Sitting in a hospital room watching a loved one hooked up to all kinds of medical instruments and tubes, one hopes that the doctor knows what is going on. The door opens and a nurse appears and asks if there is anything wrong in the room because they hear an alarm going off. There is nothing wrong in the room. One sits back and is alarmed because of the foolish display of loss of control the nurse has on her hall.

Is your loved one safe? Thankfully many people, sit back and speculate where the problem is, and the nurse continues down the hall keeps asking the question.

Christ hits the root of the problem and shows us a solution. The heart of man is desperately wicked above all things and prideful. The message of the Gospel is not that Christ will make the bad part of your heart a little better, but that He will actually give you a new heart, a new life. In the New Testament Paul encourages the church in Corinth with this very truth of the Christian faith when he wrote,”Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2Corinthians 5:17, ESV)

Christianity is not only ontological in the sense that God has revealed himself in Christ, but our response in faith to Christ is also ontological.

The world today is a place where the individual is bombarded by fragmentation. Families are fragmented by divorce. There is fragmentation and diversity everywhere. Christ brings reconciliation in his crucified body and resurrected to bring us to God and to make us a new creation. In the Old Testament and New Testament we see the command to love God with all our hearts, mind, soul, and strength. This is telling of our tendency to compartmentalize and subjugate Christ to being a part of our lives and not life itself. Paul describes our relationship to God in a unique way when explaining the Gospel in Athens on Mars Hill. He says, “Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for “In him we live and move and have our being’(Acts 17:28,ESV).

Jesus is existentially essential. Solomon of the Old Testament was known to be the wisest man and tried out everything he could looking for ultimate pleasure and meaning in life. He said this about our desire for meaning and why we ask the questions of meaning, purpose, pleasure, and existence.

He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end (Ecclesiastes 3:11,ESV).

There is a great modern resonance with this idea that our hearts carry an insatiable thirst for life, meaning, and pleasure. The words of a popular band Switchfoot scream this anthem:

Dreaming about providence
And whether mice or men have second tries
Maybe we’ve been livin with our eyes half open
Maybe we’re bent and broken, broken

We were meant to live for so much more
Have we lost ourselves?

These lyrics bring into focus a clear issue. The issue is that we want more than this world has to offer. Blaise Pascal, a French mathematician, physicist, and religious philosopher, wrote and thought a lot about human meaning and desire. He decided that all of us have this God-shaped vacuum; that it can only be filled in the infinite. We are discontented with finite or created things. Solomon would have agreed when he said, “Vanity, vanity. It is all meaningless.” God is the only infinite, uncreated pleasure that alone can satisfy our desires.

Bernard Levin, of the British Times, who was a skeptic writes:

To put it bluntly, have I time to discover why I was born before I die?... … why do I have to know why I was born? Because, of course, I am unable to believe that it was an accident; and if it wasn’t one, it must have a meaning. Countries like ours are full of people who have all the material comforts they desire, together with such non-material blessing as a happy family, and yet lead lives of quiet, and at times noisy, desperation, understanding nothing but the fact that there is a hole inside them and that however much food and drink they pour into it, however many motor cars and television sets they stuff it with, however many well balanced children and loyal friends they parade around the edges of it … it aches.

Our hearts long for something more than the finite.

A very influential, witty, and smart thinker with an alternative view, Richard Dawkins, like Paul, Solomon, and Jesus has his own position and thoughts on these ultimate questions of life:

"The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil and no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference. As that unhappy poet A.E. Housman put it: ‘For Nature, heartless, witless Nature Will neither care nor know.’ DNA neither cares nor knows. DNA just is. And we dance to its music." Richard Dawkins ( p.133)

If we follow the secular humanist or philosophical materialist, and go where Dawkins wants to take us, it appears one is left empty and hopeless; man is left worthless, and one is left to pursue satisfaction and never find it. The word of Christ, however, tells us that man is precious and has purpose. Man is powerless to fix the brokenness and meaninglessness that he or her experiences by themselves. Jesus appears existentially essential. He can satisfy and redeem and breathe life into a situation and condition that we can't change ourselves no matter how hard we try. That is why the scriptures say, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21, ESV).

