- Assume a person said he read and believed the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Would you say that person was saved?
- What if the person then said that he didn't believe Genesis though? Would you say the person was still saved?
- Would you insist that they believe every word of Genesis as well in order to be saved?
- Is it possible such insistence would be a needless deterrent to belief in the Gospel?
Monday, January 19, 2009
A Question for Creation Science Advocates
I have a couple of questions for Christians who are advocates of creation science:
Our Imperfect Knowledge
Our knowledge, both religious and scientific, is imperfect. We need to show some humility and admit our imperfect understanding.
For example, old science books have a mix of truth and mistakes. The newer science books reflect a more nuanced and better understanding of scientific truths... but I am sure there are mistakes and flat out guesses. Is there any doubt that our future science books will correct many of today's scientific (mis)-understandings? But each of the science books of the past and the current probably had some level of truth. Our knowledge is imperfect. We can improve our understanding of scientific "truth" over time.
And so too, our spiritual knowledge is imperfect. Some will claim they know "the Truth", but really all we have are faith and belief. And while our beliefs may be close to the Truth, we are better served by humble assertions of belief rather than dogmatic claims of knowledge.
Dogmatic claims of knowledge alienate the non-believers.
For example, old science books have a mix of truth and mistakes. The newer science books reflect a more nuanced and better understanding of scientific truths... but I am sure there are mistakes and flat out guesses. Is there any doubt that our future science books will correct many of today's scientific (mis)-understandings? But each of the science books of the past and the current probably had some level of truth. Our knowledge is imperfect. We can improve our understanding of scientific "truth" over time.
And so too, our spiritual knowledge is imperfect. Some will claim they know "the Truth", but really all we have are faith and belief. And while our beliefs may be close to the Truth, we are better served by humble assertions of belief rather than dogmatic claims of knowledge.
Dogmatic claims of knowledge alienate the non-believers.
The Reconciliation of Faith and Reason
God wants us to be free. God wants us to live and let live. God wants us to live in peace with the Earth, and with each other. God wants us to promote and preserve life. God wants us to prosper, because we prosper when we create value for each other.
All these things God would want, are things Reason would want.
But the name of God has been sullied by evil men. Wars have been waged in God's name. Men have been tortured and killed in God's name. Thoughts and tongues have been controlled in God's name. And the name for this is evil. Evil seeks control. God wants us to be free.
God allows us to sin and is merciful. We need to extend that mercy and allow others to sin.
There is a path to peace: if we appeal to the reason of the believers and embrace and endorse the righteousness of God's grace and freedom... we can live together in peace, each believing as we see fit and reasonable. :)
All these things God would want, are things Reason would want.
But the name of God has been sullied by evil men. Wars have been waged in God's name. Men have been tortured and killed in God's name. Thoughts and tongues have been controlled in God's name. And the name for this is evil. Evil seeks control. God wants us to be free.
God allows us to sin and is merciful. We need to extend that mercy and allow others to sin.
There is a path to peace: if we appeal to the reason of the believers and embrace and endorse the righteousness of God's grace and freedom... we can live together in peace, each believing as we see fit and reasonable. :)
Friday, January 9, 2009
The Folly of Biblical Inerrancy
There is a lot about Christianity that is beautiful and thought-provoking. Jesus showed a path to peace. We learned to admire the good Samaritan. We learned to turn the other cheek. We learned to judge not.
There is so much that is beautiful in the Bible, but many of the religious right hurt the cause of Christ by insisting on Biblical inerrancy (that every word is without error and literally true).
How does this hurt the cause of Christ? Because it weakens the argument for Christianity. It makes it harder to be a believer. The beautiful parts of the Bible are easy to believe and endorse. The message of grace is so beautiful.
According to the Bible, the only thing you need to believe to be saved is that Christ is your savior. Do you need to believe Genesis is totally true in order to be saved? No.
Have you ever heard the phrase "A chain is only as strong as its weakest link"? By insisting we need to believe Genesis in its entirety, we introduce many more links in the chain. Some of which are weak links.
