The Language of God

I recently read Francis Collins' "The Language of God", and I'm going to spend a few posts trying to sort out loud (okay not really, but on paper. Okay, not really paper either, but digitally) my own evolution of thought on evolution.

First, some background on Collins. My first introduction to him was at the National Prayer Breakfast this past February, where he was the keynote speaker. Collins is the head of the Human Genome Project, which just a year or two ago announced the complete mapping of the billions of codes within human DNA. I'm not going to even pretend to understand much about this at all, but I do find it totally fascinating and--much like Collins--awesome. Collins saw himself for many years as a skeptic and agnostic, eventually as an atheist. But the beauty of molecular biology drew him back, along with what he calls the universal sense of a Moral Law. He read C. S. Lewis voraciously in his late 20s, and eventually became an evangelical Christian.

And therein lies the rub for most people who call themselves evangelical Christians. Collins is a confirmed evolutionist. And in most evangelical circles that's just a no-no. You can rant about Christian morals and then be outed as having homosexual sex and still get Christians to support you, or you can have a very public divorce and still pastor and make millions, but you better not say you believe in the theory of evolution, cause that's "straight to hell, do not pass go, do not collect $200" kind of stuff.

Last week I was in El Paso, and drove through my old campus stomping grounds at UTEP. As I drove by the student union, I remembered that day 20+ years ago when I stood there with a microphone and speaker and debated students on various topics. I made several (stupid and/or ignorant) comments about evolution and those who supported it.

I was wrong.

Tune in to the next post to see how wrong I was.

Finally, WHITE...

I got to read the 3rd book in the Dekker trilogy last week. WHITE was the conclusion to the overlapping worlds story of Thomas Hunter. It was worth the read.

I am impressed with Dekker's work. He is a good writer, but his best skill is the creativity at making allusion. So many authors these days who are trying to allude to truth in their work end up banging you over the head with that truth. Dekker is softer, gentler and, in my opinion, more interested in you getting the story than in you getting his truth. He knows that if you get the story, the truth will work its way into your psyche. Maybe even at a better, deeper level than intellectual understanding of truth...

The novel brings to a close (an open-ended close however) the story of the Circle, a group of Scabs who have been bathed in the pool of Justin's redemption. In WHITE, the Circle debates their own relationship with those who are still the diseased Scabs. There are those who would return to fighting and killing the Scabs as Elyon's enemy. There are those that believe the Circle should make peace with the Scabs and maybe even lower their standards so that Scabs are more welcomed in the Circle. Then there are those willing to risk it all for the love of Scabs, even willing to die for one of them.

I recommend the books. And looking at http://www.teddekker.com/ it seems that he's about to release the trilogy as a set of graphic novels later this fall. That should be worth looking into...

The New Faces of Christianity

Over the weekend I finished Philip Jenkins' 2006 book THE NEW FACES OF CHRISTIANITY. While not as world-changing as his earlier work, THE NEXT CHRISTENDOM (which is a must read, so get it if you haven't read it!), there are some interesting insights. The main thrust of the book is how the Global South--Christians in Africa, Asia, and Latin America--interpret the Bible.

Chapter 4, titled "Poor and Rich" was the best of the book for me. Jenkins outlines the various ways in which Global South Christians resonate with the Scriptures--in particular the Old Testament--precisely BECAUSE of their life context being so close to biblical culture. How can an American understand the parables that discuss farming in the pre-modern world, or stories about a man selling himself into slavery to pay off a debt? We need 14 commentaries to tell us about mustard seeds! The Global South cultures are still there, and are much more able to grasp the original intent of the writer.

This is true virtually across the board: issues of politics, health, economics, theology, and so much more make the Global South a completely different place for interpreting the Bible. And while I don't want to romanticize it too much, it would do me and most other USAmerican Christians well to exegete the emerging Global South Christian world for a better understanding of the Bible. Not to mention an understanding of the people who are on pace (if not already there) to outrun us in pursuing the Way of Jesus.

The Ooze

Awhile back I discovered TheOoze.com--a great site for current discussion about all things Jesus. It's one of those sites I try to read at least each month, sometimes every week.

Lo and behold, this week one of my college buddies wrote an article there. Keith Giles is from El Paso and even back in college was a great thinker about what it meant to really follow Jesus. Now he pastors a house church in Orange, CA.

His article is called "Reformation or Revolution" and discusses whether Jesus was a reformer or a revolutionary. Keith likes reformer better; I have always preferred revolutionary. Maybe that's because he was the artsy guy with a rock band who wore berets, and I was the football player. :) just kidding, Keith!

What do you think? Read Keith's article and let me know why you think Jesus was a reformer, a revolutionary, or something else altogether.

I read "Red"...

Someone still has "White", the finale of Dekker's trilogy, but last weekend I read "Red", the 2nd book. I liked it much better than the first book, mostly because Dekker didn't have to spend all the time on character development that he did in "Black".

I love the concept of a place where evil and good are tangibles. They can be seen and smelled and touched. Dekker paints a wonderful picture of a pre-sin world in "Black", then elaborates on how that sin becomes very real in "Red". And true to the color, redemption comes in the 2nd book. The way is made through betrayal for the leprous disease eating through the sons of Elyon to be removed. Forever. The world around them is still leprous, but they become whole through the sacrifice of Justin of the Southern Forest.

It's interesting: Justin is at first nothing more than a bit character, someone from a faraway place who used to be a great warrior. He fought side by side with our hero Thomas the Hunter, and Thomas even offered for him to become his number 2 man in the battles with the evil desert people. But Justin drifted away from war, and began to even talk about peace. He spoke of the need to make peace with the evil desert dwellers, and the forest people--who are revealed to be just as consumed with evil as the desert folk, only hidden in their rules--kill him for it.

