Get-Mas Revisited

Almost a year ago I wrote about my frustration over the Christian worry that we are going to lose the "true" meaning of Christmas. It grates on my ears every time I hear Christians try to defend their pagan holiday as "Jesus' Birthday" and how it is sacred. Last year I attempted to flesh this out, and even try to get my family and friends who complained that "Jesus' Birthday" is being damaged by the athiests to actually separate the gift giving from the day so that it is truly made a day to focus on Jesus. Wow! The response I got was telling. "You can't have Christmas without the gifts!" I was told. So I learned that American Christmas is not really about Jesus, but it is about the original pagan practice of gift-giving to which the Roman Catholics added Jesus. This is ironic to me in that the same people who insist that we keep true to the original intent of the American Constitution and the originally understood meaning of biblical.creation stories actually prefer a recent incarnation of a pagan festival. So here I stand again insisting that Christ is not truly a part of American Christmas and that our Christian activists need to be honest or actually make Christmas about Jesus and celebrate gifts another day. New Year's day would be a great pagan holiday to give gifts on.

I am stardust...

One of my favorite ideas is the fact that the molecules that make up our bodies are truly combinations of elements that were originally shed by the stars at the beginning of our universe. As the quote attributed to Allan Sandage goes:

 ”Every one of our chemical elements was once inside a star. The same star. You and I are brothers. We came from the same supernova.”

Just a thought that came to me after watching an astronomer's video on YouTube tonight.

The last book

I took the risky move of borrowing a sci-fi film that I didn't know anything about. I did this mainly because it had Denzel Washington in it and I generally like his work. The movie was a bit of a surprise in that it had a good bit of philosophical interest for me. This is not to say that I will watch with my children or parents. It is not that kind of movie, but it is one that raises an interesting question of what the end of our society could be.

The story occurs thirty year after a war basically destroys the world with very little food for a still very populated planet. Some people resort to cannibalism while others resort to other methods of survival. The camera follows one Eli who seems to be a superman type of character with a few interesting.flaws and scruples. As the story moves on we find that most people in the world are illiterate and destroyed all the Bibles they could find attributing the war to the followers of the book. Eli is lead by "a voice" to the last Bible and carries it on a 30 year pilgrimage to safety. Don't worry I didn't ruin the movie for anyone still wanting to watch it, though I will admit that it is not all that great outside some of its cerebral interests.

What would the world look like without the Bible? In the movie and in the minds of many people that argue for Biblical morality the world would be a lawless and destructive place without the moral guidance of the Holy Scriptures to guide us. In fact I must disagree for three reasons.

1. Christians don't even follow scripture as a moral guide. Ask most Christians about their guiding Scriptural passages and you will get some innocuous verses or phrases they learned in elementary Sunday School mixed with some concepts they picked up from some popular speaker or writer. Ask any Christian on the street and you will find that they can barely make their way through a Bible much less relate the basic message in each book of the Bible. I can assure you that almost none have read the Bible from cover to cover. So what do Christians find as a moral compass? They use their culture, though not necessarily their secular culture. The leaders of various evangelical factions hold a cultural sway strong enough that churches and political groups can count on them to vote their way in most elections. James Dobson, James Kennedy, and even the Mormon Glenn Beck can be included in this influential group although there are others with slightly less influence in the Southern Baptist Convention, and Bob Jones University. That a Mormon can lead Evangelicals is a sign that theology is not a necessary prerequisite. Most American Christians follow their herd instincts to do whatever their Christian friends and leaders do.

2. History teaches us that Scripture is not a very strong moral guide. The situation presented in the movie is actually a rough representation of what happened after the fall of the Roman Empire. The Roman Catholic Church held the Scripture in high regard, but did not develop a strong moral or legal code from Scripture. In fact the Greek and Roman philosophers were the moral compass to which Scripture was adapted. Interestingly even our American Founding Fathers followed the Roman and Greek guides along with some Native American examples as practical helps in developing our country with Biblical adaptations that probably added legitimacy to their work.

