In suffering, I think of the powerful testimony of a woman named Annie Johnston Flint (1866-1932). She was one who lived most of her life in pain. Orphaned early in life, her body was embarrassed by incontinence, weakened by cancer, and twisted and deformed by rheumatoid arthritis.
She was incapacitated for so long that according to one eyewitness she needed seven or eight pillows around her body just to cushion the raw sores she suffered from being bedridden. Yet her autobiography is rightly called The Making of the Beautiful. Almost like a minstrel from heaven she penned words that touch the heart in its despairing moments. One of her best-known poems, put to music, reads:
He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater.
He sendeth more strength when the labors increase:
To added affliction, He addeth His mercy,
To multiplied trials His multiplied peace.
When we have exhausted our store of endurance,
When our strength has failed e’re the day is half done,
When we reach the end of our hoarded resources
Our Father’s full giving has only begun.
His love has no limit,
His grace has no measure,
His power has no boundary known unto men;
For out of His infinite riches in Jesus He giveth,
and giveth, and giveth again!
On Postmodernism….
Modern Thinker’s Creed
Steve Turner, English journalist
Here is the creed for the modern thinker. We believe in Marx, Freud and Darwin. We believe everything is okay, as long as you don’t hurt anyone to the best of your definition of hurt and to your best definition of knowledge. We believe in sex before, during and after marriage. We believe in the therapy of sin. We believe that adultery is fun. We believe that sodomy is okay. We believe that taboos are taboo. We believe that everything is getting better despite evidence to the contrary. The evidence must be investigated and you can prove anything with evidence. We believe there is something in horoscopes, UFO’s, and bent spoons. Jesus was a good man just like Buddha, Mohammad and ourselves. He was a good moral teacher, although we think basically his good morals were really bad. We believe that all religions are the basically the same, at least the ones we read were. They all believe in love and goodness. They only differ on matters of creation, sin, heaven, hell, God and salvation. We believe that after death comes nothing because when you ask the dead what happens they say nothing. If death is not the end, and if the dead have lied, then it’s compulsively heaven for all except perhaps Hitler, Stalin and Genghis Khan. We believe in Masters and Johnson. What is selected is average, what’s average is normal, and what’s normal is good. We believe in total disarmament. We believe there are direct links between warfare and bloodshed. Americans should beat their guns into tractors and the Russians would be sure to follow. We believe that man is essentially good-it’s only his behavior that lets him down. This is the fault of society; society’s the fault of condition; and conditions are the fault of society. We believe that each man must find the truth that is right for him and reality will adapt accordingly; the universe will readjust and history will alter. We believe that there is no absolute truth, except the truth that there is no absolute truth. We believe in the rejection of creeds and the flowering of individual thought.
If Chance be the Father of all flesh, disaster is His rainbow in the sky. And when you hear: “State of Emergency,” “Sniper Kills Ten,” “Troops on Rampage,” “Youths go Looting,” “Bomb Blasts School,” it is but the sound man worshipping his maker.
Saturday is Earth Day - not exactly an event that hits the top of our calendars admittedly, but still something that I think deserves our attention. Stewardship of the environment is a topic at which, historically at least, Christians have done a pretty crummy job. Here’s what God commanded of us regarding how we should interact with our environment (Genesis 1:27-30):
“27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” 29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.”
This command is actually given before the fall - so this is the “ideal” that God has in mind for us and how we interact with the world. I guess the key word in that passage which has caused so much difference of opinion is the word “subdue” - that is, what does it actually mean to have dominion over creation? If you keep reading in Genesis (2:15, also pre-fall), I think this point is clarified somewhat:
“15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it”
Based on this passage, the bottom line seems to be that we don’t own the earth - we are merely rent-free tenants living here at the pleasure of The Owner and are expected to work to take care of the place to earn our keep. Looking at it another way, what better model do we have of what it means to have dominion over something than Jesus Himself? Jesus proclaims His authority over all of creation in Matthew 28:18 (“All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me” ). So, naturally, Jesus would rule with an iron fist, exploiting the earth and its people for His pleasure right? Um, not exactly:
Phillipians 2:6-8: “ 6Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross!”
Colossians 1:16-20: “16For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. 17He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.”
So, from this perspective, being given dominion over something doesn’t just let us do as we please with it; instead, it actually enhances our responsibility to take care of it to the best of our ability.
So, Earth Day seems to be as good a time as any to do something about this (or at least consider how we can be good stewards of the gift that God has given us). Little things can make a big difference - I have driven a bag of empty pop cans 2500km across the country because I couldn’t find a recycling bin (Caring or psychotic? Discuss.) There are also the options driving less, turning up our thermostats a bit as the weather gets warmer, or (big gulp from the polymer chemist!) changing the types of materials we use. There are also these options in terms of community events in Hamilton. Anyway, this is just something that has been on my mind recently, so I thought I’d put it out there.
