For the rare bored reader who might have found this blog, I hope I can further develop my point from the previous post. I believe many of us Christians profess a belief in Christ and his teachings yet fall miserably short of the prescriptions he offers. Think about it, if Jesus ran for President, would you vote for him?
Extrapolating a bit from Matthew 5-7, Jesus would run on a radically anti-war plank. He would end all foreign wars and wouldn't stop there. He'd disband the military, convert attack helicopters to humanitarian ones, battleships to pleasure boats, and destroyers to fishing vessels. He might even disband the police and fire all the jailers, opening the prisons. After all, he came to "set the prisoners free".
You might have to stop driving your car, because after all it's warming the planet, and that's money that could be well spent feeding the hungry while you get a workout on a bicycle. But it wouldn't be "your" bicycle, because Jesus would have to put an end to this thing called "personal property". In a family everything is shared. You can forget about your debts because the IRS and banks would all be abolished. If you had a 401K, you won't be seeing it. When you get old, others would have to care for you.
And don't forgot all he would begin. There would be a new Marshall Plan, except only bigger, and this time the money would go to the poorest of the poor and of course directly to our enemies. Iraq, Iran, and North Korea could expect big paychecks. Hunger would be eliminated as the wealthy opened their storehouses to the needy. Wars would end as participating in warfare would be outlawed. And those who did would find nothing to fight for and no one to fight with, as anything they could want would be freely surrendered (it's not ours anyway). There would be free healthcare for all as doctors would have to volunteer their time and patients would be taken care of from the sickest to the most well. (Don't expect to get any lypo-suction done).
If this sounds far-fetched, it is. The fact is, although Jesus might do all these things if he became President, I hardly expect he'd get any votes (even in a country full of Christians). But that's besides the point, because Jesus didn't run for President and I doubt he would have even if he could have. Jesus rejected political means to establish and carry out his Kingdom. Instead, he left it to a band of ordinary radicals to carry out his plan of loving enemies, caring for the poor and the sick and the old and the parent-less, creating a new economy where wealth is freely shared, and starting a new society where the only law is the Supreme Law of Love.
Is this the Jesus we believe in? Do we really accept his master plan? Too many Christians believe in a "God of country" that pledges allegiance and salutes the flag, but does nothing to create the new society God laid out through Jesus. So my point is, if you take a step back and examine it, would you call Jesus' plan smart or maybe stupid? And if it's a good plan and in fact what he wants us all to do, what are you doing to make it happen? Do you really believe in Jesus?
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Monday, June 16, 2008
Jesus is Stupid
Honestly Jesus, what were you thinking? Here God puts you on earth and fills you with all His God-ness in your Man-ness and tells you to go save the world, and what have you done? I'm looking back two millenniums from your life, looking at all the hunger, disease, and suffering that's alive and well and wondering where you went oh so wrong.
First off, you show up on earth full of those omnipotent abilities and the best you can do a conjure up a few magic tricks. Sure, liven up the party by turning the water to wine. Feed your hungry followers who forgot to pack lunch. All cool. But seriously, there are 35,000 children who will starve to death TODAY in 2008 because they don't have bread and clean water. What did you do about that Jesus when you had the chance? You could have rained down manna from heaven. You could have created a perpetual spring of life in the desert. But no, all we got were a few parlor tricks.
And the healing? I'm sure it was a nice way to show off when some poor blind beggar happened to grab hold of you, but what have you done for countless millions who still suffer from all kinds of afflictions? Cancer, AIDS, mental illness, paralysis, deafness, blindness, lameness, even our modern medicine (which we came up with without YOUR help thank you very much) has no answers to these problems. Here you had a chance to cure all the sick, to alleviate all suffering, but nope, you'd rather join the fun and hang on a cross.
Then there's this "kingdom" we hear so much about. Man, (or God?) you could have ruled! Literally! All earthly power was yours for the taking! What? Didn't want the hassle of casting blindness on some Roman stooges? Didn't want to call down some angels from heaven to smite your enemies and establish your throne? Clearly, this was the biggest oversight of your "ministry". Twelve guys in the desert is hardly what I'd call a "kingdom".
And think of all the good you could have done. It's been 2000 years and we still haven't rooted all the corruption out of government. You would have been good and just and set all disputes to rights, vanquished all your enemies, made permanent peace on earth. Wasn't that one of your platforms? I'm sorry to say, since you left there hasn't been a whole lot of peace on your account.
