Religion Today Summaries – July 18, 2005
Daily briefs of the top news stories impacting Christians around the world. In today's edition:
- Creationist Condemns Catholic Cardinal's Compromise on Evolution
- Burma: Strategic Training Reaches Lahu Tribe
- Kirk Cameron's Calling: Helping Christians Share Their Faith Biblically
- New 'Thought-Provoking Messages From God' Hit the Road
Creationist Condemns Catholic Cardinal's Compromise on Evolution
Jim Brown, AgapePress
Washington, DC's Cardinal Theodore McCarrick says Roman Catholics do not have to believe in the biblical account of creation. He recently told reporters that, instead of the Bible's account of God creating Adam and Eve, Catholics can believe in evolution -- as long as they agree that God was involved. McCarrick says a contemporary Catholic "need not say that creationism is the only answer -- that in six days or seven days, God made the world." That, he contends, is only "the beautiful story of Genesis." But Ken Ham of the creation apologetics group Answers in Genesis says Catholics need to think through the consequences of such a statement as the one the DC Cardinal suggests. Ham believes the Roman Catholic Church's embrace of theistic evolution is a direct assault against scripture. "The issue about believing in millions of years and evolution undermines biblical authority," the AIG spokesman says. "That's the real issue -- using man's fallible ideas to say the Bible is not the absolute authority. And that's the problem with much of the Church, and the problem you find in the Catholic Church, where the Bible is really not the ultimate authority. It's really the Church [that is considered] the ultimate authority."
Burma: Strategic Training Reaches Lahu Tribe
Christian Aid Mission
Though Southeast Asia's Lahu tribe has responded strongly to the Christian message, poverty and isolation make it difficult for Lahu believers to obtain missionary and discipleship training. Such training is one of the greatest needs of the tribe, according to Christian Aid's Lahu contacts. Indigenous missions are meeting this need through a strategic training institute located on the Burma- China border. The institute's 3-year Bible and evangelism program is attended by over 50 students from the two countries. Isolated in China's southern mountains, the need for training is especially strong among Lahu believers there. Hundreds from Burma have been trained. Though the Burmese government's crackdown on ethnic minorities has driven thousands of Lahu across the border into Thailand, many remain. Most still live as they have done for hundreds of years, in thatched homes on stilts. Though the Christian faith has spread among the tribe through the work of native missionaries, a majority still hold to ancient animistic beliefs. Because of frequent discrimination and physical and linguistic isolation, these people of Tibetan origin often dwell in poverty and illiteracy with no way of improving their lot. However, native gospel workers in Burma have been reaching the Lahu people with the gospel for years. The number of Christians in the tribe is growing, as is the number of trained Lahu leaders.
Kirk Cameron's Calling: Helping Christians Share Their Faith Biblically
Allie Martin and Jenni Parker, Agape Press
Successful actor Kirk Cameron has found a full-time vocation in equipping fellow Christians to share their faith effectively. For several years now he has worked along with evangelist Ray Comfort to develop a ministry known as "The Way of the Master." Cameron and Comfort host a weekly television show that teaches believers how to witness to friends, family, or strangers using the Ten Commandments. Cameron's work with The Way of the Master ministries keeps him busy, but he has no regrets about how he spends the bulk of his time. Between movie-making and bringing lost people to Christ, Cameron makes it clear there is no contest. Cameron insists that Christians should never back down when it comes to sharing the full gospel of Christ. He feels every believer has a responsibility and a calling to do so, and that helping others learn how to lead people to Jesus has been the most important work of his career. The Christian television and film star is known to many fans for his portrayal of young charmer Mike Seaver on the show Growing Pains, a hit TV situation comedy that aired on ABC from 1985 to 1992, as well as for his leading man stints as "Buck Williams" in two end-times thriller movies: Left Behind and Left Behind II: Tribulation Force.
New 'Thought-Provoking Messages From God' Hit the Road
Charisma News Service
The "messages from God" billboards that drew media attention nationwide six years ago are back with new one-liners and a website. Launched in 1999, the GodSpeaks campaign began with a handful of outdoor signs featuring disarming phrases signed "by God" that quickly mushroomed to 10,000 billboards. Now, GodSpeaks is back with new messages to entertain and inspire harried motorists across the country, including "As my apprentice, you're never fired" and "The real Supreme Court meets up here." With the same anonymous sponsor behind it, the latest nondenominational GodSpeaks campaign was launched recently in partnership with the Outdoor Advertising Association of America (OAAA). Billboard owners nationwide have already purchased more than 400 billboards and bus shelter posters in 21 cities, and are donating the advertising space as part of a national public service campaign. The creative team behind GodSpeaks said the anonymous sponsor wants God's identity, rather than their own, to be the focus of the campaign. To accompany the signs, there's an enhanced interactive website, www.GodSpeaks.com, which provides more information to those seeking to know more about God and the messages of the billboards. (www.charismanews.com)
Originally published July 18, 2005.