There is a strong distinction between what society sees as the visible Church of Christ and how people that follow the biblical teachings and person of Christ. His teaching does not encourage sexist, homophobic, or violent behavior.

Christ encourages all of his followers to show compassion and love for even the people in society and in their own neighborhoods that hate his followers and don't agree with the truth that the church holds to. Throughout history the visible Church has failed to understand that. That is why it follows that Gandhi would say,"I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ" (Brainey 1).

One misunderstanding of faith is that faith encourages arrogance, intolerance, and elitism. These misunderstandings stem from the popularity of uncertainty and moral relativism that is rampant in western culture. The message and life of Christ is anything but arrogant and proud for Christ even said,” Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls”(Matthew 11:29,ESV). Humility and gentleness are core values in the message and life of Christ. The Christian message cannot be and should not be forced or coerced because it is a message of internal freedom. Lastly, consider the words of Napoleon Bonaparte, while on his last exile pointed this out well when he said:

Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne and I myself have founded great empires, but upon what did these creations of our genius depend? Upon force. Jesus alone founded His empire upon love, and to this very day millions will die for Him. . . . Jesus Christ was more than a man. . . . I have inspired multitudes with such an enthusiastic devotion that they would have died for me . . . but to do this is was necessary that I should be visibly present with the electric influence of my looks, my words, of my voice. . . . Christ alone has succeeded in so raising the mind of man toward the unseen, that it becomes insensible to the barriers of time and space (86).

The person of Christ is significant. The message of Christ is reliable. He is the solution to the aching and broken heart of humanity. He offers transformation, redemption, and eternal life in himself. Humanity has no where else to go to solve the ultimate problem and find their ultimate satisfaction but Christ himself.

1. These readers weren't reading everything (apparent since I was most decidedly against Pogan's actions), and
2. My postings are likely way too long (I need to come to my conclusions quicker)

I don't blame anyone; I often am guilty of writing what I want to say rather than what my audience wants to hear. Communities, tribes, audiences—the members are decidedly focused on their needs, not mine. Messages that are simple and powerfully put across are usually much more effective.

If you want to bind a community, if you want to start a movement—say what you want to say simply.

It's much more considerate anyway. As Blaise Pascal remarked:

Je n'ai fait celle—ci plus longue que parce que je n'ai pas eu le loisir de la faire plus courte.

Blaise Pascal

Viaţa noastră consumată rămâne şi ea motiv al bucuriei şi al tristeţii, al beatitudinii şi al suferinţei, al unicităţii şi irepetabilităţii, al fascinaţiei şi al dezgustului, al temperaturilor înalte şi al celor scăzute, al anotimpurilor vivaldiene şi al peisajelor bacoviene, al romantismului şi al pragmatismului, în sfârşit, dar nu în cele din urmă, a marii treceri spre acel dincolo marcat în conştiinţa unora de divinitate sau, pentru alţii, de o realitate ce se-nrudeşte cu „nefiinţa”.

Avem o unică şansă de a ne construi viaţa. Avem o unică ocazie de a ne duce la îndeplinire proiectul acesta măreţ pe care nu l-am solicitat. În timp ce ne desfăşurăm proiectul, conştiinţa ne cere să oferim un răspuns unor seturi de întrebări fundamentale. Identific două.

Din primul set poate fi propusă întrebarea filosofului francez Jean-Luc Marion din cartea  Fenomenul erosului: „Mă iubeşte cineva de altundeva?” Este o întrebare cât se poate de relevantă tinerilor care caută cu ardoare un răspuns pozitiv. Pentru că numai un răspuns pozitiv le face faţă unor alte întrebări înrudite: La ce bună viaţa noastră? La ce bună existenţa aceasta? Cum să găsesc un sens în zădărnicia care rânjeşte în tot ceea ce întreprind? Pentru ce trăiesc? Cine sunt? O persoană opusă ca şi gen ne poate conferi un răspuns pozitiv primei întrebări.

