One thing I noticed Hitchens did frequently is criticize God's wisdom in the grand scheme of our existence. I found it interesting that on the one hand he would grant God omniscience, and omnipotence for the sake of argument, but then call that omniscience, etc. into question. So that got me thinking: If we are willing to grant God omniscience, omnipotence and omnipresence how do we even begin to question His methods? If we give Him all the aforementioned traits and we logically assert ourselves (the created) to be less than the Creator, I again ask: where do we begin to question His plan? It seems much easier and even rational that if we grant him all those qualities that we should relax and trust His plan, seeing as it is so far beyond us to do His job.
Now if we don't grant God all those qualities, well what kind of God does that give us? Now that will lead you down to some crazy-ass philosophies. We end up with gods, or multiple personality god, or some wildly impersonal force of nature, some mysterious cosmic cloud -which seems to be what The Secret basically is. None of those possibilities reflect something that gives cause to everything we have learned in the short history of humanity- reason, logic, love etc.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
God is not great
Hitchens is an arrogant moron. Ok, moron is a little harsh, but he isn't even close to presenting his book in a way which even comes close to the superior writings of those he criticizes.
What I found most amusing was how the arguments he used against C.S. Lewis couldn't even hold up to the argument presented by Lewis, and Hitchens continues on as if without further discussion he is correct! The assumptions were glaring and many, much like his contempt for so many "non-sequiter" conclusions by Christians, which he himself so freely lept to. At least Hitchens admitted to not sharing the same caliber of writing as those he criticizes, which is the best thing he could do for any of his readers.
This is no better a book than I could have written. He did a horrible job presenting conclusive arguments for his viewpoint, God is not great is pretty much a presentation of all his personal thoughts backed up by "evidence" of his own discoveries and perceptions. That would be like me telling you I'm right and here's a pie chart I made to prove it, without any outside measurement of accuracy.
What I found most amusing was how the arguments he used against C.S. Lewis couldn't even hold up to the argument presented by Lewis, and Hitchens continues on as if without further discussion he is correct! The assumptions were glaring and many, much like his contempt for so many "non-sequiter" conclusions by Christians, which he himself so freely lept to. At least Hitchens admitted to not sharing the same caliber of writing as those he criticizes, which is the best thing he could do for any of his readers.
This is no better a book than I could have written. He did a horrible job presenting conclusive arguments for his viewpoint, God is not great is pretty much a presentation of all his personal thoughts backed up by "evidence" of his own discoveries and perceptions. That would be like me telling you I'm right and here's a pie chart I made to prove it, without any outside measurement of accuracy.
Sunday, May 4, 2008
giving up
Part of me wishes I could summarize what I've been going through for the past several years, but part of me thinks it's pointless because we all have similar stories. We all have trials, successes, failures, gains and losses. My heart is always exploding and crumbling, but I haven't always been this way. I used to be much more even, not so high and low. But that was before I started experiencing many things that affect so many other people. A few years ago I lost an aunt that I was very close to, then a year and half ago I lost my mom. Those two events were the things that shook me the most. But during that time frame my Dad's church had gone through many tribulations as well. And everyday things piled and piled up, and my own weaknesses seemed to be swallowing me. Everyday I was closer and closer to drowning. I couldn't remember what it was like to walk on water, I was cursing the hand I had reached for so many times before.
I've been a very angry man for several years now. Of course I had days where I felt compassion but my overall attitude has been angry, unhappy and unsatisfied and bitter most of all I think. I knew and know that my situation isn't unique. People have lost parents, children and spouses for millenia. But knowing someone has had it worse than you doesn't mean you don't feel the difficulty of your own situation. We all have to walk through the shadows by ourselves. There is only One who goes through with us and it often doesn't feel like He's there, but as the old writing goes "the one set of footprints was when I carried you".
Well, since I'm not saying anything new or anything that hasn't been better said by someone else, I'll cut to the chase.
I think I finally hit my turn-around spot. I've had enough of myself. I've finally exhausted my frustration, anger and selfishness, and I can go no further. So this is where I set it all down and give it to someone that can carry it. Someone that tells me to cast all my care on Him because He cares for me. The same One that tells me to worry for nothing but in all things give thanks and prayer because He knows what I need.
I came to a fork and I saw meaninglessness, violence and emptiness. And then I saw Love, and a plan gone awry with redemption plugged into a space in time leading to the reconcilliation of all things....and I rejoiced with tears.
I've been a very angry man for several years now. Of course I had days where I felt compassion but my overall attitude has been angry, unhappy and unsatisfied and bitter most of all I think. I knew and know that my situation isn't unique. People have lost parents, children and spouses for millenia. But knowing someone has had it worse than you doesn't mean you don't feel the difficulty of your own situation. We all have to walk through the shadows by ourselves. There is only One who goes through with us and it often doesn't feel like He's there, but as the old writing goes "the one set of footprints was when I carried you".