3. This reason is the most compelling of all- There is not a single moral code in Scripture. My favorite example is that of the value of human life. Modern Christians hold that all human life is sacred, but that standard is not widely applied in Scripture. Jesus comes the closest to holding this standard. Modern Christians would do well to follow the moral guidance of Jesus, but then their theologic standard may be problematic.
While Jesus clearly stated that He did not come to destroy the Law He did cast doubt on its practical value. Even in the Old Testament not all rules were applied consistently with God arbitrarily guiding His people in various actions that contradicted His supposed law. For example, modern Christians would dismiss the command to sacrifice a child for God as a command from a demon and not God, and yet Abraham was congratulated for bringing his son to the altar. Several times throughout the Bible the authors congratulate the heroes for their situational ethics as a deeper understanding of God's implied law.

Not only are American Christians not following the moral law of the Bible they are probably making the better choice. I just hope they someday realize it and stop following all the evangelical fads they seem to love so much. It would hurt if we all actually thought for ourselves.

Is Murder Justified?

I follow a number of blogs for personal growth and education. Among these blogs are some that focus on science, religion, and theology from different perspectives. One blog I like is entirely for fun. It is the blog of a philosophy professor who designs online questionnaires that act as philosophy experiments. The most recent addition to his series is a set of questions answering the above question. While philosophy tends to deal in hypothetical questions, especially as related to questions of morality, this set of questions mostly relate to true situations and how the reader responds to them. Jeremy Stangroom chose as one of his questions the scenario of Richard Parker who was killed by his shipmates after they found themselves shipwrecked and starving in a lifeboat. Richard Parker was chosen to be killed to sustain the lives of the other men because he did not have a wife and children depending on him, and it seemed that he was on the verge of dying anyway. Later investigators agreed that the men would have died had they not eaten the body of Richard, but they were convicted of murder even though the murder was the only choice possible to save the lives of several men.

One of the interesting questions that this raises is what would be the Biblical response to this situation? American Christians would state that every life is precious which is why they tend to dislike abortion and euthanasia, and so they would tend to feel that one life is too precious a cost for the attempt at saving two or more other lives. Of course this instinctive response is not necessarily Biblical. Based on the math present in the many Bible stories that deal with substitutionary death one life lost is a reasonable cost for the saving of many others. This is an issue at conflict with the American Evangelical aversion to abortion. God is certainly not "pro-life" in the Bible, and yet many Americans would still oppose abortion and the killing of Richard Parker as being against Scripture when their ethics really are a product of their culture and not the Bible.

Wild at Heart

My wife and I recently watched a movie about Christopher McCandless who, in an attempt to find himself and be cleansed of his worldly distractions, found his way to wilderness Alaska where he lived for a few months and eventually died. It is fascinating to me to see this story and recognize the idealism of the young man. I remarked to Wonderful that I was considering something similar when I was single in my twenties because I felt that I has been damaged by my materialistic society too. I had even gone so far as to research how to disappear without a trace, but I abandoned my quest for an escape when I realized that I had a responsibility to give to my society. I could not simply walk away from everything and accomplish what I was created to do. I also had a deep attachment to my parents, who are wonderfully loving, and realized that I really needed them in a sense. So I branched out in other ways and found a position hundreds of miles from home where I made a name for myself, and surrounded myself with people who didn't care about my father's accomplishments. I learned the same things about the value of relationships that Christopher did without risking my parents' sanity so much.


I look back at those days of idealism and realize that I had so much to learn. I have watched many teenagers grow up, and it is true for them as it was for me- you change alot every year until you are late into your twenties. I think it has something to do with brain development. At any rate when I was younger I preached a good sermon and persuaded some people who were charmed by my simplistic idealism like Christoper did, but in the intervening years I learned it isn't so simple. Like Christopher I was arrogant and selfish, and if he survived his time in Alaska I wonder if he would look back on his youthful idealism with the same level of regret that I do. 


If I could, I would go back and tell myself that not so many people are persuaded by the truth as you expect there should be. I thought it would be so simple to find the truth and share it, but the fact is that "truth" is much more complex and elusive than it appears to a young mind. I would tell myself that people are not as easy to understand as they should be. I wish I could tell myself at twenty that people are much more important than ideals, and relationships are much more valuable than ironing out contradictions. People lie to themselves much more than they realize, and miss the point much more than they should. But they have so much to offer even so.


I still feel right about the materialism, though. We can acquire things and a name, but in the end the monument erases the person it represents, and memories become the story while the true person melts away into nothing. Ask John Adams about that, he would know.

