Cute little carnivores

I don't know how it happened . . . but I got suckered into it.

It happened one night last December - there were these two little kittens that kept coming to our back porch.  Of course it had nothing to do with our children feeding them everyday and building a shelter for them out of the gas grill cover and cardboard.

Well it was a very cold night - getting down to 17 degrees and we were about to go out for the evening.  Just about ready to leave, my wife was reminded that the cats would probably freeze to death if they were left outside.  Just one of these little furry critters could fit into your palm . . . so we did  the right thing and put them in the garage and fed them.

Okay, so long story short, they are now our outdoor cats.  They have grown a bit, but they still sleep on our back porch.  Our kids have named them Nellie and Chloe (even though one of them is a boy).  How do we know?  BECAUSE WE PAID TO HAVE THEM SPAYED.  I didn't think we were going to be collecting any more animals - we already had an inside cat and two hermit crabs.

Now that they have weathered the winter, they are young and strong and take every opportunity to exhibit their worth to us by bringing the corpse of some other cute creature to our back step.  When I come down in the morning the lifeless eyes of a bird or a bunny or some other helpless creature staring at me.   Nearby a very proud young cat is licking its paws.

In fact the other morning I was making an omelette and my 5 year old states rather nonchalantly that Nellie is eating breakfast.  I glance outside and see the decapitated mangled body of a bunny being gnawed on.  It was something out of Saving Private Ryan.  I had to rid myself of the image as I continued slicing mushrooms for my omelette.  I kept thinking how thankful I wasn't eating anything Italian.

It made me think: "How can something so cute be so savage?"

The two don't go together.  It runs counter to the definition of 'kitten.' You think of little fur-balls lapping milk, not predators who kill.  

But maybe this is a kick that I am on.  You see, I can't hack it when people (especially Christian people) act like total jerks.  Spending some time in the city recently, you watch some people act like complete beasts to each other.  Using each other.  Manipulating each other.  Hurting each other.  It makes me lose faith . . . quickly.  I wonder how God can put up with it.  

Not only that . . . but I wonder how can faith be real when people act so disgusting to each other (sometimes in the name of Christ).  One of the biggest questions I routinely choke on is how all of this works in the context of heaven.  Think about it:

1.  We are all sometimes little beasts with each other.

2.  Being a beast doesn't work in heaven.

3.  So we must be changed in some way so as to not reflect our beastliness.

4.  If we are changed that drastically, how will be recognizable to each other?  To ourselves?

Not a whole lot of answers . . . maybe that is where you come in. 

Does it bug you that people who claim to be of faith are nasty little brutes?  Does it keep you from belief?  What is it that God would need to change in us that makes something like heaven possible?  I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Perhaps it al comes down to the whole idea of dying to the self.  If we don't die to the self here in this existence, is the sinful part of the self killed off so that we don't live for ourselves ever after?  If that is true, I would like to get started on that way of living here and now.  

My little Wiccan, Reincarnated Poison Ivy tree

Spring is almost here . . . maybe.


It is the talk of everyone - "I am SO tired of cold and rainy!"  Honestly I don't know what we are going to do if it gets warm out.  My kids will be like, "what is that thing in the sky that makes me squint?"  


If you look closely you can see little buds coming out on the trees.  They say that this is where the Eastern religions get the idea of a cyclical view of life.  Their ideas on reincarnation come from the idea that the earth goes through a birth, growth and then decline and death . . . only to reseed the world for the next season and find its expression in life again.


Certain sects of Wicca hold the same idea . . . birth, growth, death, birth.


It becomes a naturalistic support of a religion, but it is not very accurate.  Did you take note of those same trees last fall?  They didn't die.  They made little buds and then closed up shop for a few months and sent everything down to the roots until it was warm enough to come back in the spring.  So if anything, the trees and the flowers don't speak of cycles or reincarnation . . . they speak of waiting.


Waiting for the sun to return.  Waiting for the conditions to come back in which we can begin growing again.  If it really mirrored reincarnation, my maple should have died and fallen down last November and this spring I should see a Holly Tree.  I am thankful that doesn't happen . . . who knows what I would get every spring.  Can you imagine? 


"Honey . . . you better sit down . . . this year our Maple is Poison Ivy . . . lots of it."