Well, since I'm not saying anything new or anything that hasn't been better said by someone else, I'll cut to the chase.
I think I finally hit my turn-around spot. I've had enough of myself. I've finally exhausted my frustration, anger and selfishness, and I can go no further. So this is where I set it all down and give it to someone that can carry it. Someone that tells me to cast all my care on Him because He cares for me. The same One that tells me to worry for nothing but in all things give thanks and prayer because He knows what I need.
I came to a fork and I saw meaninglessness, violence and emptiness. And then I saw Love, and a plan gone awry with redemption plugged into a space in time leading to the reconcilliation of all things....and I rejoiced with tears.
Friday, April 11, 2008
I plead the fifth
It's a shame to know that my fifth grade teacher pretty much summed me up in a sentence: "He'd be great if he'd just apply himself"
Thursday, March 13, 2008
coming full circle (from adulthood to childhood)
I've been going over some things lately and here it is.
I was trying to reconcile a personal God that also created natural laws and free will. It seemed to me that all I saw around me was cause and effect. I began wondering how much God ever really moved in someone's life, or maybe better said, to what extent. After much frustrated contemplation I found a few conclusions.
1. When all I view is the cause and effect of nature I'm no longer looking at God behind it all. Which is key, we can't forget that there is someone, not some impersonal cosmic force behind it all.
2. After reminding myself of the previous revelation, I knew that I also was unwittingly putting limitations on God, by confining Him to the natural laws He established. The fact of the existence of natural laws in no way means it is His only way of expressing Himself to His creation.
3. After knowing that natural laws are not the only means of His expression/manifestation, we remember that He is SUPERnatural. Meaning that He supercedes the natural we can observe. The natural exists in Him, it originated in Him, He is more than able to work through the natural processes He created or to override them (in His omniscience and omnipotence)-in which case we observe miracles-things that "defy" natural processes.
4. So after being reminded of all these things I was finally reminded of the fact that in the Bible, God was moved by the faith of His people, the obedience of His people, and was moved to do something supernatural. So I end up where I started when I was a young christian, before I had any questions: putting my faith and trust in a loving, personal God, funny how things come full circle isn't.
All of this started when I was wrapped up in being frustrated for never seeing something supernatural. Like I said I was wrapped up in seeing cause and effect for everything I was observing in my life and those I care about. But I've been reminded that cause and effect is a very small matter when dealing with an awesome God, one that says "Only believe", "All things are possible to them that believe".
My closing thought is this: I can either put my eyes on the natural world and it's limits, or I can put my eyes on the limitless God.
I was trying to reconcile a personal God that also created natural laws and free will. It seemed to me that all I saw around me was cause and effect. I began wondering how much God ever really moved in someone's life, or maybe better said, to what extent. After much frustrated contemplation I found a few conclusions.
1. When all I view is the cause and effect of nature I'm no longer looking at God behind it all. Which is key, we can't forget that there is someone, not some impersonal cosmic force behind it all.
2. After reminding myself of the previous revelation, I knew that I also was unwittingly putting limitations on God, by confining Him to the natural laws He established. The fact of the existence of natural laws in no way means it is His only way of expressing Himself to His creation.
3. After knowing that natural laws are not the only means of His expression/manifestation, we remember that He is SUPERnatural. Meaning that He supercedes the natural we can observe. The natural exists in Him, it originated in Him, He is more than able to work through the natural processes He created or to override them (in His omniscience and omnipotence)-in which case we observe miracles-things that "defy" natural processes.
4. So after being reminded of all these things I was finally reminded of the fact that in the Bible, God was moved by the faith of His people, the obedience of His people, and was moved to do something supernatural. So I end up where I started when I was a young christian, before I had any questions: putting my faith and trust in a loving, personal God, funny how things come full circle isn't.
All of this started when I was wrapped up in being frustrated for never seeing something supernatural. Like I said I was wrapped up in seeing cause and effect for everything I was observing in my life and those I care about. But I've been reminded that cause and effect is a very small matter when dealing with an awesome God, one that says "Only believe", "All things are possible to them that believe".
My closing thought is this: I can either put my eyes on the natural world and it's limits, or I can put my eyes on the limitless God.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
growing up
I find it peculiar that I can feel let down by life, when I never had any definite expectations to begin with. There is no one thing that I feel is owed me that has been denied. Just an overall sense of not being, or getting where I want to be or have. Pretty silly. But I'm sure it's a part of growing up and realizing the real world doesn't fit our expectations very often, we have to adjust to the way the world is....to reality. But it doesn't have to be disappointing, we just have to realize we had some biased or ignorant ideas/assumptions/desires, let those go and move on.
