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Biblical Scholars Challenge Pelosi's 'Scripture' Quote
Pete Winn
Senior Staff Writer
(CNSNews.com) - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is fond of quoting a
particular passage of Scripture. The quote, however, does not appear in the
Bible and is "fictional," according to biblical scholars.
In her April 22 Earth Day news release, Pelosi said, "The Bible tells us in
the Old Testament, 'To minister to the needs of God's creation is an act of
worship. To ignore those needs is to dishonor the God who made us.' On this
Earth Day, and every day, let us pledge to our children, and our children's
children, that they will have clean air to breathe, clean water to drink,
and the opportunity to experience the wonders of nature."
Cybercast News Service repeatedly queried the speaker's office for two days
to determine where the alleged Bible quote is found. Thus far, no one has
responded.
Distinguished biblical scholars, however, cast doubt on the existence of the
passage.
John J. Collins, the Holmes professor of Old Testament criticism and
interpretation at Yale Divinity School, said he is totally unfamiliar with
Pelosi's quotation.
"(It's) not one that I recognize," Collins told Cybercast News Service. "I
assume that she means this is a paraphrase. But it wouldn't be a close
paraphrase to anything I know of."
Claude Mariottini, a professor of Old Testament at Northern Baptist
Theological Seminary, told Cybercast News Service the passage not only
doesn't exist - it's "fictional."
"It is not in the Bible," Mariottini said. "There is nothing that even
approximates that."
Other scholars agree that nothing remotely resembling it can be found in any
version of the Scriptures - Old Testament or New Testament.
"The quote does not exist in the Old Testament, neither in the New
Testament," said the Rev. Andreas Hock, a doctor of Scripture who teaches in
the Roman Catholic archdiocese of Denver's St. John Vianney Seminary.
"Even in pieces or bits, (it) cannot be found in the Old Testament," he
added.
Interestingly, Pelosi has mentioned the quote before, Mariottini noted.
"In truth, (she) has used this 'passage' in many different ways, and all of
those usages have nothing to do with the Bible whatsoever," he said.
Indeed, Cybercast News Service has learned that Pelosi has repeatedly used
the quote:
-- In December 2005, in a Christmas message to the U.S. House of
Representatives, Pelosi said: "Mr. Speaker, as we leave for this Christmas
recess, let us say, 'God bless you' to the American people by voting against
this Republican budget and statement of injustice and immorality, and let us
not let the special interest goose get fat at the expense of America's
children.
"The gentleman from Washington [state], Mr. McDermott, quoted the prophet
Isaiah. And as the Bible teaches us, to minister to the needs of God's
creation is an act of worship, to ignore those needs is to dishonor the God
who made us. Let us vote no on this budget as an act of worship and for
America's children."
-- On Feb. 8, 2007, in remarks before the U.S. House Science and Technology
Committee, when it held hearings on global warming, she used the same quote,
verbatim, as in her Earth Day release.
-- On April 6, 2007, in congressional remarks before the Easter recess: "In
this Holy Week, we are reminded of these words in the Old Testament: 'To
minister to the needs of God's creation is an act of worship. To ignore
those needs is to dishonor the God who made us.' We must move quickly to
honor God's creation by reducing greenhouse gas pollution in the United
States and around the world."
-- On April 25, 2007, in a speech to the League of Conservation Voters in
Washington, D.C.: "We are now charging ahead to tackle one of humanity's
greatest challenges yet - global warming. We will do this because we hold
our children's future in our hands - not our grandchildren, or
great-grandchildren, but our own children. "As it says in the Old Testament,
'To minister to the needs of God's creation is an act of worship. To ignore
those needs is to dishonor the God who made us.'"
-- On Oct. 22, 2007, in a television interview with PBS host Tavis Smiley,
she used it in discussion of her roots, attributing the quote to the book of
Isaiah: "I'm raised in a family in Baltimore, Maryland, my father was the
mayor. He was in Congress when I was born. And we were devoutly Catholic,
very patriotic. We love America. Devoutly Catholic, deeply patriotic, proud
of our Italian American heritage, and in our case, staunchly Democratic.
