The Burr in the Burgh

I am usually reading at least three books at any given time. I like to have one fiction, one general non-fiction, and one on religion or theology. You can determine which is from which category.

Here's what I'm reading these days:

• Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die - I think the title is very self-explanatory. I think anyone who ever has to communicate ideas (pastor, teacher, advertiser, parent, coach, etc.) should read this book. Made to Stick reminds me a lot of another book I like a lot, The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference.

• What Dreams May Come- So far, I've enjoyed everything I've read by Richard Matheson. Besides this one, I've read I Am Legend and The Beardless Warriors: A Novel of World War II. Dreams is a fanciful story of a man who dies, goes to "heaven" but misses his wife so much that he is willing to endure the torments of hell to be with her. This book does not convey a Christian understanding of life, death and the afterlife. But he has researched very thoroughly the views of other world religions which inform many of the trendy armchair philosophers of our time. Very romantic. Very interesting. Very full of rubbish.
  

• Faith and Film: A Guidebook for Leaders - Just trying to increase my understanding of film both as an artistic medium and as a conveyer of particular impressions and ideas.
  

What is the difference between faith and wishful thinking? Someone said to me regarding a specific desired outcome to a problem, "let's trust God that this will happen."

Now that would have been good and pious if he'd meant, "I don't know what will happen, but I believe that God is good and He will work it all out for the best." But that is not what this person meant. The rest of his conversation made it clear that he was saying, "I want this to be resolved in this particular way. I will put my faith in God that he will resolve it in this very manner."

It's like someone saying, I have cancer and I am going to trust God to heal me. Or I want this thing so I'm going to pay for it, even though I can't afford it. I will trust God to make my ends meet for me.

Faith can only exist where there has first been a specific promise. If you can show me that God has promised unequivocally to heal you of your malady in this lifetime, then you can trust him for that. Otherwise, it is wishful thinking.

We can't use faith to excuse us from being responsible beings. God does not promise to pay your credit card bills or remove every disease in this lifetime. So many times people simply project their wants and desire on God and make him responsible for them. And then when things don't happen as hoped, they get hurt and upset with God.

Remember this: Faith requires a promise. You cannot get mad at God for not doing things which He has never promised to do.

I've learned that computers do not like to drink coffee. I discovered this interesting fact after spilling coffee all over my laptop yesterday morning. It is now ... how do you say... on the fritz.

After a busy morning filling in for our pastor, I flew out west for a week-long recruitment trip. Arrived in Phoenix Sunday evening. Went to the restaurant attached to the hotel and lo and behold, what did I see? They have rattlesnake on the menu. And let me tell you that rattlesnake does not taste like chicken. That is, unless you think chicken tastes slightly sweet, is slimy and chewy.

I am always intrigued by the story from Genesis 32 of Jacob wrestling with the angel. Of course, this passage and Hosea 12 identify the mysterious stranger as the Lord God himself.

What does it mean to wrestle with God? Jacob was always wrestling with someone. Even in his mother's womb, he wrestled with his twin brother Esau.

What is remarkable is that Jacob refuses to release the angel until he grants him a blessing. What is it with Jacob and his obsession over getting blessed? Remember his crafty deception of his father, Isaac, to steal the blessing intended for Esau?

Jacob wrestled with God and lived to tell about it. Notice he didn't walk away without injury, however. Being in the intimate presence of the holy one has a crippling effect upon us. But in our hobbling, we become recipients of divine favor.

Interestingly, the lectionary our congregation uses aligns this Old Testament text with the healing of the Canaanite woman's daughter in Matthew 15. There was another example of someone grasping desperately for God, refusing to be discouraged, insisting humbly on being helped. Martin Luther said we should boldly expect God to honor his promises. And what precisely does God promise the sinner? Forgiveness. God gives the sinner the right to demand that God fulfill His own Word. That's the kind of firm confidence demonstrated by the woman who persisted in prayer despite Jesus' initial unfriendliness and Jacob putting God into a headlock.

We went last night to our 11-year-old son's school musical. It was based on all those awesome Schoolhouse Rock ditties from the 70s. I used to enjoy those on Saturday mornings. Still remember so many of the lyrics from Conjunction Junction, I'm Only a Bill, Interplanet Janet, etc. It was great fun and the kids were beyond cute.