Ok, maybe I understand. You're supposed to be all about faith and stuff right? You want people to believe in you so they can go to heaven right? That's what they say on TV anyway. Well if you wanted people to believe in you so badly, you might have put on a better show. Maybe give us a SIGN or something that no one could dispute. Maybe, I dunno, jump off the temple without a bungie cord and live. Don't get me wrong, the resurrection was cool an all. I like the idea, let the bad guys kill and then come back to life. But you screwed it up when you came out of the tomb. Sure your twelve homeless followers got to see you, but who was going to believe them? Where was the press conference? Where was the parade? You should have walked into Herod's court and gave him the finger. You should have showed Pilate who he dared to kill. But nope, you just stuck to your parlor tricks and ragtag band of crazies.
Satan himself offered you all these things and you turned him down. Instead, you told us the way to feed the hungry and heal the sick is to give them bread and a cup of cold water, and offer to pay for their hospital bills. You told us the way to conquer your enemies is to love them. Not to resist them when they would strike you down, but rather stand up, turn your cheek, and show them your humanity. You told us the way to win over an unbelieving world is to demonstrate faith through love. You told us to follow you, to live like you lived, feeding and healing and loving, and die like you died, hanging on a cross as a testimony of sacrificial love to a world gone mad. And you left this revolutionary new way in the hands of a few crazies with no money or fame or power to speak of.
What are you stupid?
First off, you show up on earth full of those omnipotent abilities and the best you can do a conjure up a few magic tricks. Sure, liven up the party by turning the water to wine. Feed your hungry followers who forgot to pack lunch. All cool. But seriously, there are 35,000 children who will starve to death TODAY in 2008 because they don't have bread and clean water. What did you do about that Jesus when you had the chance? You could have rained down manna from heaven. You could have created a perpetual spring of life in the desert. But no, all we got were a few parlor tricks.
And the healing? I'm sure it was a nice way to show off when some poor blind beggar happened to grab hold of you, but what have you done for countless millions who still suffer from all kinds of afflictions? Cancer, AIDS, mental illness, paralysis, deafness, blindness, lameness, even our modern medicine (which we came up with without YOUR help thank you very much) has no answers to these problems. Here you had a chance to cure all the sick, to alleviate all suffering, but nope, you'd rather join the fun and hang on a cross.
Then there's this "kingdom" we hear so much about. Man, (or God?) you could have ruled! Literally! All earthly power was yours for the taking! What? Didn't want the hassle of casting blindness on some Roman stooges? Didn't want to call down some angels from heaven to smite your enemies and establish your throne? Clearly, this was the biggest oversight of your "ministry". Twelve guys in the desert is hardly what I'd call a "kingdom".
And think of all the good you could have done. It's been 2000 years and we still haven't rooted all the corruption out of government. You would have been good and just and set all disputes to rights, vanquished all your enemies, made permanent peace on earth. Wasn't that one of your platforms? I'm sorry to say, since you left there hasn't been a whole lot of peace on your account.
Ok, maybe I understand. You're supposed to be all about faith and stuff right? You want people to believe in you so they can go to heaven right? That's what they say on TV anyway. Well if you wanted people to believe in you so badly, you might have put on a better show. Maybe give us a SIGN or something that no one could dispute. Maybe, I dunno, jump off the temple without a bungie cord and live. Don't get me wrong, the resurrection was cool an all. I like the idea, let the bad guys kill and then come back to life. But you screwed it up when you came out of the tomb. Sure your twelve homeless followers got to see you, but who was going to believe them? Where was the press conference? Where was the parade? You should have walked into Herod's court and gave him the finger. You should have showed Pilate who he dared to kill. But nope, you just stuck to your parlor tricks and ragtag band of crazies.
Satan himself offered you all these things and you turned him down. Instead, you told us the way to feed the hungry and heal the sick is to give them bread and a cup of cold water, and offer to pay for their hospital bills. You told us the way to conquer your enemies is to love them. Not to resist them when they would strike you down, but rather stand up, turn your cheek, and show them your humanity. You told us the way to win over an unbelieving world is to demonstrate faith through love. You told us to follow you, to live like you lived, feeding and healing and loving, and die like you died, hanging on a cross as a testimony of sacrificial love to a world gone mad. And you left this revolutionary new way in the hands of a few crazies with no money or fame or power to speak of.