"And that faith was related to our Democratic values. That is to say, the
gospel of Matthew: 'When I was hungry, you gave me to eat.' You know, the
least of our brethren. So that's an inspiration in the New Testament. In the
Old Testament, Isaiah says, 'To minister to the needs of God's creation is
an act of worship. To ignore those needs is to dishonor the god who made
us.'"
Mis-remembered? Mis-paraphrased?
Is Pelosi's alleged quote merely an attempt to express a biblical principle
about man's need to care for the environment? The scholars differed slightly
on that question, but none believe the case for environmentalism comes
directly form Scripture, as Pelosi indicated.
Eric Jenislawski, a professor at Virginia's Christendom College, said that
the Bible teaches in Genesis that man was placed on earth "to till it and
keep it" (Genesis 2:15). But just a few verses earlier, he pointed out, God
also commanded man "to fill the earth and subdue it" (Genesis 1:28).
"Responsible use of the Old Testament cannot divorce the biblical notion of
stewardship (that man is obligated to care for God's creation) from the
equally important biblical view that the entire natural world was created
for man, for him to subdue it and to reign over it," Jenislawski said.
"Environmentalists who make man subservient to the natural world actually
invert the biblical view of man's relationship to the earth," he said.
Collins agreed.
"You can interpret Genesis, Chapter One, in various ways, but I think this
would be going well beyond the text," said Collins.
Mark Goodwin, an associate professor of theology at the University of
Dallas, said Pelosi's quote only reflects a partial Scriptural truth, at
best.
"'To minister to the needs of creation is an act of worship' doesn't sound
right to my ears," Goodwin said. "To minister to the needs of creation'-
yes, but not as an act of worship. I'm not sure what she meant by that, and
if I were there, I would have raised my hand and asked her to clarify that."
Westminster Theological Seminary professor Peter Enns told Cybercast News
Service that there is nothing in the Bible even approaching a proof-text for
Earth Day.
"As wise an idea as it might be to be concerned about the environment, I
think to find a specific biblical anchor in the Old Testament might be
asking things of the Bible it's just not prepared to deliver," Enns said.
"To say that humanity (is the steward) of creation is not so much - in the
ancient world -a statement that the goodness of creation has to be
protected, but more a statement in the Bible of the supremacy of humanity as
the pinnacle of creation," he added.
Mariottini, meanwhile, said he doesn't think Pelosi is either
mis-remembering or mis-paraphrasing.
"People try to use the Bible to give authority to what they are trying to
say," he said. "(This) is one of those texts that you fabricate in order to
support what you want to say."
Make media inquiries or request an interview with Pete Winn.
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E-mail a comment or news tip to Pete Winn.
Find this article at: http://www.crosswalk.com/news/11574112/
“Expelled” Promotes Intriguing Intelligent Design Dialogue
Christa Banister
Crosswalk.com Contributing Writer
Release Date: April 18, 2008
Rating: PG (thematic material, some disturbing images and brief smoking)
Genre: Documentary
Run Time: 100 min.
Director: Nathan Frankowski
Actors: Ben Stein, Jason Collett, Richard Dawkins, David Berlinski, Alister
McGrath, William A. Dembski, Stephen C. Meyers, Michael Ruse, Eugenie Scott
Although they probably are about as polar opposite as Hillary Clinton and
George W. Bush are politically, Michael Moore and Ben Stein now share some
common ground as documentarians who’ve faced their fair share of controversy
for their provocative social commentary that’s tailor-made for the big
screen.
But instead of tackling politically charged current events like the state of
health care or whether it’s right (or not) for American soldiers to fight in
Iraq, Stein opts for a somewhat old-school topic with a modern-day spin in
Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed.
If the age-old public relations maxim is true that “even negative publicity
is good publicity,” than Expelled has that going for it in spades. Not only
have well-known atheists allegedly “crashed” the press screenings, but early
reviews have labeled it everything from “one of the sleaziest documentaries
to arrive in a long time” by the New York Times to “a cynical attempt to
sucker Christian conservatives into thinking they’re losing the intelligent
design debate because of academic prejudice” by the Orlando Sentinel, not
exactly a glowing endorsement.
