Faith Well Grounded

I was over at a sport's forum, where I sometimes go and check up on my favorite team news. When I logged in recently I had a private message awaiting me from someone I do not know, and with whom I have never had interaction. As far as I can tell, the private message was nothing more than a Buddhist apologetic, via an Einstein quote (which is Ok by me for what it's worth). Since I enjoy any opportunity to set Christianity on the "truth-scale" against any worldview, I responded and invited a dialogue.

In comments here lately I have professed the fathers of modern science as working within a creationist framework. This is in response to the claim that ID is not science, and my making the point that the recent definition of science that bars the supernatural as a potential cause is just that-- recent. The fathers of modern science worked within a creationist's framework, and you can't separate their science from this framework. You just can't-- especially when they went through great pains to prevent us trying.

This is my last post on the Bloodthirsty God posts for a while. This time, I want to go right to Leviticus, where we begin to see the blood sacrifices spelled out for us.

I used to envision the sacrifices going something like this:

Joe Israelite brings a sacrificial animal from his flock, gives it to the priest and sits and waits for the priest to do the dirty work. Once the bloody work is done, Joe Israelite goes home, maybe whistling a Yiddish tune because he feels so clean and forgiven.

Well, I’m back. I’m hoping to be able to post more often, and I apologize for the lay-off to anyone out there who may enjoy reading my posts. As excuse, my college-age ministry has been taking quite a bit of time. But anyway...

"In the beginning, God…” Genesis 1:1, excerpt.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God…” John 1:1

I love these verses, great beginnings to the stories of beginnings. Both start with the utmost central subject of our existence: God. Both begin the Creation story, in which God creates with Word as deed. By Word alone, He creates from nothing. In Him is existence with such perfection that He can give existence as gift.

I’m thinking lately on the problem of pain-- that of evil, that of misery, that of the overarching “wrongness” of the human condition. I’m tending to agree with C.S. Lewis that the problem of pain is a problem strictly for the Christian (in the philosophical sense, anyway).

“Pain” is not a problem for the naturalist/atheist, since it could not be expected that a random, self-created, amoral Universe would be mindful of its product. It shouldn’t be expected to care for its creation, or provide comfort as such. It can’t be expected to be mindful of us at all.

Part two in the e-dogg questions:

What follows is a second response to honest inquiries into the gospel. It has been "built" more than written- hopefully "led" more than built. Unfortunately, I fear that the heady subject and the "building" of the response may make it seem a bit choppy and disjointed, since I've gone from point to point to point within the overall subject. There is a lot to fit in here, and much more left out for the sake of brevity.

e-dogg raised two very good and important questions in one of the Miracles threads. I'll summarize them in this and the next blog. (e-dogg, if I have missed your points please chime in and clarify).

I'll try to provide the theology based on sound scripture. Since this is such a deep and profound doctrine, please don't expect my initial responses to be all-encompassing. I'm looking at this as an overview that should act as the springboard into a discussion that will hopefully get us to the sweet center of the gospel and God's immense love for us.

First, I need to apologize for my absence into everyday life for the past month or so. I was sick for a while. More recently, I have had tremendous opportunities to both teach and be taught. So, my blogging presence has been almost nonexistent. I hope to remedy this.

Now, onto part two of the discussion on “miracles”.

LaffingBoy asked the thunder-stealing question as to exactly what a miracle is. I will agree with Thomas Huxley, in that we are merely “beating the air” until we can agree on this. Let me offer a working definition:

There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle. Albert Einstein