tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12761371091087199112024-03-04T20:04:06.261-08:00OutsideTheBoxExploring new findings from science about our cosmos and the significance of these findings to our understandings of the Creator and his purpose for creating. Rethinking Biblical Theology in light of many new scientific insights. Addressing difficult questions being asked by skeptics today ... e.g. the Problem of Evil, the insignificance of man in the cosmos, the apparent randomness of events, etc.
“Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.”
~ Albert EinsteinCliff Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08342566023774158670noreply@blogger.comBlogger136125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1276137109108719911.post-19274632666392824692013-07-28T07:53:00.001-07:002013-07-28T08:05:11.438-07:00What about an Afterlife ... <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="http://blog.seattlecoffeegear.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Heavens.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="261" src="http://blog.seattlecoffeegear.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Heavens.jpg" style="-webkit-user-select: none;" title="" width="400" /></a><i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Its been a little over a year since my last new post here. My use of this blog site has changed some ... it is a repository of writings to which I refer people, but most of my new writing is done elsewhere. I would like to return to this blog from time to time with offerings such as today's. On a facebook discussion board to which I belong, I was asked yesterday to comment on the afterlife. I wrote a series of comments, which are here slightly edited and compiled:</span></i><br />
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1) Koheleth, the writer of Ecclesiates, declares in 3:11, that God has "set eternity in the hearts of men." A skeptic cannot say there is no evidence for an afterlife unless he can deny this universal quest within the human heart to break through the temporal bonds which now limit us to this rush of time with its necessary terminus. We all want to live forever!! Where did that urge come from? Koheleth says it comes from God himself!</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I love the comment from Keil and Delitzsch (Delitzsch wrote this section) on this verse:</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">"... He has also established in man an impulse leading him beyond that which is temporal toward the eternal: it lies in his nature not to be contented with the temporal, but to break through the limits which it draws around him, to escape from the bondage and the disquietude within which he is held, and amid the ceaseless changes of time to console himself by directing his thoughts to eternity.</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">"... the impulse of man shows that his innermost wants cannot be satisfied by that which is temporal. He is a being limited by time, but as to his innermost nature he is related to eternity."</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">2) I was intrigued by an earlier comment above about heaven being the best place evolution (as a tool in the hand of God) can create. I know it was dismissed quickly, but I think the idea merits deeper consideration. I actually love the thought. Assuming a few billion souls are added to the ultimate eternal ontological milieu, things in that eternal state will be altered forever! And who is to say that reality will not go forever changing, evolving, growing, becoming ever greater, more majestic, more beautiful, more wonderful. The conventional concept of an afterlife that many people (including myself) have found distasteful is a static, fixed state of being. "Boring," some have said. And I agree, if you limit your imagination to Sunday School descriptions of heaven.</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">3) Learning, and evolving, are both cause-effect processes which imply TIME. So I do not think eternity is devoid of time, but rather that time is expanded to multiple dimensions instead of the single, lineal dimension of time we experience. But what will we do with all that time?</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">In this regard, I have considered that one of our chief occupations in that forever state will be to know God. To explore him! And since we understand that God is infinite, how much time will be required to fully know God? That's right ... infinite time. We will never exhaust this process of discovery.</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">A few hundred billion years from now, a few friends and I will be sitting around comparing notes on the fresh new things we have "just discovered" about this majestic Being whose very essence is Love!</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">4) All of these considerations are, for me, predicated upon the assumption that God is indeed LOVE personified, that he is relational, that he is infinite, and unimaginably GOOD. If he is not these things, then I will prefer to lie in my grave forever. No resurrection, please! Let me rest in death forever! But if he is these things, the mere fact that he created us is my assurance that he (as David says in Psalm 16:10) will not abandon me to the grave. He will resurrect me (and all of us) into that state in which there will be a "restoration of all things" (Acts 3:21).</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Four months after my wife died in 2010, in the midst of the deepest month of my grief, I wrote <a href="http://cliff-martin.blogspot.com/2010/08/what-is-heaven-like.html">this blog</a> post in response to a friend who had asked me for thoughts on heaven ...</span></span></div>
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Cliff Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08342566023774158670noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1276137109108719911.post-3595227649795519792012-07-16T17:10:00.000-07:002012-07-17T08:05:40.306-07:00The Worthiness of Jesus<br />
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<span class="s1"><i>I belong to a facebook discussion forum which calls itself, "Celebrating Creation by Natural Selection", which will tell you that the group is comprised (in part) by people who believe that God uses natural processes (evolution) in his work of creation. But the site is often a launching pad for far-ranging conversations about God.</i></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><i>Because we have among our members many atheists (the friendly variety!), many working scientists and/or academics, and many Bible scholars, conversations can at times be challenging! The site has been helpful to me in formulating my thoughts within an environment in which half-baked theologies and ill-informed opinions will simply not fly! Intellectual integrity and honesty are highly valued.</i></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><i>It seems that much of my writing has shifted from blogging to conversing on this and other discussion forums. Yesterday, a friend named Marv posed a question about world religions (including our own) and the various feeble human efforts to understand our Creator. In assembling my own thoughts about this, and responding to another friend, Laurie Ann, I typed some comments that express a lot of my current thinking about my faith, and about Jesus. I share a bit of that discussion with you here, and I welcome your comments. ~</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEs9wfh4_mltG1WAZgoVGNtB3gQH_5Ch2DO849Es4quwOlKRSJ7KO1ywfmF0MgTrZJ0Fpile02ig-9SQIzmLA1kB6lT5q8RUl9j_VpawkgRNy5S1tIoAlvQaI-PiKpRrbtEegGVu-70QSw/s1600/World+Religions.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEs9wfh4_mltG1WAZgoVGNtB3gQH_5Ch2DO849Es4quwOlKRSJ7KO1ywfmF0MgTrZJ0Fpile02ig-9SQIzmLA1kB6lT5q8RUl9j_VpawkgRNy5S1tIoAlvQaI-PiKpRrbtEegGVu-70QSw/s200/World+Religions.jpg" width="200" /></a><span class="s1"><span style="color: blue;"><b>Marv</b></span></span><span class="s2"><span style="color: blue;"><b>:</b></span> I am pondering a scenario where we admit that all world religions are man made. I marvel at the beauty of the universe by "celebrating creation by natural selection", and I stand in awe of that. I also firmly believe in a creator. This thought process leads me to the stunning conclusion that we may know absolutely nothing about who the creator is or how that should impact our daily lives. While that seems terrifying....it is also freeing. Wonder if any of you ever think about this? I won't be able to reply all day cause I'm off to Flatirons Community Church in Denver, Co. to try and figure it all out.</span><span class="s2"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span class="s1"><b><span style="color: blue;">Cliff</span></b></span><span class="s2"><b><span style="color: blue;">:</span></b> Hopefully Flatirons Community Church will settle this mystery for us.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span class="s2">Yes, Marv, I think about that a lot. As I have indicated elsewhere, I am committed to following Jesus, whom I see as unique in world history. But even if I have overestimated his uniqueness, or significance, I can still conceive of no better life than the one that is inspired by Jesus. So I don't have much angst about whether I'm right about Christianity. I'll simply emulate and obey Jesus the best I can.</span></span></div>
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<span class="s2">So it would not significantly impact my faith or my life if I were to learn, tomorrow, that all the world's religions are but feeble attempts to identify and worship the Creator (or creative force) and that the Abrahamic faiths are included.</span><span class="s2"></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="color: blue;"><b>Cliff</b></span></span><span class="s2"><span style="color: blue;"><b>:</b></span> Last week, the oldest human culture (by carbon dating) yet discovered in the American continents was identified right here in my state of Oregon, and the dating (14K to 15K) confirms earlier theories that the aboriginal American populations date back 15,000 or 20,000 years. DNA evidence strongly suggests that these populations have been totally isolated from the rest of the human race for that entire span of time. Further evidence suggests that the combined American populations constituted up to 20% of humanity at the time of Columbus. And their isolation predates Abraham by at least 10,000 years. Yet, the paganism that developed in some populations resembles pagan beliefs in the rest of the world. And the sparks of monotheism which arose here is not unlike that which many of us hold to today.</span><span class="s2"></span></div>
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<span class="s2">If we insist that God's only authentic approach to humankind was to Abraham and his physical and spiritual descendants, we have to ask, did God not care about these Americans?</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><b><span style="color: blue;">Laurie Ann</span></b></span><span class="s2"><b><span style="color: blue;">:</span></b> Cliff... why do you see Jesus as unique in human history? Do you really think there aren't other kind, loving and people committed to service to the degree Jesus was? If he was simply a good man who lived and died and that was it.... is there a reason to "follow" him vs following Gandhi or someone similar? I think you're an incredibly insightful, kind and gentle soul... just not sure what would cause you to follow some guy who lived 2000 years ago if he was just a man like any other man. If there's been no one else who has lived a life of service such as him in 2000 years -- that would be pretty sad.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="color: blue;"><b>Cliff</b></span></span><span class="s2"><span style="color: blue;"><b>:</b></span> First, Laurie, understand that I do not consider Jesus to be "just a man like any other man." If I positively believed what you are writing, I might think again about paying him so much attention. I believe that Jesus is who he claimed to be ... the one and only unique Son of God. My point above is that, even if I am mistaken about that, following Jesus would still be a worthy life-long pursuit. </span><br />
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<span class="s2">Was Jesus unique? What set him apart from other worthy models of kindness, love and service? The example you cite is Gandhi. And I share your high regard for Gandhi! However, the peace and non-violent resistance of Gandhi was employed by him in the service of a political agenda. Love and peace were, for Gandhi, subservient to his overriding goal of independence for India (or for the socio-political goals of other causes around the world which he supported). Laudable! Wonderful! He is right up there among my "most admired". </span><span class="s2"></span></div>
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<span class="s2">Jesus, however, extolled the virtues of love and peace without overarching agendas or causes. In the absence of such agendas (Jesus seemed utterly ambivalent about the Roman occupation, e.g.) Jesus nevertheless taught and (what is more impressive to me) exemplified the ways of peace, love and forgiveness for their own merit. Just because they are good. All other matters relating to social justice issues, or political oppression, etc., would self-resolve in the face of a band of loving peace-makers. (At least, this is how I read Jesus). </span></div>
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<span class="s2">For example, much has been made here and elsewhere of the fact that the Bible does not crusade against slavery, that Jesus did not preach against slavery or the oppression of women or other societal injustices. But the whole point of Jesus's teachings is that these agendas and causes (worthy though they may be) are not the focus of one's life. Love is the focus. Social justice is the by-product. I believe that the elevation of womankind, and the abolition of slavery (where these things have occurred) have often been the by-product of the revolution of love started by Jesus. Humanism itself, and the rise of the worth and value of the individual human (which we all too often take for granted!) are the children of this revolution, imo.</span><span class="s2"></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Much more could be said, I'm sure. But will this do for starters?</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><b><span style="color: blue;">Laurie Ann:</span></b> ... Thank you for that explanation!</span></div>
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</span>Cliff Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08342566023774158670noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1276137109108719911.post-12760330149015447442012-04-30T08:33:00.002-07:002012-04-30T08:34:16.006-07:00<br />
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;">I have long believed that wherever we encounter truth, in addition to evidentiary support, we should expect to find the highest of dramas, and the most exquisite of beauties. </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;">One reason for my rejection of many traditional Christian views (including the standard evangelical meta-narrative, young earth creationism, etc.) has been my dissatisfaction with the blandness of the story. Quite frankly, Hollywood can tell a more engaging tale. And man's efforts at art surpass in elegance and splendor what I once saw as the standard Christian narrative. I expect to find that the best story man can spin will be but a distant echo of The Story, and the finest art man can produce but a blurred and feeble facsimile of The Reality. In this way, I expect Beauty and Drama to validate authenticity, orthodoxy.</span></span></div>Cliff Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08342566023774158670noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1276137109108719911.post-31493862889617315862011-12-25T09:24:00.000-08:002011-12-25T10:28:34.209-08:00God Vulnerable<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';font-size:85%;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';font-size:85%;"><i>Sometimes my atheistic friends display spiritual insight beyond many of my believing friends. As I reviewed some of my Christmas related files this morning, I encountered this 4-year old exchange between my friend Tom and me, consisting a post he wrote on his own blog, and my comment. The exchange inspired me to build the graphic below, and to reproduce a portion of our conversation ...</i></span></div><div><i><br /></i></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0lohewGI3yjYN4EJu5iqeVhg_yvENDiGXgPD4V3e1JZQzBI3lSCGiuE8_RvugUwuDpndSyW0Suw2Ke02SEZK0935F-HvCXTHMGVLnl5h_D2_xSN8KuaGz6Qegw3GrBJfwaPndKFsmPqQx/s1600/Emmanuel.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><i><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 356px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0lohewGI3yjYN4EJu5iqeVhg_yvENDiGXgPD4V3e1JZQzBI3lSCGiuE8_RvugUwuDpndSyW0Suw2Ke02SEZK0935F-HvCXTHMGVLnl5h_D2_xSN8KuaGz6Qegw3GrBJfwaPndKFsmPqQx/s400/Emmanuel.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5690129703339094402" /></i></a><br /> <p class="p1" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';font-size:130%;"><b>"Why the need for a vulnerable God?"</b></span></p> <p class="p2" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';font-size:100%;">The Christmas season is a bit peculiar for atheists, especially de-converted ones like me. Choirs and the songs they sing are especially poignant. "O Holy Night" is beautiful and "Silent Night" is so wondrously simple. However, the religious pomp is no longer part of my life.</span></p> <p class="p2" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';font-size:100%;">When I recollect the nativity story, it begins with a weary Mary who has traveled so far to Bethlehem, and a penniless Joseph who is panicking to get his wife somewhere where she can deliver a baby. There is no hospital, home, or quarters available, just a barn. Then there He is. Between runs from Herod and the life that is to follow, there is this moment where all has stopped and the universe looks on at God incarnate, this tiny, needy baby on a bed of straw. While "Hallelujah's" are part of the scene, it's really overwhelming peace that is iconized in the nativity.</span></p> <p class="p2" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';font-size:100%;">Christianity is strong on symbols and the two biggies are the cross and the nativity. The cross is violent and the nativity is peace, but both exhibit a vulnerable God. It is this God-made-feebly-human characteristic that ironically makes the Christian God so attractive and able to yield strong convictions in followers. No wonder the broken hearted, lonely, and strung out reach out to Jesus. But what about us suburban upper middle-class kids? What is it <i>really </i>about the vulnerable-God story that hooks so many and can even make a formerly religious, now anti-religious atheist like me nostalgic?