A doua întrebare fundamentală se poate lega de Pariul lui Pascal, o problematizare făcută de filosoful Blaise Pascal pe marginea existenţei lui Dumnezeu, în raport cu el, cu fiinţa umană în definitiv. E o întrebare care trezeşte conştiinţa adormită atunci când răsună cu nedoritul: Unde ajung după ce mor? Care va fi starea mea şi locul meu în lumea de dincolo de mormânt?

Ambele seturi de întrebări sunt fundamentale celor două realităţi ale existenţei: cea de aici şi cea de dincolo. Prima propune o autoevaluare personală în raport cu suprafaţa terestră, cea de-a doua abordează misteriosul dincolo spre care ne îndreptăm şi vom ajunge mai devreme sau mai târziu. Stau şi mă-ntreb: cum să trăiesc fără să-mi pot răspunde afirmativ acestor întrebări fundamentale? Dacă la prima întrebare răspunsul infirmativ mă va resemna pentru această viaţă, la cea de-a doua, un răspuns negativ din partea mea va oferi vieţii mele o resemnare veşnică. Ce este mai uşor? O resemnare temporară sau una veşnică? Nici una nu reprezintă o variantă facilă. Totuşi, a doua este superioară primeia ca dificultate şi tendinţă spre imposibilitate.

Îmi dau seama că viaţa pentru mulţi dintre noi este asemeni unui tren rapid sau intercity ce trece straniu pe şinele sale reci de metal, noaptea, între staţiile iluminate, pe câmpurile româneşti neiluminate în spaţiul cărora stau risipite satele uitate de lume şi istorie. În acest tren mulţi sunt singuri în compartiment, chiar dacă compartimentele au fost dotate din fabrică cu şase sau opt locuri. Locurile rămân goale în timpul călătoriei, singura ocupantă a locurilor rămase libere din cauza singurătăţii încăpăţânate a noastre fiind tristeţea. Suntem, oare, o generaţie de tineri însinguraţi?

La final, mă gândesc cu-nfrigurare la cele două seturi de întrebări şi îmi spun că este şi va fi dureroroasă existenţa mea fără să ajung să-mbrăţişez fiinţa ce-mi va oferi un răspuns favorabil primelor întrebări şi, mai dureros, să ajung să nu fiu „îmbrăţişat” de Dumnezeul în care cred, ca încercare de a răspunde celorlalte întrebări propuse.                  

Blaise Pascal

und bringen viel ein

Blaise Pascal

Blaise Pascal

* 19. Juni 1623 in Clermont-Ferrand  † 19. August 1662 in Paris

Französischer Mathematiker, Physiker, Literat und Philosoph

mehr bei wikipedia.org

blaise-pascal.de

I'm not sure why I'm posting this really. I went through a period of time when i did my spiritualizing in the open. Whether that was a messianic complex, a certain form of spiritual pride or just plain old attention-seeking, I'm not very sure. So its with a sort of bemused bewilderedness that i'm typing this post.

I hate the idea of uncertainty, really. The idea of not knowing, not existing, of facing a void terrifies me. Sometimes I wonder if I turned to faith and then religion for this reason, out of sheer fear and the need not to be nothing. And I still wonder about it.

But in the end, I guess it comes down to the fact that i can't get no satisfaction.

(Funny thing, that, how God and sex often mirror each other. I guess it's got something to do with the whole Songs of Songs and bridal imagery thingy.)

Today while attempting to convince someone, I startled myself with the strength of my aching longing. Up to that point, I had been trying to convince myself that I don't need anything more than what I have planned and laid out for me in my life. But as the words spilled out of my mouth and burned my heart I realised how much I meant them.

I'm not satisfied. I'm not satisfied with accepting the yuppie notions of happiness. I need and want a family, a career, money. I admit, I dream of fame and fortune and stardom and stuff. But I'm not satisfied. I'm not satisfied with dying having lived my life as yuppie happy. I'm not satisfied with not knowing whether I'm going into a void or a light. I'm not satisfied with believing that from nothing I came, and to nothing I shall return. I don't believe the emptiness. I want to mean and stand for something. I want significance. I want fulfillment. I'm looking for a bridge that can't burn down, looking for the kingdom coming down.