Is it fair that I have to pay bills, maybe not, but is it reality...yup.
And in the grand scheme of things, it is fair that I should pay for what I want, someone had to make it, and they deserve to be compensated for their work.
I guess the area I feel most restricted is the absolute freedom that we think we deserve. But something I think is amusing is who told us we deserve anything? Especially if we are a product of chance and survival (which we clearly are not), what on earth gives us the feeling of being deserving of anything. I think we feel deserving of something, because we feel like we're lacking something. We feel like we will fulfill what's lacking by finding some mysterious absolute freedom. But in all the ways that we seek this freedom ( i.e. sexual freedom, drugs, violence, power, wealth etc.)we find ourselves more and more bound. Because what we are lacking is not freedom, we're missing the responsiblity that comes to balance that freedom. But we reject this feeling of responsibility, and in so doing reject the idea of God. So there we have our problem: what we're lacking is the relationship with our maker we were created to have. It's only in discovering and restoring that relationship that we begin to find what freedom really is and then we also find peace. Amen.
It can be a hard pill to swallow even when you know it's the truth.
Is it fair that I have to pay bills, maybe not, but is it reality...yup.
And in the grand scheme of things, it is fair that I should pay for what I want, someone had to make it, and they deserve to be compensated for their work.
I guess the area I feel most restricted is the absolute freedom that we think we deserve. But something I think is amusing is who told us we deserve anything? Especially if we are a product of chance and survival (which we clearly are not), what on earth gives us the feeling of being deserving of anything. I think we feel deserving of something, because we feel like we're lacking something. We feel like we will fulfill what's lacking by finding some mysterious absolute freedom. But in all the ways that we seek this freedom ( i.e. sexual freedom, drugs, violence, power, wealth etc.)we find ourselves more and more bound. Because what we are lacking is not freedom, we're missing the responsiblity that comes to balance that freedom. But we reject this feeling of responsibility, and in so doing reject the idea of God. So there we have our problem: what we're lacking is the relationship with our maker we were created to have. It's only in discovering and restoring that relationship that we begin to find what freedom really is and then we also find peace. Amen.
It can be a hard pill to swallow even when you know it's the truth.
Friday, January 11, 2008
freedom
I've been thinking about freedom again. I think it's funny that we try to keep people in boxes. When I think about those things in regard to Christians, I think of all the "do's" and "don'ts" placed on us. And right now I'm thinking more specifically of those placed on us by other Christians. Through the years we've carried so many rules around. So many rules that Jesus Himself didn't put on us. We have a code of conduct to follow instead of listening to God's own Spirit in our lives. As long as you follow the rules you're ok. Jesus had something to say about that. He said the Pharisees washed the outside of the cup but the inside was still filthy. It was all an outward show. The cleansing has to come on the inside and the outside. The cup doesn't serve it's purpose if it's only clean on the outside.
So back to all the rules.
In my opinion a lot of these rules were put on us because of fear, fear by those in leadership. They were afraid of freedom. Freedom that Christ had given us. Rules were a method of controlling. Rules meant MEN could be in charge instead of Christ. Oh, but I tell you...there is freedom. Christ isn't telling you to follow rules. He tells us there is a right way to live, and His life was a picture of that. But that life can't be lived by following rules, it's lived by a change at the very center of our being. That change is a change from living according to a warped and fallen state to one of a redeemed, corrected, straightened state. So you see that living according to rules is only us trying to live this new life without the necessary changes on the inside. And that is impossible, and impossibly frustrating to everyone trying to accomplish it. And those incredibly frustrated people continue to make more rules for themselves and others in an effort to get where they can't possibly get to.
So again I find I would need to write a book to fully convey what I would like to, but I'm not that talented.
So back to all the rules.
In my opinion a lot of these rules were put on us because of fear, fear by those in leadership. They were afraid of freedom. Freedom that Christ had given us. Rules were a method of controlling. Rules meant MEN could be in charge instead of Christ. Oh, but I tell you...there is freedom. Christ isn't telling you to follow rules. He tells us there is a right way to live, and His life was a picture of that. But that life can't be lived by following rules, it's lived by a change at the very center of our being. That change is a change from living according to a warped and fallen state to one of a redeemed, corrected, straightened state. So you see that living according to rules is only us trying to live this new life without the necessary changes on the inside. And that is impossible, and impossibly frustrating to everyone trying to accomplish it. And those incredibly frustrated people continue to make more rules for themselves and others in an effort to get where they can't possibly get to.
So again I find I would need to write a book to fully convey what I would like to, but I'm not that talented.
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