</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';font-size:85%;"> <i>posted by Tom at </i><span class="s1"><i>11:29 PM </i></span><i>on Dec 23, 2007</i></span></p><p class="p2"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';font-size:100%;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p class="p2"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';font-size:100%;"><i><br /></i></span></p> <p class="p3" style="text-align: center;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';font-size:130%;"><b>My comment:</b></span></i></p> <p class="p4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';font-size:100%;"><i></i></span></p><blockquote><p class="p4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';font-size:100%;"><i>Wow, Tom. You preach a better Christmas sermon than most believers I know. But you raise a valid and significant question. Indeed, we could let Jesus answer it himself: “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Mark 2:17) Jesus often said that he did not come for the “suburban middle class kids” of his day, but for the lost sheep. Yet, even though they were not the target of Jesus’ ministry, many of those healthy, righteous, together people did choose to come along for the ride. And, so long as they could stomach the throng of whores and addicts surrounding Jesus, they were heartily received. The Zacchaeuses, the Matthews, and the Nichodemuses were not turned away! But others, like the rich young ruler, found Jesus attractive but wholly inaccessible on their own defined terms.</i></span></p> <p class="p4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><i>Why such vulnerability in God’s “self-presentation”? Perhaps, as the above paragraph would suggest, it was an appeal to the lowest common denominator of mankind; God knowing that any other approach would slam the door of relationship in the faces of the bottom half of humanity. But for me (also a suburban middle class kid), the picture of the </i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><i>Almighty in kenosis (self-emptying), utterly vulnerable, unconsumed by self-importance, humble, serving, is what attracts me to him. And are these not the qualities we look for in our very closest friends? I am only free to reveal my deepest inner core to another who has made himself vulnerable to me.</i></span></span></p> <p class="p4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';font-size:100%;"><i>It is, in fact, what draws you and me to each other. You are one of those rare human beings who is not consumed by self-importance, an atheist who does not demean believers, who is not afraid to mention your own “atheistic doubts” to believers. In short, you have readily presented yourself to your readers as vulnerable. And I hope I have done the same. I do not wish to pretend that my faith is all so secure and air-tight that I have no room for your penetrating questions and challenges. It is my desire to present myself to you as a vulnerable human being, sharing with you a sincere quest for truth, for the ultimate answers that are, at times, elusive for me also.</i></span></p> <p class="p4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';font-size:100%;"><i>When I only present myself in my strength, I drive people away. My strength is never grounds for intimate friendship, for deep relationship. It seems I often come across this way. I am naturally self-assured, proud, “together”, successful in business and life, etc. But when I freely open up my weaknesses, when I own up to my own failures, when I lay out the frailties of my humanity – that is when I find people strangely drawn to me, drawn to deep friendship with me, opening the secrets of their own hearts to me. It is remarkable. I am most “winsome” in my weakness, in my vulnerability. I define intimacy as “into-me-see”.</i></span></p> <p class="p4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';font-size:100%;"><i>But what of God? He has no “real” weaknesses. He has nothing we could call “failure”. And, in his self-presentation to us, he admits none. Still, he takes on all the weakness inherent in human flesh. He absolutely humbles himself at the nativity and at the cross. He leaves no barriers of exaltation, of perfect strength, of free divine prerogative, to bar our access to him. One of my favorite verses is Proverbs 3:32. One translation says that he “takes the upright into his confidence”. Another has it “He is intimate with the upright.” The original language has hints of pillows and couches, as though God is inviting us into his parlor. God wants to share secrets with us. He wants intimacy with us. This absolutely blows me away! And if it is true (even if there is but a remote chance that it is true!) surely there can be no greater quest than our pursuit to enter into such a relationship with the Creator of all!</i></span></p></blockquote><p class="p4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';font-size:100%;"><i></i></span></p>Cliff Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08342566023774158670noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1276137109108719911.post-57886548942162112722011-11-24T09:24:00.000-08:002011-11-24T10:37:05.182-08:00Personal: Thanksgiving 2011<span class="Apple-style-span"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPwdX21pX2kw0aygrjKZNFSaRg-XsLz5rYhU2pUIeTCY3JvBot0w2op_iL_UbeyS9HuGykI54bXzTK6GYJRFh3TkXLXvRRrLosAizE861t3CZpKq3tsXN4lhWlcUUNEa8Xop0d7cIzcVff/s1600/A_happy_thanksgiving_banner_and_a_cornucopia_101031-185440-377009.jpeg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 285px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPwdX21pX2kw0aygrjKZNFSaRg-XsLz5rYhU2pUIeTCY3JvBot0w2op_iL_UbeyS9HuGykI54bXzTK6GYJRFh3TkXLXvRRrLosAizE861t3CZpKq3tsXN4lhWlcUUNEa8Xop0d7cIzcVff/s320/A_happy_thanksgiving_banner_and_a_cornucopia_101031-185440-377009.jpeg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5678615417644272418" /></a></span><p class="p1"></p><p class="p1"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span> </span></span></p><p class="p1"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span><span class="s1" style="font-family:'times new roman';font-size:100%;"><i>When Ginger, my late wife, was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2006, I began a series of email updates which were sent to a number of friends to keep them informed on Ginger's battle with cancer. After her passing in the Spring of 2010, I have continued to send out these updates, the focus shifting to a sort of journal of my own experience of loss and grief.</i></span></span></span></p><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="font-family:'times new roman';font-size:100%;"> <p class="p1"><span class="s1"><i>Today's post is an excerpt from one such email sent this week. I hope you find it useful as you think about thankfulness today!</i></span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1"><i>~ Cliff</i></span></p></span></span><p class="p1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 130%; " >The Thanksgiving holiday is one of the better inventions of our American culture. Thanksgiving was Ginger’s favorite holiday. She loved to gather her family around one essential principle ... the power inherent in a thankful heart. Of course, gratitude is not the unique commodity of Thanksgiving Day, nor should it be. But this holiday does provide us with an opportunity to pause and consider its importance, and the dynamic capacities released through thankfulness.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 130%; " >Consider with me the transforming dynamic of thanksgiving. In the first century, opinions varied among believers over which foods were morally safe to eat, and which we should avoid. Paul often addressed this issue. Rather than being a matter of religious legislation, Paul set the matter into the realm of personal conscience. In one place (1 Timothy 4:3-4), he teaches that the key to eating otherwise verboten foods is thanksgiving. Thanksgiving, it seems, actually has the power to transform food, and make it acceptable to the eater! Questionable foods become beneficial foods by the application of thanksgiving! From this teaching comes the Christian habit of saying grace at our dinner tables.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 130%; " >But this principle also serves as an analogy for life: “nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving”. Nothing! Thanksgiving changes things! The Bible suggests that we can transform anxiety into peace with the application of thankfulness (Philippians 4:6-7). The way out of confusing and troubling circumstances is opened by thankfulness (Psalm 50:23). Thanksgiving can alter life’s bitter experiences, reshaping them into growth stimulants! Author Shauna Neiquist puts it this way: "When life is sweet, say thank you and celebrate. And when life is bitter, say thank you and grow."</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 130%; " >My life has no shortage of opportunities to test this theory! I’m still trying to wrap my mind around what it means to be thankful for cancer. I won’t pretend that I’ve arrived at a place of offering thanks for Ginger’s passing. But I am reminded of the frequent references in the Bible to the discipline of thankfulness. It is sometimes placed into the category of sacrifice. Personal thanksgiving must at times be pushed through the steady resistance of our own sorrow, even anger. In such circumstances, thanksgiving is offered without full understanding; it is offered in faith, and in hope.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 130%; " >Recently, I was handed another occasion to test the operations of thankfulness! My account on a social internet site was hacked. I was able to shut down the account before serious damage was done. But nevertheless, I got a taste of I.D. theft. It is not pleasant. Aside from feeling personally violated, and having my reputation drug through the gutter, I was left feeling vulnerable on many fronts. I have since secured my computer, and my other online dealings against future attack, and this is a good thing. But I have also been forcibly, and permanently blocked from many friendships. My initial reaction was one of unbridled anger! I was livid! But as I have considered the net gains and losses from this experience, anger has given way to a strange and unexpected gratitude. Accepting our circumstances, even finding those elements for which we can offer thanks, is so much better than stubbornly resisting them. This experience has given me opportunity to reevaluate some of my personal goals and priorities, a process which has strangely given me a new sense of contentment; and a growing thankfulness for the services of an internet intruder.</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 130%; " >As you gather with friends and family today, my wish is that your holiday will be filled with happy thoughts, great food, and closeness with your loved ones. But take a moment or two and review those circumstances in your life which naturally create sorrow, anger, or anxiety. Find a place for them in the kettle of gratitude. And watch as thankfulness works its transformative magic!</span></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><span style="font-weight:bold;"><span style="font-style:italic;"><span style="font-style:italic;"></span></span></span>Cliff Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08342566023774158670noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1276137109108719911.post-88696811892998262862011-09-24T09:17:00.000-07:002011-09-24T19:45:05.025-07:00Human Evolution and Theology<p class="p1"><span class="s1"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';font-size:100%;">It’s been over six months since my last entry on this blog. My apologies to the many who continue to check in here, only to find the well still dry! There are many reasons for my writing hiatus, most of them personal. But I hope to resume writing, and today I offer this summary of a recent Biologos article, together with a brief facebook exchange from yesterday. </span></i></span></p><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 213px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisSHtbLjfOBp6RmGId8rIUsdldgYZotVbthRV5_dfYblVzx9tkQ_YusQJYL_ZsLw6kbw0KP3mChyyyJnE_QPvqkepnaZ9iwwDfpsTbxjDTLW6ikZpejSR0bwrbBRcsu3LNl05RpgOFl_Rk/s320/229101_5135471429_647591429_180090_3122_n.jpeg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5655961120926148898" /><p class="p1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: large; ">My friend, Dennis Venema, is an Associate Professor of Biology at Trinity Western University in Langley, B.C., and a Senior Fellow of the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: large; "><a href="http://biologos.org/">Biologos</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: large; "> Foundation. Yesterday, he posted a </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: large; "><a href="http://biologos.org/blog/understanding-evolution-neanderthals-denisovans-and-human-speciation">fascinating description of early human speciation</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: large; "> at the Biologos site. Evolution doubters confused about microevolution versus macroevolution would do well just to read Venema’s opening paragraphs about how new species develop, and when they cross that invisible line demarcating a “new species”. Venema’s main thrust is how genetics is showing the way to a deeper understanding of how the very early Hominid species spread out across the globe, and how they interacted, and interbred. But Venema’s driving passion, much like my own, goes beyond elucidation of our distant past; he longs for the conversation which evangelical Christians must engage which is less about natural history, and more about its theological implications. Venema closes his article with this:</span></p><p class="p2"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="s1" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';font-size:130%;"></span></span></p> <p class="p4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';font-size:130%;"></span></p><blockquote><p class="p4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';font-size:130%;">"Even as I stand amazed in what God has revealed to us about our origins through science, I know that this new information will be difficult for some within the evangelical community to accept. Moreover, it is almost certain that some Christian groups, unfortunately, will misrepresent this data to their constituents (whether intentionally or not), and thus spread confusion that hinders the needed theological conversation. Still, I have reason for hope: God has seen it fit to reveal this information to us, and that suggests that He believes the evangelical Christian community is ready for this conversation to happen. As [Biologos President] Darrel [Falk] mentioned at the end of his <a href="http://biologos.org/blog/a-geneticists-journey"><span class="s2">recent piece</span></a>, we at BioLogos want to assist our evangelical sisters and brothers in this conversation in any way we can, in full confidence that it can be done in an edifying way ..."</span></p></blockquote> <p class="p7"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';font-size:130%;"><span class="s3">I posted a link to Venema’s article yesterday, and one of my facebook friends commented with several questions. My friend, Tim, is an unbeliever, and puzzles over how or why believers who understand our evolutionary past persist in efforts to reconcile “the biblical narrative from Genesis” with “what science has discovered.” Tim writes, “</span><span class="s1">I just don't get this insane drive to keep believing something that is completely contradictory to the facts.” He goes on to quote Venema’s amazement “in what God has revealed to us about our origins through science.” Tim is incredulous, even infuriated, at such a statement. He writes, “God didn’t reveal anything. Man looked around observed tested and discovered. What God supposedly revealed about the natural world in Genesis is in short a fairy tale. Simply put when it comes to explaining how why things work the way they do or are the way they are its Science a whole whole lot and God zero.”</span></span></p> <p class="p6"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';font-size:130%;">My answer to Tim’s concerns follows:</span></p> <p class="p4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';font-size:130%;"></span></p><blockquote><p class="p4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';font-size:130%;"><i>“A lot of really good questions, Tim. I'll try to answer succinctly, though each of your questions is worthy of an essay!</i></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';font-size:130%;"><i>“People like <a href="http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=647591429"><span class="s2">Venema</span></a> and myself make little attempt to align current understandings of natural history and science with the narrative of Genesis in the way you presume. (Some believers do, e.g. Hugh Ross, and his organization "Reasons to Believe" <<a href="http://www.reasons.org/"><span class="s2">www.reasons.org</span></a>>.) Rather, Genesis appears to us to be an ancient text that provides a wealth of early theological insights within it's contemporary cosmological framework, but which contains little or no supernaturally supplied information about science, origins, or natural history. </i></span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';font-size:130%;"><i>“But what you are really asking is why maintain faith in any Biblical revelation in light of the Bible's lack of historical/scientific preciseness. I cannot presume to answer for Dennis, but I can tell you that for me, this is a choice that is rooted in my faith in the person of Jesus, who is called in the Bible the "Word of God", and as such is the ultimate expression of God, the ultimate divine revelation. And the Bible, in my opinion a substantially accurate source of history concurrent with its writing, tells us much about Jesus prospectively in the O.T., concurrently in the Gospels, and retrospectively in the rest of the N.T. When I couple together the things we are learning from science about origins, evolution, physics, etc. with what is revealed in Jesus and in the book about him, the results are exciting, refreshing, and captivating (you can read some of my observations on my blog, OutsideTheBox).</i></span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';font-size:130%;"><i>“Your question about "God revealing through science" is a fair question. There is a verse in Proverbs that says "It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings." That is, God's revelations in nature are concealed, below the surface, awaiting discovery. Science (which you may know was largely driven by theistic belief for much of it's history) is man uncovering the secrets of the Creator. The Biblical presumption is that all of nature is God revealing, and we call this "Natural Revelation". </i></span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';font-size:130%;"><i>“So your score card ("science a whole lot, God zero") presumes that God spoon feeds information to us, or that Christians believe that he does this. While some Christians may think that way, I assure you that Venema does not. Nor do I.”</i></span></span></p></blockquote><p class="p3"><span class="s1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';font-size:130%;"></span></span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';font-size:130%;">Your comments are welcome ...</span></span></p>Cliff Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08342566023774158670noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1276137109108719911.post-63238774811174743962011-03-12T15:09:00.000-08:002011-03-12T22:37:23.865-08:00God: the Author of Chaos?