Guitar Praise-- Whoo. Hoo.

I don't know what to say about this. The words just escape me right now. I'm completely beside myself. I'm rendered speechless. My brain is about to explode. I'm afraid to get out of my seat for fear of leaving parts of me behind on the chair.

I wonder if they have a Christianized version of Grand Theft Auto.

BTW-- The same company markets a Praise DDR set. Yeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!

Discuss, please.

When Did This Start?

I meet and hear so many people who think their deceased loved ones are looking down on them and smiling.

How and when did this sentiment start? I suppose it helps people feel better and deal with their grief, but it's tinged with Gnosticism. I've always found it to be a bit sappy myself. But I never know how to respond to it.

So, when I hear it I just smile and nod, smile and nod, smile and nod.

Resurrection for the 21st Century

"I am convinced that the climate of skepticism, which for the last two hundred years has made it unfashionable and even embarrassing to suggest that Jesus's resurrection really happened, was never and is not now itself a neutral thing, sociologically or politically. The intellectual coup d'etat by which the Enlightenment convinced so many that 'we now know that dead people don't rise,' as though this was a modern discovery rather than simply the reaffirmation of what Homer and Aeschylus had taken for granted, goes hand in hand with the Enlightenment's other proposals, not least that we now have come of age, that God can be kicked upstairs, that we can get on with running the world however we want to, carving it up to our advantage without outside interference. To that extent, the totalitarianisms of the last century were simply among the varied manifestations of a larger totalitarianism of thought and culture against which postmodernity has now, and rightly in my view, rebelled. Who, after all, was it who didn't want the dead to be raised? Not simply the intellectually timid or the rationalists. It was, and is, those in power, the social and intellectual tyrants and bullies; the Caesars who would be threatened by a Lord of the world who had defeated the tyrant's last weapon, death itself; the Herods who would be horrified at the postmortem validation of the true King of the Jews. And this is the point where believing in the resurrection of Jesus suddenly ceases to be a matter of inquiring about an odd event in the first century and becomes a matter of rediscovering hope in the twenty-first century. Hope is what you get when you suddenly realize that a different worldview is possible, a worldview in which the rich, the powerful, and the unscrupulous do not after all have the last word. The same worldview shift that is demanded by the resurrection of Jesus is the shift that will enable us to transform the world.
"Think of Oscar Wilde's wonderful scene in his play Salome, when Herod hears reports that Jesus of Nazareth has been raising the dead. 'I do not wish him to do that, " says Herod. 'I forbid him to do that. I allow no man to raise the dead. This man must be found and told that I forbid him to raise the dead.'
"There is the bluster of the tyrant who knows his power is threatened, and I hear the same tone of voice not just in the politicians who want to carve up the world to their advantage but also in the intellectual traditions that have gone along for the ride.
"But Wilde's next, haunting line is the real crunch, for us as for Herod: 'Where is this man?' demands Herod. 'He is in every place, my lord,' replies the courtier, 'but it is hard to find him.'

--N.T. Wright
Surprised By Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church
(Emphasis his)

To Infinity... And Beyond!

The title of this post, as most of us know, is that endearing line from the bumbling Buzz Lightyear from the movie Toy Story. I know he's just a toy in an animated feature, so he can be made to say anything. Even things that are completely outrageous!

Can we actually reach infinity? What is beyond infinity? Isn't it just more infinity? How does one go beyond that?

Of course, it's all just comedic hyperbole. No one can go to infinity and beyond. Not even Buzz Lightyear.

This brings me to the subject of complexity, which to me is baffling, but not as baffling as infinity. I can deal with complexity in the sense that I can study complex objects or issues. I have no idea how to deal with infinity, except just to call it "endless endlessness".

In previous posts I've been lauding the findings of science. There have been incredible advances in discovery and practical application. These are wonderful and have made our lives more...complex.

And that's one beef I have against science. Of all the wonderful things that have been done, there have also been a lot of frivolous and unnecessary things that have flooded our lives. Today we have gizmos and gadgets that are entertaining and can do spectacular things and some great work, like the computer I'm typing on (for instance). But they have made us busier than ever and have brought complexity to our lives. We are now expected to do more and more tasks with increasing speed. Hold on to your hats, folks! Our lives are going to get even more complex!!