What are you stupid?
Monday, May 26, 2008
I Am Unhealthy
I've been down too long, lost without any sign of being found. I think I've finally identified it. I am unhealthy. I don't mean that I'm sick, that I have something wrong with me. I'm just unhealthy. I heard someone say on NPR recently, being healthy is a lot more than just not being sick. He was right.
I eat even when I'm not hungry, just for the tiny pleasure of it. And I don't eat healthy. I drink too much and probably smoke too much too. I over sleep just about every day. I neglect nearly all times of spiritual reflection. I waste energy in a hundred small ways. I'm doing my part to warm the planet.
I try to fill my life with pleasures: eating and drinking with friends, enjoying all the benefits of urban living. I don't exercise enough. I drink caffeine until the sun goes down, when I switch to alcohol.
My thoughts are clouded with politics and sports rivalry. I consider all day long how my team might win, so that maybe I'll feel a little validation, feel like I'm a part of something although I'm no more than a passive observer.
When it comes to doing the work of God, I'm at a total loss. I participate in things that seem good but I doubt their lasting value. I doubt my ability to make any difference.
I fill my head with ideas that seem to be wisdom, that show how the world has got it all wrong. But I still live like the world.
I am unhealthy, through and through. I blame my emptiness on my alarm clock. If only it could get me out of bed at a decent time, I wouldn't spend every morning scrambling to get to work. And then I might not come home tired and bored and lonely. Then I might not reach for every easy pleasure that leaves me all the more empty.
If only I had a community that could carry me, that would find me when I'd lost it. That would show me a better way to live.
"You created nothing that gives me more pleasure than You. And You won't give me something that gives me more pleasure than You." - Caedmon's Call, You Created
It's You alone I need, my Savior and my God. I need You to remake me into something new. I need You to cure me of what ails me. I need radical simplicity. I need to declare a holy fast. I need true repentance. I need Your life for mine.
I'm tempted by a new law. A new system of rules to live by that will keep me healthy and on the right path. I want a holy checklist that will guarantee I feel better about myself and my place in the world.
But instead, I'm stuck with You. I have to wrestle You for everything or so it seems. You don't make anything easy. You used to lay Your hands on people and they were healed. You used to magically make problems disappear. But I guess You don't work that way any more, or You never really did. It's a hard road instead.
It's not self-discipline or self-governing that makes a disciple of Christ. It's self-denial. It's yielding myself completely to You and Your purposes. It's binding myself to radical discipleship that promises to undo all I've done. It's wrestling with you every day for the next step, the next choice. It's realizing I can't live an hour without you.
Lord, You know I'm a wanderer, prone to leave You, to forget You, to deny You. May Your goodness like a fetter bind my wandering heart to Thee. Help me to accept Your grace that covers over all my unhealthiness, all my disease. Help me to wake up to a new day and a new road called the pursuit of God.
I eat even when I'm not hungry, just for the tiny pleasure of it. And I don't eat healthy. I drink too much and probably smoke too much too. I over sleep just about every day. I neglect nearly all times of spiritual reflection. I waste energy in a hundred small ways. I'm doing my part to warm the planet.
I try to fill my life with pleasures: eating and drinking with friends, enjoying all the benefits of urban living. I don't exercise enough. I drink caffeine until the sun goes down, when I switch to alcohol.
My thoughts are clouded with politics and sports rivalry. I consider all day long how my team might win, so that maybe I'll feel a little validation, feel like I'm a part of something although I'm no more than a passive observer.
When it comes to doing the work of God, I'm at a total loss. I participate in things that seem good but I doubt their lasting value. I doubt my ability to make any difference.
I fill my head with ideas that seem to be wisdom, that show how the world has got it all wrong. But I still live like the world.
I am unhealthy, through and through. I blame my emptiness on my alarm clock. If only it could get me out of bed at a decent time, I wouldn't spend every morning scrambling to get to work. And then I might not come home tired and bored and lonely. Then I might not reach for every easy pleasure that leaves me all the more empty.
If only I had a community that could carry me, that would find me when I'd lost it. That would show me a better way to live.