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiIva6JGx2f6ptpHOct2t0mPkX7HWo9deHSzpUXCzLuFl_EKRehHSsw0qecwMh3C-qXHR_gFAVDl1DKaTqWYWscJXPSSaRV9qzPy16Pp9I0PL7x5mPkq8x0vACGJ_F5rh4PJk4WTlInZVY/s1600/Chaos+to+Order.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 230px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiIva6JGx2f6ptpHOct2t0mPkX7HWo9deHSzpUXCzLuFl_EKRehHSsw0qecwMh3C-qXHR_gFAVDl1DKaTqWYWscJXPSSaRV9qzPy16Pp9I0PL7x5mPkq8x0vACGJ_F5rh4PJk4WTlInZVY/s320/Chaos+to+Order.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5583334914270578242" /></a><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">When I share my views about open theology (that God might not know details about the future) or about God’s noninterventionist ways (that God is mostly “hands-off” with respect to Creation, our individual lives, and the flow of human history), some believers get noticeably anxious! They worry about a world not tightly supervised by its God, a world which is not controlled, and micro-engineered by God. More than once have my views been characterized as deistic. But I am not deist. I believe in, and base my life hope in, a God who is personal, vitally interested in us, and highly purposeful! Nevertheless, it seems that, for some, conceiving of God as the “blessed controller” provides a level of comfort and security they are unwilling to give up. And they often wonder out loud how a universe ungoverned could ever accomplish the ends of a purposeful Creator.</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">I believe that science can help to solve this mystery! Throughout the natural order, we see a confluence of randomness with design and purpose and ultimate predictability that is fascinating to me; and which may be instructive as we seek to understand the ways of God. Three examples are chaos theory, quantum uncertainty, and evolutionary convergence. I’ve written on some of these in the past. Here I bring them together for your consideration.</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Chaos theory, originally explored as a mathematical phenomenon, has been observed and studied in a variety of fields from meteorology to economics to philosophy. Chaos theory tells us that very small, seemingly insignificant variations in initial conditions may result in enormous alterations to the long-range outcomes. The familiar example is that of the “butterfly effect”. A butterfly flapping its wings in Brazil can, according to chaos theory, set off a disturbance in air patterns which could ultimately cause a destructive hurricane to strike Texas, or Indonesia! Chaos theory deals with causes and effects that are, by some measures, completely unpredictable. But there are corollary principles to chaos theory, called fractals. Examples of fractals include the principle of “self-similarity”, and the “Lorenz attractor”. These principles bring a level of order and predictability even to chaotic systems. That is, while initially, effects may splay out in totally unpredictable and chaotic ways, on larger (or smaller) scales certain patterns emerge. And these patterns become predictable, and stable.</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">In Quantum mechanics, the principle of Uncertainty speaks of the utter unpredictability of the movements and behaviors of subatomic particles. And yet, while the physicist may be unable to predict how a given quark or other quantum particle will behave, when observed as a mass of collective particles, the sum of the behavior of such particles becomes predictable with a high degree of accuracy. </span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Biology bows to a similar pattern. The competing principles of contingency and convergence don’t actually compete at all. Both principles are operating throughout evolution. Contingency suggests that mutations and adaptations are unpredictable. Thus the evolutionary trajectory of similar organisms isolated geographically may vary widely even within similar biomes. And yet, convergence suggests that certain ultimate effects are quite predictable, as evolution will self-guide into preexisting, or developing ecological niches. Together, contingency and convergence are the opposing sides of the same coin. They tell us that God could create life just as he willed it by allowing it to move along paths that appear to be totally random. Simon Conway-Morris has theorized that the evolution of man, substantially as we have seen on this planet, was inevitable, and would occur on any planet given the same set of initial conditions, even though the paths might vary widely.</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">This pattern — this phenomenon of random, unpredictable movements and processes ultimately coalescing into long-range outcomes which are foreseeable — provides us with illustrations from nature: natural phenomena which mirror and typify spiritual phenomena. But might they be more than that? Might they suggest a continuity of patterns built into the structure of the cosmos that extend from discernible physical and biological laws to spiritual laws? Do they identify a divine rubric, God’s chosen M.O? I believe they do! </span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">And if so, they suggest that the purposes of God can and will be accomplished through his Creation even as he restrains his hand. </span></span></span></p>Cliff Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08342566023774158670noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1276137109108719911.post-56009004402502351662011-01-15T06:54:00.000-08:002011-01-15T12:09:05.741-08:00Why Science Matters!<p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Frequently, certain friends seem troubled by my exploration of the sciences, and my willingness to accept evidence which at times runs contrary to earlier theological assumptions. A friend recently wrote to me expressing her concern over my interest in what she regards as “the religion of science.” Below is my response to this friend:</span></span></i></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 19.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 172px; height: 182px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwfFClOWCcTg2wCvK0P5ARgi8mrxjIQK1008fDBPzrTz2lXKEEv-t3e7pWJZ8fvKVHH7tQ3fCchhMpHQ636anz4AZkx5Hbz502BVaFfbR61TokEpgAuw-oBZmR-WanGntMVqb08h-7nRg_/s200/science.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5562426483353806690" /><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; color:#103598;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px ;color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">I do not share your view of science. You indicate that </span></span></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">science is a religion </span></span></i></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">unto itself, that is it merely "possible" for a scientist to believe the Bible, and that science (or what you call "worldly knowledge") is something that will eventually fade away</span></span></i></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px ;color:#000000;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">.</span></span></i></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 16.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">I have a much higher view of science, and of its usefulness to faith, to understanding God, to understanding spiritual things, etc. Without question there are those who wrongly worship science, just as some worship sports, others worship cultural icons of Hollywood, and some (dare I say it?) worship the Bible. I know people who would define their entire relationship with God as a pouring over the Hebrew and Greek, searching out the minutia of the text for hidden clues about God, while they have little personal knowledge of or walk with the true "Word of God", Jesus. They have fallen into bibliolatry. But we have these two great sources (or channels, more accurately) of revelation: Special Revelation, and General Revelation. We learn about God in the pages of Scripture, the person of Jesus, and the illumination of the Holy Spirit; and we also learn about him by paying close attention to Creation, to the works of his hands. If indeed the heavens declare the glory of God, then we have a much fuller understanding of God's greatness, magnitude, and glory post-Hubble than before. The intricacies of the living cell are clueing us into the infinite wisdom and creative genius of God. Quantum mechanics is helping to dismantle the unhealthy notions of strict determinism ... that is, we now know the universe is not a static Newtonian predictable set of causes and effects; that helps to correct our theology! Paul tell us in Romans 1 that we can not only learn of God's existence in nature, but we can even learn about his attributes, perhaps even facets of his character. Knowing the Bible, and personally knowing Jesus, helps us to properly "read" the data from science. But it is equally true to say that science helps us to properly read the Bible. It did so in Galileo's day; it continues to do so today. Technically, of course, you are correct: all knowledge will fade away, including science, and including (in my view, at least) the Bible. But for now, science is an amazing tool for looking deeply into God, how he structured the cosmos, how he created the universe. These profound data give us clues to his purposes, and why he responds (or at times does not respond) as he does. The more I understand from science, the more I come back to the Scriptures and say "Aha ... now I understand that!" </span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 16.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">I read in your tone almost disdain for science. That makes me sad. It is true that secularism has hijacked science to a large degree over the last 100 year or so. And, in my view, history reveals that we, the people of faith, are utterly responsible for that hijacking! Through the early centuries of the western scientific enterprise, the primary impetus of science, the motivation for scientific inquiry and study, was God! It was a bottom-line belief in a good and orderly God that gave rise to science, and that fueled its progress for hundreds of years. But when the early fundamentalists of 100 years ago (not all of them, to be sure), tied science (particularly evolution) to the attacks upon the Bible in the late 19th Century, believers abandoned science en masse. Secularists picked up the sciences and ran with them. And the Christian fundamentalist leaders began a century long campaign against science. "Don't trust it" they told us from their pulpits. "It is evil, filled with atheistic lies!" This fundamentalist mantra continues right down to the present day. When I read your comments about science, I fear you have bought into this polemic. I cannot agree with it at all. Not only do I learn about God, understand better his actions in my own life, through peering deeply into nature, but I want Christians everywhere to listen to what we are learning from science; yes, to learn to separate the wheat from the chaff; but to stop the travesty of a church turning its back upon the honest study of our Lord's ingenious and creative works, and deeding it over to atheists and secularist. Christians, </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">of all people, </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">should be the most interested in science. I find it a deplorable tragedy that so many are not, and that we continue to allow atheistic thinkers to set the agenda for science by simple default. Thank God for scientists who are outspoken believers! Thank God for Francis Collins! Thank God for Kenneth Miller! Thank God for Simon Conway-Morris! I thank God for dedicated followers of Jesus who are reassuming positions on the cutting edges of science, who are not denying obvious facts, but who are instead moving science in its proper (and only true) direction: </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">toward God!</span></span></i></span></p>Cliff Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08342566023774158670noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1276137109108719911.post-10417419901765092112010-12-25T15:06:00.000-08:002011-02-11T21:05:30.537-08:00Christmas Day: "And the soul felt its worth"<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_c45KLABWF37aBEBdLbpLghjof41n5WbcYX01mzr0wdY13ho0E2prR9ckOC-qBhb2crXUJ8PF1NYEP_kPsn3_X8q_Jm73krhjaRzlubJI3IDz9Y_XqWXB8RpA5Cd5T83w1j4PKI-kvLQS/s1600/humanism_hands.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 188px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_c45KLABWF37aBEBdLbpLghjof41n5WbcYX01mzr0wdY13ho0E2prR9ckOC-qBhb2crXUJ8PF1NYEP_kPsn3_X8q_Jm73krhjaRzlubJI3IDz9Y_XqWXB8RpA5Cd5T83w1j4PKI-kvLQS/s200/humanism_hands.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5554761696729567842" /></a><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">"... he appeared, and the soul felt its worth ..."</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">This morning, as I prepared a pancake breakfast for my expanded Christmas morning family while listening to a Scott Simon interview of the The Puppini Sisters on NPR, I was struck by a lyric from their favorite Christmas carol. I’ve heard this lovely piece hundreds of times, sung it myself scores of times, but this morning the words fell upon my ears with fresh power: “'til he appeared and the </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">soul felt its worth.” </span></span></i></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The birth of Jesus, the song reminds us, forever raised mankind’s view of himself, lifting his lot from pining in sin and error to a thrilling hopefulness, to the dawning of a new and glorious morning. </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">“ ... and the soul felt its worth.”</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> By invading our material reality, and permeating earth with his transcendence, God forever ennobled life on this plane! By clothing himself in the flesh of humanity, God upped our stock, setting a new baseline value on what it means to be human! Nothing can impress upon the soul its eternal worth like the nativity scene, the humble babe housing infinity, the suffusion of man-flesh with unimaginable transcendent greatness.</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The French wine merchant Adolphe Adam, and the English version translator John Sullivan Dwight merely assume this elevation of human dignity accompanying the divine visitation we commemorate on this day. David Bentley Hart builds the case methodically and potently in his brilliant work, </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Atheist Delusions</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">. At the very core of what Hart calls the Christian Revolution is what he labels as nothing short of “the invention of the human.” As he traces the development of human worth through history, he argues cogently how effectively Jesus, the central figure in history, redefines what it means to be human. </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">“ ... and the soul felt its worth.”</span></span></i></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">He also brings his readers face-to-face with the stark and terrifying prospect of a humankind delivered of its Christian influence. “If, as I have argued in these pages, the ‘human’ as we now understand it is the positive invention of Christianity, might it not be the case that a culture that has become truly post-Christian will also, ultimately, become posthuman?”</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The chilling day when humanism has followed the path of a discarded Christmas, the day Hart sees looming on our horizon is not yet upon us. Nor is it inevitable. For now, the essential message of the Incarnation still rings clear. And Christians should boldly herald its powerful implications: Jesus appeared! </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">“ ... and the soul felt its worth.” </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">every soul! every color! every gender! every age! every ethnicity! every culture! the value of every person has been forever elevated by the event we know as Christmas. This revaluing of humanity is at the heart of the mega-joy implicit in Bethlehem’s child! This is the good news. It is this gospel that should be in our hearts, upon our lips, and lived out of our lives. </span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></i></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"></span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">“ ... and the soul felt its worth.”</span></span></i></span></p>Cliff Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08342566023774158670noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1276137109108719911.post-57128899408195446562010-12-02T10:53:00.001-08:002010-12-02T11:23:07.877-08:00Hallelujah! Hallelujah!<div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrv2owi9c61dsBtwaKg7c29B1bsuer9DQh5sCyKYKvOyhea4RE2DRqIzmP_Jm8BvLqvoSex0lBYf-EGKsBG7qque6A3o5B62De9WvPXvAsVZWGTbUndIuo2w_4uR0OGlWc6K4WlmzJDiIt/s1600/1.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 195px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrv2owi9c61dsBtwaKg7c29B1bsuer9DQh5sCyKYKvOyhea4RE2DRqIzmP_Jm8BvLqvoSex0lBYf-EGKsBG7qque6A3o5B62De9WvPXvAsVZWGTbUndIuo2w_4uR0OGlWc6K4WlmzJDiIt/s200/1.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5546161103055693874" /></a><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">By now, last month's surprise Hallelujah Chorus at the food court in a Welland, Ontario shopping mall has spread all over the internet. If you have not yet, </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/AlphabetPhotography"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">you must view it</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">! As I watched it today for the sixth or seventh time, finding my smiles yet irrepressible, and still wiping tears from my eyes, I wondered ...</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The popular Antitheists of our day, and cultural icons like John Lennon, insi</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">st that the world will be a better place when all religion has been eradicated! Ah yes, “Imagine” with me a world forever cleansed of George Frideric Handel!</span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I tried in vain to think of a single cultural contribution that comes close to Handel’s Messiah which has been inspired by thoughts of a god-free cosmos. I </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">could not think of anything that stirs the heart and soul. I did think of John Lennon’s ode to a world delivered of the joys and hopes of faith. Ah yes, Imagine! The words and music are, admittedly, mildly arousing. A bit mournful. Kind of like dry toast. Or old black and white photography. But still, </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I’ve sung along and (genuinely) tried to catch Lennon’s fervor (if indeed we could call it that). But listening to Lennon I have never felt the exhilaration, the sheer unquenchable joy flooding my whole being, mind and soul, which arise involuntarily during these five minutes of Handel in the Mall.