Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Words to live by

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.

And when life gives you nasty, mushy, over-ripe bananas-make a chocolate banana milk shake. Ooooo ya!

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

A Tale of Two Worldviews

Status report: Millions of people experience intense suffering every day from the ravages of disease. Almost a billion people in the world don't have access to safe drinking water or proper sanitation. Millions are starving. We manipulate our environment to sustain ourselves and in the process we often completely remove other species from the planet. We fight and kill each other with knives, swords, drugs, guns, tanks, bombs, etc. We argue about whether or not torture is okay. And while many deplore this kind violence, many others will pay money to watch two guys in a cage beat the snot out of each other and consider it entertaining. We're not content just to kill soldiers, we also kill babies. We pull them half out of the womb and jab scissors in their head and slice their brains into quivering masses of amorphous tissue. Some of us profit off this and have no shame over it. Yet, we are appalled if a baby seal is killed or a whale is stuck on a beach. We appoint whoremongers, fear mongers, crooks, liars, and traitors to be our leaders. Then we are surprised, upset, and angry when they cheat us, prey on us, steal from us, lie to us, and betray us.

There is a lot of bad in the world. Yes, there is a lot of good as well. However, its not like the good makes up for the bad. The good does not somehow cancel out all that is wrong. Bad is bad and it hurts regardless of how much good there is.

Based upon the status quo, you tell me which of the following scenarios makes the most sense and offers the most hope.

Scenario one: We live in a universe that appeared accidentally from eternal matter. Said matter overcame the laws of entropy to form a universe. Eventually, some of this matter also accidentally organized itself into living cells. Through the randomness of mutations these primordial cells eventually gave birth to more and more complex cells. As these organisms became more complex and numerous they were not only acted on by random mutations but by natural selection to continue to produce more advanced life forms. Which brings us to the status quo. We who fit the description reported to you above are the pinnacle, the zenith, the grand culmination of evolution. The status quo is as good as it gets!

Scenario two: A loving, purposeful Creator formed the universe and all living things. He created man out of love. To make sure that we could decide for ourselves whether or not we wanted to love him back he let us make decisions for oursleves. These decisions led to the status quo. Even as bad as things are, the Creator is using the bad to show us the good. He gave himself to redeem all that he created and is still at work in the universe today. When his purposes are accomplished he will bring about the fulfillment of this redemption such that all who follow him will be set free from the status quo and live in everlasting fellowship with him.

In which scenario do you put your hope?

The old hymn comes to mind:

"My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame
but wholly lean on Jesus name.
On Christ the solid rock I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand.
All other ground is sinking sand."