"You created nothing that gives me more pleasure than You. And You won't give me something that gives me more pleasure than You." - Caedmon's Call, You Created
It's You alone I need, my Savior and my God. I need You to remake me into something new. I need You to cure me of what ails me. I need radical simplicity. I need to declare a holy fast. I need true repentance. I need Your life for mine.
I'm tempted by a new law. A new system of rules to live by that will keep me healthy and on the right path. I want a holy checklist that will guarantee I feel better about myself and my place in the world.
But instead, I'm stuck with You. I have to wrestle You for everything or so it seems. You don't make anything easy. You used to lay Your hands on people and they were healed. You used to magically make problems disappear. But I guess You don't work that way any more, or You never really did. It's a hard road instead.
It's not self-discipline or self-governing that makes a disciple of Christ. It's self-denial. It's yielding myself completely to You and Your purposes. It's binding myself to radical discipleship that promises to undo all I've done. It's wrestling with you every day for the next step, the next choice. It's realizing I can't live an hour without you.
Lord, You know I'm a wanderer, prone to leave You, to forget You, to deny You. May Your goodness like a fetter bind my wandering heart to Thee. Help me to accept Your grace that covers over all my unhealthiness, all my disease. Help me to wake up to a new day and a new road called the pursuit of God.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Clarify
Let me pause to clarify, because I'm sure you're asking why
I stand before you and proudly claim to belong to what this song complains
I'm part of the problem, I must confess, but I got to get this off my chest
Let's extinguish the anguish for which we're to blame,
And save the world from going down in flames
-Relient K, "Down in Flames"
Before I go on another tirade against know-nothing evangelicals, I should probably pause to clarify. I was brought up to believe all kinds of things that I no longer profess and I hope I can explain why without being overtly offensive to those who still hold those positions. I'm all too aware of my ability to get things wrong.
What bothers me to no end is when we divide everything and everyone into camps that are right and wrong, and everyone believes they are in the right one.
For instance, I was raised a conservative evangelical who was adamantly pro-life, pro-gun, anti-gay marriage, anti-taxes, and somewhat of a Calvinist. None of those labels describe who I am. They simply described some of my leanings on certain political and spiritual issues. The fact is, abortion cannot be boiled down to those who support "life" and those who support "choice". I firmly support both without a hint of contradiction. The same goes for all the camps I mentioned (of which I must renounce them all).
There comes a time when you have to put away the labels and the simplifications because you realize life is too complex for that. God is certainly too complex for your theological camps. I believe we all want to identify with a group that shares similar values that define us and give us meaning. We draw ideological lines and insist that people join the right team to reinforce our worth and the sense that we have it all figured out.
It's BS. As Don Miller writes in "Searching for God Knows What", there is NO lifeboat. For everyone trying to argue why they ought to be in the lifeboat to the detriment of others, you can shut up now. We are all on level ground at the foot of the cross.
One of the many things I love about Jesus is that He came into our world but He didn't join our camps. He didn't become the leader of the Pharisees or the Sadducees. He didn't join an Essene sect. He didn't become a Roman centurion. He established the Kingdom of God. He called us into a spiritual kingdom where there is no dividing lines, where there are no racial barriers, or political barriers, or gender barriers. Where this no ethnicity, theology, social status, or self-made merit of any kind. There is only Christ and in Christ is our complete identity.
Oh that the church of God would not be co-opted by politicians or fear-mongers or even priests and pastors who would not lead us to Christ alone. That the evangelical church has been hijacked by the politically conservative - wedged by moral issues of abortion and marriage - issues that our "small government" should have no say over, is largest blight on the church in America today. I can no longer wear these labels. Conservative, evangelical, Republican - no more. Christian no more.
All I can put my identity in is Christ - a King and Kingdom, that transcends all partisanship and divisiveness. However, my King clearly defines a New Order that is very much political, social, economic, and theological. It is radically transformational in all these ways but it will not be subject to any human principality or power. That any human institution should claim God's holy mantle as theirs alone is the height of hubris and folly. There is no Christian nation, no Christian church save the people of God universal, holy, and catholic.
The question is not whether you are evolutionist or creationist, Democrat or Republican, Protestant or Catholic. The question is, is your life hidden with Christ in God? Is your old self that relied on camps and divisions for identity dead and is your new self alive in God? If it is, then you will be set free to a life centered on love, justice, peace, and grace as you are wrought in God to His perfect will.