It’s been a while since we’ve had a good contest on the blog, so I figured I would throw together a few of these pictograms and see how things go (usually, these contest posts generate a record number of comments… let’s see if we can beat our record of 7 comments! Yes, this is me hopelessly sucking up to you “blog lurkers” out there, but I’m not above that!). If you’ve never seen these before, you can check out the previous versions of the contest here or here to get an idea how these work. As usual, post your answers in the comments and I will post the full list of answers in a week or so. Prize for most correct answers: the satisfaction of a job well done. I will even give you a shout out in the weekly e-mail if you wish (I know, these are pretty great prizes! Control yourselves people!).
- Todd
WARNING - The answers are now posted in the comments… so if you don’t want to know the answers just yet, DON’T CLICK ON THE COMMENTS LINK!
… that is, according to the general populace of Canada, at least when it comes to picking a prime minister. Check it out here. The saddest part of the poll results (and their interpretation):
“(the poll) suggests a growing divide in Canadian culture where religion can become that wedge that pushes people apart”
What a mess we have made of the actual story of faith, no? But it’s still kind of sad that, in the name of political correctness, the option of choice seems to be to discriminate against the “scary” Christians.
Interesting article in the Ideas section of the Toronto Star on Sunday (a fantastic section - the Sunday paper is about half the size of the rest of the week but takes me twice as long to read).
The basic argument: in our headlong rush to try to explain scientifically how Jesus did miracles (i.e. the recent explanation at how Jesus walked across water on ice floes instead of “because He was God and could do it if He wanted” ) and essentially extract every trace of mysticism and “glamour” (as the author puts it) from the story of Jesus, society has basically just become zealots of a different religion — agenda-driven science and political correctness. Highlight excerpts:
“The world is divided between two kinds of people: Those who think “seeing is believing” and those who think “believing is seeing.” The “truth,” in our time, is held captive by the former, in the notion that if you can’t prove it, it doesn’t exist. What does this do with the “unseeables” — hope, love, goodwill, etc? These remain insubstantial ideals until we track them in the DNA. Such is our faithlessness in what makes us tick.”
“We fail to see that science is a lens that will yield the results you look for or don’t look for….. As for good reasoning, as current physics tells us, each scientific paradigm is a metaphor for the world. There are many metaphors. Wisdom is about knowing which metaphor you can live with. That is the bottom line on faith and science. A metaphor is not a falsehood or a fiction; it is a privileged look at the nature of reality. The metaphor of Jesus walking on the water is the venue of belief of those who want to believe we are more than earthbound; the resurrection is the belief that we are not finite. We die, or are reborn. Choose your metaphor.”
That is the bottom line - it’s impossible to live life by putting your faith in nothing. The difference between the most committed Christian and the most agnostic, empirical person on earth isn’t faith versus reason - it’s just a matter of which unprovable things you choose to believe in.
Warning: the article is written by a philosopher/poet and it shows (more than a little pretentious - I had to read it twice before I really got a good handle on the arguments)
You may have seen references to the recent release of “The Gospel of Judas”, a 3rd century manuscript which seems to suggest that Jesus and Judas were essentially in cahoots — that is, Jesus commands Judas to betray Him and Judas, although committing the acts he is described to have committed in the Gospels, was simply being obedient to God’s will. Naturally, this has sparked a huge kerfuffle with people suggesting that this “new development” undermines the entire Passion story. I find this all very strange because (a) it seems a bit rich for people who proclaim the inaccuracy of the mostly independent, widely copied, four original Gospels (written within a few decades of Jesus’ time) are the same people seizing on this 3rd century, single copy manuscript as being “truth” (b) whether or not Judas was operating as a traitor (the Gospel version) or a conspirator (the Gospel of Judas version), the point of the Passion story really remains exactly the same. The Judas story, although undoubtedly interesting, isn’t the point of the story - Christ’s sacrifice for us is. I think one of the better responses to all of this fuss is found in this article — here’s the excerpt I liked the best which looks at this story from the undeniable viewpoint that Judas is a theologically tricky guy to handle (i.e. how could God basically condemn Judas by “appointing” him the traitor?):
“All too often Christians want to see themselves as Jesus on the cross, when in fact the inescapable condition of human weakness — and the high ideals of Christian doctrine — will lead us to betray his teachings. O Felix culpa! as the glorious Exultet of the Easter vigil proclaims, “O happy fault that gained for us so great a Redeemer!” It is the pilgrimage back to grace that is at the heart of Christianity, and the source of hope embodied in the passion of Judas.So perhaps, instead of reading the Gospel of Judas as a literal narrative, it is best to consider it as an early marker in a long literary tradition. Maybe the authors of this text were simply trying, in those tumultuous early centuries after Christ, to grapple with the mysteries of the faith rather than claiming, as some today may be tempted to do, to have discovered an alternative account of the deeds and words of Judas. Instead of clinging to a few sheets of tattered papyrus in hopes of absolving the problematic Judas, believers may be more faithful to Christian history if they read themselves into his story, and from there find a path out of despair and toward the redemption that Judas himself may have finally discovered.”