The insistence on an all-or-nothing approach to the Bible is polarizing. It drives some in the moderate middle to eschew the church. And that is the folly. Instead of making Christianity easy and accommodating, the religious right has made it difficult. It has alienated potential believers by creating unnecessary standards of belief.
There is so much that is beautiful in the Bible, but many of the religious right hurt the cause of Christ by insisting on Biblical inerrancy (that every word is without error and literally true).
How does this hurt the cause of Christ? Because it weakens the argument for Christianity. It makes it harder to be a believer. The beautiful parts of the Bible are easy to believe and endorse. The message of grace is so beautiful.
According to the Bible, the only thing you need to believe to be saved is that Christ is your savior. Do you need to believe Genesis is totally true in order to be saved? No.
Have you ever heard the phrase "A chain is only as strong as its weakest link"? By insisting we need to believe Genesis in its entirety, we introduce many more links in the chain. Some of which are weak links.
The insistence on an all-or-nothing approach to the Bible is polarizing. It drives some in the moderate middle to eschew the church. And that is the folly. Instead of making Christianity easy and accommodating, the religious right has made it difficult. It has alienated potential believers by creating unnecessary standards of belief.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Meta the Geek
Gary was the geek of the group. He was the one who came up with the MetaWing. The wing that had changed everything.
Before Gary was rich and famous... he was just a socially awkward geek. He spent most of his time as a recluse... designing on his computer like Michelangelo (at least in his own mind). Experimenting like Edison... he wished. But he had to work as a business software developer to fund his experiments. Boring work, but it paid the bills.
His work didn't allow for much fashion or hygiene . Jeans, a t-shirt, flip-flops... with some rumpled hair... that was Gary almost 24/7.
Gary liked to talk about meta-data and meta-programming. People tended to nod and say "oh... okay". But since Gary would frequently pull off minor miracles with his databases, folks would tolerate his weirdness. His weirdness hadn't been well-tolerated in his youth. Schoolkids can be so cruel.
When his software clients nicknamed him "Meta", Gary could feel an element of love, but he also knew he was way different. He knew he wasn't really understood.
As an adult, Gary often attempted to share his out-of-the-box designs. But he could tell folks weren't really receptive. He felt like everyone dismissed him as a dreamer.
But he knew. He knew he could come up with something big.
And when he finally got something big, it was huge. The MetaWing revolutionized aviation.
The wing could morph radically and transform itself from "fighter jet sleek" to "hang-glider slow". The MetaWing lift system was light, inexpensive, fuel-efficient, fast and safe.
The MetaWing combined some traditional composite wing surfaces with something Gary named the MetaFoils. In the tuck state, wing look almost like any other wing. But if you knew what you were looking for, you could see that the wing could split into a top wing and a bottom and the MetaWing would in essence change into an old fashioned biplane.
Of course that meant that there was much more drag and the plane was a lot slower... but that meant safer. And since Gary was incredibly risk averse, he felt safer was good!
But if two wings were better than one, Gary thought, what if there were 10 wings? There would be tremendous drag and lots of lift and a wing that could fly really slow.
And that was the genesis of the MetaFoils. After the single wing would split apart and morph into a biplane configuration, a set of para-foils that looked sort of like venetian blinds would spread out and catch the air between the biplane wings. This created such tremendous lift and drag that the MetaWing could be landed at 20 mph, even with a good sized load.
General aviation was never the same. And neither was Gary the Geek. He had embraced his nickname and created a new and improved image as "Meta". The money and the fame had definitely helped to heal some of the old wounds. But if you dug deep, Gary the Geek was still there. The old hurts... the old shame... it was there. Waiting there.
Before Gary was rich and famous... he was just a socially awkward geek. He spent most of his time as a recluse... designing on his computer like Michelangelo (at least in his own mind). Experimenting like Edison... he wished. But he had to work as a business software developer to fund his experiments. Boring work, but it paid the bills.
His work didn't allow for much fashion or hygiene . Jeans, a t-shirt, flip-flops... with some rumpled hair... that was Gary almost 24/7.