The journey back to God requires yielding to selflessness and placing your worth in God alone. God has removed all boasting about ideology by laying bare our insufficiency to even comprehend the complexities of our broken world. I am part of the problem and I don't have the answers. But I press on to a life centered on a King who is advancing His Kingdom and pointing to a day when all things will be put to right when the Kingdom comes to Earth.
I won't shrink back from professing what I perceive as reason based on Kingdom values, though I may often err, but know that I cannot speak from a place of boasting. Instead, I humbly seek to be a prophetic voice in a world gone wrong. May my allegiance always be with Christ and not some party of people.
I stand before you and proudly claim to belong to what this song complains
I'm part of the problem, I must confess, but I got to get this off my chest
Let's extinguish the anguish for which we're to blame,
And save the world from going down in flames
-Relient K, "Down in Flames"
Before I go on another tirade against know-nothing evangelicals, I should probably pause to clarify. I was brought up to believe all kinds of things that I no longer profess and I hope I can explain why without being overtly offensive to those who still hold those positions. I'm all too aware of my ability to get things wrong.
What bothers me to no end is when we divide everything and everyone into camps that are right and wrong, and everyone believes they are in the right one.
For instance, I was raised a conservative evangelical who was adamantly pro-life, pro-gun, anti-gay marriage, anti-taxes, and somewhat of a Calvinist. None of those labels describe who I am. They simply described some of my leanings on certain political and spiritual issues. The fact is, abortion cannot be boiled down to those who support "life" and those who support "choice". I firmly support both without a hint of contradiction. The same goes for all the camps I mentioned (of which I must renounce them all).
There comes a time when you have to put away the labels and the simplifications because you realize life is too complex for that. God is certainly too complex for your theological camps. I believe we all want to identify with a group that shares similar values that define us and give us meaning. We draw ideological lines and insist that people join the right team to reinforce our worth and the sense that we have it all figured out.
It's BS. As Don Miller writes in "Searching for God Knows What", there is NO lifeboat. For everyone trying to argue why they ought to be in the lifeboat to the detriment of others, you can shut up now. We are all on level ground at the foot of the cross.
One of the many things I love about Jesus is that He came into our world but He didn't join our camps. He didn't become the leader of the Pharisees or the Sadducees. He didn't join an Essene sect. He didn't become a Roman centurion. He established the Kingdom of God. He called us into a spiritual kingdom where there is no dividing lines, where there are no racial barriers, or political barriers, or gender barriers. Where this no ethnicity, theology, social status, or self-made merit of any kind. There is only Christ and in Christ is our complete identity.
Oh that the church of God would not be co-opted by politicians or fear-mongers or even priests and pastors who would not lead us to Christ alone. That the evangelical church has been hijacked by the politically conservative - wedged by moral issues of abortion and marriage - issues that our "small government" should have no say over, is largest blight on the church in America today. I can no longer wear these labels. Conservative, evangelical, Republican - no more. Christian no more.
All I can put my identity in is Christ - a King and Kingdom, that transcends all partisanship and divisiveness. However, my King clearly defines a New Order that is very much political, social, economic, and theological. It is radically transformational in all these ways but it will not be subject to any human principality or power. That any human institution should claim God's holy mantle as theirs alone is the height of hubris and folly. There is no Christian nation, no Christian church save the people of God universal, holy, and catholic.
The question is not whether you are evolutionist or creationist, Democrat or Republican, Protestant or Catholic. The question is, is your life hidden with Christ in God? Is your old self that relied on camps and divisions for identity dead and is your new self alive in God? If it is, then you will be set free to a life centered on love, justice, peace, and grace as you are wrought in God to His perfect will.
The journey back to God requires yielding to selflessness and placing your worth in God alone. God has removed all boasting about ideology by laying bare our insufficiency to even comprehend the complexities of our broken world. I am part of the problem and I don't have the answers. But I press on to a life centered on a King who is advancing His Kingdom and pointing to a day when all things will be put to right when the Kingdom comes to Earth.