Christians have argued in times past that complexity is proof of the existence of God. Atheists have rebutted by saying science is figuring things out and it won't be long before God will run out of things to do. Christians come back at this by putting forth the theory of the "God of the gaps"-- the "in between" of each and every discovery that scientists haven't quite gotten around to yet or can't quite wrap their minds around. And the arguments volley back and forth.

In my mind, the existence of God is something that cannot be proven by empirical data. As I've mentioned in previous posts, the Scriptures never attempt to prove God's existence. It is assumed and works from that assumption. Given that, it might be time to put away the noble but entirely irrelevant attempts of proving God's existence, Ray Comfort's banana notwithstanding.

I'm ready to start speaking in terms of infinity, something that scientists will never get to the end of. Under each discovery more things are ready to be discovered... and it will never end. The number of discoveries possible are endless, infinite! Scientists can discover many things, but it will never discover everything. Of course, this doesn't prove God's existence. But such existence is heavily implied.

For Christians, the proof of God's existence is not only found in creation, but in the revelation of Christ. In Christ the Ultimate Infinite (whatever that might mean to you) is contained in the finite, and the very nature of infinity is revealed. We can't perform experiments to verify it or to watch it work. We're dealing with infinity, after all. All we have is the witness of the Scriptures. The infinite God took on finite form in Jesus to dwell among us so that our finiteness can be swallowed up in the Infinite's ultimate love and mercy. And Jesus revealed that the Ultimate Infinite is, by nature, pure and unadulterated grace. That's the claim.

Really, it's the only way the Infinite can be revealed to us in a way we can comprehend. Christ is the way we connect with Infinity. If we can believe in the existence of infinity, then it isn't a far stretch to believe also in God. And in Christ, this infinite is touchable.

For Your Entertainment-- Unintended Consequences

As I was driving back to church this afternoon, the sign on the Burger King said,

Try a Steakhouse

Yeah, don't come to eat our cruddy food. Go to a nice steakhouse instead!

Sounds like a good idea!! But it might put our Burger King out of business if they continue to send customers somewhere else.

Talk about unintended consequences! Sheesh!!

Back From Out of Town

I'm back! I was with my family in Fargo, North Dakota for a wedding. The son of the pastor I worked with in my first parish got married. I was flattered to have been invited. We (my family and I) decided to make a vacation out of it and ended up spending a couple of days in Minneapolis. We did a lot of swimming and made a visit to the Mall of America (the Mega Mall). Great time! I wish we had had more time to drive. We drove straight from Fargo to Joliet, which took about 13 hours. We had to be back by Monday because the boys had walk-thrus at their respective schools, and I had to conduct a funeral.

Anyhoo, I've been thinking about a book I read a while ago that most people in my position wouldn't dare to read. I like reading such things because I know they're out there and people are reading them. I feel it's important to read what others are reading because people are taking the principles offered to heart. If you want to know what people are thinking you may want to take on this opportunity for yourself.

The book is called The Secret by Rhonda Byrne. It's been out for almost two years and remains on the non-fiction best seller list. Which means-- people are reading this book!!!! This is why I've been thinking about it. And, yes, I have read it AND watched the DVD.

What is this "secret", you ask? Basically it comes down to this: the universe conspires in your favor when you tap into it's power. The universe will give you anything you want. Anything!! Here's how you do it: you make your desire known to the universe. In other words, you state what you intend to get and then have confidence that you will receive it. Then-- you act as if you already have it. The universe listens to you and conspires to manifest your request. But you must remain positive and look forward to receiving what you've requested. People will swear on their very lives that this thing works, and that it is backed up by the solid scientific principle of the Law of Attraction. You can do wonders with this method. You can cure fatal diseases. You can receive untold riches. You can get a new house, or a new car, or a new boat (or yacht). Once you know the secret and use it you can open up a portal to the abundance of the universe.