One thing struck me, however, when they sang the one on America being the great melting pot. I was reflecting on how politically incorrect that is today. You can tell that was written at least 30 years ago.

The favored notion today is multi-culturalism and NOT that we're a melting pot. The melting pot image says that people come here from all different backgrounds and blend together to make something new and wonderful. That's a cool image for America. But the politically correct view is not that our former cultural distinctives should be blurred to create a new and truly American culture. The newer view is that I am identified first by my native tribe and only secondly by being an American citizen.

Actor and comedian Jim Carrey riffs on religion etc. here.

Notice the dry, withered, old canard, "I'm not religious, but spiritual."

This is the first time I've heard of this particular group, a cult calling themselves Growing in Grace. The leader has called himself everything from the reincarnation of St. Paul, to the antichrist to Jesus Himself. Many of his church members are so dedicated that give up to 40-50% of their incomes to him. And now, as the latest trend and to show their devotion to their leader, many members are getting the numbers 666 tattooed on their arms, legs or necks. Go here.

Here is a story about abortion and infanticide in India. Many poor traditional Indians view sons as future bread-winners and girls as financial burdens. So now there is a government action to save the lives of unwanted girl babies. Recently a dump with hundreds of fetal and infant children body parts was discovered in a hospital lot.

It raises the question of the value of human life. Are some lives more valuable than others. If you do a cost analysis, do some human beings cost more than they are worth? Of course, this is a barbaric line of thought, but it is how many do think - not just in pagan India.

Parents do tests to see if their pre-born baby will have any defects such as Down's Syndrome. They may decide to have an abortion because they determine that such a life is not worth living or will be too costly emotionally and financially. The elderly or the terminally ill may feel pressured to allow themselves to be euthanized because they feel as if they no longer contribute to society.

In India, human life is cheapened by the prevailing Hinduism which teaches reincarnation. Killing your children will not be seen as evil because the soul of that being will merely go to inhabit a new body.

In the West, human life is cheapened by Darwinist materialism, the view that we are merely what we eat. This notion is that human life is nothing more than the result of random molecules stumbling into chance chemical reactions. There is no intrinsic value to anything. A life only has the value that you assign to it.

Christians see things differently. All human beings are precious to God, the Creator. He loves human beings such that He offered His Son's life for the redemption of our lives.

A mama Rottweiler rejected her puppy and this mama cat willingly obliges and lets him in to nurse.

I heartily commend the Bishop of Rome for this helpful statement.


Pope Benedict XVI reportedly lashed out against laws that he said threaten the family and social order, saying none "can overturn that of the Creator."

"No law made by man can overturn that of the Creator without dramatically affecting society in its very foundation," said the pope, according to the I-Media news agency, which reports on Vatican affairs in French.

The pope's remarks to a delegation attending a conference on "natural law" at the Pontifical Lateran University came as Portugal moves to liberalise abortion and Italy plans to grant legal status to unwed couples.

"Weakening the family is punishing society," he told the delegation. Natural law "has rules that supersede all human laws (and) does not allow for derogations by anyone."

Natural law has "concrete applications" such as protecting human life from conception to its natural end, and the institution of marriage between a man and a woman, Benedict said.

"Awareness of natural law is inscribed in our very being," he said. "The law inscribed in our nature is the true guarantee offered to everyone to be able to live freely and in dignity."

The Vatican II Council of the 1960s "reaffirmed that the institution of marriage is established by divine order, and therefore this sacred bond for the well-being of spouses, children and society" cannot be severed, he said.

Those who knew Prof. Kurt Marquart know that in addition to being a brilliant scholar and teacher, he also had a burning zeal for mission work. Of particular interest to him was Haiti, the poorest nation in the Western hemisphere.

In his honor, the graduating CTS class of 07 have established a fund for pastoral education in the Lutheran church of Haiti. Go here to help.

Aha! The best evidence that Darwinism is a farce is the skull of Charles Darwin himself. Look at these two photos. I see very little advancement btwn the caveman and the 19th century British naturalist. It just proves that Neanderthals never became extinct. One of them just wrote that they did.

Funny.

I just visited the wonderful new public library in downtown Fort Wayne, IN. And, as expected, came home with a bag of books. I've been wanting to read a biography of John Lennon for some time and in searching for one, I came across a collection of his sayings. Here is one that immediately struck home for me:

Part of me suspects that I'm a loser, and the other part of me thinks I'm God Almighty.

