10 dollars?

Last night was a different one. I went downtown to meet with some friends. It took me half an hour of aimless wandering before I found cheaper parking 6 blocks down from the restaraunt. Anways, on the walk from the parking lot to the Yard House, I was met by a woman looking for 50 cents for a pack of cigarettes. I look at her, then at the cigarette in her fingers. 50 cents was not going to get her much closer to that pack of cigarttes. I guess thats why she has to start fund raising before she actually runs out. I don't like to refuse a person, and I didn't have 50 cents, so I gave her a dollar. Then it came:

Her: Do you want a date?

Me: No thanks.

In My Head: hell no

Her: I'm broke

In My head: that sucks, but i'm not going to pay your bills for you.

Her: Do you want some good head? I'll give you some good head for 10 dollars.

In My Head: ....still not caught up yet....

In My Heart: a wave of compassion

Me: No thanks.

My Legs: Just keeep walking....

This whole event brought up some thoughts. The first one was one of compassion for her life situation. It must be a pretty dismal life to spend your life living from cigarette to cigarette, worrying about your bills, and trying to get extra cash by offering sexual favors. That life sucks for anyone, and sucks even more without Jesus. The million dollar question for me is: how do you be Jesus to a random person that you meet on the sidewalk? I think I will read the story about Jesus and the woman by the well...

My grade for this encounter is an F. I need to study up for the next pop quiz!

Ahh....I missed Jennifer Knapp

I have not had music in any of my vehicles for about 3 months. Tonight it was good to relax with Something Like Silas, Jeremy Camp, and my favorite Jennifer Knapp. There is nothing like some good worship music topped off with some Knapp to get back to my place of inner zen(whatever that means). Jennifer Knapp is IMHO the best Christian song writer. Her songs give voice to the cry of my heart. There is one thing I might rather do than engineering, and that is to write good music that cuts to the soul. I can't play an instrument, and I can't write lyrics. I suppose I am going to have to stick to my day job.

Hopfully I will install the last of my new sound system tommorow. Then I can play some Knapp to the tune of 300 watts.

Loose weight by fidgeting!

A recent study released claims that you can burn upto 350 calories a day by random body movements. This might be the long sought after reason for my lack of weight. Well, no. I have a desk job. On some days, my fingers might be the most active part on my body. Sometimes I wonder if the distance my fingers travel in a day is further than I walk. I type with ten fingers, for the better part of 8 hours a day. It is not outside the realm of inpossibility. I know what I need. I wonder if they sell some higher resistance keyboards. I could have some huge fingers if I turned my day in to some finger strength training. Imagine my handshake! Hey, I wonder if my random thoughts burn any calories? That might be another explaination. Wait... no. My most random thoughts are probably only accurring right now. And it is probably only the result of a very focused and unusually productive week. Well, this has been a rather unusual blog.

Creationism

The mainstream conception of the interaction of science and religion is inaccurate at best and blatenly false at worst. When I mean mainstream, I mean the vast majority of the population in America, christian or not.

Shame on Christians:
The Bible is NOT a scientific text book. The Bible is NOT an authority on matters of science. The Bible IS an authority on matters of faith and morals. When we say that the Bible is the infallible word of God, we mean that only in matters of faith and morals. I coin the term faith and morals from Galileo. In general, the Bible can only answer the question of WHY. Leave the HOW to the scientists.

Shame on scientists:
Science is NOT authoritative on matters of faith and morals. Science can only answer HOW, not WHY. Leave the WHY to the Bible.

Shame on Christians:
We have been very stupid in recent years to place matters of faith on top of matters of science. The panic among Christians is that the theory of evolution is chipping away at the foundation of Christianity. They are absolutly right. What the advances in science have shown us is that our foundation was NOT the most wisely placed. The foundation that is chipping away is not the rock of our salvation. Instead of fighting against science, how about we move the foundation off the shifting sand onto the rock of Jesus Christ.

Shame on Scientists:
The intelligent design movement IS being driven largly(but not exclusivly) by Christians. It is NOT your position as a scientist to question the motivations of the people bringing challenges. It is simply your duty to examine the argument and the evidence at hand. In science, motivations are meaningless. For years, much of science has been conducted with the assumption that God is dead. Is it possible that your assumption was wrong? Intelligen Design is motivated from the assumption that God is alive.