</span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 142px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirtB6kId-tK5YbjxVl0wCkFivZ6-8PaF0oPMYtl0EgIA3LpL63n8by_UcNpKubkEsIfUFsrTYZCIWECRdPE2BndtRusfo1-tMDyIGb3xABRw1obGkFfJCyeRVGjRiYw-ntRknJVtZZ3JfF/s400/collage.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5546164778356711794" /><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">But I must admit to a faith-induced predilection to experience such a high! My atheist friends will no doubt find themselves yawning in boredom. And surely they can point me to works of art, music or visual arts, that stir their souls, that inspire them profoundly, that awaken deep emotions of joys rising to overwhelm their senses. I would love to hear about them! </span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Now I know that there is a certain sense of awe and excitement that is energized by our discoveries in physics and biology. I share those! They are wonderful. But, if I may be so bold to say so, they do not even fit into the same category with the sheer transcendent delight aroused by countless examples of faith-inspired art and literature.</span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 389px; height: 299px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNwHwNoaiRaFrE6VLodrPVOLO3lYceyLcPIgGfMFRzi95Vg9GVxklLzCqmu0C0maNj4FKOsbQjIrTCZbuiwLCThW5Hk0jBDfyCjfDfGCEuEf3py6w4CBh__byztOHBvzCEzA-mr2NU5Qmi/s400/7.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5546163573953814018" /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Nevertheless, I am assured by those who seem to know, that the lot of mankind will be greatly improved when the vestiges of faith and religion are but fading memories. The Antitheists will no doubt breath a huge sigh of relief knowing that their lunch in the food court will never again be so rudely interrupted.</span></span></span></p>Cliff Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08342566023774158670noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1276137109108719911.post-22048450608397946272010-11-29T14:05:00.000-08:002010-11-29T14:59:05.542-08:00Testing the Eyesight of the New Atheists<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlgCwko4dmuGlCWscOkxgciEVlrfJQk2QQWqNj176BS1yrtcQycpErpxmLvh1nFrmZFpj5Dr9MYj3ZxiIkWdF_sV14Usm7kBm6J5LFbFViGjZNXqx3RJ9HJNiDLxmnSyyBONxvQNVPiqtB/s1600/Is+there+a+God.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 170px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlgCwko4dmuGlCWscOkxgciEVlrfJQk2QQWqNj176BS1yrtcQycpErpxmLvh1nFrmZFpj5Dr9MYj3ZxiIkWdF_sV14Usm7kBm6J5LFbFViGjZNXqx3RJ9HJNiDLxmnSyyBONxvQNVPiqtB/s200/Is+there+a+God.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5545106206390029890" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">There have been many worthy responses to the spate of New Atheist books which sold in the millions a few years back. (I have reviewed a few of these responses <a href="http://cliff-martin.blogspot.com/2008/07/book-review-truth-behind-new-atheism.html">here</a>, and <a href="http://cliff-martin.blogspot.com/2008/06/book-review-dawkins-delusion.html">here</a>, and <a href="http://cliff-martin.blogspot.com/2009/08/book-review-atheist-delusions-christian.html">here</a>.) But perhaps the most succinct response I've read recently was written by an atheist, the </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">conservative social commentator, Anthony (A.M.) Daniels, aka Theodore Dalrymple. Below are a few excerpts from his regular <i>City Journal </i>(Fall, 2007) column, "Oh, to Be in England", entitled <a href="http://www.city-journal.org/html/17_4_oh_to_be.html">"What the New Atheists Don't See"</a>.</span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Times;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px; line-height: 19.0px; font: 13.0px Times"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Few of us, especially as we grow older, are entirely comfortable with the idea that life is full of sound and fury but signifies nothing.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px; line-height: 19.0px; font: 13.0px Times"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">________________</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px; line-height: 19.0px; font: 13.0px Times"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">...however many times philosophers say that it is up to us ourselves, and to no one else, to find the meaning of life, we continue to long for a transcendent purpose immanent in existence itself, independent of our own wills. To tell us that we should not feel this longing is a bit like telling someone in the first flush of love that the object of his affections is not worthy of them. The heart hath its reasons that reason knows not of.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px; line-height: 19.0px; font: 13.0px Times"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">________________</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px; line-height: 19.0px; font: 13.0px Times"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Reason can never be the absolute dictator of man’s mental or moral economy.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px; line-height: 19.0px; font: 13.0px Times"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">________________</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px; line-height: 19.0px; font: 13.0px Times"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">For Dennett, to prove the biological origin of belief in God is to show its irrationality, to break its spell. But of course it is a necessary part of the argument that all possible human beliefs, including belief in evolution, must be explicable in precisely the same way; or else why single out religion for this treatment? Either we test ideas according to arguments in their favor, independent of their origins, thus making the argument from evolution irrelevant, or all possible beliefs come under the same suspicion of being only evolutionary adaptations—and thus biologically contingent rather than true or false. We find ourselves facing a version of the paradox of the Cretan liar: all beliefs, including this one, are the products of evolution, and all beliefs that are products of evolution cannot be known to be true.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px; line-height: 19.0px; font: 13.0px Times"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">________________</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px; line-height: 19.0px; font: 13.0px Times"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">...how can reality have any moral quality without having an immanent or transcendent purpose?</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px; line-height: 19.0px; font: 13.0px Times"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">________________</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px; line-height: 19.0px; font: 13.0px Times"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Harris tells us, for example, that “we must find our way to a time when faith, without evidence, disgraces anyone who would claim it. Given the present state of the world, there appears to be no other future worth wanting.” I am glad that I am old enough that I shall not see the future of reason as laid down by Harris; but I am puzzled by the status of the compulsion in the first sentence that I have quoted. Is Harris writing of a historical inevitability? Of a categorical imperative? Or is he merely making a legislative proposal? This is who-will-rid-me-of-this-troublesome-priest language, ambiguous no doubt, but not open to a generous interpretation.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px; line-height: 19.0px; font: 13.0px Times"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">It becomes even more sinister when considered in conjunction with the following sentences, quite possibly the most disgraceful that I have read in a book by a man posing as a rationalist: “The link between belief and behavior raises the stakes considerably. Some propositions are so dangerous that it may be ethical to kill people for believing them. This may seem an extraordinary claim, but it merely enunciates an ordinary fact about the world in which we live.”</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px; line-height: 19.0px; font: 13.0px Times"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">________________</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px; line-height: 19.0px; font: 13.0px Times"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">It is surely not news, except to someone so ignorant that he probably wouldn’t be interested in these books in the first place, that religious conflict has often been murderous and that religious people have committed hideous atrocities. But so have secularists and atheists, and though they have had less time to prove their mettle in this area, they have proved it amply. If religious belief is not synonymous with good behavior, neither is absence of belief, to put it mildly.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px; line-height: 19.0px; font: 13.0px Times"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">________________</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px; line-height: 19.0px; font: 13.0px Times"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The thinness of the new atheism is evident in its approach to our civilization, which until recently was religious to its core. To regret religion is, in fact, to regret our civilization and its monuments, its achievements, and its legacy.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px; line-height: 19.0px; font: 13.0px Times"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">________________</span></span></p><div>Read the full article, <a href="http://www.city-journal.org/html/17_4_oh_to_be.html">here</a>, in which Dalrymple takes each of the popular New Atheist authors to task. No doubt Dalrymple could build a case for his own atheism which might be worthy of consideration. But, as <a href="http://cliff-martin.blogspot.com/2009/08/book-review-atheist-delusions-christian.html">others</a> have noted, the case built by the popular authors (including Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennet, Christopher Hitchens, and Sam Harris) is at times poorly constructed, and at times completely fatuous. Were they merely catching a wave of unsophisticated public sentiment, and thus scoring big in book sales? Or were they really giving it their best shot?</div></span></span></div>Cliff Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08342566023774158670noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1276137109108719911.post-48690838506418789072010-11-21T09:57:00.000-08:002010-11-21T12:36:35.333-08:00Do Atheists Possess Special Courage?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbFqnz-rM329BM1KAKickhsVB-AfkAWPW-wn3nej0V5ahL0DUwWMwor5JzrXRtl8R1b2dvFOP8kBIRM3E-GzFCCsQgp2w9U9libdu__gHoqgtPd-o8QVyEG8tRYPuvaBg_RGfld0HT_Fu1/s1600/Atheists+...+Courage%253F.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 226px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbFqnz-rM329BM1KAKickhsVB-AfkAWPW-wn3nej0V5ahL0DUwWMwor5JzrXRtl8R1b2dvFOP8kBIRM3E-GzFCCsQgp2w9U9libdu__gHoqgtPd-o8QVyEG8tRYPuvaBg_RGfld0HT_Fu1/s320/Atheists+...+Courage%253F.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5542063972454223122" /></a><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Well, it happened again this week. Another of my atheist friends (Nick, this time), claimed the high ground with regard to courage. “It takes courage to abandon faith,” I hear over and over. “Atheists must face reality with courage!” I’m not not impressed.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 16.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Atheists insist that belief in God is commensurate with belief in The Flying Spaghetti Monster, or in Leprechauns. So let me see if I have this straight: denying the existence of soaring pasta or fantasy imps requires courage? Really? How can atheists, with straight face, tell us that belief in God is vanishingly trivial, and then speak of the abundance of courage necessary for their denial? </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 16.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">No. Atheism requires no courage at all. Walking into a lions den, suppressing your natural fears by pretending lions do not exist, now that requires a semblance of courage (mixed with extreme folly). But atheist are careful to claim that they are doing no such thing. Their “courage” is the kind required to acknowledge that the sky is blue, that fish swim, or that 2 + 2 = 4. Courage?</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 16.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">I responded to my friend’s claims of courage on facebook with this comment:</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 27.0px; text-align: justify; font: 12.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; color:#333233;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Nick, I've been thinking a lot lately about that oft repeated mantra, "it takes courage to be an atheistic materialist." I'm not so sure. I often feel it would be much easier for me to let my naturally skeptical mind drift into complete unbelief. And for me, quite honestly, holding on to faith requires the greater effort, and the greater courage. </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 27.0px; text-align: justify; font: 12.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 14.0pxcolor:#333233;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 27.0px; text-align: justify; font: 12.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; color:#333233;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">I'm not saying atheists have wimped out. But I am saying that continuing to believe, maintaining hope that our existence is not futile, that there will be ultimate justice, that there is profound meaning and purpose threaded throughout this universe—for me, this involves determination and courage.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 27.0px; text-align: justify; font: 12.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 14.0pxcolor:#333233;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 27.0px; text-align: justify; font: 12.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; color:#333233;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">.... How is courage involved in a world-view that has abandoned hope? Sometimes I fear unbelievers mistake "whistling in the dark" for courage.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 27.0px; text-align: justify; font: 11.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 12.0pxcolor:#333233;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The Pragmatist, William James, understood (as do I) that faith is a choice. And likewise, for the atheist: disbelief is a choice. Atheists like to assert that non-belief is the default position for an empirically non-verifiable claim. But this assertion holds no water; it begs the question: for the very notion of faith acknowledges the absence of the sort of evidence they consider necessary. James comments,</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 27.0px; text-align: justify; line-height: 14.0px; font: 12.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">"To preach scepticism to us as a duty until "sufficient evidence" for religion be found, is tantamount therefore to telling us, when in presence of the religious hypothesis, that to yield to our fear of its being error is wiser and better than to yield to our hope that it may be true. It is not intellect against all passions, then; it is only intellect with one passion laying down its law. And by what ... is the supreme wisdom of this passion warranted? Dupery for dupery, what proof is there that dupery through hope is so much worse than dupery through fear?"</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; line-height: 14.0px; font: 11.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 12.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; line-height: 14.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">So this is how James saw it: Unbelief is grounded less in </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">courage</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> than </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">fear. </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Fear of making the mistake of believing without “sufficient evidence”. We can derive from James that faith is grounded in <i>fearlessness</i>, <i>courage</i>, as well as <i>hope</i>. </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; line-height: 14.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 16.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; line-height: 14.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">So the next time an atheist asks me how I can believe what I cannot empirically prove, I will respond, “It takes a lot of courage! do you have enough courage? or have you settled for the safety of resignation?”</span></span></p>Cliff Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08342566023774158670noreply@blogger.com29tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1276137109108719911.post-36595440640511994222010-11-13T07:36:00.000-08:002010-11-13T08:08:00.747-08:00Still Your Soul in Silence<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg6gY_jHW_KBkhu3ZQ5nElsXOUIBpsq1VaS7Trso-buDNti0Iijpmru4BDr95y8PvKGwSRun6HGpLBdDonF92irb_NNrd6QtEzu6swkxBvcvDVK478Fn2HUrZviG6lw4He6GGwGNFCUxYn/s1600/DONAnnieDesign.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 148px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg6gY_jHW_KBkhu3ZQ5nElsXOUIBpsq1VaS7Trso-buDNti0Iijpmru4BDr95y8PvKGwSRun6HGpLBdDonF92irb_NNrd6QtEzu6swkxBvcvDVK478Fn2HUrZviG6lw4He6GGwGNFCUxYn/s200/DONAnnieDesign.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5539058958308158434" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><i>It is not often I encounter an artist whose faith walk parallels my own such that similar experiences create several significant touch points. For me, such an artist is Don Francisco. The lyrical artistry of his songs has delighted me for over 25 years. He is an inventive wordsmith, but he is also a troubadour to my soul. There have been particular times in my life when the poignancy of his music, especially his autobiographical songs, gives profound expression to my own heart. Such has been the case recently, as I have been enjoying a personal revival of Don Francisco music. I've chased back a few tears when I listen to ...</i></span><div><br /></div><div><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: center; font: 18.0px Verdana"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:large;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: center; font: 18.0px Verdana"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">Still Your Soul in Silence</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: center; font: 12.0px Verdana"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">Don Francisco</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: center; font: 13.0px Verdana; min-height: 16.