Of course, the “intelligence” in question here refers to the issue of
intelligent design (ID). For the uninitiated, the argument for I.D. is this:
The innate complexity of a single cell and the organisms that result
inevitably points to some sort of designer, rather than the generally
accepted scientific idea of evolution. For those who may automatically
assume this means that Stein will be hammering home the idea of “biblical
creationism,” however, think again. There’s little mention of the Genesis
creation account in Expelled. Rather, there’s a variety of viewpoints
presented that include everyone from a prominent atheist/biologist Richard
Dawkins, a handful of creationists who also believe in parts of evolutionary
theory, a few evolutionists who ultimately believe in a creator and everyone
in between. And while it’s certainly admirable (and quasi-balanced) to allow
freedom of speech for those on all sides of the issue, it’s still pretty
clear from the get-go what viewpoint the filmmakers are lobbying for.
In fact, the core of the film focuses on a series of high-profile firings
and refusal of tenure to those scientists and educators in the academic
world who dared to consider the validity of I.D. And with the wry, comedic
approach that Moore used in Sicko and Fahrenheit 911, Stein spans the globe
and talks to scientists and philosophers on both sides of the heated debate,
hoping to prove that many have been far too closed-minded in even presenting
I.D. as a reputable option.
Stylistically, the integration of whimsical film footage to further
illustrate his points ups the entertainment value in what could’ve been a
pretty dry subject for the average joe. And if those who would normally
write off something of this ilk as nothing more than conservative,
right-wing rhetoric would be willing to put aside their notions, they may
even be surprised by the provocative dialogue that’s been initiated in
Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed.
CAUTIONS:
a.. Drugs/Alcohol: None, but some cigarette smoking shown.
b.. Language/Profanity: A couple of mild profanities.
c.. Sex/Nudity: None.
d.. Violence: There is some rather chilling Holocaust footage as piles of
dead bodies are shown when Stein visits Nazi concentration camps.
Find this article at: http://www.crosswalk.com/movies/11573745/
The Potter's Hands
David Jeremiah
Turning Point
We are, in a literal sense, pottery. We’ve been formed from clay. God
physically shaped Adam from the clay of the earth and breathed into him the
breath of life. We are all humans, a word that is akin to the term humus,
meaning earth or clay. The apostle Paul referred to our bodies as “jars of
clay” (2 Corinthians 4:7 NIV).
But the Bible also tells us that God wants to spiritually fashion us into
vessels fit for His use, molded as images of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The
apostle Paul says God wants to form us into “a vessel for honor, sanctified
and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work” (2 Timothy 2:21).
The patriarch Job concurred: “Your hands have made me and fashioned me . . .
You have made me like clay” (Job 10:8-9). This gives us a biblical warrant
for thinking of the events and influences of our lives as His hands and
fingers, shaping us like a potter shaping clay.
His Hands Form Us
First, God’s hands form us. And, His hands are on your life. He knows how to
skillfully apply pressure, how to relax His grip, how to score your life
with His fingernail, how to squeeze and nudge — all of it designed to make
you a vessel fit for His use. Sometimes He even places us in the kiln where
the fires of life turn us into more solid vessels for His use.
Romans 8:28 says that God works all things for the good of those who love
Him and are called according to His purpose, but the next verse gives us His
purpose: “to be conformed to the image of His Son” (Romans 8:29).
Our heavenly Father wants to use the events we encounter each day as tools
with which to shape and sculpt us into the image of Christ. He wants to
deepen our faith, to develop within us the quality of perseverance, and to
make us watertight containers of His love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).
If you’re under some sort of pressure right now, visualize the skillful
hands of the divine Potter using it for good in your life. Pray as Isaiah
did: “But now, O Lord, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You our
potter; and all we are the work of Your hand” (Isaiah 64:8). You can trust
His dexterous and expert fingers not to harm, but to help you.
His Hands Are Re-Forming
Sometimes we think we’re unusable, unredeemable. We’ve done something for
which we feel shame and guilt, and we think God can no longer do much with
us. Our problems are occasionally of our own making, and our pain arises
from our own stupidity. But when we bring our sin to the Lord, confess it
earnestly, nail it to the cross of Christ, and surrender it to the power of
His shed blood, God can take our sins and shame and spin them into a design
that glorifies Him.