I won't shrink back from professing what I perceive as reason based on Kingdom values, though I may often err, but know that I cannot speak from a place of boasting. Instead, I humbly seek to be a prophetic voice in a world gone wrong. May my allegiance always be with Christ and not some party of people.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
The Know-Nothings
Why is it that so many evangelicals seem to be perpetually at odds with intellectuals? Why in the "culture wars" does religion have to be pitted against science? Reunion (my church) just started a series on tough questions and the first sermon addressed the supposed conflict between faith and reason. I've struggled for a while to understand the skepticism and plain anti-intellectualism that seems to plague American evangelism.
For starters, why is it that the scientific theory of evolution is under constant attack from the religious right? I find it laughable that they continue to insist schools "teach the controversy" when the only controversy is not among scientists but between the religious community that insists on a overly literal "young earth" version of creation and those unhindered by dogma who employ the scientific method. Certainly, many atheists cling to evolution as a scientific way to explain away God, a preposterous philosophical argument. But far more scientists are honest people of faith who see no conflict between scientific knowledge obtained through the study of nature and spiritual knowledge conveyed through revelation, not to mention the wonder of God's creation.
I often hear that evolution is merely a theory, so why teach it as fact? Well gravity is merely a theory as well, and students of science knows there are still problems with the theory in light of general relativity and quantum theory. But that doesn't keep 3rd grade teachers from teaching Newton and his fruit inspired revelation. My God, the jury is still out! What if we discover our equations for gravitational forces are missing a constant? The horror!
The simple matter is, in science, you teach what the current consensus is in the field of study and maybe you teach some of the more "controversial" elements but generally those are WAY beyond an average high schooler's understanding. Evolution has been the consensus for many years now as it readily explains all kinds of phenomenon found in the fossil record and the genome. Is it a perfect theory? Far from it. And personally, I long for the day when we find out all its problems and have better explanations for how we got from goo to you by way of the zoo. But this "Intelligent Design" nonsense does nothing to advance our scientific inquiry. It simply tries to find the "AHA" problems with the theory to completely discredit it. This is not the way science works. That there are natural phenomenon that are unexplained is a given. Pointing out the places where evolution doesn't appear to "work" doesn't mean it doesn't work, or that there isn't some other explanation just waiting to be discovered. To ascribe these gotchas to God is like saying gravity can't work because it doesn't play nice with my string theory or my quantum mechanics. Therefore, it is God that holds you to the ground. Don't give me your explanations!
The fact of the matter is, there is plenty of the unexplained to include God in the work of creation. Trying to insert Him in every theoretical gap is unnecessary. In fact, I don't find the lack of a scientific explanation necessary at all to put my faith in God. Even if science could explain where matter came from and what caused the Big Bang and how by a giant stroke of luck we ended up spinning around the universe as highly evolved creatures capable of rational thought and self-realization, I would still find it marvelous and awesome enough to know that God has made all things well, in His own time, according to His divine plan. That science reveals the mystery of God's work in nature is precisely why it is such a wonderful gift to Humankind and why we ought to be teaching it to our children, to the best of our current understanding by reason and observation.
I could go on and complain about evangelicals that don't believe the economists, the social activists, the philosophers, and the environmentalists, but that will have to wait for another post. The point is, faith is not at odds with reason, but rather any faith worth having must be perfectly rational and must prove it's worth in the fires of skeptical critique. (Christianity has already survived quite nicely through great ages of learning such as the Enlightenment and the Renaissance, though not without its own refinements.) In the end, all people hold onto intrinsic beliefs about the purpose of life in the face of eternity, call it faith if you will, and this faith serves as the basis for all rational thought. Therefore, evangelism must be directed not simply at the mind, where we reason and think and understand, but at the heart where our basic assumptions about life are deeply hidden. But let not our hearts go making our heads skeptical of reason, for it is the trunk and branches that form our Christ centered philosophy, which guides our will and informs our every action.
For starters, why is it that the scientific theory of evolution is under constant attack from the religious right? I find it laughable that they continue to insist schools "teach the controversy" when the only controversy is not among scientists but between the religious community that insists on a overly literal "young earth" version of creation and those unhindered by dogma who employ the scientific method. Certainly, many atheists cling to evolution as a scientific way to explain away God, a preposterous philosophical argument. But far more scientists are honest people of faith who see no conflict between scientific knowledge obtained through the study of nature and spiritual knowledge conveyed through revelation, not to mention the wonder of God's creation.