But I went through the entire religious experience of Christianity and I came out of it still feeling that aching hole in my soul. I drank the wine that turned into blood, I kneeled for the air that moved with the Spirit and I submerged myself in the baptism of water. But I'm nowhere closer to feeling as complete as what I saw in the advertisment.

I don't understand it sometimes. I've heard people giving testimonies of having had their character flaws exorcised upon salvation, whereas for me it was more like a period of exercising them. I'm still struggling with the lust and anger and compulsion to murder that struck me long ago. This isn't what I signed up for. Where's my cash refund?

At the end of the day...well actually there is no end of the day. I went back to re-read my posts from ages ago and what struck me was the sense of finality in them. As if everything was set in stone like how I wish it was. But they're not, they never are. Even though I wish with all my heart that finality is a given thing, it isn't. One small battle won for me today can be a catastrophic defeat tomorrow. And with all the hatred I can muster for uncertainty I don't like the fact that I have no finality.

I believe. You know I believe. I tried not to believe, I went through the entire phase of shouting at God and grief at the world's problems. But I believe. I believe in Jesus Christ and the Cross of Calvary that brought me to my knees. I believe in the Resurrection that gave me hope to hold on to. I believe in the Holy Spirit that touched mine. I believe in the love that bled to set me free. But for all my belief, the hole in my soul is still empty and aching, and I'm nowhere close to being happier than any other guy.

Maybe I'm idealistic to a fault. Maybe I'm naive. But I believe there is more to this life than going through the motions and feeling the hollowness of it all, even though that belief brings me nowhere closer to what I'm looking for.

I think at the end of the day, it's because I know I can't rely on myself to redeem my life, or give it any form of meaning. Like James said today on the train( though admittedly about an entire different matter), "been there, done that." I'm the most fucked up contradictory bugger you can find around.

But I love the idea of grace, the notion that this fella, Creator of the Cosmos and the World, says, "hello, you've been a disgustingly evil man. You've lied, you've cheated, you've lusted, you've stolen and you've hated. You are one fucked up individual aren't you? You do know where your crimes are gonna take you. Tell you what. Let me take the blame for you." Which really is the most ridiculous atrocious incredible illogical story I've ever heard, but I can't let go of it. I can't.

I believe in the Kingdom Come, Aslan, when all the colors will bleed into one. You know I believe in your love and sacrifice. But I still haven't found what I'm looking for, and i don't know why.

Give me a reason, Aslan. Give me a reason to know I'm right, give me faith and give me hope.

Blaise Pascal

Blaise Pascal

Blaise Pascal

Blaise Pascal

"There are few things quite so boring as being religious, but there is nothing quite so exciting as being a Christian"

This is so true. Being religious, knowing about God, but not really knowing God is deadly boring. And it doesn't bring the abundant life that Jesus promised those who follow him. I know many people who are trapped in religion. They think they know God, and they have decided and declared that Christianity is deadly boring. But the truth is that they never knew the real God of the Universe in the first place. In his wonderful book Ruthless Trust, Brennan Manning talks about what often happens to young people who grow up in environments where there is a lot of focus of religion and moral attributes, but not a true understanding of the grace, love and life of the God of the Bible.

"From her parents a child learn of a deity who strongly disapproves of disobedience, hitting one's brothers and sisters and telling lies. When the little one goes to school, she realizes that God shares the fussy concerns of her teachers. At church, she learns that God has another set of priorities: she is told that he is displeased that the congregation is not growing numerically, that irregular attendance is the norm, and that his recurring fiscal demands are not being met. When she reaches high school, she discovers that God's interests have expanded to an obsession with sex, drinking, and drugs. After twelve years of Christian indoctrination at home, school, and church, the teenager realizes with resentment that God has been used as a sanction by all those responsible for her discipline - as when Mommy and Daddy, at their wits' end over her mischievous antics as a toddler, alluded to "the eternal spanking". Through this indoctrination, God is unwittingly associated with fear in most young hearts."