Morality and religion

Early in my reconsideration of Christianity I came across the concept of morality as a construct of a religious belief, and I began to wonder if our morality really is the work of our religion. There are several ways to look at this, but the most easy I can consider right now is the issue of genocide. It is fascinating that genocide was repeatedly commanded by God in the Bible, and yet many Christians quote the Bible to support their calls against genocide. What is truly happening is that the culture is pressuring Christians to hold certain views as morally good, and Christians are selecting, or "cherry-picking", Bible passages that support their ideals rather than acknowledging the contradiction found in Scripture between our modern dislike of genocide and the Scriptural mandates to support it. If Christians were to be truly Biblical, they would support the wholesale murder of all Muslims and resettlement of their lands by Christians or Jews.A more whimsical look at how our culture dictates our choices is reflected in my post last year about the mistaken belief that Christmas is about Jesus (http://me-as-me.blogspot.com/2009/11/get-mas.html). At any rate an interesting blog post about morality adds much more to the discussion than I can at this time- http://www.centerforinquiry.net/blogs/entry/why_should_i_be_moral/
I am interested in your thoughts.

dissecting

I am an OR nurse which means many of my interests relate to something in surgery. Having scrubbed in and assisting surgeons for ten years really cements this tendency. At any rate dissecting tissue is fascinating me. One of my favorite surgeons with which I have worked is a Dr. Max Austin, a GYN/oncologist who always brought residents with him to the OR. Not only did I get to see the surgeries he did I also enjoyed hearing him explain to new doctors why he did what he did. I stood fascinated as he led his residents through each step of the procedure, and one part I found interesting right at first is the fact that he was always looking for "the plane".

"The plane" is the point where the obvious change between types of tissue occurs. Whether it be the layer of cells between the abdominal lining and the muscle of the uterus, or the muscle of the uterus and its lining these layers often are easier to separate if you can find the point where one begins and the other ends and begin to separate them there. I have since seen the principle apply to dissecting around gallbladders or prostates. The point at which such dissection becomes difficult is when a cancer has invaded the tissue surrounding the tumor. I have seen the tendrils of cancer tumors totally obliterate the normal planes leaving surgeons to guess where to dissect. When planes are difficult to find worse bleeding occurs and complications are more severe with surgery time being much greater. Another occurrence that makes finding the plane more difficult is scarring from prior surgery or disease.

As I looked over the last post it occurred to me that some may find it difficult to discern where I find the plane between truth and falsehood in health care. The fact is that I identified many poor health care choices that various family members made in a week of being together. At first glance it would seem that I simply rejected those practices that are not part of conventional medical practice. This is why I have been accused of being totally against alternative "medicine". The fact is that the plane between truth and falsehood is much more difficult to demonstrate.

Let's take, for example, the colloidal silver that my mom applied to every cut and burn and made everyone who had signs of infection take. I don't support the use of colloidal silver, but it is not because I know of an alternative "doctor" who prescribed it. In fact what happened is that my mother sent this colloidal silver liquid to me to prevent an infection in my family. Her statement was that taking a little silver every day prevented bacterial and viral growth in the body and kept one healthy.

My first thought was common- nothing can fix everything. It is true that many claims made by alternative health care practitioners regarding their wares cover everything from arthritis to cancer, but these claims have never borne much fruit. Consider this fact- if colloidal silver did kill every bacteria, then there goes the gut bacteria that help us make vitamin K. How about your skin bacteria that protect us from staph infections? Does silver taken orally kill off all the bacteria that give one bad breath?

Even though I know the claims made for silver may be a bit extreme I always consider the possibility that some truth may underlie the excessive claims. In fact studies done almost one hundred years ago supported the idea that ingesting silver molecules in liquid solutions reduced bacterial infections. The downside was that more then 3000 milligrams of silver were necessary daily to have that effect, and even so it was only a mild antibacterial that did not prevent pneumonia very well. This massive dosage of silver did have one obvious effect in that it turns the skin gray.

In my dissection of the facts from falsehoods in claims such as these I often start with recognized authorities. Many of my alternative |"medicine" friends decry such sources because they see it in the best interest of the authorities to suppress information that will support alternative "medicine". In my experience such authorities are a great place to start in research because they have history on their side and love to share it. In the case of silver the CDC, FDA, and EPA all had interesting articles that they published on the different risks and benefits of silver. In the case of a common item such as silver one of my favorite places to start is the EPA because they have files of MSDS sheets produced on such items which are used in industry. This is where toxic doses may be found. The EPA data was especially helpful in developing my information on ozone generators.