At their best, artists assist humanity in understanding reality. Here John gives us all a helping hand. I think many many (if not all) people have this same dual consciousness, the feeling that one is worthless AND the feeling that one is the center of the universe. When you understand that this is the basic modus operandi of most people, it really helps you know how to apply God's Word to their lives.

Part of you needs to be comforted and assured of God's love and His kindness toward sinners. But the other part of you needs a swift kick in the britches.

As you may recall, I am a fan of Anne Rice's novel about the childhood of Jesus. Here is a terrific review on the book by Dr. Gene Veith.

I just finished reading the latest Michael Crichton novel. It's called Next. I am a pretty big fan of Crichton's books but this one was disappointing. It deals with the dangers of genetic engineering and gene therapies of the possible future.

His other recent cautionary tale, Prey, about nano-technology, was quite a thrill ride. And his politically incorrect, State of Fear, about global warming deserved every bit of controversy it generated, to my delight.

To its credit, Next does bring attention to many of the troubling ethical and dangerous scientific implications of advancing genetic technologies. Crichton does not represent the religious concerns that many share, but he does highlight devastating potential abuses.

These issues sharpen even further when you understand human life to comprise more than just a random jumble of minerals and chemical reactions. A Christian author would see a much more three-dimensional problem with the current research trajectories. Nonetheless, it is useful for a secularist to observe many of the same problems and come to similar conclusions.

My problem with Crichton's latest book is not philosophical or theological. It's just not that great of a story, esp when compared to his other works. The characters are under-developed. The plot is uncertain and confused.

For a thoroughly Christian work of fiction asking very similar questions about science and human life, see instead P.D. James'The Children of Men (The book, of course. Not the film.).

Martin Luther once famously wrote that you can no more separate good works from faith in the Christian than you can separate heat from light in fire. This pertains to classic Reformation teaching next to traditional Roman Catholicism (and ironically much of "evangelical" protestantism).

I think a Roman Catholic would want to stress that we cannot separate true living faith in Christ from a transformed life of holiness. We agree that these must not and cannot be separated.

However, even though faith and works cannot be sliced apart, they should be distinguished. Take the fire example once again. I cannot separate the heat from the light but I understand the distinction. Heat and light may be inseparable in fire but they are different and have different functions.

So when I want my plant to grow, I don't subject it to more heat, but place it in better light. And when I want my leftover pizza to taste better, I don't set it in the light, but apply some heat.

So even if faith and works cannot be separated in the life of the Christian, I understand them to serve different functions. Faith is the instrument by which I apprehend the benefits of Christ's life and sacrifice, namely forgiveness and salvation. Works are the natural outflow of living faith.

If you enjoy the popular music of the last fifty years, you will love this feature from an issue of Rolling Stone magazine. The editors selected fifty legendary musical artists of the rock era and asked current stars to write brief reflections about them. It is a fun and fascinating read.

My favorite is the one on Elvis Presley written by Bono of U2. First of all, Bono is a genius with words. He has a very refreshing way of putting things. Read any of the scores of interviews he's done in the last twenty years and most of them will be full of rich expression, even when about the most mundane things.

Particularly, I was struck by Bono's observation that for Elvis, grace was not amazing enough. He says that in the context of describing the tortured interior life this megastar endured. Friends say that when Elvis was especially upset, nothing soothed him as much as going to be alone and singing old spirituals and hymns with his piano. And yet this was the drug addicted superstar who read the bible, loved his mother and shot the television in his living room.

Amazing grace. How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. It is a profound Christian reality but only if grace is understood for what it is. Grace is not a power that God gives us to become better people. If that were the case, then clearly his grace is insufficient. The evidence for most of us is that we do not become measurably better as time goes on. In some ways, yes. But remember C.S. Lewis who said that whenever I remove the big stones from my field, I just see the thousands of smaller ones that were there all along. And these pebbles are much harder to clear away, thus more pernicious.

God's grace is fundamentally His own mindset toward us. It is the favor He shows sinners on account of Christ. And this epiphany does indeed powerfully change us, but not ultimately until our own resurrection on the Last Day.

I feel bad for Elvis sometimes. I remember exactly where I was in 1977 when I heard about his death. He was certainly a talented man who loved his family, was a patriot, was moved by music and exhibited an abiding Christian faith. God's grace is amazing enough. How painful it is when even believers are taxed with despair.