And Manning continues to explain the severe consequences of this tragedy, when he writes: "Moralism and its stepchild, legalism, pervert the character of the Christian life. By the time young people enter college, they have often abandoned God, church and religion. If they persevere in religious practices, their need to appease an arbitrary God turns Sunday worship into a superstitious insurance policy designed to protect the believer against God's whims. When wounded people fail, as inevitably they must, they engage in denial to protect themselves from punishment. The perfect image must be protected at all costs." (pages 80-81)

I know many people who fall into the category of people who have rejected God. Either they have rejected him openly and don't want to have anything to do with him, and don't call themselves Christians. Or they are active in church, but rarely experience any life, since cynicism, legalism and obedience to a God they don't know is what drives them. Or they clap, jump, sing, and talk about God, but when the door is closed and they're all alone with their thoughts the truth is that they don't really know and trust God and they don't really know who they are in him.

For years I was bored to death in Church. I didn't know the God of the Bible. I heard many things about him. I heard many people talk a lot about him. But I didn't know him. I didn't see much life in other people, and I didn't experience any life with him myself. I could say the right words and sing the proper songs, but there was no worship from my heart. The past five-seven years with God have been incredible. I've begun my journey of experience with my Father in heaven. I know more about him now. I know that I know that I know that I know that he loves me. That he accepts me. That he is excited about me. That he loves to bless me, challenge me, laugh with and cry with me. I can say with Job: "My ears had heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you" (Job 42:5).

My life is everything bot boring! At times it's crazy, fun, adventurous, hard to understand, frustrating, insane, beautiful, complex, simple, ever changing, challenging, easy....all of the above, but NEVER boring! Life with the living God can simply not be boring. If you are bored with your faith and your relationship with God, it's because you don't know the God of the Bible. The Creator of the Universe. The Savior of me and you. Or maybe you know him, but you've walked so far away from relationship with him that you find yourself tired, worn-out and bored.

We have to be careful that we don't reject God based on our experiences. God is God and I am not. God is who he says he is. If he says he is loving, compassionate, gracious, just and righteous, that's who he, no matter what you and I may think. We need more revelation of who God is. We don't need more information, but more revelation. And I pray that God will grant me that.

Many people reject "god" with little g. They have been hurt by church, family, friends. Circumstances were difficult, and they rejected the idea of a loving, kind, compassionate, personal father in heaven.

I pray for the many people I know who are running away from God or who have rejected him, even though they never actually knew him, and are only rejecting a religious, man-made version of the God of heaven. As Blaise Pascal put it: "God created man in his own image, and man returned the favor" (...) I know that I'm capable of running away from God. I pray that God will keep me near. I admit that my relationship with him is based on his faitfulness, not mine. He is the constant one. I change all the time. Or at least my mood does.

I am thankful that God has given me a relationship with him where I get to experience life. I am thankful that life with him is never boring.

And I'm thankful that he is ever-patient with me when I mess up, when I'm a sore loser at a board game (as was the case just last night), when I want to take responsibility for the wellfare of my loved ones (even though that's his job, and not mine).

Torben - who has arrived safely in the United States of America and is amazed of God's provision of a safe trip, no problems at the customs in JFK airport, a wonderful Nissan Sentra car, and wonderful friends who are spoiling us rotten these days as we travel in the states of New York, Massachusetts and Ohio before we head down to our new lives in Georgia.

Blaise Pascal

fer instance (on the good thing side) - there's this:

that's the CD version, and the image was borrowed from this nifty li'l blog i came across:

"you shall know our discography"

also came across a little blurb from a press release for another Vancouver Indie Band that is a whole lot more well known than the blaise was....  but we still get the mention:

....This new lineup features Nic Bragg (of local duo Kickin’ It With Coho and local legends Blaise Pascal-they toured with Pavement as well as Yo La Tengo a decade ago and had two fine mini albums) on guitar.....

"Local Legends"

                             i like that.

more present and past justin crash to come.

Interesting fact though, when I Googled to get the exact quote, about every site I saw it on had it attributed to a different author.  Among the possibilities: Mark Twain, T.S. Eliot, Blaise Pascal, Proust.  I even came across a couple of message board discussions about who actually said it and who didn't.  (I'm telling you, sometimes it's scary to think about all the stuff that people take time to discuss on the internet.)  