Back to silver. After finding that the official history of silver in medicine was less that sterling I thought I should see what additional claims were being made for those who sold silver. I found that Nature's Sunshine stated that their colloidal silver preparations had specially formulated silver molecules that are more bioavailable than older preparations. The question in my mind is now how much is necessary to have an effect? For this information I turned to Medline to find studies on local effects of silver preparations on infections. The studies I found reported that a fairly high concentration of silver was necessary to retard the growth of micro-organisms in any tissue. Even if the silver in colloidal silver liquids was more bioavailable the body would have to deposit enough silver in the effective area to essentially turn the area gray. Taking this much silver would have negative effects on helpful bacteria and cause many more health problems than it would help. As a side note none of the colloidal silver preparations have high enough concentrations that would have provided the necessary silver to have the desired and undesired effects. One would have to drink gallons of the the colloidal silver solution to gain any benefit.

But was there some truth to these claims? Technically yes. Silver solutions with high concentrations of silver molecules have been known to reduce the growth of bacteria in the lab. The question is whether the complex biologic systems in the body will allow silver to do its work. The most effective silver applications have been topical creams and silver impregnated dressings used for severe wounds or extensive surgical wounds. Short-term trial results have been mixed, but some people swear by silver dressings in the hospital. They are most effective at reducing the risk of infection in clean wounds, but don't seem to help already infected wounds. In my own experience silver impregnate creams are not as effective as triple-antibiotic creams. Oral silver whether colloidal or otherwise just hasn't lived up to its expectations.

So, in answer to those who say I dismiss all alternative "medicine" claims outright the answer is a qualified no. I totally reject palm readers and craniosacral therapy because the science just isn't there, but other claims I  look into because I often find something I can use in my own practice. I even research odd claims just in case. It is a matter of looking for the plane between truth and falsehood, and being alert for the sometimes very thin line.

Flag

A great video thanks to http://www.onemarinesview.com/one_marines_view/

How should a nurse nurse?

I had a delightful time with family last week. It was such a delightful time that I fought tears for hours as I faced the prospect of piling everyone into the car, and then as I left with my four securely buckled in. A few times tears did spill especially as I hugged my dearly loved parents and siblings goodbye. I love and enjoy the people who gave me life and a future!

As always, the grouping of several families that live different lives creates tension. This past week highlighted some of our differences as my extended family and I encountered various health problems. An interesting cream that one family member used for every skin lesion was a colloidal silver preparation. Another application of this silver preparation was used on a young boy who presented with an upper respiratory infection that had a moderately high fever (103 f). An oral liquid with silver suspension was given to the boy regularly throughout the day with the hope that the body would take the minute amount of silver in the liquid to the area of infection and kill the causative organism.

Reflexology and what appeared to be craniosacral therapy was used to treat this small boy's fever as well as garlic cloves that were attached to his feet where they were supposed to be more easily absorbed. The parents involved also gave the boy a vinegar bath and oral feverfew (herb) to reduce his fever. I will not discuss the efficacy of these methods now, but I will state that the mother of the child finally resorted to acetaminophen to bring the fever to more tolerable levels.

I also encountered a family member using a "Q-Ray" bracelet for his musculoskeletal health. In the midst of all this were the dietary options provided by various family members who believed their siblings or spouses had food allergies with questionable symptoms, and the ubiquitous ozone generators that the host family uses to "clean" the air in the home.

What is the nurse who follows science-based medicine to do? I love each of these family members and want to have meaningful encounters with them in the future, and yet I can identify several lapses in science-based health care which are sometimes purposeful and other times inadvertent. I finally chose to overlook the poor science while practicing it as best I could, and hope for the best though I did mention to the parent involved that I had acetaminophen if she wanted it for her child. I do not know what the hardcore ethical thing would be to do. I suppose I could have sensitized my family members to each of what I felt was their poor choices, but I feel as if I would have ruined my future potential for good with them as well. More importantly I love each member of my family and the concern of losing my relationship with them is greater than the desire to have them follow perfect health practices which they would not necessarily recognize as such or even be prepared to recognize.