Gary liked to talk about meta-data and meta-programming. People tended to nod and say "oh... okay". But since Gary would frequently pull off minor miracles with his databases, folks would tolerate his weirdness. His weirdness hadn't been well-tolerated in his youth. Schoolkids can be so cruel.
When his software clients nicknamed him "Meta", Gary could feel an element of love, but he also knew he was way different. He knew he wasn't really understood.
As an adult, Gary often attempted to share his out-of-the-box designs. But he could tell folks weren't really receptive. He felt like everyone dismissed him as a dreamer.
But he knew. He knew he could come up with something big.
And when he finally got something big, it was huge. The MetaWing revolutionized aviation.
The wing could morph radically and transform itself from "fighter jet sleek" to "hang-glider slow". The MetaWing lift system was light, inexpensive, fuel-efficient, fast and safe.
The MetaWing combined some traditional composite wing surfaces with something Gary named the MetaFoils. In the tuck state, wing look almost like any other wing. But if you knew what you were looking for, you could see that the wing could split into a top wing and a bottom and the MetaWing would in essence change into an old fashioned biplane.
Of course that meant that there was much more drag and the plane was a lot slower... but that meant safer. And since Gary was incredibly risk averse, he felt safer was good!
But if two wings were better than one, Gary thought, what if there were 10 wings? There would be tremendous drag and lots of lift and a wing that could fly really slow.
And that was the genesis of the MetaFoils. After the single wing would split apart and morph into a biplane configuration, a set of para-foils that looked sort of like venetian blinds would spread out and catch the air between the biplane wings. This created such tremendous lift and drag that the MetaWing could be landed at 20 mph, even with a good sized load.
General aviation was never the same. And neither was Gary the Geek. He had embraced his nickname and created a new and improved image as "Meta". The money and the fame had definitely helped to heal some of the old wounds. But if you dug deep, Gary the Geek was still there. The old hurts... the old shame... it was there. Waiting there.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Prop 8, Evil Masquerading as Good
It has been said we are in a culture war. And this is the justification of the Religious Right. So they cast their votes Yes for California Proposition 8, a proposition to effectively outlaw gay marriage. They thought they were fighting the good fight. Fighting the culture war.
Two thousand years ago, their ancestors of the Religious Right cast stones, not ballots. If Jesus were to have spoken to the Religious Right, they would have heard him say "Let he who is without sin, cast the first ballot for Proposition 8".
How did Evil masquerade as Good? People believed they were voting for a good thing when they voted for proposition 8. But they were mistaken because the Yes votes disgraced Christianity. The Yes votes make Christians look judgmental and harsh. The Yes votes turn some people away from Christianity. The ugliness of these votes obscures the beauty of the Grace of God for ALL sinners and replaces it with guilt and condemnation for those unfortunate minorities. Christianity becomes ugly and Evil has control over the church.
Was it a satanic force that urged the Biblical mob to cast the stone and kill the sinner? Is it a satanic force that urges urges some to "cast the ballot" at the gays?
Why is a vote for Proposition 8 so ugly? It's a stigma. Its underlying message: you don't deserve to be loved. My sin is better than your sin.
When I witness to people, and I tell them, God wants us to be free, to live and let live. To lead lives of grace. We need to extend the grace we have been given to others. We are allowed to sin. We need to let others sin. And know that they are loved anyway.
Jesus would say to you... let he who is without sin, cast the first ballot for Proposition 8.
You cannot fight a culture war against sin and win. God gives people the right to sin, to swear, to abuse His name, to be blasphemous. God lets people choose evil. And we all choose evil at some point. Let's drop the guilt, and embrace the Grace.
Let's vote for a revival of Christian Grace! Let's Repeal Proposition 8, in Jesus name, Amen.
Two thousand years ago, their ancestors of the Religious Right cast stones, not ballots. If Jesus were to have spoken to the Religious Right, they would have heard him say "Let he who is without sin, cast the first ballot for Proposition 8".