Although I have no idea if its correct, I'm going with Proust.  Only because I think I look really intelligent by quoting Proust on my blog.  However, if I'm incorrect then I look even less intelligent.  But considering that nobody reads my blog I think I'm ok with that. 

I plan to really step up my blogging and also add a whole lot more pictures.  I've recently been re-bitten by the photography bug and am re-learning Photoshop and want to share some of the pictures I've been taking. 

So stay tuned folks.  The best is (hopefully) yet to come.

Syndens otillräckliga njutning
Vi vet redan av egen erfarenhet att våra synder och överträdelser inte ger någon bestående salighet och att det i dem inte finns någon frid, men likväl jagar vi ständigt, drivna av lidelserna, efter allehanda synder och överträdelser, som vi inbillar oss skall ge oss mättnad! Men det finns endast ett bröd som kan mätta oss – vår Herre och Gud, Jesus Kristus, som vi tar emot i Eukaristin. ”Jag är livets bröd. Den som kommer till mig skall aldrig hungra, och den som tror på mig skall aldrig någonsin törsta.” (Joh. 6:35). ”Jag är det levande brödet, som har kommit ner från himlen. Den som äter av det brödet skall leva i evighet. Brödet jag skall ge är mitt kött, jag ger det för att världen skall leva.” (Joh. 6:51).

Plötsligt inser vi det fåfänga i vår situation. Likt predikaren utropar vi: ”tomhet, idel tomhet, allt är tomhet”. (Pred. 1: 2). Vi kan inte bli mättade bland svinen! Vi har kastat våra pärlor åt svinen och de har trampat på dem och vänt sig om och slitit oss sönder! (Matt. 7:6). Vi minns vår Faders eviga härlighet som vi har förkastat för lidelsernas skenbara och tillfälliga njutningar. Vi tänker på dem som inte lämnat vår Faders hus – Kyrkan – för ett främmande land och ett liv i utsvävningar. Vi tänker på vår Faders tjänare – änglarna – och deras eviga saliga skådande av Guds härlighet. Vi har förlorat all rätt till barnaskapet, som vi fick genom dopet. Men Gud kanske förbarmar sig över oss och tar emot oss som en enkel tjänare; som en slav… Vi beslutar att vända åter till Kyrkan, att bekänna våra synder och säga: ”Fader, jag har syndat mot himlen och mot dig. Jag är inte längre värd att kallas ditt barn. Låt mig få gå som en av dina daglönare.” (Jfr Matt. 15:18, 19). Det finns dock ett litet beräknande i detta, ett visst mått av skenhelighet. Den förlorade sonen vänder åter, men han är ängslig för hur han skall tas emot och övar upp ett tal att hålla för sin fader. Bakom detta tal skymtar igen ett visst mått av beräknande och självupptagenhet. Det rör sig fortfarande om en opersonlig föreställning om lycka. Låt oss begrunda Blaise Pascals insiktsfulla ord om syndafallet:

"Ty om människan inte hade blivit fördärvad, så kunde hon i sin oskuld tryggt glädja sig både åt sanningen och lyckan. Och hade människan inte känt någonting annat än fördärvet, så hade hon inte haft någon föreställning vare sig om sanning eller salighet. Men olyckliga som vi är, och olyckligare än om vi aldrig hade känt upphöjelsen, har vi en föreställning om lyckan – men utan att kunna nå den – och en vag aning om sanningen – men vi äger bara lögnen. Vi är avskurna både från den fullständiga okunnigheten och den fullkomliga vissheten – alltså är det uppenbart att vi en gång har levat i ett fullkomligt tillstånd som vi till vår olycka störtat ned från."
(s.146, Tankar I).

