My eldest child is with child and is at this very moment at the hospital. I am going to be a grandfather. I know, I act much too young to be a grandparent, but nevertheless, here am I. As wonderful as parenting has been for the past 24 years, I must say my daughter and her charming husband have no idea what they are getting themselves into. Of course, no new parent does. It is all ohhs and awws until that little munchkin starts to walk. And what brings the pending pandemonium home to me is the following: (more…)
Works and Grace: Buying Our Way into Heaven
Salvation is free according to Paul. Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast”. That may be true, but just because something is free it does not absolve us of any responsibilities. One of my daughters took piano lessons and she did not have to pay a single penny. No amount of practicing on her part would compensate me for the money I handed over to her teacher. It was a free gift. What she did with the gift, however, was entirely up to her. The degree to which these free piano lessons blessed her life was dependent upon how much she worked. (more…)
Ages of Old Testament People
In the early chapters of the Book of Genesis we have people living for a very long time. Adam lived 930 years (Genesis 5:5), Seth for 912 years (Genesis 5:8), Methuselah lived 969 years (Genesis 5:27) and Noah lived 950 years (Genesis 9:29). I’m not even 50 yet and I am getting aches and pains, I cannot image living 20 times longer. The problem is no matter how you work the science, humans just do not live that long and they never have. I have heard all kinds of arguments for these remarkably long lives. The atmosphere was different soon after the earth was created so people were healthier, there was more oxygen in the atmosphere, or the closer you were to Adam the more pure your DNA and hence you lived longer. These are all stabs in the dark to support a very literal and concrete interpretation of the scriptures. The concern these so-called literalists have, it seems, is if the numbers are figurative then the story is fiction and therefore the bible is all made up, but this is not true. Figurative does not equal fiction. (more…)
The Parables of Jesus
In the New Testament we find numerous parables that have become part of our popular culture over the centuries. Jesus taught almost exclusively in parables (Mark 4:34) in order to veil the meaning from the uninspired (Mark 4:12). A parable is a short story through which Jesus taught gospel principle. A parable is referred to as a didactic story because it is intended to teach a moral concept. Many of the parables are hyperbole which means they are an extreme exaggeration to prove a point. I suspect that the original audience would have found great humor in the message, a humor that has been lost over the centuries. The greatest teachers use humor and if Jesus is to be considered the master teacher, we should assume he used humor a fair bit. The Jesuit Priest James Martin explains in a special article to CNN that “one difficulty with finding humor in the New Testament is that what was seen as funny to those living in Jesus’ time may not seem funny to us.” And “Too many Gospel stories have become stale, like overly repeated jokes.” (more…)
Job – A Peculiar Lesson
I have argued that we should not look at Old Testament stories as either true or fiction. Ancient writers did not look at their environment with the scientifically literate perspective we enjoy. They focused on function. We do this to a degree in our modern language. The term ‘dozen’ does not always mean 12; it is often a function that represents a fairly large group – not so large that you need crowd control, and not so small that they could fit into a smart car. At least not comfortably. Likewise the expression ‘I have told you a thousand times’ – well, you have not told me anywhere close to a thousand times, but the amount ‘1,000’ is used as a function to express the idea that you have told me something more times than any reasonable person should expect to be told. (more…)
What is Genesis 1 Talking About? Part Two
Last week I proposed that Genesis 1 is telling a literal story using figurative language, and that this story is expressing the formation of the cosmic temple and not about the formation of the universe and the emergence of life on earth. It is not talking about the material origin of the earth, but the functional origins. How Gods creations bless our lives. Consider how the different days relate to each other: (more…)
Cold Hard Facts About Concrete
How often have you been dealing with a qualified contractor and when they explain their proposal, you quickly realize you have no idea what they are talking about because what is basic knowledge to them is not basic to you. Sometimes it is the most common of items that we just take for granted or have given little thought to until a problem arises and then we realize that there is a serious gap in our understanding. Concrete is one of those items that we see all the time but many people have no idea what it is made of or how it is made.
The contractor starts throwing words out there like aggregate, blistering, and efflorescence as if these are words on a grade two spelling test and you are too embarrassed to say anything so instead you smile and nod. Concrete comes in all kinds of varieties depending on its application. Here is a brief explanation of what concrete is all about so hopefully it will add to your toolbox of knowledge when dealing with maintenance items. (more…)
What is Genesis 1 Talking About?
When reading Genesis 1, the Creation story, interpretations of the story can generally be classified into three groups:
- Those who dogmatically cling to the story as literal gospel truth despite the science;
- Those who reject the story as a fable or patently false because of the science;
- Those who experience a crisis of faith when they find the word of God is in conflict with known history and become suspect of both.
The Genetic 1%
There is, I have been told, a 1% difference in DNA between humans and Apes. Apes are, arguably, the most intelligent animals on the planet next to humans. I say arguably because hamsters are freaking brilliant Houdinis. Apes have been studied for their ability to use simple tools and can be taught to communicate through basic sign language. Their limitation is that they cannot see beyond themselves. They are not able to ask questions about the world around them because, as far as they are concerned, everything they observe is exactly what everybody else observes. Humans, up until the age of about 4, have the same limitation. It does not occur to them that someone else has a different perspective. (more…)