Now for something completely different

For all 1 of you that reads this I thought I'd change the subject a little. To the right is me and my little boy, Malachai. He's awesome and does nothing but the usual food processing steps. With Lucia I wasn't as excited because I had never seen a person grow into an individual. But with Malachai...I mean, that's my boy, and I've watched Lucia grow 2 1/2 years. Bottom line, life is good. There's a lot of philosophical mumbo-jumbo that is worthless crap compared to enjoying a child's company, which isn't always the easiest.

I looked at my iPod the other day and thought, "I've got a lot of stuff." I wouldn't classify myself as a over-achieving consumer I just thought how I sometimes look at my bank account to see how I'm doing and forget to enjoy what I have.

I think Derek Webb said it best:

"But I get turned around

I mistake some happiness for blessing

But I'm blessed as the poor

Still I judge success by how I'm dressing."

Faith My Eyes

Evidenced Based pt 2: The Battle Between God and Science

The battle between God and Science is a funny conflict. Pope John Paul II said a good thing.

"The Bible itself speaks to us of the origin of the universe and its make-up, not in order to provide us with scientific treaties, but in order to state the correct relationship of man with God and with the universe. Sacred Scripture wishes simply to declare that the world was created by God, and in order to teach this truth it expresses itself in terms of the cosmology in use at the time of the writer...Any other teaching about the origin and make-up of the universe is alien to the intentions of the Bible, which does not wish to teach how the heavens were made but how one goes to heaven."

In other words, the Bible is a Spiritual Word about Man's relationship with God and His creation. It should no be used as a scientific text book. That doesn't mean it can't be used, but doing so degrades the Bible to the level of science.

Furthermore, we read in Hebrews 11 that it is

"By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible."

This says nothing to the validity of evolution. We may conclude from Biblical genealogy that the Earth is 6,000-8,000 years old, but that's back to the fall of man. I've heard it explained that evolution requires death and mutation. Therefore, God would not use evolution since there was no death before Adam sinned.

At the genes level it's not so much mutation as it is change. Just as many different skin colors and body types came from one man and woman so many different species could have come from a simple genetic makeup. As for the death, stemming from a survival of the fittest standpoint, I cannot conclude God creating something imperfect.

Thus to my point. There is validity in science, but it does not answer the theological questions. It can't. If we fly to the moon and calculate our weight using -9.8 m/s2, the gravities acceleration on Earth, we will arrive at an incorrect answer. If we return to Earth and assume we can jump like we did on the moon we will fall much faster than we think.

The Spirit and the flesh are different. The Spirit cannot measure the flesh, and the flesh cannot measure the Spirit. May I emphasize the word CANNOT!?! Now, we are flesh and Spirit and so should look to God's Word and Science. Though let us not confuse which measures what.

"By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible."

In order to understand beyond us, into the infinite land where beauty and the strength to love is born, we must lay down our security in our own understanding and reach out to that which passes all understanding. Just like marriage is my relationship with my wife, faith is my relationship with God.

Evidence Based pt. 1

Faith is the evidence of things unseen (HEB. 11:1). But to some it isn't. Just because some one believes in God doesn't mean that's evidence. We all know there are lunatics in every group and every corner of the room.

In order to assure myself that I have not been brainwashed, misled, bamboozled by the massive religious powerhouse I've allowed myself to let go of all the "evidence" accumulated over the years via my emotions. I dismiss all miracles as mere misunderstood natural occurrences. I step back and demand evidence of God in the natural world. If there is a loving God I deserve some sign.

It's all about the neurotransmitters when it comes to emotions.

"Human thoughts and emotions emerge from exceedingly

complex interconnections of physical entities within the brain."

Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion, p. 14

Therefore, there is no reason to conclude a soul or Spirit connection to our emotions since emotions are obviously, and entirely, chemicals.

So, how did we get here? Sure, evolution has some holes in it, but, it has a lot less holes than God creating everything with his Word. There's no evidence of that ever happening. There's no physical evidence of God at all. The trees are nice and the flowers are pretty, but we have answers and explanations for all of that. We don't need to fear the Sun God. We know why seasons change. It's Nature, not God's intervention.

But when the dust settles that pull inside me still tugs. It doesn't pull my mind (intellect) or my heart (emotions). It's not the thirst for knowledge or the quenching of an addiction but the longing to be whole that draws me to God.

Who is God? Better yet, who is man? Because if I am merely a lump of electricity than the former question needs not be answered. But if a part of me cannot be seen by naked eye or microscope than maybe man cannot find half of existence on its own.

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Websites to check out:

Human Truth

God Truth

In the Beginning...

I feel I should lay the ground work on which my brain has been built before going any further.

Many years ago God spoke and created time. With that said I'll allow us to step off the seat of understanding we make for ourselves.  We have to jump forward a week or more to find where we relate.

One fruit bearing plant was named the Tree of Life while another fruit bearing plant held the name the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Which one sounds like an investment and which one sounds like a good friday night? Now, why would Eve (you and me) pick fruit from the Friday Night Party Tree when you know she ate from the Tree of Investment before? Because curiosity is a gift of God. No one's more boring the the shallow Complacent.

Once that knowledge of self-empowerment entered Eve she realized that knowing what God knows might make us like God, but with one minor problem. We aren't God. In fact without a perfect union with the Spirit (obtained by a complete lack of self-empowerment) we can have nothing to do with the marriage of God and Man.

So, next time we find ourselves wanting something outside of total weakness IN CHRIST remember it sucks big time to watch God kill his own flawless and beautiful creation to clothes us (Genesis 3:21). It sucks to walk out of the Garden and into the barren world of a slow death. Until our bodies die we will feel the slow sting of self-empowerment.

What has changed since Adam and Eve is that Jesus has been slain to clothes our SPIRITUAL nakedness and shame (Genesis 27:50). That's where we're weak. We can clothes our bodies, but what good is that in the end? What good is that now? We still get so mad at everything and end up feeling overwhelmed and crumbling down to cry. The focus must shift from the physical to the Spiritual.

An Introduction

My understanding is everything we feel, see, hear, and even the way we understand are controlled by neurotransmitters. These little guys excite us to action or inhibit us. To me that's the basic, where I need to begin on my science quest for the great whatever.

But, then again, I'm a little off. See, i also believe in other things that we don't see without careful examination. There are other little guys called Spirits. And these also control what we feel, see, hear and how we understand.

To be afraid of what we don't know is to be afraid of the truth. The truth sets us free, but lies confuse. Both can be gift-wrapped and given with a loving smile.

My goal is to get all the little guys together and think like a child.

Jesus said, "Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves."

Matt 10:16

"For your sake we are killed all day long. We are accounted as sheep unto the slaughter."

Romans 8:36

"For the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light."

Luke 16:8