Maybe our stories are not as bad or as crude as this one, but we all have our stories. We all have, at some point, felt lonely and bored. In search of the ultimate relationship, we have tried relationship after relationship, giving ourselves away completely to each other – even before we are married. Some of us have tried many relationships and have come out sore like Marissa in The OC; she seemed to have tried everything and yet she was dejected and gloomy. I’ve come across people who have sworn never to get into another relationship and as quickly as they have said it, they have gone back on their word, only to make the same mistakes again and again and again! In search of the ultimate kick, some of us have tried drugs. I came across a girl who said she had come to a point where she hated it but she could not live without it. She said she lived in perpetual fear and would go into filthy toilets, strewn with human waste that had not been cleaned for weeks and there inject her veins and lie in that sty for hours – all along feeling disgusted!

Some of us come up with excuses: “there is so much misery in the world – injustice, poverty, hatred – people do not seem to get what they deserve!” For certain futility abounds and things don’t seem to make sense! But according to Chesterton: “meaninglessness does not come from being weary of pain but from being weary of pleasure”. I guess it’s the same feeling with any addiction: pornography, success or relationships. We come out of these feeling disgusted about ourselves. Can we relate with this? Pleasure after pleasure after pleasure – without satisfaction! There is a sense of angst in us which we long to shake off, but we struggle and wallow in it. Our hearts are tired of this miserable trash. But all along this drama – Our drama – “My Story” – there has been one person constantly walking with us – beside us. At every dead end of our ‘life events’ we have bumped into Him – but we have probably chosen to ignore him and look the other way, or have stared right through Him, or have failed to see Him there at all! Yet he continues to choose to walk beside us.

I Walk Beside You

I don’t know who Dream Theatre is referring to when they sing ‘I walk beside you’ – I could not help but think that the only person capable and worthy of fitting the bill was Jesus. There is a similar struggle described in the Psalms where the writer seems dissatisfied for reasons other than those we have mentioned. Nonetheless, the solution is the same. In Ps. 73:17 he says: “and then I went into the sanctuary of God.” – and then everything made sense. Where have you been going to find answers; maybe to a relationship or to drugs or to sex or to our virtual communities – chatting (hidden behind a happy virtual identity)? Some of us have probably lost our way – born and brought up in Christian homes, we rebel and swim against the tide – the very tide that will now take us back home. We have all been created for relationship with God. Like Adam rebelled, we too rebel and try to replace this God centered relationship with everything we think might make us happy.

The famed mathematician Pascal said, “We all have a God shaped vacuum” – and it will never be filled with any relationship, sex, drugs or alcohol. What does he mean when he says this? I am sure we all have, at some point, attempted to put a jigsaw puzzle together. Now if a missing piece was in the shape of a dove, no matter how hard you try to force it, the shape of a monkey or a donkey will not fill this gap – the picture will not be complete and beautiful. The puzzle may be partially done but will never be wholly complete. Similarly, this God shaped vacuum cannot be filled with an alternative – God and Only God is big enough to fill it! Then our lives are complete and beautiful.

When we come into the sanctuary of God – the church – our hearts will rest. If we take this one step further, as much as we long to find rest in queer places – in the fleeting pleasures of this world, God longs to ‘pitch his tent’ in us – to make his home in us – to bring heaven into our hearts! At that moment we all become little sanctuaries, meeting and making friends with other little sanctuaries – thus becoming a real community – The Church/The Sanctuary. Step into the sanctuary and He will put all your broken dreams back together as you learn to put your dreams in the right place. As Saint Augustine says, 'our hearts will never rest until they rest in God' and in His Christ.

Bobby Thejus

Recently, I made a comment defending Ken Ham after PZ Myers of Pharyngula fame called him a "wackaloon" and then invited "millions" [dream on, PZ. Neither you nor Darwinism is THAT popular] of others to pour some warm and fuzzies on Mr. Ham. His crime? Attending a voluntary prayer meeting at the Pentagon for Christian employees. PZ, in typical junior high screed, blew it out of proportion and when called to the mat for his lack of professional courtesy, showed his maturity level wrote the blog equivalent of a raspberry. The university this pop biologist teaches at must be very proud. 