I think Lane is talking about this and the Da Vinci code (don’t even get me started on that… over the next couple of weeks on Sunday morning… should be interesting…
An oXyGEN blog tradition - read the lyrics to the hymn and reflect on God’s sacrifice for us on this Good Friday.
How deep the Father’s love for us How vast beyond all measure That He should give His only Son To make a wretch His treasure. How great the pain of searing loss The Father turns His face away As wounds which mar the Chosen One Bring many ones to glory.
Behold the Man upon a cross My sin upon His shoulders Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice Call out among the scoffers. It was my sin that held Him there Until it was accomplished. His dying breath has brought me life I know that it is finished.
I will not boast in anything No gift, no power, no wisdom But I will boast in Jesus Christ His death and resurrection. Why should I gain from His reward? I cannot give an answer. But this I know with all my heart His wounds have paid my ransom.
We did a Bible study on the meaning of blood through the Old and New Testaments on Wednesday night in our small group. It gave us a lot of food for thought regarding exactly what Jesus did when He died on the cross, so I thought I’d share the main Scriptures and the key points we got out of them with you. Something to reflect on during this Easter weekend (it’s longish but totally worthwhile).
Genesis 9:1-6 - God’s directions to Noah ”1 Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. 2 The fear and dread of you will fall upon all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air, upon every creature that moves along the ground, and upon all the fish of the sea; they are given into your hands. 3 Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything. 4 “But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it. 5 And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each man, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of his fellow man. 6 “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man.”
- it’s interesting how God gives so much control and domain over His creation to Noah but very explicitly excludes blood from the list (v. 4). The blood is something special to God and Noah was not given permission to do as he pleased with it.
Exodus 12: 12-13 - The Passover 12 “On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn—both men and animals—and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD. 13 The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.”
- blood on the doors signified that a price had already been paid for the sin in that household and indicated the dedication of that household to upholding God’s commands. There’s a definite correlation between obedience to the Law and being saved via blood (being “passed over” for judgement that we actually deserved).
Exodus 24:3-8 - Moses returning to the people after receiving the Ten Commandments “ 3 When Moses went and told the people all the LORD’s words and laws, they responded with one voice, “Everything the LORD has said we will do.” 4 Moses then wrote down everything the LORD had said. He got up early the next morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain and set up twelve stone pillars representing the twelve tribes of Israel. 5 Then he sent young Israelite men, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as fellowship offerings to the LORD. 6 Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and the other half he sprinkled on the altar. 7 Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people. They responded, “We will do everything the LORD has said; we will obey.” 8 Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, “This is the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words.”
- blood was used to represent God’s promise to the people of Israel, as well as their will and promise (regardless of how well THAT worked out) to try to keep God’s will. Blood = a covenant between God and man.
Leviticus 8:22-24; 30 - The ordination of Aaron and his sons as priests 22 “He then presented the other ram, the ram for the ordination, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on its head. 23 Moses slaughtered the ram and took some of its blood and put it on the lobe of Aaron’s right ear, on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot. ( … ) 30 Then Moses took some of the anointing oil and some of the blood from the altar and sprinkled them on Aaron and his garments and on his sons and their garments. So he consecrated Aaron and his garments and his sons and their garments.”
- there’s a connection between being consecrated to God and blood. The only way Aaron and his sons could commune with God is by cleansing both themselves and the place of their sacrifice through the spilling of blood.
Leviticus 17:10-14 - Laws against eating blood 10 ” ‘Any Israelite or any alien living among them who eats any blood—I will set my face against that person who eats blood and will cut him off from his people. 11 For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life. 12 Therefore I say to the Israelites, “None of you may eat blood, nor may an alien living among you eat blood.” 13 ” ‘Any Israelite or any alien living among you who hunts any animal or bird that may be eaten must drain out the blood and cover it with earth, 14 because the life of every creature is its blood. That is why I have said to the Israelites, “You must not eat the blood of any creature, because the life of every creature is its blood; anyone who eats it must be cut off.”
- blood equals life and God takes it extremely seriously when we don’t respect that - again showing the value and significance God attaches to the lifeblood, the reflection of His image in His creation. Also, this passage makes it clear that God has given us blood only for the purpose of making atonement for sins via a sacrifice.
John 19:31-37 - Jesus’ crucifixion 31 Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jews did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. 32The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. 33But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. 35The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. 36These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken,” 37and, as another scripture says, “They will look on the one they have pierced.”
