft. It required the
"Consider the words of Paul in Romans 8:7: "the mind of The suppression of Biblical truth to which V a n T i l re-
the flesh is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law fers, is the self conscious daily program of the anti-Chris-
of God, neither indeed can it be." The mentality of those who tian, government-controlled schools.
are unregenerate (those who are in the flesh) cannot subject We must, as Christians, embrace self consciously two
itself to the truth of God's Word. There is then, no peace fundamental Biblical presuppositions. These two presup-
between the mindset (emp. added) of the unbeliever and the positions, among others, must frame everything we think
mind of God (which believers seek to reflect, (cf. 1 Cor. 2:16; about society, in general, and frame how we think about
John 15:15). They are rather at "enmity" with each other. education in particular. First, Christianity is inescapably
"Paul similarly describes the unregenerate, unreconciled locked in a God imposed conflict against ail non-Christian
spiritual condition of unbelievers in Colossians 1:21, when he ideas and institutions." This conflict,/mpo^ed by the triune
says "they are alienated and enemies in their mind" (enemies C o d , cannot be disengaged until C o d Himself ends it;
in their mind) and against God. The "enmity" is specifically either by the regenerating work of C o d the Holy Spirit or
one which is worked out "in the mind" or thinking of the at the final consummation of human history. This hostility,
unbeliever. The unbeliever is unable to be subject to the law's conflict, and war is both inward and outward. That is, at its
greatest command which is "to love the Lord your God with root, the unregenerate mind of the unbeliever is engaged in
all your heart, with all of your sou! and with all of your mind" intellectual rebellion and lawlessness toward C o d and
(Matt.22:36-37). Instead, the unbeliever "hates the wisdom therefore is visibly engaged in a mortal combat with C o d
and instruction" of God as Proverbs 1:7 puts it. Although the and His Kingdom. T h e fruit of that combat is seen in the
fear of the Lord is the beginning — the very starting point — things the unbeliever does, personally corporately, and
of knowledge, there is no fear of God before the unbeliever's culturally.
eyes (Row. 3:18). He is, as such, kept from realizing any of the This leads to the second presupposition. There is an
"treasures of wisdom and knowledge" which are deposited in inextricable connection between what men believe and
Christ (Col. 2:3). The unbeliever's intellectual enmity against how men live and act. A l l that any society is, visibly, in
God is simultaneously his epistemological undoing " terms of its institutions and its problems, results from the
inescapable connection between the ideas men embrace
Bahnsen goes on to say, and the manner in which men implement those ideas. A i l
men consciously or unconsciously live in terms of some
"The defender of the (Christian) faith who is faithful to the standard of authority. The question is never, does an indi-
Biblical faith he defends, will not seek to abandon or diminish vidual or society have an ultimate epistemological and
the crucial antithesis which exists between the philosophical moral authority which directs them, the question is always
reasoning of the regenerate mind and the self-destructive what authority, and from where does it arise.
reasoning of the unregenerate mind. He will, as Paul says in 2 The current educational crisis evident in our society is
Cor. 10:5, "cast down reasonings and every lofty thing exalted an inescapable consequence of the anti-Christian presup-
against the knowledge of God, taking every thought captive to positions, the inteiiectuai lawlessness which has fueled the
the obedience of Christ." The antithesis must be central and construction of a now self consciously anti-Christian insti-
indispensable to the work of the apologist (and 1 might add the tution, the government-controlled schools. A s we watch
Christian educator) as an ambassador for Christ in the intel- the deconstruction of this anti-Christian culture and soci-
lectual arena, who beseeches men to be reconciled to God (2 ety, we need to be reminded of the warning our C o d had
Cor. 5:20).... given us in Proverbs 8:32-36. I n these verses C o d , speaking
in the personification of wisdom, warns us about the conse-
D r . Bahnsen ended his presentation at Wesminister quences of ignoring or neglecting the self conscious em-
Seminary by quoting from D r . Cornelius V a n T i l ' s book bracing and application of wisdom, as defined by C o d in
Toward a Reformed Apologetic. D r V a n T i l wrote, Job 28:28.
(Pro. 8:32) Now therefore listen to me (wisdom), O ye
"Finally it is my hope for the future, as it has always been children: for blessed are they that keep (not just know) my
my hope in the past, that 1 may present Christ without com- ways (that is to apply wisdom's presuppositions). (33) Hear
promise to men who are dead in trespasses and sins, that they instruction, and be wise, and do not refuse it. (34) Blessed
might have life and that they might worship and serve the is the man that hears me, watching daily at my gates,
Creator more than the creature . . . Rather than wedding waiting at the posts of my doors. (35) F o r whoever finds me
Christianity to the philosophies of Aristotle or Kant (or John finds life, and shall obtain favor of the L O R D . (36) B u t he
In a surprising Uim of events. Dr. Gary North hired Dr. Michaei is in motion. He wrote plainly to Ernst Mach on June 25, 1913, "If
Martin Nieto, theoretical physicist at Los Alamos National one accelerates a heavy shell of matter S, then a mass enclosed by
Laboratory, to analyze alleged fatal flaws and defects in geocentric that shell experiences an accelerative force. If one rotates the shell
cosmology from the standpoint of an astrophysicist. Dr. North paid relative to the fixed stars about an axis going through its center, a
Dr. Nieto for the resulting essay, entitled "Testing Ideas on Coriolis force arises in the interior of the shell, that is, the plane of a
Geostationary Satellites," which is incorporated as the bulk of the Foucauit pendulum is dragged around." Geocentrists have never
publication bearing the superscription, "Geocentrism: An denied the Gaussian proposition that there is no net force inside a
Astrophysicist's Comments." stationary shell of matter - but the distinguishing feature of
Dr. Nieto interacted with virtually no relevant geocentric geocentricity is the daily rotation of the universe around the earth.