The analogies are too much for me to keep recording. But here's one of my favorites: whether in the overt evil of the Desert Horde or the unreasonable facsimile of the Great Romance turned into the rules of the Forest People, grace and peace are required. Rules will never help us understand the Great Romance of Elyon. We have to be cleansed, made whole, and then we will remember! Remember the pursuit of the pursuing God, the chase, the love, the completeness.

Again, great book. Now if the person who has the final book from the Great Northwest Library in San Antonio will return it, I'll read "White" and see it all come together.

Christian Philanthropy

One of the real challenges for Jesus followers who raise money for ministry efforts is to understand how Jesus approached giving. As this article says, he thought of giving as investment in the kingdom. Are our values for kingdom investment challenged by today's philanthopic work?

Read this for more...

This is hysterical!

EVAGELICALS MOURN FINAL HARRY POTTER NOVEL

http://www.wittenburgdoor.com/archives/harrypotter3.html

Golf with Theological Debate

Today I played golf with a guy who when he told me his email address for the first time years ago--it's his first two intials and his last name @aol.com--he helped me remember the initials by saying "just think 'bowel movement' and you'll think of me.

He was right.

When we play golf, it's 4 hours of hacking and debating, two of our favorite things. I can't think of a better way to spend 4 hours than golf and discussing what it means that the Bible is inspired, or whether or not postmodern church leaders are spot on or gone off the deep end.

Thanks, BMW. And live with the fact that for the next 12 months, I can claim the better golfer title. By 2 strokes.

Plus I posted this picture just for you...

"Black" by Ted Dekker

My wife accuses me of being a snob about some things. Not very many things, mind you. I'm very laid back about just about everything. But the 3 or 4 things I'm snobbish about, well, I'm REALLY snobbish about. The list includes coffee, putting greens, wine, writing instruments, and sometimes gadgets in general.

Until recently some people would have put fictional books on that list. I don't typically read much fiction, but I read a ton of non-fiction. So some friends (April) have accused me of being snobbish about fiction. But the truth is I really enjoy fiction, I just tend to enjoy non-fiction more. And I do have a thing about poorly written Christian propaganda fiction (read "Left Behind"; there's that snobbishness again, I guess you have to add cheap art from the Christian ghetto to the list...)

The wife and the friends finally prevailed, and I read "Black" by Ted Dekker over the weekend. It started a little slow, but by halfway through I was really enjoying it. While I don't think it's quite the caliber of C.S. Lewis' "Out of the Silent Planet" trilogy (of which the 2nd, "Perelandra" is my fave), it's very good. And it's got me ready to read the 2nd in that series "Red". (Okay, I do think the colors are a little not-so-subtle Christian subculturish--black introduces sin and evil, and I'm sure red will be redemption and the 3rd book, "White", will have good triumphing over evil.)

But like I said, I'm ready to read it. So whoever has it checked out from the San Antonio Library needs to get it back...

Religious Liberty in Balance

Big Daddy Weave has this quote from an interview between David Brody of the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) and presidential candidate Barak Obama:

Brody Question: There is the so-called "religious left" in this country that focuses primarily on social justice issues and there is the so-called "religious right" in this country that focuses more on personal salvation and the life and marriage issues. Some on the right believe that Evangelicals shouldn't be the only ones moving left. Rather, the left needs to move toward the middle as well and not just put the focus on their issues. What is your plan to bring these two sides together?

Senator Obama: Well, these are difficult problems and there are no easy solutions. But I think that there are some lessons that both progressives and conservatives might learn. For progressives, I think we should recognize the role that values and culture play in addressing some of our most urgent social problems. As I've said many times before, the problems of poverty and racism, the uninsured and the unemployed aren't simply technical problems in search of a ten-point plan. They're rooted in both societal indifference and individual callousness - in the imperfections of man.For example, I believe in keeping guns out of our inner cities, and that our leaders must say so in the face of the gun manufacturers' lobby. But I also believe that when a gang-banger shoots indiscriminately into a crowd because he feels somebody disrespected him, we've got a moral problem. There's a hole in that young man's heart - a hole that the government alone cannot fix. So solving these problems will require changes in government policy, but it will also require changes in hearts and a change in minds. I think progressives would do well to take this to heart.For my friends on the right, I think it would be helpful to remember the critical role that the separation of church and state has played in preserving not only our democracy but also our religious practice. Folks tend to forget that during our founding, it wasn't the atheists or the civil libertarians who were the most effective champions of the First Amendment. It was the persecuted minorities, it was Baptists like John Leland who didn't want the established churches to impose their views on folks who were getting happy out in the fields and teaching the scripture to slaves.It was the forbearers of Evangelicals who were the most adamant about not mingling government with religious, because they didn't want state-sponsored religion hindering their ability to practice their faith as they understood it. Given this fact, I think that the right might worry a bit more about the dangers of sectarianism.Whatever we once were, we're no longer just a Christian nation; we are also a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation, a Buddhist nation, a Hindu nation, and a nation of non-believers. We should acknowledge this and realize that when we're formulating policies from the state house to the Senate floor to the White House, we've got to work to translate our reasoning into values that are accessible to every one of our citizens, not just members of our own faith community.

I have no idea whether or not I would vote for Mr. Obama, but his candid take on his own faith and how it impacts the world are refreshing. It comes across as alive an authentic, not some rote set of rules to follow. It is tough to both speak for your faith and how that faith can make a difference in the world while still supporting the separation of church and state and religious liberty for everyone.