Last week

Last week saw me with my dear family. Mom and Dad have all the children of their progeny over for a cousin's camp the last week of June every year. I have always loved this as a chance to spend time getting to know my nephews and nieces, as well as a chance to spend time with siblings. Sadly work kept all the guys away but myself and Dad so I spent a great bit of my time with the kids running games and teaching bible verses to the younger kids while Dad taught the older ones and read the missionary story of John Paton to the group. Mom and Dad focused on the theme of bugs for cousin's camp this year, and the kids loved it. Kristen, my sister, took the theme to a new level with bug themed meals including a beautiful ladybug cake for two of the cousin's birthday, bug shaped snacks, and even (scrumptious!) meatloaf molded in the shapes of four different bugs. We had a great time! My favorite contributions were the bug videos, family pictures on the TV screen, and IDs of the fish the kids caught in the creeks that border my parents' land. for your info- they caught a full grown tessellated darter, eastern blacknose dace, and at least two different types of crayfish along with several small minnows that were not identified. I also introduced the children to the joys of Pat and Mat  as well as the videos of Miniscule  and Bakkom , as well as some educational videos on bugs-
In all, we had fun!

Death by Homeopathy?

Steven Novella who blogs on Neurologica recently wrote a post that presents the idea that those who practice homeopathy can be held accountable for the deaths of those that believe them and follow their instructions. The story he tells is of a woman who died of a very curable form of cancer when she followed her homeopath's advice and refused surgery and chemotherapy which would likely have been curative. I do not recall having personally dealt with anyone who practiced alternative medicine that suggested their patients totally reject their medical doctor's advice in favor of alternative medicine. I have worked with some who have suggested quite strongly that the medical "habit" of "cut, burn, and poison" will not work as well as their supposed superior methods. As an aside I find it interesting that herbalists fuss at pharmacologists for their "unnatural poisons" while the herbalist sells "natural" poisons that supposedly do the same thing. I suppose an herbalist would object to the cut and burn for cancer but should admit that they too poison. I personally have never seen a cancer patient with verified cancer diagnosis cured by alternative medicine. I have seen many cancer patients cured by conventional medicine while also taking alternative medicine.

The point of my post is to follow up from the perspective of someone who was an adherent to the false medicine type that killed the woman mentioned by Novella. I can see how one person whose career in alternative "medicine" I have followed quite closely would respond to the above story. He would state that he practices "complementary medicine" and is most successful when he can coordinate care with a medical professional. The bizarre logic of the statement aside this naturopath's practice is not necessarily in line with his statement. I recently received an e-mail from a family member who stated he was ending his cancer treatment on the advice of this particular practitioner. Here is how it works- the patient comes to his "alternative medical doctor" and the "doctor" assures the patient that he can do something in this case (the alternative medical doctor will always have something that he thinks might work). The patient, with a sigh of relief, asks the "doctor" if he needs to have his chemotherapy continued (or whatever else was advised), and the "doctor" suggests that he probably does not need it but he cannot say to stop it. The "doctor" stops just short of telling the patient to leave off his effective truly medical treatment and so can say with a clear conscience that he did not tell the patient to stop it, but remember that the "doctor" of naturopathy claims the same amount of knowledge as the oncologist, and the patient trusts the suggestions of the naturopath as much as the oncologist. It is not the same as getting a second opinion, but many patients who do not understand these things think that they got a good second opinion from a well-studied professional when they go to an alternative health advisor because they call themselves doctor.

The key here is that the "doctor" really believes that his methods actually work. It may be because his ideology gives him certainty, or because he just doesn't know any better and has fallen victim to confirmation bias. The naturopath I mentioned above believes that he is more knowledgeable than most medical doctors, and has sought a means by which he could legally call himself "doctor" without actually doing the work that PhD candidates or MDs have done to be called "doctor". This particular naturopath took some correspondence "coursework" from what is a known diploma mill, and then sat for an exam from some shady accreditation board that is not recognized by the department of education. The board then conferred on this man a doctorate which only cost him $400. The US state in which he practices does not regulate naturopaths and so he is free to practice as a doctor of naturopathy. He honestly feels that his recently acquired title will allow him the recognition that will allow him to accomplish the things he feels he can do better than most medical doctors.

This brings me to my new blog title. my friend very sincerely believes that he knows a great deal, but that doesn't make it true. A recent visit to my friend's office showed me just how wrong he is. My friend has a palm reader that connects to his computer to scan a person's health condition from their hand and input it into a computer program. He also does live blood cell analysis, and uses several other dubious methods to diagnose health problems. In addition to all this he sends his patients away with herbs and other potentially dangerous "natural" medications.