One night Adelaide Pollard went to church in a state of depression because
she felt God wanted her in Africa as a missionary, but she couldn’t raise
the support. During the prayer meeting, a woman prayed, “It doesn’t matter
what You bring into our lives, Lord. Just have Your own way with us.”
Returning home, Adelaide read the story of the potter and the clay in
Jeremiah 18. By bedtime she had written out a prayer of her own, which today
is the hymn, “Have Thine Own Way.”
Today make it your prayer as you think of the forming and re-forming hands
of the Master Potter who is crafting you and me into vessels of honor, fit
for the Master’s use. Ask God to have His own way in your life as He forms —
and re-forms — you into His wonderful image.
Have Thine own way, Lord, have Thine own way.
Thou art the Potter, I am the clay.
Mold me and make me after Thy will,
While I am waiting yielded and still.
David Jeremiah is the founder of Turning Point for God, senior pastor of
Shadow Mountain Community Church in El Cajon, Calif., and chancellor of San
Diego Christian College (formerly Christian Heritage College). For more
information on Turning Point, visit www.TurningPointOnline.org
This article was excerpted from Turning Points, Dr. David Jeremiah’s
devotional magazine. Call Turning Point at 1-800-947-1993 for your
complimentary copy of Turning Points.
Find this article at: http://www.crosswalk.com/spirituallife/11532503/
A Witness to Unity
The Mike Timmis Story
April 24, 2008
As anyone who has read my new book, The Faith, knows, I have a deep passion
to help the Church know what it believes, why it believes it, and how to
defend the basic truths all Christians have held since the Apostolic era.
In it, I have talked a lot about the early Church, when the apostles'
teaching was fresh in the minds of church leaders. Christians stood together
in defense of what they believed, against the open hostility—and sometimes
the lion's den—of the Roman Empire.
The Church, I think, is in a similar situation today. We are not being fed
to the lions in the Coliseum, but we do face very real threats—from militant
atheism to the homicidal maniacs of Islamo-fascism. So we need unity if we
are going to defend and advance the kingdom of God.
That is why I am so excited about a new book titled Between Two Worlds. It
is the moving autobiography of one of my closest friends, Mike Timmis. I was
honored to write the book's foreword.
Growing up in a tough section of Detroit, Mike was raised a devout Catholic.
But it was not until 1983, at a dinner party where some evangelicals gave
their testimonies, that Mike became what he calls himself today: a
Christ-follower. Since then, Mike, a successful businessman, has gone all
over the world, sharing the Gospel and setting up projects to help the poor.
He is one of the most enthusiastic soul-winners I know. He succeeded me some
years ago as the Chairman of the Board of Prison Fellowship International,
and during his tenure, the international ministry has doubled in size, with
ministries in 113 nations.
But not only has Mike done a good job spreading the Gospel, he stands as a
witness to the efforts to help bring the Church together. This year is the
15th anniversary of a group that Fr. Richard Neuhaus and I started called
Evangelicals and Catholics Together. Our goal is not to deny our
differences, but to understand what we both believe in common and to
recognize one another as brothers and sisters in Christ. In the process, we
have discovered areas of agreement we never knew we had.
As I recounted in my book The Faith, we produced a document titled "The Gift
of Salvation," in which we outline how we all agree on what the Protestant
Reformers called sola fide—justification by faith alone. It is a remarkable
document showing remarkable progress. But Mike Timmis and I stand together,
living it. While each of us stands firm in our own faith tradition, we have
learned much from each other, despite our different confessions.
As Mike puts it in Between Two Worlds, "We do not work for unity; we work to
end and erase disunity. Unity is of God; disunity is of man. In matters of
doctrine and practice of conscience, our guide should be this traditional
saying: 'In essentials, unity. In nonessentials, liberty. But in all things,
love.'"
Many of you may have doubts and questions about what I am saying here. That
is okay. I invite you to visit our website, BreakPoint.org, to read more
about Evangelicals and Catholics Together, and I urge you to order a copy of
Mike Timmis's gripping book, Between Two Worlds.
To learn more about the traditions of our fellow believers is not to abandon
our own view. I am a Baptist; I will die that way. Rather, it is the key to
understanding how much we really have in common, and how much we need one
another to defend against those who want to destroy all Christians,
regardless of denomination.
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