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: center; font: 11.0px Verdana"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">In the lives of those that follow there is going to come a time</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: center; font: 11.0px Verdana"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">When rhythm starts to stumble and singsong swallows rhyme</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: center; font: 11.0px Verdana"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">When imaginations crumble, false foundations turn to dust</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: center; font: 11.0px Verdana"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Towers fall to piles of stones and girders into rust</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: center; font: 11.0px Verdana"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Til you let the blood of Jesus wash the rubble from your mind</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: center; font: 11.0px Verdana"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">And your eyes again can see the one you almost left behind</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: center; font: 11.0px Verdana"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">When theology's in tatters and reason is absurd</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: center; font: 11.0px Verdana"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Still your soul in silence and listen for His word</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: center; font: 11.0px Verdana; min-height: 13.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: center; font: 11.0px Verdana"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">So many turns, so many ways, so many voices cry</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: center; font: 11.0px Verdana"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Standing at the crossroads watching time go flashing by</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: center; font: 11.0px Verdana"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Indecision paralyzes, it's the fear of choosing wrong</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: center; font: 11.0px Verdana"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">But waiting is a step itself, and your wondering too long</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: center; font: 11.0px Verdana"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">So again you search the scripture, and again you ask your friends</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: center; font: 11.0px Verdana"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">But last of all the One who knows the beginning from the end</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: center; font: 11.0px Verdana"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">In the clamor and confusion and the blindness of your choice</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: center; font: 11.0px Verdana"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Still your soul in silence, and listen for His voice</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: center; font: 11.0px Verdana; min-height: 13.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: center; font: 11.0px Verdana"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Rome is full of ruins, Babylon is gone</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: center; font: 11.0px Verdana"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The temple's just a memory that some still dwell upon</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: center; font: 11.0px Verdana"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">But deep within a place that sword and veil had once denied</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: center; font: 11.0px Verdana"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">A tree of life is growing, living waters flow beside</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: center; font: 11.0px Verdana"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Far beyond all human reason and words upon a page</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: center; font: 11.0px Verdana"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">His glory lightens all who fret their hour upon this stage</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: center; font: 11.0px Verdana"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">To know Him is our freedom, to hear Him is release</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: center; font: 11.0px Verdana"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">To fix your heart and soul on Him is rest and perfect peace</span></span></span></p><div><br /></div></div>Cliff Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08342566023774158670noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1276137109108719911.post-30046040509270722162010-10-16T19:23:00.000-07:002010-10-16T19:37:33.065-07:00The “Why” Question ... and why I don’t ask it. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLDWNvLHFTOifOAmR7f6UIdRfHbbPF7IybtZKsf41X6gk5Kl2PXG1D11FNFeaFmBJ3vpC9G93RckHEMyK09LzB2sOpCBgqJ8Iyw9RL1TlXPxEHoFJvWw0UbVTwlzi2uKlVFAqASUrwKzgf/s1600/why.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLDWNvLHFTOifOAmR7f6UIdRfHbbPF7IybtZKsf41X6gk5Kl2PXG1D11FNFeaFmBJ3vpC9G93RckHEMyK09LzB2sOpCBgqJ8Iyw9RL1TlXPxEHoFJvWw0UbVTwlzi2uKlVFAqASUrwKzgf/s200/why.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5528837858312579250" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; font-family:'times new roman';"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">My family just passed the six-month mark. Do you ever get used to mom and wife gone permanently? Perhaps not, but most certainly not in six months. For the believer, such an untimely death always raises questions about the purposes and intentions of God. We are prompted to ask "Why, God?"</span></i></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:130%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></span></i></span></span></div><div><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Often, as they envision a loving God, a provider of good gifts, a healer, and a keeper of promises, believers will ask why he allows such things as cancer, and untimely death. Why doesn’t he answer our pleas for healing? Why didn’t he? Some will respond glibly that he did answer, but that his answer was “no”. Somehow, I never understood how this helps. If I were struggling to trust a God who fails to answer my prayer, I’d sooner believe that he didn’t hear me than to believe my request earned his intentional and unequivocal refusal. Then again, of course he answers “no”. And that is precisely the problem. Why not, God?</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 16.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">The “why” question, of course, presumes that God could heal, that healing is always on the table, always an option for him; and that when he fails to heal, he must surely have good reason. After all, he knows what is best for us. But what if it's not like that at all? Oh yes, in the simplest of Sunday School formulas, the doctrine of divine omnipotence rightly informs us that God can do anything. But what if his failure to heal is not the result of his choice at all? What if he does not heal because he cannot heal?</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 16.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">If yours is a theology similar to mine, then you will understand that we are caught up in a battle of all the ages, a conflict of cosmic proportions between good and evil. The cosmic version of this battle is not unlike the skirmishes in which we find ourselves in this life, skirmishes for which we are given specific instruction. Jesus both taught us, and demonstrated for us, how the battle is engaged, and how the victory is won: Evil is overcome by good, which involves the strange and counterintuitive battlefield tactic of turning the other cheek, going the extra mile, offering blessing for cursing, and praying for — even loving our enemy. Evil is never overcome by the display of greater force. It is subdued, disarmed, and overwhelmed by the consistent application of nonresistant love. And this tactic often involves a very high price, for it often involves suffering. For Jesus, the cost was his very life. Paul teaches us that all of creation has been thrown into a state of suffering in this conflict; and he constantly calls us to enter into the sufferings of Jesus. And so, Peter admonishes us not to think it strange when we suffer. It is part of the plan. Always was. </span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 16.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Such a tactic often appears to be a losing one. Love and nonresistance strike scant fear into the hearts of an opposing army. But the long story of history will prove this immutable truth: </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">there is no force anywhere that can withstand the mighty arm of love</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">. Love will win.</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 16.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Thus this battle has rules of engagement, set by God himself: self-imposed rules which severely limit his freedom to intervene at will. But Jesus gave us deep insight into the heart of the Father when his own heart was overwhelmed with grief over the untimely death of his friend, Lazarus. Jesus wept. Rather than envisioning a wiser than I grandfather God who sometimes must say “no” lest we be spoiled by his doting, I envision a God whose heart was broken, moved to tears, profoundly saddened over Ginger’s death, and that he grieves with me and with each member of my family to this day, and will continue to do so until that promised coming day, the day of the restitution of all things.</span></span></span></p></div>Cliff Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08342566023774158670noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1276137109108719911.post-1675470400650374232010-10-05T08:54:00.000-07:002010-10-05T08:59:17.946-07:00Bibliolatry<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBDiZmJlJR1ahl7fi7OLKFT5WJ0pUOa2YaKm5p5k8yjxyyzoK3ty30tXx_-a54d3GN2BWydxkWFx4tO1U2Qnm0Fg-p_3AMjgPORI_xSUpI70_r-0v5kkvx8wOyBKtaCxdjCDjYOzOQED_2/s1600/Hand+holding+Bible.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 164px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBDiZmJlJR1ahl7fi7OLKFT5WJ0pUOa2YaKm5p5k8yjxyyzoK3ty30tXx_-a54d3GN2BWydxkWFx4tO1U2Qnm0Fg-p_3AMjgPORI_xSUpI70_r-0v5kkvx8wOyBKtaCxdjCDjYOzOQED_2/s320/Hand+holding+Bible.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5524591322545637298" /></a><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; color: #333233"><span style="font: 18.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Bibliolatry</span></b></span><span style="font: 11.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; letter-spacing: 0.0px"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><i>n.</i> an extreme devotion to the Bible itself. <b><i>(from the Greek biblion "book" + latreia "worship") </i></b></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; color: #333233; min-height: 16.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b><i></i></b></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; color: #333233"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">In his regular Monday feature, Stephen Douglas posted a short George MacDonald </span></span><a href="http://undeception.com/mondays-with-macdonald-on-the-purpose-and-limits-of-the-bible/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">piece on the purpose and limits of the Bible</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">. Excellent quote. Drop by and read it!</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; color: #333233; min-height: 16.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; color: #333233"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">The quote prompted me to think about this question, “Christian Faith: is it about a book? or is it about a person?” </span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; color: #333233; min-height: 16.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; color: #333233"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">For some time now, I find myself cringing every time I hear some good-hearted Christian refer to “the word of God.” They are nearly always talking about a book! which totally distorts the term, and misrepresents Christianity.</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; color: #333233; min-height: 16.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><b></b></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; color: #333233"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">I have never found a Biblical reference to "the word of God" that does not either expressly refer to the person of Jesus, or to revelations of God ... specific, in the moment, revelations (in which cases, we have Jesus speaking via the Spirit). Among the 60 or so Bible references to "the word of God" or "the word of the Lord", I have yet to find one that refers to a book, (though it may be possible to construe a couple in this way). Since the Bible itself clearly declares Jesus to be </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">THE</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"> </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">WORD OF GOD</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">, the quintessential manifestation and revelation of God to man, the term ought surely to be reserved for him!</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; color: #333233; min-height: 16.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; color: #333233"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Makes one wonder how we got from this simple and profound truth to preachers wielding their embossed leather-bound Scofields far above their heads and, in their most sonorous, quaking voice, shouting out something about "THE WORD".</span></span></span></p>Cliff Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08342566023774158670noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1276137109108719911.post-70515272843045961052010-09-12T11:29:00.000-07:002010-09-12T11:51:07.532-07:00Where did the Stephen Hawking post go?<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">... I took it down.</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Yesterday, I posted a short piece on Stephen Hawking which included this quote from <i>A Brief History of Time:</i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000099;">"It would be very difficult to explain why the universe should have begun in just this way, except as the act of a God who intended to create beings like us."</span></span></blockquote></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">I am embarrassed to acknowledge my quote mining error, the very sort of quote mining so often used by the Creationist camp (I should have been tipped off by the frequent siting of this sentence in Creationist literature.) No one pointed this out to me. I merely reread the paragraph. I'm glad I did.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">When Hawking wrote the words "in just this way", he was referring to one of the problems with early Big Bang cosmology, and its inability to account for such things as the evenly distributed microwave background radiation (the "echo" of the Big Bang) which we observe today, without the imposition of a Creator. He goes on in the same paragraph to explain how the problems have been solved by more recent understandings in cosmology which allow the possibility of various nonuniform initial conditions. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">When Big Bang cosmology first came on the scene in the 1920s, it was viewed as a bane on cosmology and physics by many scientists who concluded that such a "start" would almost certainly necessitate a Creator. Various work-arounds have since surfaced which make it possible for science to conceive of a cosmic beginning moment sans an almighty hand at work. Hawking was merely referring to this development of science.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">It will appear to some that science is constantly "running for shelter" from a God. And that may well be the case for some. From what I have read of Hawking, I do not believe he is doing this at all. He readily allows the possibility of a Creator. But his search for natural laws keep leading him to rely less and less on science that appears to demand such a Creator. </span></div>Cliff Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08342566023774158670noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1276137109108719911.post-7054624732802059202010-08-27T11:25:00.000-07:002010-08-27T11:49:31.183-07:00Christianity & Science: Are they Compatible?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYuFc9ceDRAFS96x5nPf436WZorbnBhbFaNY0hfe9jbyk77EO5Pp3SMdj5RKl8lBZuiX4Lea1YVY24BhyphenhyphenRBFXzELNJWlKH5aiU_1OEj0VxcVdbjp6zHamFrZbfnm1mOm4OR6t6rJf5_4fb/s1600/Facebook+Conversations.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYuFc9ceDRAFS96x5nPf436WZorbnBhbFaNY0hfe9jbyk77EO5Pp3SMdj5RKl8lBZuiX4Lea1YVY24BhyphenhyphenRBFXzELNJWlKH5aiU_1OEj0VxcVdbjp6zHamFrZbfnm1mOm4OR6t6rJf5_4fb/s320/Facebook+Conversations.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5510158044407317954" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">It seems that most of my on-line conversations now happen on facebook pages. From time to time, I may republish some of those conversations here to reach my blog readers.</span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></div><div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The following is an exchange which occurred when a friend posted a link to an article which posed the question,</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><i>"</i></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'trebuchet ms';font-size:medium;"><i>Can You Believe in Christianity and Evolution?" </i></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'trebuchet ms';font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><i>"Josh" gave his answer,</i> </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'trebuchet ms';font-size:medium;"><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#3333FF;">christianity and science can be reconciled... but it has to be good, true science for the reconciliation to work! :-)</span></blockquote><i>... to which I replied,</i><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#3333FF;">I found Josh's earlier comment interesting:</span></blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#3333FF;">Josh, would you also agree with me if I rephrased that? </span></blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#3333FF;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#3333FF;">"Christianity and science can be reconciled... but it has to be good, true Christianity for the reconciliation to work" </span></blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#3333FF;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#3333FF;">From my perspective as a follower of Jesus and a follower of science, science is more often "true and good" than many versions of christianity. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#3333FF;">Conclusive, objective, and empirical evidence should not be asked to bend to align with subjective, debatable interpretations of the Bible. Would you agree?</span></blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#3333FF;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); "><blockquote></blockquote></span></span></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;font-size:100%;color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:11px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family:'trebuchet ms';font-size:medium;">When apparent conflicts appear between hard science and our version of Christianity, which should give way? </span></span></span></span></div></div></div>Cliff Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08342566023774158670noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1276137109108719911.post-70299865394575764532010-08-19T10:32:00.000-07:002010-08-19T21:06:10.843-07:00Shibboleth<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP93YI5aqyjOECQohEuscIpxEz8MxRVLUALTnOoFxCZBASl7neZSzg2oO0QJ_aYsVYmmY4QAPeAOPwiYodtr-7epmqQ8l8tk_iVha1B7TxR8yfxb9IlgoUYaWMlqH3Jn-cO6gnQf9C7Rbz/s1600/halt.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 186px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP93YI5aqyjOECQohEuscIpxEz8MxRVLUALTnOoFxCZBASl7neZSzg2oO0QJ_aYsVYmmY4QAPeAOPwiYodtr-7epmqQ8l8tk_iVha1B7TxR8yfxb9IlgoUYaWMlqH3Jn-cO6gnQf9C7Rbz/s200/halt.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5507175582338794898" /></a><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Forty-two thousand. The number of retreating warriors of the Israelite tribe of Ephraim slain because they couldn’t pronounce the S-word. Well, not </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">that </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">S-word. But it might have worked just the same. Thirty-four hundred years ago (or so), the in-fighting between Israelite tribes came to blows, and the Ephraimites invaded the lands of their brother tribes living across the Jordan River in Gilead. They lost the war, and the surviving troops, forty-two thousand of them, retreated. But the Gileadites cut them off, securing all the river crossing fords. But a Jew is a Jew, and they could not tell an Ephraimite from a Gadite or a Manassehite; they all look the same! How could they determine whether a traveller was a member of the retreating invasion force? Well, it just so happened that Ephramites were afflicted with a mass speech impediment, and they could not say sh*t worth sh*t. So the Gileadites picked a word, any word, starting with SH. They happened to choose “shibboleth”, a word which means nothing particularly interesting, but was impossible for the poor tongue-tied Ephraimites to pronounce. They used the word as a password, a test for any would-be west-bound crossers at the fords. When anyone attempting to cross the river answered the password request, “sibboleth,” he was put to the sword then and there! </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 16.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">There may be a lesson here about teaching diction to our children. But more to the point, this word, “shibboleth,” has been passed down and still to this day it refers to those group-think words or phrases, those passwords of practice and speech, which distinguish the insiders from the outsiders. Shibboleths are like badges of belonging. Pronounce them just right, and you are “one of us!” Mispronounce them, and watch out. </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 16.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Funny thing about shibboleths. Their usefulness in identifying insiders often outlives any connection to the veracity, or the importance of the actual identifying issue. That is, the shibboleth functions to maintain group-think, despite overwhelming evidence that the shibboleth is a based on mistaken, or false assumptions.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 16.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The insidious power of the shibboleths of American evangelicalism is something that many free-thinking, analytical, and informed Christians experience first-hand. Those who have encountered (whether by choice or not) the irresistibly compelling evidence behind the science of evolution, or who have encountered (whether by choice or not) the insurmountable logical and evidential problems with Biblical inerrancy, find it increasingly difficult to go on pronouncing their shibboleths correctly. </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 16.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">I’ve been corresponding on the web with a Christian, a wife and a mother of young children, who just so happens to hold a PhD in science. Put simply, she just knows way too much to go on pronouncing all her shibboleths in the accepted form. Many of the things she knows with clarity are at odds with the beliefs of her church leaders and friends. That she struggles with doubt is not surprising. I know of few evolutionary evangelicals who do not. And many of us who have come to understand that the Bible is not the magical word-perfect book it is hyped to be, deal with doubt, at times heavy and oppressive. This is not the fault of our acceptance of evolution, or good textual study. It is the result of the false dilemmas created by the stark contrasts between the group-think of our evangelical friends, and </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">reality</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> as we have come to see it. Nevertheless, we are evangelical! We seek to follow and obey Jesus. We choose to remain with those believers with whom we identify. We just cannot seem to get our shibboleths to come out right anymore.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 16.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">So my friend is in the violent throes of painful doubt. At a time when she most needs the support of her faith community, when she needs to be embraced and accepted by her pastors and friends, she is instead “preached at”, she is told that her doubts must be the result of some secret moral failure. She is haunted by the pulpit finger-pointing which identifies doubt as sin. She fears being punished for her doubt. She is told by her Calvinist friends that faith is a gift, and those who doubt incessantly must not have the gift; in which case there is little hope for her. She finds herself increasingly isolated, turned out, because group-thinking Christians are taught to fear, as part of an invading force of evil, those unable to pronounce “shibboleth”. How can my friend, or my other evolutionary friends, be accepted in a community which is currently being assured by that trusted source, Focus on the Family, that evolution is lie from the pit of hell? </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 16.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">My experience is similar to my friend’s. As I take a few steps back from the accepted traditional theology of the evangelical church to which I belong, that very church keeps nudging me to step further away. I am asked to keep my concerns to myself. When I try to warn my friends that the edifice of Christianity is supported by pillars of styrofoam, I am told things would go better for me if I would just keep it to myself. I am told that the personal rejection I endure on so many fronts is my own fault. I come on “too strong”, they tell me. The fact is, I haven’t found any polite way to tell people that the survival of evangelical faith will require the shedding of many cherished shibboleths.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 16.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">I recently wrote the following words of encouragement to my friend:</span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 9.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span></p><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Please, do not be deterred by the many Christians whose faith is based upon illusion, and blatantly false suppositions. Who wants that kind of faith, anyway? You seek a faith that can stand up along side volumes of data, data which most believers have never encountered, and from which (sad to say) they are sheltered by their Christian leaders. You didn't ask for the evidence for evolution. You didn't desire an understanding of the historicity issue surrounding the books of the Bible. These are empirical data, brute facts, of which but a small minority of Christians are even remotely aware. You and I are aware ... and this leaves us with the huge challenge, but also the wonderful opportunity, to build a faith that is truly durable, robust, and reality-based. My friend, this challenge is not insurmountable. </span></blockquote><p></p>Cliff Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08342566023774158670noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1276137109108719911.post-88644700751551482452010-08-07T11:57:00.000-07:002010-08-07T12:22:58.694-07:00What is Heaven like?<div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><i>I apologize to the many readers who keep checking back at OutsideTheBox only to find the well still dry! It has been difficult for me these last several weeks. I miss my lovely wife more now than ever. I thought it would get easier by now. Not so. And so, writing has taken a back seat to other personal business. However, my friend, Regina, recently asked me to describe my current thoughts about Heaven (obviously, I would be motivated to think about Heaven and the after-life!). I answered her earlier this week in an email. That portion of the email is reproduced below.</i></span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><i><br /></i></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><i><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkBYEHjEqzmYkGEL3VjQAaEZH15BlL0VYzaCWCTzRWR0ZsNdrT1cqac-vxQCdtCIUP9488EnUOYHXFg9S7MW5JK1JB31N5jzMbNmPY8XkJpj82SpDaMor1vtLhieS-va50B1woB3VyNuZj/s320/Heaven+like+this%3F.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5502748314589108306" /></i></span></span></div></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><i><br /></i></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><i><br /></i></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><i><div style=" font-style: normal; font-family:Helvetica;"><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Re. Heaven:</span></i></b></div><div style=" font-style: normal; font-family:Helvetica;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div style=" font-style: normal; font-family:Helvetica;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Of course, I think about this often. But not so much in the terms Christians typically use. It is one thing to glibly recite our standard beliefs about heaven, the afterlife, etc., when it is all theoretical and distant. But when someone as analytical as me is dealing with these questions up close, and so utterly personally, directly impacting the most significant of relationships, it is a little harder to maintain a simple belief. My thoughts have been all across the spectrum, to be honest. </span></div><div style=" font-style: normal; font-family:Helvetica;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div style=" font-style: normal; font-family:Helvetica;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Whether we like it or not, the state of evolutionary psychology today tells us that those things we once attributed to the soul (or spirit, or any immaterial part of man) are increasingly finding material explanations. That is, where we once thought that our own experience as a human necessitated some immaterial part of us, the "real me", the executive director of the mind, emotions and will, we now understand that no such immaterial reality is necessary to explain human behavior, thought, altruism, guilt, love, etc. We understand things like memory: our memory is stored in the massively complex meshwork of cells in our brain via electronic charges, not at all unlike the memory storage on our computers. The scary (really scary) thing for me was looking down at the sweet face of Ginger after she died, and thinking that, when she breathed her last breath, all of her memory literally ceased to exist. No need for a soul to "depart" her body. Even if such a soul did go somewhere, it left behind all those cells, all those strategically placed electrons, all that patchwork of axons and dendrites, all those synaptic interfaces. I began then to construct in my mind a picture of the human built upon the computer model ... one involving duplicate ROM and RAM memories, one in which the actual soul mirrors the material aspects of "soul-like" functions. More recently, I think of it in different terms. </span></div><div style=" font-style: normal; font-family:Helvetica;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div style=" font-style: normal; font-family:Helvetica;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Now, I conceive of God "recreating", if you will, Ginger (or any of us) based upon our unique genetic code, and with a stored (or resurrected) ROM memory. My faith in the resurrection, now, is built more upon God's love for me. If he really loves me (as we presume) and if he really wants relationship with me (as we presume), then he will not just let my body rot and my personhood cease to exist. He will resurrect me! If, alternatively, we were mistaken, and God (if he exists at all) doesn't really care for me or about me on the level we had assumed, I have no wish to be resurrected. I won't be resurrected, and I'd just as soon never be conscious again.</span></div><div style=" font-style: normal; font-family:Helvetica;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div style=" font-style: normal; font-family:Helvetica;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Does that make sense? I don't want you to think that I doubt the resurrection, or the after-life. I believe. But the reasoning has changed. It is not based upon some immortal part of me, an immortal soul. Rather, I believe (first of all) in the character of and the inherent goodness of God. (If we're wrong on that count, who wants everlasting life anyway?) And believing that about him, and believing in the extreme value of every unique human being, I am convinced such a God will call us to himself at some point after our death.</span></div><div style=" font-style: normal; font-family:Helvetica;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div style=" font-style: normal; font-family:Helvetica;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">As to what Heaven is like, I'm sure I have no clue. It is beyond our imaginative scope to even come close. I don't mean this in terms of the gushy "Oh, Heaven will surpass all our wildest, most wonderful dreams! It will be better than anything we can imagine." Rather, I mean that the dimensionality of Heaven (or God's reality) is so multi-faceted with facets for which we have no calculus, that Heaven is unimaginable. Not unimaginably good. Just unimaginable. </span></div><div style=" font-style: normal; font-family:Helvetica;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div style=" font-style: normal; font-family:Helvetica;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">For example, when we speak of Heaven as a place of unremitting joy, we only fool ourselves if we think of joy in the terms we now experience it. Joy, as we know it, is related to things like conquest, overcoming resistance, winning the battle, success (which implies resistance.) Life itself for us, in our current condition, contains potential for joy precisely because it also contains potential for sorrow. Take away suffering, resistance, struggle, pain, sorrow, and I submit that "joy" has no meaning. And yet, for most believers, Heaven is a place devoid of those things, but full of eternal bliss. Within our current frame of reference, that is craziness ... but most Christians never give it much thought.</span></div><div style=" font-style: normal; font-family:Helvetica;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div style=" font-style: normal; font-family:Helvetica;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">More than anything you can possibly imagine, I hope to see my Ginger again.</span></div><div style=" font-style: normal; font-family:Helvetica;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div style=" font-style: normal; font-family:Helvetica;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Thanks for asking,</span></div><div style=" font-style: normal; font-family:Helvetica;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">~ Cliff</span></div></i></span></span></div>Cliff Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08342566023774158670noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1276137109108719911.post-84379351530775936352010-07-17T14:24:00.000-07:002010-07-17T14:49:25.682-07:00Personal: Lunch today with Stephen!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5H0I5S10Ezjbarf_3Rjnva9G-dZcw1PTRubPFpCReCoCYT9fyOrt9cl2kNL-xJKqHpr_aHDyixrHmhKcnyVPxkQiL_bdKMn-CrB9CAex-kZEt75UTPg_iNA84SYba5ndr28lFBjCm2Mqz/s1600/Stephen.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 211px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5H0I5S10Ezjbarf_3Rjnva9G-dZcw1PTRubPFpCReCoCYT9fyOrt9cl2kNL-xJKqHpr_aHDyixrHmhKcnyVPxkQiL_bdKMn-CrB9CAex-kZEt75UTPg_iNA84SYba5ndr28lFBjCm2Mqz/s320/Stephen.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5494989736027788514" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">It is not often that I meet someone whose thinking aligns with mine in nearly every respect across a broad spectrum of topics. Is this because I have so many opinions which are out of the mainstream, or is it just because I have so many opinions? Whichever the case, I've known for sometime that Stephen Douglas, who authors </span></span><a href="http://undeception.com/" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Undeception</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">, a</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> blog site I highly recommend, fits that bill. (In those times when you want to know what Cliff thinks, and I'm not offering enough for you here, you can safely go to Stephen's site; chances are about 98% that you will learn more about me!)</span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Stephen lives in Georgia, where I happen to be for business. T</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">oday he and I met (face to face for the first time) in Macon for lunch (authentic Southern Cuisine, if that be not an oxymoron) and a delightful three hour visit. Here is my public "thank you" to Stephen for breaking away from his doctoral studies and his family to carve out those hours! It was like a breath of fresh air. Thank you, Stephen.</span></span></div><div><br /></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">(Just kidding about the Southern Cuisine. I've been loving it!)</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><br /></p></div>Cliff Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08342566023774158670noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1276137109108719911.post-88655699230159959672010-06-30T12:38:00.000-07:002010-06-30T12:56:52.724-07:00A Facebook Exchange<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV7uetBmAD9dK_FH8cL6axE7g_JAiPC8UF8mgDHGQ8ynGaUwQdQ_6-LSbT719c1v1721LxkmHiirLOqxTktKyXxP0D8DRlAI-bp_MKxWgHJQo7TKfwVLv7LrDPvJj_0h4VrEeDuBbv7hVX/s1600/Facebook+Mail.