How did Evil masquerade as Good? People believed they were voting for a good thing when they voted for proposition 8. But they were mistaken because the Yes votes disgraced Christianity. The Yes votes make Christians look judgmental and harsh. The Yes votes turn some people away from Christianity. The ugliness of these votes obscures the beauty of the Grace of God for ALL sinners and replaces it with guilt and condemnation for those unfortunate minorities. Christianity becomes ugly and Evil has control over the church.
Was it a satanic force that urged the Biblical mob to cast the stone and kill the sinner? Is it a satanic force that urges urges some to "cast the ballot" at the gays?
Why is a vote for Proposition 8 so ugly? It's a stigma. Its underlying message: you don't deserve to be loved. My sin is better than your sin.
When I witness to people, and I tell them, God wants us to be free, to live and let live. To lead lives of grace. We need to extend the grace we have been given to others. We are allowed to sin. We need to let others sin. And know that they are loved anyway.
Jesus would say to you... let he who is without sin, cast the first ballot for Proposition 8.
You cannot fight a culture war against sin and win. God gives people the right to sin, to swear, to abuse His name, to be blasphemous. God lets people choose evil. And we all choose evil at some point. Let's drop the guilt, and embrace the Grace.
Let's vote for a revival of Christian Grace! Let's Repeal Proposition 8, in Jesus name, Amen.
The Tai Chi Tennis Master
"Tai Chi Tom" didn't look too unusual as he stepped out onto the tennis court. But there was that long flowing hair. Coming out from under his backwards mounted baseball cap. He was still hanging on to that early Agassi look into his middle age.
Even though Tom had lost a step of his once stellar speed, Tom could still definitely project his chi on the tennis court. Tom explained his chi that first day in our tennis class.
It didn't take us long to see it. He had an inner force. And yet he was calm, smooth and effective. He made it look effortless. His energy just flowed. He taught us how to flow on a much smaller scale, but we did it.
Tom knew how to gracefully sidestep things. It was visible as he would glide to the optimal hit point, marshall his chi, and then step into the ball. It would look like it was slow-motion, yet his hits would frequently surprise his opponents with their pace.
Tom also knew how to navigate his clientele; his BRATs, he lovingly called them. Brats? Beautiful / Rich / with ATtitude. There were egos to manage, to nurture, to massage. There were egos that needed to be controlled. Sometimes there were some real challenges, but Tom usually made it look easy.
That is, except when it came to Jessica. Jessica just had a power over Tom. And the usually cool Tom could sense he was losing control. She put him out of his comfort zone. She put him off his game.
Everybody knew Jessica was stunning. She was gorgeous, athletic, intelligent and financially successful. She had this incredibly charming personality most of the time... and then there were events. Events that left Tom obsessed, angry and worst of all... dazed, confused ... and scared.
Even though Tom had lost a step of his once stellar speed, Tom could still definitely project his chi on the tennis court. Tom explained his chi that first day in our tennis class.
It didn't take us long to see it. He had an inner force. And yet he was calm, smooth and effective. He made it look effortless. His energy just flowed. He taught us how to flow on a much smaller scale, but we did it.
Tom knew how to gracefully sidestep things. It was visible as he would glide to the optimal hit point, marshall his chi, and then step into the ball. It would look like it was slow-motion, yet his hits would frequently surprise his opponents with their pace.
Tom also knew how to navigate his clientele; his BRATs, he lovingly called them. Brats? Beautiful / Rich / with ATtitude. There were egos to manage, to nurture, to massage. There were egos that needed to be controlled. Sometimes there were some real challenges, but Tom usually made it look easy.
That is, except when it came to Jessica. Jessica just had a power over Tom. And the usually cool Tom could sense he was losing control. She put him out of his comfort zone. She put him off his game.
Everybody knew Jessica was stunning. She was gorgeous, athletic, intelligent and financially successful. She had this incredibly charming personality most of the time... and then there were events. Events that left Tom obsessed, angry and worst of all... dazed, confused ... and scared.
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