Author: MD Harris Institute

MD, MPH, MBA, MDiv, PhD, ThM, DBA-C Colonel, US Army (ret) President and CEO, MD Harris Institute Fire and Disaster Chaplain - BVFD and WVCSB

Philosophy Masquerading as Science

sky
~ MD Harris Institute ~ 1 Comment

Science and technology have revolutionized our world. The average person in a developed country lives better and longer than kings did only 150 years ago. Science is so powerful in the minds of people that it, rather than religion or philosophy, as in an earlier age, is the sole arbiter of truth. Modern people who want to prove their point, whatever that point is, appeal to science. But science cannot answer every question. Often, people and organizations push a political agenda and pretend, or actually believe, that science has proven their agenda to be right. This email conversation is an example.

By Mark D. Harris, MD, MPH, MBA, MDiv, ThM, PhD, DBA

Several years ago, the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) published a policy supporting the requirement for employers to provide contraception for their employees, without a faith-based exception. I sent an email to the AAFP asking why they took such a position.  Such controversial stances would alienate members without achieving meaningful policy goals.  Further, such a position was political, not scientific. AAFP sent me the reply below.

Continue reading “Philosophy Masquerading as Science” →

Courtship to Marriage

photo of coupe walking on grass field
~ MD Harris Institute ~ Leave a comment

An answer to a young Ukrainian woman’s question about relationships, such as how to go from courtship to marriage, especially arranged marriage, in 2025.

By Mark D. Harris, MD, MPH, MBA, MDiv, ThM, PhD, DBA

I traveled to Ukraine earlier this month to teach World Religions to students at the Ukraine Baptist Theological Seminary in Lviv. My 16 students were undergraduates, about half male and half female. Less than 50% were married, and all were Christian. While we studied the Unification Church, the “Moonies,” the discussion moved to their practice of arranged marriages. One young woman asked what I thought of arranged marriages. This article is in answer to her concerns.

The Problem

Much like in Western nations, marriage rates have declined in Ukraine.[1] Fertility rates, the number of children each woman will have during her reproductive lifetime, have also dropped.[2] Ukraine was losing people before the Russians invaded in February 2022, and the demographic situation is far worse after three years of war. As in most of the West, relations between men and women are marked by mistrust and antipathy.[3] Women can suffer abuse, men can lose their livelihoods on the flimsiest of accusations, and both are the enemy of each other. Progressives have no idea what men and women actually are, and push singleness or relationships that can never produce children. In such an environment, one can conclude that, intentionally or not, Ukraine, all of the West, and much of the world are committing demographic suicide.

Continue reading “Courtship to Marriage” →

The Battle on the Marchfeld

~ MD Harris Institute ~ Leave a comment

The Battle on the Marchfeld is a little known but important event in military history. As a result of the battle, the Habsburgs came to power and ruled the Holy Roman Empire and later Austria and Spain until the 20th century. 

By Stephen T. Harris, Historian

Background

In 1250, Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor (1194-1250) died. He had quarreled with the pope and was excommunicated multiple times. The pope had gone so far as to depose Frederick II. As the pope refused to allow one of his descendants to take the throne, the imperial throne fell vacant, leading to the Great Interregnum (1254-1273). A group of princes known as the electors[1] elected Richard of Cornwall (1209-1272), brother of Henry III of England, as King of the Romans in 1257. Still, Richard held little real power in the empire. Richard often remained in England for long periods. The German princes were virtually independent and could do whatever they wished. Some historians argue Richard’s election was intentionally designed to prevent a strong ruler from trying to curb the princes’ power. During the Great Interregnum, the princes worked to increase their power, and many did. The most successful was Ottokar II (1233-1278), King of Bohemia, who used conquest and political marriages to build a massive kingdom that stretched to the Adriatic.

One of those marriages was with the daughter of the Duke of Austria, a woman named Margaret of Babenberg (1204-1266). However, the duchy was not rightfully Ottokar’s. It was an imperial fief and as such should have gone back to the emperor, to grant to whomever he chose. Several years after he married, the pope granted Ottokar an annulment to marry a woman his age and have children. However, this meant he no longer had a legal right to Austria through marriage.

Continue reading “The Battle on the Marchfeld” →

Go Your Way

old man on the beach
~ MD Harris Institute ~ Leave a comment

Memorial Baptist Church, Beckley, WV,

By Mark Harris, MD, MPH, MBA, MDiv, ThM, PhD, DBA

Wildwood Cemetery Resurrection Service

Brass Prelude – Trombone and Horn in F, Christ the Lord is Risen Today.

Congregational singing – Up from the Grave He Arose

Read Daniel 12:8-13

The Story

An old man sat on a rock by a river and said to himself, “The superpower is dead.”

“More than 70 years ago, the mightiest nation in the land destroyed my tiny country. Then they moved me hundreds of miles away from my homeland,” the old man remembered.

Now, that superpower was destroyed, hacked to pieces by an enemy younger and more vicious than itself. The old man had seen great and terrifying things in his years.