So as you head outside and see the growth happen, remember . . . it isn't coming back to life, it was alive.  It was just waiting for the sun to return.


Perhaps this is a better reflection of the Christian faith.  As a symbol of our hope in the return of God - we wait for the Son to return.  This is hope for the here and now . . . it makes us bloom as we head into Easter.


And then some day when we die . . . we will wait for the return of the Son to bloom an eternal bloom in the garden of God.


And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us. Romans 8:23

Caught with my pants down . . . sort of

It was 7th grade.  Dance night.  I had a special feeling about this night.  I was determined to ask someone to dance with me.  Didn't matter who it was, I just wanted to come home saying that I danced with someone.

So to give me that special edge, I decided to grab my brother Chuck's yellow cross-country jacket.  It was very cool - complete with a large "E" on the left side of it for the varsity letter he had in cross-country.  It was the addition to my wardrobe that would put me over the edge and make me irresistible to 7th grade women everywhere.  I didn't bother asking if I could borrow it because I knew his answer would be "no."  I just thought I would spare us both that little awkwardness.

So I went to the dance with my new-found confidence assured that everyone was checking me out in my brother's gleaming yellow cross-country jacket.

They were . . . but in the wrong way.  Imagine a few dozen 7th grade boys coming up to you with a sneering, "I didn't know your name was Chuck."  Note to self: when you wear someone else's jacket, and it has someone else's name on it, be prepared for snide comments if you are in middle school.  I shrugged it off.  A few "nice yellow jacket" comments were thrown in but I ignored that too.  I decided that it was time to make my move so I went over to Cindy Klassen and in my most awkward tweeny voice asked, "hey, you wanna dance?"

I waited.  The world stopped.  She looked at me and then said the two words I'll never forget:

"With you?!"

Shrieks of giggles ensued from her entourage as they all ran to the bathroom.  I took that as a "no."

It was at that moment that a friend of mine brought the most egregious error to my attention.  "Dude, where are your pants?"

In all my plans I miscalculated the one thing that would have made me the most unattractive dance partner . . . my brother's jacket was so long it covered my shorts and made it look like I was a 7th grade flasher.  Already 80% of my body was legs, so covering my shorts with this long jacket made me look completely ridiculous.  The one thing I figured was my ace in the hole was the very thing that worked against me!

Lesson learned?  Actually a few:

1.  7th grade dances are best enjoyed not paying any attention to the opposite sex.

2.  Look in the mirror before you leave the house.

3.  And this is the most important . . . BE YOURSELF.  

When we try to be someone else, it usually interferes with your best asset - yourself.  

I just figured that in life we all need this subtle and gentle reminder from time to time - doesn't matter whether you are 13 or 33.  You could be in the boardroom or at basketball practice - find out who you are and be that.  You can't go wrong when you stay true to your self . . .

It's just a phase

   When I was in High School, I dated on and off but one thing never changed - I always got dumped.

   Yup, right around Valentines Day I knew it was coming - when spring rolled around it was time to say, "see ya later."  It got so routine I made up a song.  It was called "Valentines Day You Give Me The Creeps (you remind me my girlfriend is gone in six weeks).  Its a favorite.  Not really - it just reminds me of how fickle dating can be.

   In fact, the whole dating thing has a very interesting cycle.  I think it goes something like this:

Stage 1:  Somewhere around Middle School you either wake up to attraction.  It is very awkward and more group-driven than genuine.

Stage 2: In High School commitment never matches emotion; one year later you hate the girl you loved.

Stage 3:  In College you begin a transition of just having fun to looking for a mate.  It gets weird.

Stage 4:  Young Adult - you are newly married, totally in love and all kinds of plans.

Stage 5:  Love tested: Maturity, circumstance, selfishness, expectations and reality make you re-think everything.  Sadly, some walk away from commitment because it didn't match their expectations.

    What if faith and doubt are similar in their stages?

Stage 1:  As a child, when your parents tell you about God, you believe whatever they say.

Stage 2: Ardent believer:  my little girl will go to sleep at night with her hand over her heart saying, "I love God so much."  It is great, but I realize that she is only 5 and I would love to see that kind of devotion at 45 . . . but we'll see . . .