It is true that a medical degree does not make a genius, and I must admit that my friend the naturopath does very well with his limited education. The problem is that a genius can only work with the tools he has acquired. A dunce can muddle through medical school training and work as an inferior doctor, but a genius only has potential until he has training. Many critiques of alternative medicine dismiss the alternative "doctor" as a money-grubbing quack who is knowingly endangering their patients, but there are a majority that truly believe that their limited knowledge is enough to truly help people. Many don't really even know how to critique their own mistakes, and are easily led astray by shady dealers who sell them crazy things like palm readers and degrees that won't ever be accepted by the board of education. Sadly these advisors will be responsible for leading many to their deaths even if unintentionally.

"Sunday's Coming" Trailer

I think this is an interesting view of Sunday Morning in certain Churches

"Sunday's Coming" Movie Trailer from North Point Media on Vimeo.

National Day of Prayer

Just in case you missed it, the National Day of Prayer occurred today as proclaimed by our president (presidential proclamation - national day of prayer). A judge correctly noted that the National Day of Prayer did not fit the ideals of separation of Church and State envisioned by many of our founding fathers, but she did not suggest that it should be cancelled this year though many people have reported that it was cancelled. Meetings were held around the country to observe the National Day of Prayer. It bothers me that people are making a big deal about how it was "cancelled" when it turns out to be a falsehood. I am reminded of a conversation I had with my daughter last weekend about the fact that anger is not wrong unless it keeps us from being in control of ourselves. Many politicians have learned how to use public anger to gain support, and I am seeing certain politicians using public anger on issues such as the allegedly cancelled National Day of Prayer to gain support for their campaigns. I told Middlesweet to remember that anger should not guide us, but motivate us to act. Let us remember to check the facts and follow the truth rather following our guts as unthinking angry Americans.

Photos!

See our recent update on the snow in Birmingham, Mercedes marathon, kids run, and Sarah & Abby's funny smile after dental work numbed their cheeks. All this on flickr!

Some links and a great virus lesson

As you may be aware I read a bunch on different issues in theology, philosophy, and healthcare. In the last week I have come across a few gems that I wanted to keep and I though you might like them as well. The first is a post on a new method to medically fight viruses in Effect Measure. Some parts of the article are a little heavy on biology, but he starts by explaining how a virus hijacks the cells of the host (read "you"- your the host when the virus makes you sick) with an analogy to the inner functions of an office. It is a great analogy.

Another post that I wanted to save is on raising children to be more able to maintain a moral compass. I warn you that this was bent to support the argument that children raised by atheists are better than those raised by the religious (Raising Children Without God), but the point is still good. Many parents don't take the time to explain themselves to their children because it is more difficult and consumes time, but I (even though I am not an atheist) feel as if I explain myself to my children they are more likely to adapt our moral rules to other situations and not take some authority's word as equal to God's because he/she said so. Think of it as cult-proofing your child, or teaching them to be Bereans. We will leave the argument over whether God's rules are truly arbitrary for another time.

One more gem I was sent by Wonderful is a little more rough cut, but just delightful so I had to share it. It is certainly not original to me.

The Ten Commandments

Some people have trouble with all those 'shall's' and 'shall not's' in the Ten
commandments.

Folks just aren't used to talking in those terms. So, in middle Tennessee
they translated the 'King James' into ' Jackson County ' language....
no joke, (posted on the wall at Cross Trails Church in Gainesboro , TN )

(1) Just one God
(2) Put nothin' afore God
(3) Watch yer mouth
(4) Git yourself to Sunday meetin'
(5) Honor yer Ma & Pa
(6) No killin'
(7) No foolin' around with another fellow's gal
(8) Don't take what ain't yers
(9) No tellin' tales or gossipin'
(10) Don't be ahankerin' for yer buddy's stuff


Now that's plain an' simple. Y'all have a nice day.

How to read it

When I was a boy I remember a preacher quoting a verse in the New Testament (Ephesians 4:28) that instructs those who have stolen to cease from their thieving ways and find gainful employment. He quoted it like this - "Let him that stole steal no more; let him labor" and then played with the punctuation to get "Let him who stole steal, no more let him labor." The pastor's point was that the meaning of the passage can be changed by punctuation. Thankfully the Greek is not so difficult to decipher. The passage would have to be twisted purposefully to be misunderstood, but we do tend to make mistakes in how we read other parts of God's revelation. This is why context is so important to help us catch mistakes in reading.