I often hear that evolution is merely a theory, so why teach it as fact? Well gravity is merely a theory as well, and students of science knows there are still problems with the theory in light of general relativity and quantum theory. But that doesn't keep 3rd grade teachers from teaching Newton and his fruit inspired revelation. My God, the jury is still out! What if we discover our equations for gravitational forces are missing a constant? The horror!
The simple matter is, in science, you teach what the current consensus is in the field of study and maybe you teach some of the more "controversial" elements but generally those are WAY beyond an average high schooler's understanding. Evolution has been the consensus for many years now as it readily explains all kinds of phenomenon found in the fossil record and the genome. Is it a perfect theory? Far from it. And personally, I long for the day when we find out all its problems and have better explanations for how we got from goo to you by way of the zoo. But this "Intelligent Design" nonsense does nothing to advance our scientific inquiry. It simply tries to find the "AHA" problems with the theory to completely discredit it. This is not the way science works. That there are natural phenomenon that are unexplained is a given. Pointing out the places where evolution doesn't appear to "work" doesn't mean it doesn't work, or that there isn't some other explanation just waiting to be discovered. To ascribe these gotchas to God is like saying gravity can't work because it doesn't play nice with my string theory or my quantum mechanics. Therefore, it is God that holds you to the ground. Don't give me your explanations!
The fact of the matter is, there is plenty of the unexplained to include God in the work of creation. Trying to insert Him in every theoretical gap is unnecessary. In fact, I don't find the lack of a scientific explanation necessary at all to put my faith in God. Even if science could explain where matter came from and what caused the Big Bang and how by a giant stroke of luck we ended up spinning around the universe as highly evolved creatures capable of rational thought and self-realization, I would still find it marvelous and awesome enough to know that God has made all things well, in His own time, according to His divine plan. That science reveals the mystery of God's work in nature is precisely why it is such a wonderful gift to Humankind and why we ought to be teaching it to our children, to the best of our current understanding by reason and observation.
I could go on and complain about evangelicals that don't believe the economists, the social activists, the philosophers, and the environmentalists, but that will have to wait for another post. The point is, faith is not at odds with reason, but rather any faith worth having must be perfectly rational and must prove it's worth in the fires of skeptical critique. (Christianity has already survived quite nicely through great ages of learning such as the Enlightenment and the Renaissance, though not without its own refinements.) In the end, all people hold onto intrinsic beliefs about the purpose of life in the face of eternity, call it faith if you will, and this faith serves as the basis for all rational thought. Therefore, evangelism must be directed not simply at the mind, where we reason and think and understand, but at the heart where our basic assumptions about life are deeply hidden. But let not our hearts go making our heads skeptical of reason, for it is the trunk and branches that form our Christ centered philosophy, which guides our will and informs our every action.
Monday, May 5, 2008
First Post
I can always tell a liar
and I always know a thief
I know them like my family
because brother I’m the chief
I’m a dangerous crusader
because I need to tell the truth
so I’m turning over tables
in my own living room
- Derek Webb, "Nobody Loves Me"
So much of what I feel has already been beautifully described by Derek Webb, so expect frequent references. Nevertheless, I will begin this blog in an attempt to externalize the many thoughts and feelings I never get to share. However you ended up here and for what ever reason you are reading me now, I give you this disclaimer. I'm complicit in every problem I will ever complain about. I'm guilty of everything that frustrates me. For every lie I've heard I've told a dozen. So I'm turning over tables in my own living room.
Some background. I'm a Boston resident (Lower Allston represent) and New Hampshire native. Born and raised politically and socially conservative in the "Live Free or Die" state, I spring from the evangelical tradition. Don't hold it against me. I've been an ideologue and a skeptic and still think I know what's wrong with the world. But my views have been changing, my horizons have been expanding. Surely, my current opinions will be blamed on the liberal atmosphere in which I dwell. In my defense, I've stuck strictly to a math and science education that was devoid of any social commentary.
Instead, I blame my current blend of hopefulness and cynicism on eight years of disappointment from the President I voted for and, more importantly, my discovery of the full gospel of Jesus Christ with all its radical implications. Leo Tolstoy was one of the first to reveal to me a Christianity quite unlike my modern experience, one based on peace, non-violence, and justice. Shane Claiborne showed me what it looks like in the 21st century. Derek Webb set it to music. Others due some credit are my current heroes: Jim Wallis, Momma T, MLK, and some lesser known ones, Tim Hawkins, Nathan Griffith, Ma Siss, and Aaron Graham.
