74 Days!

74 Days!

Religion as a rational problem

The word rational is used to denote the idea that reasoning was used to come to certain point of understanding. Someone who acts rationally is considered someone who appropriately uses reason to determine a course of action. Rationalists look at fundamentalist Christians and state that their beliefs are irrational. Larry Charles says it well- "Ok. An old God, a very buff old God that lives in space decides to create the first man from earth dust, then makes a woman from that man’s rib. They get to live forever if they don’t eat the forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge, but the woman is tricked into eating a piece by a talking snake and all future humanity is cursed" In this modern world the Genesis story of creation seems a bit more than a stretch. It seems irrational.

People like Ken Ham believe that the Genesis creation story, as well as all of Scripture, is entirely rational. Mr. Ham even believes that modern scientists have proven beyond doubt that every odd-looking story in the Bible has clear evidence to support it. Ken Ham has made significant contributions to increase the acceptance of the ideas of the modern movement known as Intelligent Design. Adherents to ID, as Intelligent Design is known, believe that science points to evidence that some nonhuman intelligent Designer created everything. These ID followers call the Designer they speak of as God in church, but generally speak of him only as The Designer in more secular situations to avoid mental roadblocks that secularists develop in association with the name of God.

Is Christianity and the idea of belief in any god at all rational or irrational? Does it matter? Many Christians attempt to convert the atheist by attesting to the rationality of Christianity based on morality (See the writings of Ravi Zacharias), or science (See Michael Behe on the Discovery Institute page). I am often pulled into such discussions at work or school and I support the arguments of the Christians in the discussion as best I can, but at the same time I remind myself of the comment Jesus made to Peter when he declared the truth of Christ's deity- "Flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven." The heavens do declare the glory of God as loudly as Christ's miracles proclaimed Him to be the Messiah, but it takes the work of God in the heart of a man for him to see it as it truly is. I am concerned with how often Christians try to argue from anti-God philosophy to produce a rationale for a belief in God when the connection is not really there. I strongly believe that Christianity is only completely rational to those who have had their eyes opened by God. To argue that anyone who sees creation must trick themselves into not believing in God is setting up our next generation for more belief failure than we see in our current generation. More on that later.

Religulous

Bill Maher, the irreverent comedian and political commentator, has created a new movie, Religulous, that advances the ideas of what some have called "The New Atheism." The main thrust of this movement is that religion is not only silly but dangerous, and is the source of most conflict in society. Mr. Maher insists rightfully that most Americans are practical Rationalists (his name for atheists) even though they declare themselves to be believers in a deity. His hope for this movie, as He told Larry King, is that those people who are calling themselves religious but thinking as atheists will have the courage to stand up for rationalism and peace. If everything goes as planned the movie comes out this week, and I hope to go to it. The name of the movie is a play on the word ridiculous combined with the word religious, and I want to know how to adress the issues that he raises in my life and in the minds of those with whom I work. It is possible that I have become so lax in my faith that I have become Religulous.

Planning

The announcement chilled my blood to deep in my gut- "This is one of those people who had to jump out of their apartment in Vestavia this morning." Of course my first thought was "We live in an apartment in Vestavia!" A quick call to Wonderful calmed that fear, but she informed me that one of our friends was injured jumping from her apartment in the early morning fire, and was in my hospital. I got the necessary information from my wife, and after my shift I found my way to her room where her children were keeping vigil over her sleeping form. This friends's youngest son plays soccer with my son, and I asked him what it was like having such an odd alarm clock wake him. His proud answer was typical for his young age- "I aimed perfect when I threw my dog out the window onto the pillow." I chuckled and asked his older brother if they needed anything. The Body Of Christ has responded superbly to their needs as best I can tell.
Returning home that night I thought about the fact that the tragedy could have been so much worse than an injured mother and loss of all belongings. People die far too often from fires in the home, and among the most tragic deaths are those preventable deaths of children. As soon as we had a quiet moment that night I sent my kids to bed, shut off the lights, and activated a smoke alarm in the hall. My oldest responded almost exactly as we had practiced months before, and with some prompting from their brother my giggly girls followed suit. Not every plan is perfect, but when a few basic plans are well-known to everyone the handling of an emergency will be much less likely to have a tragic ending. I encourage every family to develop a few simple evacuation routes through your home with a well-defined gathering area that is out of danger. Also please help your child learn not to hide during a fire. Youngsters that are lost to fires are often found afterwards in a hiding place. It makes sense to them to hide from a scary fire, but it keeps them from being found by rescuers.

We praise the Lord for His protection, and we are praying for you guys. Get well Mrs. Sue!

So...

81 days, 2.7 months, 11.56 weeks, and no matter how you look at it there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Yesterday we stood outside the School of Nursing in our white as a group for our graduation photo, and it began to sink in- I just might be able to do this! And then one of the faculty said, "I thought all this time that you were a nurse practitioner student." I realized that no matter what accomplishment I completed there was always going to be one more thing to do to "make it even better." Such is the lot of the human affection. Adam and Eve faced this when in the state of bliss they were told "You could be better, like God." The fact is that I am happy with my current path becaue it is where God has me right now. I am content with what vistas are coming into view over the immediate horizon, and I see the good that God can do in and through me here. All I need to do now is watch my step so that I take this current path t its end without faltering. More is sure to come, but I must first cross this ridge.

Living The Life

One of my favorite moments of life involves my Wonderful sitting by me talking about whatever she happens to think of. That's what I am doing right now with a strawberry Milkquake in front of me and a chocolate one in front of her. She just spied me writing and she paused for a moment, but something just came to mind and she is off on another topic. She worries that she bugs me talking so much, but it is just nice to listen to her relax and know that every once and a while we can just chat about something that does not include money, child discipline, or Sarah's asthma. Right now I am living a wonderful life, and I must admit that I am grateful to have her beside me.

Ten years

It was ten years ago this last weekend that I asked the woman who was to be my Wonderful wife to join me for life. She had no idea what she was in for, but she gave me her left hand to decoate with a solitary diamond ring. Five months later a simple gold band joined the diamond, and my life became more incredible than I had ever imagined. Thank you darling for the best ten years of my life so far!

Gifts of a moment

A moment is the period of time from one thing to the next. It seems as long as an eternity or as fleeting as a microsecond. A moment can be spent waiting for the light to turn green, or hoping you picked the correct long line in the grocery store. Many people I know consider moments to be nuisances that become major frustrations, but I just want to encourage us to see moments as chances for quiet or verbal prayer. That lady in front of you that has a huge handful of complicated coupons needs your prayer much more than your angry stare. Just a thought.

101 days!

I am thrilled that I have only 101 days left until I graduate. I just thought you would like to know.