The King James version of Ephesians 4:28 reads- "Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth." Even if the punctuation was messed up and a few words left out to confuse for a moment the rest of the verse would cause one to consider other meanings that are probable for the verse. The same is true for the rest of God's revelations- when taken together they explain the message. This is why I cannot discredit something a scientist tells me simply because it disagrees with how I read the Bible. It is possible that I misread Scripture because of a bias and missed the point. Here is a great video to further illustrate how re-reading something can bring out other meanings- http://www.wimp.com/freakymessage/

Evil problems

In light of the recent earthquake I was reminded of the "problem of evil". God, as CS Lewis wrote, is not a tame lion who cannot be pegged into any certain category. It would be dishonest to say that accepting God makes it easy to accept the hard things that happen at His hand. I am reposting something I wrote a few months ago on another blog-

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Horror

The dream seemed to be as vivid as if I truly had been there, and the feelings of helpless horror were incredibly memorable. This dream was a continuation of a series of dreams that I have had since I first began reading as a preteen about the Nazi roundups and mass murders in the second World War. In this case I was a member of a group of Jews targeted for elimination and I stood helpless waiting my turn as I watched people ahead of me tormented in terrible ways before they were murdered. I awoke with a shudder and the question occurred to me "Why did I survive?" As my mind came back to full awareness I realized that my survival was as it always was in my dreams, but then I noted with revulsion that people are still torturing their fellow humans in such ways even today. While the dream was not real, it reflected in a small way events that happen all the time around the world where one group of people is powerful enough to treat others to such horrors as most Americans have no concept.

This is the problem I have with the form of Christianity that I practice in which I acknowledge the existence of a supreme creator deity that supersedes and controls every other member of reality. We call this deity The righteous, loving God and discuss Him as an all-knowing, all-present, and all-powerful person who is perfectly good and just. With all this recognized why on earth (or any part of the universe for that matter) would this wonderful deity allow such things to occur as the horrors that people experience in the world today? This is my version of the problem of evil- If God is so good why does He let really bad things happen?

Some of the answers that come instantly to mind is that Satan causes evil or that God is doing a greater good by allowing suffering now. I instantly dismiss the claim that Satan is at fault for evil. Satan may be noted in the Bible as the actor that produces evil, but God limits and controls what evil Satan does. God, even if it is indirect, plans and controls the evil that happens. Think, for example, of the fateful conversation between God and Satan that is recorded in the book of Job where God gives incremental allowances for the level of suffering which Satan is to subject Job just to prove that God is right about Job's righteousness.

If God is truly good and just why does He allow evil when He can control it? Some of the arguments I have heard or thought of to explain this are the ideas that God wants us to have the option to choose Him so He allows the option to choose evil, that God allows us to see such horrors to contrast His goodness or to give hope of a better future in Heaven, and that God has a better view of what is going on and what is evil in our view is good in the bigger picture which He can only see. I have to admit that I am still unsure that any of these work. Is it possible that the common American Christian view of God as a sweet, wonderful, good God is mistaken? Maybe He is a mean, vindictive, petty God who picks and chooses evil events for His own twisted pleasure? What evidence in there in Scripture that God is good?

Belief, sincerity, and truth

"Belief and sincerity do not define truth; it exists despite belief and sincerity." I wrote this about ten years ago on a newsgroup discussion in which I was discussing with some members about how accurate some alternative health care practitioner's claims were. I don't remember the subject of the debate, but one of the members of the newsgroup picked up my comment and posted it to his page of favorite quotes. There- now I am famous in my own mind!

I still believe what I wrote a decade ago. I am now engaged in a bit of an e-mail debate with a close friend on how to interpret Genesis 1 and 2 and I am struck on how strongly his points are based on his instincts rather than facts. What amazes me (though it shouldn't) is the fact that so many people take very strong positions with equally strong belief and sincerity even though facts are lacking. Poor Wonderful acts as my barometer since she has little interest in philosophy, and so she is exposed to my unadulterated craziness to see how other people would see how my ideas would look. When she has that shocked look on her face I know to keep that idea to myself until it is better developed. What strongly disappoints me is that no one seems to be providing a similar service to Pat Robertson who is now exposing his poor understanding of history and theology- (thanks to nakedpastor for the cartoon)

The point is that just because it seems right to you (or me) doesn't mean that it is right. Truth is often found when we allow ourselves the discomfort of going against our gut feeling and examine the facts.