Shame on both of you at once:
Science and Religion do NOT overlap and there is a seperation. On the other hand, there is NOT any sort of gap between them. Science and Religion meet at the origin of the universe. It has been shown that space and time are related. Is it possible know anything that exists outside of space and time? Our minds cannot comprehend that concept. Why did the big bang happen? What was there before the big bang? That last question is meaningless since the word before implies a time line. Time didn't exist before the big bang. However the question is still there: why are we here?

I believe that God has made himself manifest in his creation. Furthermore, since I believe in God and that the universe was made at his command, science should point right back to God. For me, science is the investigation into HOW the universe works. I praise God all the more with the amazing discoveries science has made.

Shame on teachers:
You have led your students astray by trying to combine the HOW with the WHY. The debate over science education in the public schools is simply inane. There should be no such debate. The reason for the argument is because science is not presented on its own in schools. It is joined hand in hand with assumptions about the existence of God. The debate really boils down to an argument over philosophy. The Scopes trial showed the error of chistians. The current argument is showing the error of those who believe God is dead. It is funny how those who sought to free science from religion have gone ahead a created their own religion in its place.

What's up with church?

In my Tuesday night small group, we started on a discussion on about what was wrong with the American church. Why is the American Church so ineffective? As a pastor, what would do you do?

I have been thinking about this off and on for a while now. From my small group, it seemed that everyone knew that there was *something* wrong, and everyone seemed to have some idea of what was needed to fix it. Problem here: the American church is made up of many small groups just like the one I am in. Assume for a moment that the small group I am in is in the norm of all small groups in the country. What you then have is a church that knows something is wrong, and knows what is needed to fix it, but won't. That to me is a really uncomfortable proposition.

Christianity and Sex

The Christian church has always been good at pounding the evils of sexual sin. Some have even gone farther and made up their own sins. Please, there are enough laws as it is, don't make more. The American society is moving towards complete acceptance of the homosexual lifestyle. This is causing tremendous turmoil in many churches.

Prediction: By the year 2030, the homosexual lifestyle will be accepted in most churches as long as it conforms to certain parameters.

Personally, I don't think this is a fight we should be pre-occupied with.

I think the American Church should be preaching about how it is easier for a rich man to pass through the "Eye of the Needle" than it is to get into the kingdom of heaven. I believe that anyone in the middle class upwards is in the "rich man" class. What disturbs me is the number of passages of judgement in the old testament prophets that sound like they could have been writen about me. Crap!

If we the American Church should be pounding something, it should be personal integrity, humility, and charity. Don't get me wrong, every preacher I know teaches these things. I am talking about the public face of Christianity. Instead of pounding the things that we shouldn't be doing, how about pounding the things that we SHOULD be doing. We SHOULD have pressured the United States in to getting involved in Rwanda BEFORE close to a million died. What about Sudan right now? Colin Powell declared that genocide was taking place. For some reason, we can't invade Sudan, but we can invade Iraq(BTW, its offical, no weapons of mass destruction). The problem is that there is no popular support to help the downtrodden of the world.

Does God Want Us to Be Happy?

This is a good question, and one I really haven't thought of before. I really believe that God DOES want us to be happy. Unfortunaly, everyone has different ideas on the source. Remember "The Prayer of Jabez?". Another attempt to link happiness and blessing to financial gain. The truth is, money can make you happy - as long as you have more of it than your neighbors. This obviously won't work for everyone. It has been suggested that true happiness lies in glorifying God through obedience. I think there are many roads to happiness, but this one transcends all boundries. If I would preach on happiness, this is what I would preach on - not the prayer of jabez. This one applies to all people in all times and in all places. While I believe that God wants us to be happy, I don't think a live bent on obtaining happiness is what God had in mind either.

Quotes galore

Some delightful quotes - brought to you by Time:

"Happiness in intelligent poeple is the rarest thing I know" <-- how true indeed
"Happiness serves hardly any other purpose than to make unhappiness possible. " <-- I don't agree with this one.
"Happiness is brief. It will not stay. God batters at its sails" <-- Don't agree with this one either.
"Happiness is good health and a bad memory."
"Unbroken happiness is a bore; it should have ups and downs."
"Happiness consists more in small conveniences or pleasures that occur every day, than in great pieces of good fortune that happen but seldom to a man in the course of his life."

8 steps toward a more satisfying life

TIME Magazine just came out with another great issue: The Science of Happiness
They have a list of eight steps toward a more satisfying life:

1. Count your blessings


2. Practice acts of kindness


3. Savor life's joys


4. Thank a mentor


5. Learn to forgive


6. Invest time and energy in friends and family


7. Take care of your body


8. Develop strategies for coping with stress and hardships

Sounds to me like the template of the healthy Christian lifestyle.