- John makes a specific reference in recounting the story of Jesus’ death to emphasize that blood was very literally spilled, making a very distinct connection between the sacrificed lambs in the Old Testament and the death of The Lamb in the New Testament.
Hebrews 9:11-20 - The blood of Christ 11When Christ came as high priest of the good things that are already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this creation. 12He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. 13The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. 14How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God! 15For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant. 16In the case of a will, it is necessary to prove the death of the one who made it, 17because a will is in force only when somebody has died; it never takes effect while the one who made it is living. 18This is why even the first covenant was not put into effect without blood. 19When Moses had proclaimed every commandment of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves, together with water, scarlet wool and branches of hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people. 20He said, “This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep.”
- Christ’s blood not only fulfilled all of the promises and symbolism of blood in the Old Testament (i.e. representing life, obedience, consecration, atonement, and the cost of salvation/forgiveness) but is an amazingly more superior sacrifice.
Revelation 5:6-10 - The Lamb on the throne ”6Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 7He came and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. 8And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9And they sang a new song: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. 10You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.”
- only because blood was spilled is Christ able to open the scroll, purchase our salvation, and consecrate us to God. He has sealed God’s covenant with us with His own blood and paid the price for our salvation.
So much symbolism, such an amazing sacrifice. Hope you have a very impactful Easter.
Scientifically, I think this study is totally ridiculous since it is really impossible to make a control group — you can’t exactly tell the “control group” patients’ families and friends to “please stop praying for your family member/friend, we’re trying to do a study here”. It was also interesting in that one of the scientists suggested that the slightly higher rate of complications in the “prayed-for” group may be related to patient stress, not wanting to let their intercessory prayer group “down” by having complications from the surgery. I would think that would be a huge factor when somebody with religious beliefs was told that a bunch of strangers were focusing their prayer energy on you - you wouldn’t want to disappoint. This is particularly true if the patients were advised they are taking part in a scientific trial regarding the effectiveness of prayer - having a direct stake in the outcome (i.e. validating your belief in prayer) would bound to lead to added stress.
It’s also totally crazy from a religious perspective in that, despite the objections of one of the scientists in the article, they are essentially putting God on trial — the working hypothesis is that prayer must always get an answer from God in relatively short order and that answer always must be positive.
Anyway, just another case where you really have to read the whole article and not just the headline to really understand a story.
So for the past while i’ve had this really big urge, and I’m hoping that i’m not the only one. I want us to start a baseball team (or maybe there already is one that i don’t know about?) for the summer… I’m pretty excited about the thought but need some people who are also pumped about it! (Mind you, i’m not very coordinated, just love the game!)
Totally off topic (that’s allowed on this blog!), we got talking about Lego somehow tonight in small group, which reminded me of a very cool site I found when I was “productively recharging” during my thesis writing (and if you believe that the phrase “productively recharging” means anything other than “goofing off”, I appreciate your excessive levels of faith in my concentration abilities).
I still have my Lego baseball stadium, shopping mall, and television studios assembled in my parents’ basement (too lazy/not enough heart to take it apart yet). The baseball stadium is particularly cool if I do say so myself… it’s got a Windows restaurant a la Skydome, er, Rogers Centre, a gigantic scoreboard, and a balcony level with no entrance or exit (i.e. to get in - levitate; to get out - jump). Practical engineering issues aside, still cool. I really should get some pictures and do some posting myself. Any good Lego obsession stories out there?
I’m not too sure what I think of this one… I was shocked the Gideons were still allowed even to put an ad in a school newsletter to distribute Bibles. What do you think?
Here are links to all of the “In the news” items I highlighted in the postmodernism session we had at oXyGEN today as well as a couple of others which I found but didn’t work into the questions (I particularly like the Dutch tolerance test example… )
Now, it should be noted that some of these articles are from sources which are clearly advocating a specific point of view, so some critical thinking is certainly required to filter the truth from the hysteria. However, I think this is a really interesting set of articles which give us some real perspective regarding how Christians are interacting with the world and how postmodern Western society views us as Christians.
The Final Thoughts:
Postmodernism - “Our task as Christians, therefore, is neither to hail the arrival of postmodernism as the savior of humankind nor to fight against it in the name of a return to modernism. Rather, our goal ought to be to understand how we can bring the gospel to postmodern people in ways that communicate meaningfully to them.”
(also a good choice of article if you’d like to see how Star Trek and Star Trek: The Next Generation illustrate the modern and postmodern perspectives… as a non-Trekkie, a little out of my league, but I know a couple of you out there will appreciate it… )
Tolerance - “Love, truth, justice and honour cannot even share a sentence with the verb to tolerate.” - a great place to draw the line I think.
Hopefully we can continue the conversation we had today at oXyGEN on the blog…
Top
over the next couple of weeks on Sunday morning… should be interesting…