Two years ago I moved to the greatest city in America, Boston, MA, for some more education. What I found here was a new church connecting with a new generation on a journey back to God, my home, Reunion Christian Church. I also found a welcoming community in one of Boston's toughest neighborhoods, struggling against realities of drug abuse, segregation, economic disparity, and broken homes like I've never experienced before. Between these two budding communities I've found inspiration and hope as well as frustration and powerlessness. I've been challenged to assess every area of my life to see how it fits with this radical kingdom that promises to end injustice and set all things right.
That's the journey I've been on and frankly, I'm not sure how far I've gotten. I still see the same old problems in my heart. I'm lazy and depressed. I'm short-sighted. I am frustrated with the world and my own inability to change. I guess that's why I'm writing this now. I want to air out all the brokenness so I can once again accept my own complicity, my own insufficiency, and trust once more in the grace of God.
I am the scattered seed that fell along the path, I am the son that ran away. I am crooked deep down and the same old struggles that plagued me then are plaguing me still. I know I am prone to all sorts of errors but I hope to be a humble voice in this tumultuous world. I know everything I say is colored with bias (what opinion isn't?) but I need to tell the truth as I see it. May the tables start turning.
and I always know a thief
I know them like my family
because brother I’m the chief
I’m a dangerous crusader
because I need to tell the truth
so I’m turning over tables
in my own living room
- Derek Webb, "Nobody Loves Me"
So much of what I feel has already been beautifully described by Derek Webb, so expect frequent references. Nevertheless, I will begin this blog in an attempt to externalize the many thoughts and feelings I never get to share. However you ended up here and for what ever reason you are reading me now, I give you this disclaimer. I'm complicit in every problem I will ever complain about. I'm guilty of everything that frustrates me. For every lie I've heard I've told a dozen. So I'm turning over tables in my own living room.
Some background. I'm a Boston resident (Lower Allston represent) and New Hampshire native. Born and raised politically and socially conservative in the "Live Free or Die" state, I spring from the evangelical tradition. Don't hold it against me. I've been an ideologue and a skeptic and still think I know what's wrong with the world. But my views have been changing, my horizons have been expanding. Surely, my current opinions will be blamed on the liberal atmosphere in which I dwell. In my defense, I've stuck strictly to a math and science education that was devoid of any social commentary.
Instead, I blame my current blend of hopefulness and cynicism on eight years of disappointment from the President I voted for and, more importantly, my discovery of the full gospel of Jesus Christ with all its radical implications. Leo Tolstoy was one of the first to reveal to me a Christianity quite unlike my modern experience, one based on peace, non-violence, and justice. Shane Claiborne showed me what it looks like in the 21st century. Derek Webb set it to music. Others due some credit are my current heroes: Jim Wallis, Momma T, MLK, and some lesser known ones, Tim Hawkins, Nathan Griffith, Ma Siss, and Aaron Graham.
Two years ago I moved to the greatest city in America, Boston, MA, for some more education. What I found here was a new church connecting with a new generation on a journey back to God, my home, Reunion Christian Church. I also found a welcoming community in one of Boston's toughest neighborhoods, struggling against realities of drug abuse, segregation, economic disparity, and broken homes like I've never experienced before. Between these two budding communities I've found inspiration and hope as well as frustration and powerlessness. I've been challenged to assess every area of my life to see how it fits with this radical kingdom that promises to end injustice and set all things right.
That's the journey I've been on and frankly, I'm not sure how far I've gotten. I still see the same old problems in my heart. I'm lazy and depressed. I'm short-sighted. I am frustrated with the world and my own inability to change. I guess that's why I'm writing this now. I want to air out all the brokenness so I can once again accept my own complicity, my own insufficiency, and trust once more in the grace of God.
I am the scattered seed that fell along the path, I am the son that ran away. I am crooked deep down and the same old struggles that plagued me then are plaguing me still. I know I am prone to all sorts of errors but I hope to be a humble voice in this tumultuous world. I know everything I say is colored with bias (what opinion isn't?) but I need to tell the truth as I see it. May the tables start turning.
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