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 97px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV7uetBmAD9dK_FH8cL6axE7g_JAiPC8UF8mgDHGQ8ynGaUwQdQ_6-LSbT719c1v1721LxkmHiirLOqxTktKyXxP0D8DRlAI-bp_MKxWgHJQo7TKfwVLv7LrDPvJj_0h4VrEeDuBbv7hVX/s320/Facebook+Mail.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5488655443521655170" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><i>I had an interesting exchange this morning, facebooking with a <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><i>Christian-turned-atheist </i></span>young friend. Because it dovetails into some of the current discussions here, I asked the friend if I could post our exchange here. He agreed, and it follows:</i></span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><i><br /></i></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'lucida grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663366;"><blockquote><a href="http://nowhere/">John</a> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-weight: normal; font-family:'times new roman';font-size:16px;"><i><p color="#777777" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; display: inline !important; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">30 June at 08:52</span></p></i></span></blockquote></span></b></span></span></span></i></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><i> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 13.0pxcolor:#333233;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Lucida Grande'; color:#333233;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">So. I'm sure you more or less remember me, I used to go to your church. Well, a lot has changed since then, I've lost my religious side, and became atheistic. I realized that maybe I shouldn't just listen to what everybody has told me was true, and so I started first not with evolution but with the history of the bible. I started reading that the writers of the bible weren't even eye witnesses, let alone within decades of eyewitnesses. I started reading the bible more, Genesis 30:27-30 anybody? There were stories that we know are false that people just believe. It gave me reason to doubt. Now, I may be only 15, but I know I shouldn't just believe in a talking donkey. Since then, I've read. I've read a lot, I've studied evolution in and out, from the bad design of the recurrent laryngeal nerve to atavisms to the evolution of DNA, sex, death, movement, everything. I've found a passion of it. I've studied the laws of physics, mostly quantum mechanics and relativity. I've studied the fossil record in and out, looking at transitional fossils such as tiktaalik rosea, and I've looked at our own embryonic state (we develop a tail and an embryo sac..)</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 16.0pxcolor:#333233;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Lucida Grande'; color:#333233;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">All this lead me to believe that there wasn't, couldn't be a god. What I had been raised believing was true, I realized wasn't. I started debating evolution with a pastor from Toledo. Honestly, I've never been more saddened by a person in my life. He's a pastor and he doesn't know anything about his own religion. He says everyone were eye witnesses. He says we have no evidence for macro or micro evolution, he brings up arbitrary ideas such as the laws of entropy, and then he questions me, he says that because I'm 15 I have to copy/paste all my answers to his questions. I met with him in person, and we went over carbon-dating. He says that the formula for half life, (y=ae^kt) must be wrong. He wouldn't tell me why. He told me I was going to hell for not believing in his god, and that his god was the only truth, and that I wouldn't be happy without him. I'm a lot happier now, without a god, than I was with one.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 16.0pxcolor:#333233;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Lucida Grande'; color:#333233;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I've been reading your blog, and you seem like quite the intelligent person, who is interested in the same topics as I. It'd be nice to talk to someone as intelligent as you, who won't just say that we should believe in talking donkeys because the Bible tells us to.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 16.0pxcolor:#333233;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 16.0pxcolor:#333233;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 16.0pxcolor:#333233;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px 'Lucida Grande'; color:#777777;"><span style="font: 13.0px 'Lucida Grande'; text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color:#1022a3;"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1394612813"><b>Cliff Martin</b></a></span><span style="font: 13.0px 'Lucida Grande'; letter-spacing: 0.0px color:#333233;"><b> </b></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">30 June at 11:29</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 13.0pxcolor:#333233;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Lucida Grande'; color:#333233;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Thanks for writing, John. I enjoyed visiting with your mom yesterday. </span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 16.0pxcolor:#333233;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Lucida Grande'; color:#333233;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I tracked with your first paragraph. Since you listened to me teach at TCF (I must apologize for passing along a lot of misinformation ... but that is all in the past), I too have developed a deep interest in DNA, sex (well, I've always been interested in THAT!), death, movement, quantum mechanics and relativity, even evolutionary psychology, etc. I understand how the recurrent laryngeal nerve drives the last nail into the coffin of "Intelligent Design". But when you write, "All this lead me to believe that there wasn't, couldn't be a god", I have to say that I have come to radically different conclusions. Surely the findings of science today, which are largely trustworthy, alter the ways we must think about God, and how we define him, and how we understand his involvement in the cosmos, etc. But how do they rule out the possibility of his existence?</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 16.0pxcolor:#333233;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Lucida Grande'; color:#333233;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I probably think more like you than your pastor friend. But I have not even come close to abandoning my hope that humans have infinite value, that suffering is not meaningless, that justice will prevail in the end, that we are more than chance chemical assemblages moving futilely through an ultimately inconsequential universe. In a way, I reject atheism because I reject its inescapable nihilistic despair. I choose hope. And such hope is, for me at least, richly rewarded and more than worth the risks involved!</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 16.0pxcolor:#333233;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Lucida Grande'; color:#333233;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">But we all must choose. And our choices ought to be intellectually viable. That is why I say I have more in common with you. Fundamentalist Christians are either uninformed of the current state of science (and willfully remain so) or they live with a cognitive dissonance that would for you or me be unbearable. But is this the result of TRUTH, or the result of religious constructs designed in fear and maintained for the manipulation and control of the religious masses? It is clearly the latter, in my opinion. </span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 16.0pxcolor:#333233;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Lucida Grande'; color:#333233;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Before you discard the bathwater, I highly recommend that you reconsider the baby!</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 16.0pxcolor:#333233;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Lucida Grande'; color:#333233;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">As for the debate with your friend; Christians who reject carbon dating do so because they feel they must. They do not understand carbon dating. But they find great comfort in the relative few anomalies in the process which are well understood by scientists, but appear ridiculous to the lay-person. Such people will typically say things like, "no one knows what happened 200 million years ago because no one was there!" So I use a different tack with friends who reject ancient evidence:</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 16.0pxcolor:#333233;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Lucida Grande'; color:#333233;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I ask them to consider the same basic evidence that first convinced Darwin (and many of his contemporaries) of evolution in a time before much fossil evidence had been discovered, and we knew nothing about carbon dating, radioactive dating, DNA, etc. Darwin (if I'm not mistaken) was convinced by two things: 1) The newly developing understandings of Mendelian Inheritance (which no one denies), but even more so by 2) Biogeography, or the consistent patters of distribution of the flora and fauna throughout the earth, particularly on the islands of the world. These patterns are everywhere consistent with the predictions of evolutionary theory, and are weird to the extreme if we postulate special creation of the species. And this evidence is available to anyone today, requires no dating methodologies, no reliance upon the "witness" of “biased” paleontologists, and can be analyzed by anyone willing to THINK, without the huge learning curve on the front end of DNA evidence.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 16.0pxcolor:#333233;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Lucida Grande'; color:#333233;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Ask him what logic can explain why a creator went out to all the islands of the world and proceeded to create life so as to make the earth look exactly as it would if it had been populated by living organisms over 100s of millions of years through the very process Darwin describes.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 16.0pxcolor:#333233;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Lucida Grande'; color:#333233;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I have a limited respect for the few (very few) Creationists who actually understand the evidence for evolution and explain it this way: God made the cosmos to appear as though it had evolved (à la the Big Bang) and life appear as though it has evolved (à la Darwin) to find out if we would believe him when he declares that it all happened in 6 days, a mere 6,000 years ago. They make God into a trickster and a deceiver, an insecure person who so fears rejection that he actually sets it up (some sick people actually do that, you know).</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 16.0pxcolor:#333233;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Lucida Grande'; color:#333233;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Let's talk sometime.</span></p></i></span></span><br /></div></div>Cliff Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08342566023774158670noreply@blogger.com66tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1276137109108719911.post-27678867683933014552010-06-25T11:18:00.000-07:002010-06-25T11:54:03.853-07:00Personal: Thank you Michael!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbtWG15xMFwSb1SBUX05dtuZUtZ_9_hfD4UOG1nEtITYUjbKGHJpNFydqbnGu1Gv0ahajaP8mnjS39zWQell-AJQwixWwRQo0Ww_4VAP7Sf58_Tu54ocpZHqII_iRPe9T3042Gtcsdy_QQ/s1600/michael_dna.gif"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 228px; height: 250px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbtWG15xMFwSb1SBUX05dtuZUtZ_9_hfD4UOG1nEtITYUjbKGHJpNFydqbnGu1Gv0ahajaP8mnjS39zWQell-AJQwixWwRQo0Ww_4VAP7Sf58_Tu54ocpZHqII_iRPe9T3042Gtcsdy_QQ/s320/michael_dna.gif" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5486779087377103826" /></a><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">I've just returned home from a delightful morning spent with a new friend, </span></span></span><a href="http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://marineresearch.oregonstate.edu/assets/page_folders/faculty_page/michael/michael_dna.gif&imgrefurl=http://marineresearch.oregonstate.edu/assets/page_folders/faculty_page/banks_hp.htm&usg=__JFRFY0--9E4EezZge84mJBV4sNQ=&h=250&w=228&sz=44&hl=en&start=12&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=cJGysoSNyJWPOM:&tbnh=111&tbnw=101&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dmichael%2Bbanks%2BOSU%2Bhatfield%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26client%3Dsafari%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Den%26tbs%3Disch:1" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Michael Banks</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">. Michael is a research professor at Oregon State University Hatfield Marine Science Center (in Newport, OR) specializing in marine population genetics. We enjoyed a two-hour visit over breakfast, after which Michael treated me to a tour of his offices and laboratories at the Center, where I met several of his students (one of whom gave me a really cool baseball cap!), and got a feel for how geneticists do their work. What a treat!</span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Michael is a rare find in this little outpost of Lincoln County, Oregon. Christians who truly understand and fully accept evolution, and maintain a deep belief in and love for God, are few and far between here. Michael is a delightful conversationalist, a deeply insightful believer, a leading scientist in his field; and he is a man who recently lost a brother (in his native country of South Africa) to cancer. He walked alongside Ginger and I through the final months of her battle. So when we are together, the list of topics for conversation is lengthy indeed. </span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">This is my public "Thank you" to Michael for the gift of his valuable time. And here's to many more similar visits if the Lord has that in store for us!</span></span></p>Cliff Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08342566023774158670noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1276137109108719911.post-48156237136615114502010-06-21T08:28:00.000-07:002011-02-26T05:43:52.549-08:00Suffering: Is there a deeper truth?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiikAtOat1kkbJM2SCjoJFDx45lSdkZj-suv6QNnYPBrCRqD4Q3zKQXiP2dsAYy6ykqyDu4uIY5081RqYBtWVEmob-RCqnNJ7ijzyW5z4R9X5HZJbG5Od8J90q5cmvubGnQda7fbjjuOn21/s1600/Suffering.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 174px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiikAtOat1kkbJM2SCjoJFDx45lSdkZj-suv6QNnYPBrCRqD4Q3zKQXiP2dsAYy6ykqyDu4uIY5081RqYBtWVEmob-RCqnNJ7ijzyW5z4R9X5HZJbG5Od8J90q5cmvubGnQda7fbjjuOn21/s200/Suffering.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5485250987057235042" /></a><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;">Everyone suffers. We all experience pain, physical, mental, or emotional, in lesser or greater degrees. Most believers look for, and usually find, some redeeming personal benefits in suffering experiences. For on a personal level, suffering, that unwelcome tutor, perfects and refines faith and character. Romans 5 and James 1 teach this idea; Peter in his first epistle seems to be almost stuck on the theme. He must have had impetus to think long and hard about the sufferings Christians endure.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;"> </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 16.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">However, my thoughts about suffering go more to the abstract. Suffering can perfect our souls, that is clear. But both Peter and Paul speak of suffering accomplishing something beyond personal refinement. There is something "out there" that is directly effected by our suffering. And there are direct eternal consequences both personal and cosmic which cannot simply be understood as a silver lining on the cloud.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 16.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Nor does our acknowledgment of personal benefit from suffering address the philosophical and ontological questions about pain, evil, and suffering. Why is there </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">so much</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> suffering? The suffering that we humans have experienced in our relatively short history, horrifying as it is, even monstrous, is but a tiny fraction of the massive quantity of animal suffering which has accrued over our evolutionary past. When Tennyson speaks of nature, "red in tooth and claw", the context is his own effort to make sense of an untimely death, of his own personal loss and suffering, but even his very deep sorrow is but a whisper against the deafening roar of pain and (seemingly) senseless torment in the ages-long story of life. Such considerations shook his faith to the core. Most believers I know never go there. Sadly. Because when we fear to ask the questions, we'll never see the answers even when we stumble over them.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 16.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">I am convinced that we can find, just below the surface of the scriptures, a rich lattice of understandings about suffering. There remain some unanswered questions, to be sure. Scripture does not speak to our curiosity. But there is, I think, enough information to suggest that suffering, perhaps all suffering, is profoundly meaningful, imbued with dignity and ultimate purpose. I do not believe that any suffering is senseless, unaccounted for, or lost in the economies of the cosmos, or in its ages-long clash of good pitted against evil. Exactly how suffering shapes this cosmic battle, or why suffering plays such a central role in it, I cannot say. But that it does so is a salient concept in both testaments of the Bible.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 16.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The Jewish people, from O.T. times right up to the present, have viewed themselves as the "suffering servant" of God. They exhibit a faith that no suffering is in vain; that their national history, marked by injustice and suffering, serves some divine purpose. They may not understand how, but it is enough for them to view their collective pain as service to Jahweh. Christians have failed, I believe, to carry this idea forward; and that to our great loss. Perhaps this is due to the Christian notion that Jesus paid the final debt in full, that he suffered and died to save us from suffering and death. But this is the case neither in N.T. teaching nor in our experience. The drumbeat of human suffering is unabated, even in the lives of the faith-filled followers of Jesus. And the N.T. is replete with warnings that this will be the case. Paul goes so far as to say that we, in our sufferings, complete something that was unfinished in the sufferings of Christ (Colossians 1:24).