He knew that his death was near, so he asked God, the One he had served so faithfully for so many years, what would happen in the future.

“Go your way,” came the divine reply. “You are not to know what will happen after you.”

“Many will suffer, but I will purify and refine them through their suffering”, says the Lord.

“The wicked will not cease their wickedness, and they will not understand what I am doing. Worship as you know it will end, and terrible times will come,” the Lord concluded.

But the Old Man knew that he would not live to see it. God repeated His command.

“Go your way to your end. Then you will sleep with your fathers and rise again into eternal life. You will receive what God has allotted for you…forever.”

The Application in Our Lives

The Lord calls us to do the same thing.  Our world seems more unstable than the old man’s world. But we know what the old man did not. Jesus Christ rose from the dead. He has secured our future, both in this life and the next.

We can ask God about anything, but we should not always expect an answer. What we need to know is Christ. God commands us to follow Him and go your way.

We serve Him, we love Him, we worship Him, and we enjoy Him.

God says to us…Go your way, and you will rise again in Christ and receive the portion allotted to you in eternity.

Go your way.

Prayer

 

Up From the Grave He Arose                  Robert Lowry, 1874 [Key: F]

Verse 1
Low in the grave He lay,
Jesus my Savior,
Waiting the coming day,
Jesus my Lord!

Chorus
Up from the grave He arose,
With a mighty triumph o’er His foes,
He arose a Victor from the dark domain,
And He lives forever,
With His saints to reign.
He arose! He arose!
Hallelujah! Christ arose!

Verse 2
Vainly they watch His bed,
Jesus my Savior;
Vainly they seal the dead,
Jesus my Lord!

Chorus
Up from the grave He arose,
With a mighty triumph o’er His foes,
He arose a Victor from the dark domain,
And He lives forever,
With His saints to reign.
He arose! He arose!
Hallelujah! Christ arose!

Verse 3
Death cannot keep its Prey,
Jesus my Savior;
He tore the bars away,
Jesus my Lord!

Chorus
Up from the grave He arose,
With a mighty triumph o’er His foes,
He arose a Victor from the dark domain,
And He lives forever,
With His saints to reign.
He arose! He arose!
Hallelujah! Christ arose!

 

 

Defending Taiwan

~ MD Harris Institute ~ Leave a comment

The world in 2025 is a bigger geopolitical mess than it was in 1914. Taiwan, Ukraine, and Israel are developed states at the epicenter of life-or-death struggles.[1] After a recent visit to Taiwan, this article describes a way, and quite probably the only way, for Taiwan to survive as an independent nation if China invades.

By Mark D. Harris, MD, MPH, MBA, MDiv, ThM, PhD, DBA

Chiang Kai Shek (1887-1975) fled mainland China and moved his nationalists, the Kuomintang (KMT), to Taiwan after their defeat by the communists under Mao Tse Dung (1893-1976) in 1949. Since that year, the Communists ruling mainland China have declared that Taiwan is a renegade province and they will take it back by any means possible, including war.[2]  Every modern Chinese ruler, including the current autocrat Xi Jin Ping, has reaffirmed this intention.[3]

A pre-invasion scenario

Chinese paramilitary “fishing boats”, coast guard ships, and naval vessels encircle Taiwan under the guise of military exercises, law enforcement, or humanitarian actions. These boats partially disrupt Taiwanese imports and exports. Then they leave, having learned valuable lessons and helped lull Taiwanese defenders and politicians into a sleepy acquiescence, like a frog in warming water. Chinese aircraft from bases such as Longtian (in Fujian) harass Taiwanese responding forces. Cyber attackers, space forces, special forces, and others engage. Much of this is happening today. By not firing the first shot, the Chinese undercut nations that may oppose them. If no one physically challenged the blockade, Taiwan would slowly be strangled to death.

Continue reading “Defending Taiwan” →

Why Did Jesus Choose So Many Fishermen to be His Disciples?

~ MD Harris Institute ~ Leave a comment

Jesus chose twelve disciples for His earthly ministry. Of all the things that He could have done and all the people He could have taught, Jesus spent the lion’s share of His life discipling these men. After His resurrection, Jesus entrusted them to carry His message to the world. At least four of His disciples were fishermen. Did their profession, which God gave them, have anything to do with their selection?

By Mark D. Harris, MD, MPH, MBA, MDiv, ThM, PhD, DBA

Whether from church, work, or other sources, we at the MDHI get many questions on a variety of topics. Earlier this month, a reader wrote about a question about Jesus’ disciples that he and his brother had discussed, “why were 1/3 of the disciples fishermen by trade?” Given the fact that most people in Israel engaged in agriculture at the time, the query is valid. While we cannot know for sure, as the Bible does not directly tell us, we can derive a reasonable answer. First, we require a summary of Israelite society in the first century.

Continue reading “Why Did Jesus Choose So Many Fishermen to be His Disciples?” →