Pat Robertson obviously sincerely believes that God always makes natural disasters (such as the earthquake in Haiti) to punish people. The fact is that the Bible does not present this as a rule. What was God's punishment to Egypt to allow them a famine of seven years during Joseph's time? Looking at the way God tells the story it was not a punishment, but part of His plan. When I veiw these events I am reminded of the observation in Matthew 5:45 that God causes it to rain on both the just and the unjust. The rain may or may not be a good thing, but Jesus seems to have been saying that natural events may not have any more meaning than being part of God's plan (a point which is borne out in other areas of Scripture). The country of Haiti may not be under punishment of God, and there is no way to see for sure what His purpose is since the Bible doesn't address this particular earthquake. God may use this natural disaster as a punishment for some in Haiti and as a conduit of good for others. Pat Robertson does not speak for God, and I hope he figures out that no matter how strongly he feels his belief and sincerity does not define truth.

Another cause for concern

Ron Hamilton (Patch the Pirate) and his wife are awaiting word on what has happened to his father-in-law Dr. Frank Garlock who was in Haiti with his wife for ministry when the earthquake hit this week. Dr. Garlock spoke to his daughter just a little while before the quake hit and the family has not received any more contacts from either Dr. Garlock or his wife since the quake. Keep this inspirational man and his family in your prayers as they deal with this situation. Majesty Music has a page dedicated to the situation- http://www.majestymusic.com/t-drgarlockupdate.aspx

Misterious Islands

The Mysterious Islands

Starring: Doug Phillips, Joshua Phillips Director: John Erwin

This is a film that is strong in young earth creation (YEC) philosophy. To summarize- YEC ideas are "pre-suppositional" which states that in order to properly understand anything in the world of science and history one must first accept that the Bible is literally true from Genesis to Revelation with a few obvious exceptions (Song of Solomon being one good example). This means that every finding in geology, astronomy, biology, and any other science must first be explained as having occurred in the last 6,000 years having been a part of the plan of the personal God described by conservative evangelical Christians. In fulfilling the above requirements Doug Phillips finds an incredible team consisting of photographer and videographers to document a trip to the Galapagos islands with his son and Dr. Morris- a teacher respected in YEC circles.

The images are absolutely stunning and well-framed. This team really serves up a delightful visual feast from a beautiful place and interesting animals.

Doug Phillips has historically maintained the YEC line that erroneously points to Darwin's ideas as being the philosophic basis of the horrific atrocities committed by Hitler, Stalin, and Pol Pot. He follows this line in the the film and also maintains the mistaken view that the best description of Darwin's ideas is "survival of the fittest". Phillips successfully argues against the mistakes of the dead Darwin with recent discoveries, but struggles in explaining how modern discoveries are able to support YEC ideas.

This film presents a summary of "mediated design", the YEC explanation of how evolution is real without seeming to agree with the philosophy that seems to be behind Darwinist evolution. Phillips and Morris haltingly argue genetic evolution is actually theistic evolution, but rename theistic evolution "mediated design" and limit their view of theistic evolution to evolution "within kinds".

Sadly Phillips and Morris fail to adequately describe what defines a "kind" and resort to using vague concepts of species typing. Another major disappointment is that they totally gloss over any genetic evidence for YEC ideas, and expose their gross misunderstanding of what consists of genetic information by stating that genetic mutations only result in "lost information" in a bow to the debunked entropy argument against Darwinist evolution.

If the reader wants a good summary of YEC ideas with awesome images I highly recommend this film, but if the reader wants to see good science and find evidence that will stand strong against modern evolutionary science and philosophy this film will disappoint.

Special stuff

Thanks to Wonderful's sisterI was able to buy this cool camera at a decent price as an entry level "DSLR". At any rate, I am taking way too many pictures and getting up close and personal with family members and pets. This Saturday I will be taking Brain to the USS Alabama and I plan on taking my now "beater" kodak and Canon EOS with me for lots of awesome picture goodness. Consider me totally psyched man.