I suppose it's my fault for letting curiosity get the better of me, but I went back to see if my comment had made an impact. Nobody was kind. I didn't expect them to be. I recognize revival zeal when I see it. They bleated the expected dogma, decided I was just as bad as Ken Ham and then decided I was only an ignorant gomer who'd been duped by Ham. In a word, hubris.

But one comment won the jackpot.

His given name was Dagger. Comment #395 And it is this line for which he wins the prize:

I only regret I have is living in a free society where we can't forcefully take away your children from you and quietly let your delusional species die out. Shame really.

Keep in mind that Wackaloon Myers' stated reason for this insult list was to distract and occupy Ken Ham away from his "campaign of abusing the minds of young children." Back in 2006, there was a rather big row over this sort of nonsense. Richard dawkins and other prominent pop Darwinists have made similar statements. They characterize teaching Creationism and religious instruction in general as mental child abuse.

But which is more detrimental?

Evolution is based on naturalism, the idea that no God or any other supernatural force is needed to explain the universe. While some evolutionists are theists and deists, the naturalism it's based on is just restated stating atheism.

Is it child abuse to tell a child that a loving God created their universe, that they have a purpose, that life has meaning? Or is it child abuse to tell them they were a cosmic accident, that there is no purpose to the universe, that they really are a monkey's uncle and that there is no ultimate meaning to their lives?

Seriously, what has atheism contributed to society? Besides Hitler, I mean. Besides Pol Pot. Besides failed ideas like socialism, Communism, Leninism and Marxism. They call a photo of a cross in urine "art." What has darwinism contributed? Besides Aborigines being displayed in zoos as missing links and hunted down and stuffed in the name of charting the "Descent of Man." Besides eugenics and Nazi death camps. Besides a scientific stamp of approval on racism.

Naturalism teaches nihilism, relativism and hedonism. It's no wonder these fundamentalist wackaloons are so rabid and hateful of religious beliefs. What truly bridles them, save societal pressure? And how long will that restraint last?

If God truly exists, teaching children to be irreligious is the worst sort of ideological child abuse, especially if this issue has eternal consequences, as Christendom teaches. Naturalism is a presumption. They have decided that God does not exist, but His existence is not up for a vote! He either exists or he doesn't. And since these naturalists cannot possibly claim omnipotence, how can they be so sure they are right?

God has set eternity in our hearts. He has, as Pascal put it, given us too much evidence to ignore and too little to be sure. It requires faith, but not blind faith. It requires a reasonable faith.

And much more reasonable than the naturalist's alternative.

--Sirius Knott

he was the Pascal of Pascal's Wager (that it's better to bet on God, then against, despite lack of evidence or reason)

• "A trifle consoles us, for a trifle distresses us."
• "Contradiction is not a sign of falsity, nor the lack of contradiction a sign of truth."
• "Man's greatness lies in his power of thought."
• "Justice and power must be brought together, so that whatever is just may be powerful, and whatever is powerful may be just."
• "Since we cannot know all that there is to be known about anything, we ought to know a little about everything."
• "The least movement is of importance to all nature. The entire ocean is affected by a pebble."
• "We know the truth, not only by the reason, but also by the heart."
• "Through space the universe encompasses and swallows me up like an atom; through thought I comprehend the world."
• "Hjertet har sine grunner som forstanden ikke kjenner til."
• "Dette brevet ble lenger enn vanlig fordi jeg ikke hadde tid til å skrive kortere."
• "Kjærligheten har ingen alder, siden den alltid fornyer seg."
• "Tanken utgjør menneskets storhet."

Das war nicht immer so: Blaise Pascal, Robert Boyle, Gottfried Leibniz, Isaac Newton, Carolus Linnaeus, Leonhard Euler, Michael Faraday, James Clark Maxwell, Lord Kelvin, Sir Robert Boyd, C. F. von Weizsäcker, usw. (um nicht noch die umstrittenen Galileo, Darwin, Einstein zu erwähnen) hatten einen lebendigen Glauben an Gott.

Mich - (ehemaliger) Physiker und Naturliebhaber - spornt mein Glaube an Gott eher an, die fantastische Komplexität und Vielfalt des Geschaffenen zu erforschen. Was meinen andere?