material, although it was not only available to Dr. North, but actually How did Nieto and North miss it? By using return mail.
forwarded to him in 1992. Dr. North saw fit to return the most The magnitude of the force (usually discussed under the heading
technically-oriented and complete videotaped lecture on of "dragging of inertial frames") is cited in many references. Misner,
geocentricity available at that time, without having ever watched it. Wheeler & Thome, in their tome Gravitation, pp. 547, quantify the
The video provided up-to-date technical references in answer to Dr. rotational drag by "simple dimensional considerations" and propose
North's many challenges, but he refused to view it. He could have that (Opoucauit tnust be identical with © 5 ^ 5 , or, namely, that the angular
saved himself the money, and Dr. Nieto the trouble, had he not velocity of a Foucauit pendulum equals the angular velocity (speed
inflicted such blindness upon himself. The response to Dr. Nieto is of rotation) of the stars (i.e., the rest of the universe) - ibid, pg. 548.
contained in that video, and we need merely rehearse it here to These well-respected authors (Kip S. Thome is Cai Tech's black
refute Dr. Nieto's and Dr. North's papers. The fact that Dr. North hole and general relativity expert; Wheeler & Misner taught at
held that very video in his hands and yet refused to view it, reflects a Princeton, Cai Tech and Oxford) approvingly cite the 1918 work of
tragic breakdown of academic and intellectual integrity on his part. Thirring (pg. 547) in connection with this force and its computation.
The great irony of Dr. Nieto's essay is his complete reliance on This last circumstance is doubly ironic, since Dr. Nieto's final
Einstein's General Theory of Relativity. The irony obtains from the footnote begins, "There is a gravimagneto effect related to the
fact that general relativity stipulates that any observer can consider Earth's rotation, which amusingly draws upon the work by Thirring
himself to be at rest - and that solving Einstein's field equations for cited by [Dr. John] Byi." Dr. Nieto's faulty understanding of basic
his position will properly and satisfactorily describe all phenomena relativity theory could have been remedied by checking the work by
observed from that vantage point. When Drs. North & Nieto assert Thirring. Hans Thirring begins by citing Einstein's 1914 paper.
that if the earth were at rest, geosynchronous satellites would Einstein defines K as a Galilean-Newtonian coordinate system, and
necessarily fall down, they are asserting that general relativity is Ki as a coordinate system rotating uniformly relative to K. Since this
completely false. Since Dr. Nieto uses 2 of his 7 pages to air alleged directly represents the earth (K,) and the universe (K) in Dr. Nieto's
experimental proof for general relativity, we observe that a kingdom antigeocentric cosmology, I will substitute these identifications for K
divided against itself cannot stand, and that Dr. Nieto thereby and K^ in italics in Einstein's text to make Einstein's position clear
destroys his own arguments. to every reader:
In fact. Dr. Nieto appears to be completely unaware of the well- "Let the earth be a coordinate system rotating uniformly relative
documented key doctrines of general relativity, both as presented by to the universe. Then centrifugal forces would be in effect for
Einstein and Mach, and developed subsequently into our own masses at rest in the universe's coordinate system, while no such
decade. This failure of scholarship (surprising, since the essentials forces would be present for objects at rest with respect to the earth.
are taught in freshman-ievel courses in physics) has led Nieto into [The geosynchronous satellite is precisely such an object, at rest
multiple errors. with respect to the earth, but viewed as having a centrifugal force
North and Nieto are searching for the mystical geocentric force acting on it with respect to the universe — MGS.] Already Newton
that holds up geosynchronous satellites, preventing them from viewed this as proof that the rotation of the earth had to be
falling to the earth given the geocentric hypothesis that they are not considered as 'absolute,' and that the earth could not then be treated
orbiting objects. "Where is this force?" they ask, for they have as the 'resting' frame of the universe. Yet, as E . Mach has shown,
searched and found it not. So they appeal to their readers to search this argument is not sound. One need not view the existence of such
as well and see for themselves there is no such force, just as the centrifugal forces as originating from the motion of the earth; one
Pharisees challenged, "Search, and look: for out of Galilee ariseth no could just as well account for them as resulting from the average
prophet" (John 7:52). Had the Pharisees glanced at Isaiah 9, they rotational effect of distant, detectable masses as evidenced in the
could have spared themselves an embarrassing gaffe. Had Dr. Nieto vicinity of the earth, where the earth is treated as being at rest."
reviewed Einstein first, he could have done likewise. In quite precise language, Einstein taught that the centrifugal
The urge to hide the geocentric force acting on the force on an object in the earth's rest frame (the condition satisfied by
geosynchronous satellite from his readership resulted in the the hovering geosynchronous satellite) is inadmissible as evidence of
following error by Nieto. Says he, "...one sees that there is no the rotation of the earth, for in the earth's frame that force arises
explicit mathematical theory as to why the satellite would stay up from "the average rotational effect of distant, detectable masses."
there if the universe were geocentric. The authors postulate that This 1914 teaching of Einstein is rather old news — and it remains
maybe there is a sphere of matter (no good, they realize, there is no inconceivable that Nieto would cite it, "amusingly enough," without
force inside a sphere of matter), or then maybe there is a ring and reading it. Or is there a tragic pattern here?
maybe this could account for it. They speculate. But they do not Thirring observed in his opening paragraphs that the complete
show." Actually, we did show, but Dr. North didn't watch. equivalence between the reference frames, explaining such
Einstein taught that there is a force inside a sphere of matter that phenomena as the geosynchronous satellite or Foucauit pendulum