</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 16.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Clearly, the sufferings of Jesus were efficacious toward some cosmic goal, some large-scale overriding purpose of God. The gospel writers paint the death of Jesus as a (literally!) earth shaking event. Some of the powers of the enemy were perhaps permanently depleted that day. The evil one was, in a symbolic way at least, utterly defeated in the sufferings and resurrection of Jesus. But Paul makes it clear: even the sufferings of Jesus did not finish the work. Thus are we offered the exceeding high calling of "sharing in his sufferings" (Philippians 3:10). And thus Peter instructs us to get ready, to arm ourselves with the "mind to suffer" (1 Peter 4:1) and to rejoice when we "participate" in his sufferings (1 Peter 4:13).</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 16.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Paul and Peter both link suffering to future glory. In fact, they use language that suggests some fixed ratio in which future glory is directly proportional to suffering. I have heard preachers who merely understand this as a kind of compensatory reward, glory being handed out as a sort of heavenly "atta-boy". But Paul paints a far different picture. In 2 Corinthians 4, he describes the processes whereby sufferings work in us toward eternal purposes. Sufferings, he declares in verse 17, actually achieve glory for us, fit us for glory, ramp up our capacity for glory. Glory is not some commodity that God divvies up amongst his followers. Glory is organically linked to our sufferings. And this gives me pause to ask why that might be? Is it merely an arbitrary principle, some divine edict, written into the constitution of the cosmos by the creator at the Big Bang? Or do sufferings link to future glory in some requisite way, driven by some hidden, intrinsic reality? I believe it is so.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 16.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">One way that I think of this is in respect to the price that Jesus paid with his blood (his suffering). He bought, or more correctly we might say, he made a downpayment upon the Kingdom through his sufferings (Acts 20:28, Revelation 5:9). When we are then given opportunity to suffer with him (Romans 8:17, Philippians 3:10, 1 Peter 4:13), this is but another way of saying that we are given the opportunity to purchase stock, to invest in the Kingdom by paying part of its price. If this be so, then there will be eternal stake-holders in God's Kingdom enterprise, stake-holders of varying degrees. </span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">I sometimes let my imagination run into the deep future, where I envision encountering a soul who bears unspeakable glory; a being of immense light, a person with a staggering capacity for brilliance and beauty! I will immediately observe that this being, this person, is one of those major stake-holders in God's kingdom, that his personal investment must have been exceedingly costly, but the dividends which have accrued to him more than outweigh the price he was once asked to pay long ago. As we visit, I learn that this magnificent person was a 2 year-old Jewish boy from Austria, in the middle of the 20th Century, now a distant memory. He and his family were, for a short time, interned in a cruel Nazi concentration camp. After his parents and siblings were disposed of and this little boy's life served no useful function for his captors, he was loaded one night into the bed of dump truck along with a score or so other children of varying ages. the truck was dispatched to a nearby field where some half-drunken partying Nazi soldiers had readied a huge bonfire. The truck backed to the edge of the inferno, and the dump-box was raised, depositing the frightened children into their fiery grave. This brilliant being now standing before me might describe how desperately he tried to escape, screaming in abject terror, only to be corralled and tossed back into the flames by the waiting pitchforks of the laughing soldiers. Mercifully, his flaming death came in but a few short minutes. He will then ask me about the days of my early life, and I will offer him a brief summary of my 70 or 80 years of work and play, vacations, overseas trips, the joys of marriage and fatherhood, years of teaching and leading, finding some fulfillment in operating a business, etc. And he will say that it all sounds nice -- but that, thank you very much, he would never dream of trading his 2 short years for my 80.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 16.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">It is in this light that I believe all suffering is elevated and dignified. But why should suffering play so central a role? Why is suffering the means by which we buy into the enterprise of God?</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 16.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Jesus teaches us, in the Sermon on the Mount, the keys to unseating evil from its place of power. Evil is not undone, Jesus tells us, buy retributive justice. Evil is not overcome by the exertion of greater strength. In fact, evil cannot be defeated by resistance at all. Evil is slowly, steadily, and irrevocably overcome by steps, sometimes small steps, often what appear to be futile steps of nonresistance. "Overcome evil with good" Paul says, echoing the wisdom of the Old Testament. This method the Bible gives us for defeating evil necessarily involves suffering. The greatest human beings have noted this principle and proved its power. Men like Gandhi, Mandela, and Martin Luther King Jr., who assured his white adversaries, "We will wear you down by our capacity to suffer." If indeed, suffering nonresistance is the way to defeat evil in our lives, on the plane of earthly human existence, why do we suppose that the cosmic battle would be waged any differently? The traditional Christian concept of Jesus riding up powerfully on a white horse, or God coming in fiery anger consuming his enemies with his outpoured wrath, the picture of God triumphant over his foes because, after all, he always was more powerful! -- these images stand in stark contrast to the very tactics Jesus offers us for overcoming evil. They are based, I'll acknowledge, upon Scriptural imagery: but I suggest a second look at those images. For me, they are all but metaphors. They speak of the ways of God as powerful, and triumphant, yes! But perhaps they conceal the underlying story. For God was never more powerful than when he hung upon a cross, silent before his executioners.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 16.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">These insights may provide but meager comfort for believers who suffer, and who long for but fail to experience God’s affirmation and reassurance. In those times when we experience a vast distance between our pains and our Father’s comforts, we need only consider Jesus upon that cross; how he was utterly forsaken and turned aside. The Father is not hard of heart. He is no cool spectator, merely watching "from a distance." On the other hand, I assume some greater value is to be gained through the process of suffering when it takes its course without his intervening hand, without even his comfort and reassurance. I do not understand that fully. We do not like it. I choose to believe it is with some difficulty that God restrains his hand, and withholds his compassionate comfort. In those moments, it may help us to reflect upon his own Son who received no more or less from the Father in his hour of deepest suffering.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 16.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Your comments are welcome!</span></span></p>Cliff Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08342566023774158670noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1276137109108719911.post-29726307803900956652010-06-04T14:25:00.000-07:002011-02-01T21:55:26.716-08:00Approaching Belief Naturally (Part III)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHk8fedMvkmFTGGub2UHqXkJP7y8dHR8nB7IBxXV3ISCfwu6ZuBCcCw8aMLhJtbVzKEGt-Aaa68Q0qoQ7Cr2_Bg65ngzJWVCKU9ErKcr31d7izKXquAocB5JAwWGkNRS35LYS5BisL2lN-/s1600/Oasis.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 188px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHk8fedMvkmFTGGub2UHqXkJP7y8dHR8nB7IBxXV3ISCfwu6ZuBCcCw8aMLhJtbVzKEGt-Aaa68Q0qoQ7Cr2_Bg65ngzJWVCKU9ErKcr31d7izKXquAocB5JAwWGkNRS35LYS5BisL2lN-/s200/Oasis.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5479032834006793218" /></a><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Alfred Lord Tennyson was the son of an Anglican clergyman; he grew up with a sturdy faith in God. But his earlier idealism crumbled under the weight of life’s disappointments and disillusionment. The untimely death of his close friend (and his sister’s fiance) Aurthur Hallam (which gave rise to what was perhaps his greatest poem, <i>In Memoriam A.H.H.</i>); the staggering quantities of human and animal suffering; his observations of corruption in the church; these and other experiences tested his faith. Some would argue they destroyed his faith.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 19.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">But no one will argue that Tennyson lived much of his life in the twilight regions where faith and doubt intersect. Much of his philosophical poetry found its source in these shadowy lands. </span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 19.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">One such poem, my personal favorite, is <i>The Ancient Sage</i>. Penned in 1885, toward the end of Tennyson’s life, the poem decries certitude, and extols the virtues of healthy doubt. But the real theme is hope. Hope that does not demand certainty at the outset. Yet, hope that, in the words of the Apostle, does not disappoint. Hope that sets its bearer upon a search that will, in Tennyson’s view, prove fruitful. </span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 19.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><i>The Ancient Sage</i> speaks a profound message to me, particularly in light of my <a href="http://cliff-martin.blogspot.com/search/label/Natural%20Theology">two previous posts</a> on Natural Theology. I posted this poem in its <a href="http://cliff-martin.blogspot.com/2009/03/ancient-sage.html">entirety</a> last year; today I reproduce only the final stanza:</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span></p><blockquote><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663333;">Thou canst not prove the Nameless, O my son,</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663333;">Nor canst thou prove the world thou movest in,</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663333;">Thou canst not prove that thou art body alone,</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663333;">Nor canst thou prove that thou art spirit alone,</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663333;">Nor canst thou prove that thou art both in one:</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663333;">Thou canst not prove thou art immortal, no</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663333;">Nor yet that thou art mortal—nay my son,</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663333;">Thou canst not prove that I, who speak with thee,</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663333;">Am not thyself in converse with thyself,</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663333;">For nothing worthy proving can be proven,</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663333;">Nor yet disproven: wherefore thou be wise,</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663333;">Cleave ever to the sunnier side of doubt,</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663333;">And cling to Faith beyond the forms of Faith</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663333;">She reels not in the storm of warring words,</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663333;">She brightens at the clash of ‘Yes’ and ‘No’,</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663333;">She sees the Best that glimmers thro’ the Worst,</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663333;">She feels the Sun is hid but for a night,</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663333;">She spies the summer thro’ the winter bud,</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663333;">She tastes the fruit before the blossom falls,</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663333;">She hears the lark within the songless egg,</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#663333;">She finds the fountain where they wail’d ‘Mirage’!</span></span></span></p></blockquote> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">The seeds of faith can prosper in the ground of doubt. Their germination requires no certainty of persuasion. I accept a starting place for faith which demands no proof. Cleaving ever to that “sunnier side of doubt”, clinging to a faith “beyond the forms of faith”, I choose to seek rewards the skeptic has already ruled out. I choose to hope that what looks like an oasis actually is. I choose to savor the promise of fruit, to listen for the lark not yet hatched. </span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 19.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Wail “Mirage!”, if you will, and linger in the waterless waste. I’m off to find the fountain!</span></p>Cliff Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08342566023774158670noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1276137109108719911.post-23118797134783557212010-05-30T07:43:00.001-07:002010-09-08T21:23:04.394-07:00Approaching Belief Naturally (Part II)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6JZgv-RN5W7vpok5iWubsWosneEH6222TaqL90ksyAMo9dWIYDkTW9cDTf1sPa8x_VtfUzjK8sa0laHkLm4NApDfzvkbIGsdbfJsAu7Xk9V_LwEoK7IPNJinxUXeReMY_qnXinkhiIltE/s1600/Which+Way%3F.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 198px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6JZgv-RN5W7vpok5iWubsWosneEH6222TaqL90ksyAMo9dWIYDkTW9cDTf1sPa8x_VtfUzjK8sa0laHkLm4NApDfzvkbIGsdbfJsAu7Xk9V_LwEoK7IPNJinxUXeReMY_qnXinkhiIltE/s200/Which+Way%3F.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5477090104500259778" /></a><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Some time ago, I wrote <a href="http://cliff-martin.blogspot.com/2008/10/reasons-for-my-belief.html">this essay</a> outlining the rational basis for a belief in God. And while the late notorious atheist Antony Flew (whose recent death came just days before my precious wife’s) found similar reasons adequate to <a href="http://www.amazon.com/There-God-Notorious-Atheist-Changed/dp/0061335304/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1247937128&sr=1-1">change his mind about God’s existence</a>, I have more recently reconsidered the basis for my belief. It is not, in the end, those “reasons for belief” that give rise to my theism. Nor is it the testimony of the Bible. My approach to belief, as I explained in the <a href="http://cliff-martin.blogspot.com/2010/05/approaching-belief-naturally-part-i.html">earlier post</a> in this series, is along the path of Natural Theology. As I whittle away at my own lifelong assumptions, shedding presuppositionalist and, for the moment, my own </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">a priori</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> thinking, I have arrived at a somewhat surprising basis for my personal belief.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 16.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">I am a believer in God, first and foremost, because I <i>choose</i> to be. </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 16.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">I have not abandoned those reasons for belief. I still value the rational approach of the Thomists (the Natural Theology espoused by Thomas Aquinas), but I recognize that my belief does not begin there. Nor can it logically stem from the Presuppositional approach favored by many Christians (who claim that belief must begin with the presupposition of divine revelation contained in the Scriptures), a view which I completely reject. My belief in God must, at its inception, be a matter of choice. I believe in God because I wish to.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 16.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Belief does not end with a choice. Those who choose to believe can (and likely will, in my view) find ample confirmation of that choice, a stream of rational and experiential evidences more than suffice to validate belief. And though my faith is bolstered and reinforced by observation, reasoned consideration, spiritual experience, etc., my faith begins with this simple admission: I believe in God because I </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">choose to believe in God</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">.</span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Each of us faces this choice. In this most important of existential questions, every human being has the same set of options: God, or no God. Some will claim the convenient “middle ground” of agnosticism. But the agnostic merely acknowledges that we cannot know, a fact with which thinking theists and atheists alike will all agree. And that is why we are confronted with a choice. We cannot, at the outset, know. We all choose. The agnostic chooses to live his life as if there is no God, or as if there is. No one can evade this choosing. We all line up on one side or the other, and we do so as a matter of choice.</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 19.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">And this choice will color all subsequent observations and experiences, predisposing the theist to see evidence for God’s existence everywhere he looks, while predisposing the atheist to see none. </span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 19.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">So my theism, at its outset, is a preference. I prefer to believe that this cosmos has ultimate meaning. I prefer to think that my existence is <i>intended</i>, that it has purpose and profound significance. I prefer to believe that human life is something more than a very brief flash in the pan of accidental cosmic existence. I prefer to think that there will be a meaningful consummation of human history. I prefer to believe in one to whom I owe my very existence, even with the personal accountability implicit in such a choice. I prefer to live my days in a constant search for that ultimate reality, for transcendent truth, as opposed to shrugging off the possibility and abandoning such a search. (My search, by the way, has been more than sufficiently rewarded!)</span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 19.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px 'Trebuchet MS'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">All of which leads to this question: <i>why would anyone choose not to believe these things?</i></span></p><p></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Trebuchet MS'; min-height: 16.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p><p></p>Cliff Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08342566023774158670noreply@blogger.com96