Wow! There are so many things wrong with this that it's hard to know where to start. The overwhelming popularity of this book tells me that people are looking for a real Santa Claus. Apparently, God has failed in this area and people are moving on to something else. The late George Carlin once said that he stopped praying to God and started to pray to the sun and got the same return, about 50%. Just before his death he even stopped praying to the sun and started praying to Joe Pesci. Why pray to the sun and/or Joe Pesci? Because they can be seen. The same goes for the universe. Of course, we can't see the entire universe at one time. But all we have to do is look up to the sky and behold the sun, moon, and stars. They are real and are parts of our universe that can supposedly huddle together to fulfill our requests. They can be seen, so why not tell them what we want?

The problem here is not recognizing that the universe just is. It is not a deity, nor is it magician. The universe just does what it does. Much of what it does is a mystery, and hopefully we'll one day solve many of those mysteries. Although there is much we do know, there are still discoveries yet to be made. But one thing is for sure-- it is not available to any individual beckon call. Furthermore, although the universe is being discovered to act more like an organism than a machine, it is still not capable of manifesting puerile wishes.

People are looking for magic from any source they can get their hands on, thinking that miracle and magic will solve their problems and make their lives so much easier. What a great opportunity this poses for the Church!!

I'm not proposing we perform magic tricks or start acting like these TV faith-healer hucksters. But what I am proposing is that we start talking about the universe based on things that we already know, taking all of the guess work out of it. For example:

Stars are givers. We don't merely believe this. We know this!! Each moment, stars are fusing billions of tons of hydrogen atoms into helium. They are literally burning themselves up in order to provide light and heat and energy. Our sun, as we all know, is one such star. It is providing what we need to sustain life on this planet. If it wasn't for the process of photosynthesis (the ability of plants to use sunlight for growth and abundance) you and I wouldn't be able to breathe.

Someday, the sun will burn itself out. It will use up all of its available hydrogen. The helium will then begin to fuse into heavier elements and the sun will expand into the big red giant stage, which will increase its gravitational pull, causing the planets closest to it (including earth) to be absorbed into its fiery furnace. After the fusion has reached a point to where the heaviest elements are being created, the big red giant will then go through a stage of implosion into a glowing blue midget. All of the elements of the periodic table will be there. Then, in a dazzling spectacle that has been observed by scientists countless of numbers of times, the blue midget explodes, hurling its constituent elements out into space. It's called a supernova, and it's a regular occurance even in our local Milky Way galaxy.

Even in death, the star gives. That's what I call magic! You and I are going to be part of that magic. Lest that worries you a bit, it isn't going to happen for another 5 billion years or so. We will have long passed from this life. But there's no guarantee that the earth will even last that long. We are on a collision course with the Andromeda galaxy, which is heading toward us at a rate of 300 kilometers per second. At that rate, the collision will take place roughly 5 billion years from now, but it has the potential of hurling our planet off its course out into space. And of course don't forget about the possibility of being struck by a giant meteor, which will pretty much eliminate life as we know it. But here's the thing-- everyday stars are exploding, galaxies are colliding, and planets are being struck by meteors. It's very normal for these things to occur.

Thinking about this, read Psalm 19:1-- The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.

Boy, you said it-- the glory of God! God is there in, with, and under these processes and events!! How? Who knows?? God's omnipresence is much greater than what the Psalmist could ascertain; it's much greater than any of us can ascertain!! The Psalmist could only look up into the sky and write what he saw. You and I can not only look up, but we can also go onto the internet and look at incredible images from the Hubble Telescope. Psalm 19:1 is now taken to a level that the Psalmist could only imagine!

More on this later.

Naming the Animals

Then the Lord God said, "It is not good (a quick aside: isn't it interesting that something is called "not good" before "The Fall"?) that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him." Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him.-- Genesis 2:18-20

Canaan fathered Sidon his firstborn and Heth, and the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites, the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites. Afterward the clans of the Canaanites dispersed. And the territory of the Canaanites exteded from Sidon in the direction of Gerar as far as Gaza, and in the direction of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha. These are the sons of Ham, by their clans, their languages, their lands, and their nations. (Genesis 10:15-20)

Discuss, please.