Stage 3: Teen years: questions start to get bigger than mom and dad . . . the kind of questions that only you are able to solve.

Stage 4:  As a young adult you build on your decision you made in the teen years.  You either build ideas around your faith or your skepticism.

Stage 5:  As an adult it is very unlikely that you will ever change your mind about what you believe (or don't believe).  There is a sense that you are done, mature or 'finished' thinking through things like faith.  You either divorce or you deepen your faith.

   It is sad that people come to this.  The truth is that we are never done learning and discovery is less of a linear cycle as it is a spiral that we continue on through our lives.  What if a person's divorce from God is a phase related to their stage of development?  You can read more by checking out Erikson's developmental stages or Marcia's or Fowlers, but it is an interesting question to think about:

"What if my doubt is a phase I am going through and faith is waiting on the other side?"

Hey people . . . I know this blog is about no arguments, but . . . *whispering* - Sam Harris is wrong.

Yes, the Sam Harris that says that following God brings the world's evils.  

Now, it is true that hypocrites and fakers ruin people's lives and cause evil havoc on this earth in the name of Jesus (see http://www.phila.gov/districtattorney/PDFs/clergyAbuse2-finalReport.pdf for a nauseating account of what priests did to young children in Philadelphia) if you aren't sure.  But those are not Christians . . . they are pretenders.  

But when you look up the deeds of people who take their faith seriously, it is refreshing to find people that are capable of changing the world.  This is a story of that kind of integrity . . . prompted by a talk from Andy Stanley.

Essentially, the story is about how between the 2nd - 4th century there were a series of plagues that had invaded ancient Europe.  These plagues had eliminated up to a third of the population of Europe - the normal citizens had learned long ago to just leave town.  In fact the most noted physician of Europe at that time, Galen, had left Rome for several years until it all blew over.  So how did people try to treat the infected?  "Victims were thrown out into the streets where the dead and the dying lay in piles." (Stark, 300)  Bishop Dionysius, writing in a letter at this time said that they "treated the unburied corpses as dirt." 

So what did the Christians in these cultures do?  Remember, this is a time in which Christians were not acceptable - they were irreligious weirdos (because they didn't worship the gods of the mainstream).  Did they skip town like everyone else?  No.  This marginal sect of Jesus-followers took care of the sick.  Dionysius notes that "in nursing and curing others transferred their death to themselves and died in their stead."  (Stark, 301)

In fact, it is likely that by taking care of the ill, Christianity grew during this time.  These early Christians nursed non-Christians back to health and these appreciative 'patients' became Christian and supplanted the previous population (Stark, 302; McNeill,108)  

This kind of others-centered altruism was typical of early Christians.  In the latter parts of the 4th century, pagan emperor Julian hated Christians, whom he called "impious Galileans."  Julian was involved in a campaign to get pagan priests back in popular demand. In a letter to one of these pagan priests, he compared pagans to what Christians do: "I think that when the poor happened to be neglected and overlooked by the priests, the impious Galileans observed this and devoted themselves to benevolence . . . the impious Galileans support not only their poor, but ours as well."

This and other efforts by the Christians created a "miniature welfare state in the empire which for the most part lacked social services."  (Johnson, 75)   Even 'pagan' emperors note what Harris can't - genuine followers of Jesus, though far from perfect, are good and can be a force for good in the world.

Notes:

Johnson, Paul. 1976.  A History of Christianity. New York: Atheneum.

McNeill, William G. 1978. Revivals, Awakenings and Reform. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Stark, Rodney. 2000. Religious Effects: In Praise of 'Idealistic Humbug.'" Review of Religious Research. Washington: University of Washington

"Men are Pigs" . . . or "If we really lived out faith"

I spent this last week having such deep and gut-wrenching conversations with people who are going through such horrible things in their lives.  Most of the problems were brought on by men who abuse alcohol or drugs and then abuse the people they claim to love.  Some lock themselves in their rooms, turn on the TV and turn off the world.  The rest of the family has dinner while one chair is empty.  


I am on a rotation of people who meet with those who are going through rough times and need someone to talk to.  This was my week.  The week to hear of self-centered and emotionally immature people who wreak havoc on the lives of the people that love them.  


Part of me wants to just smack them and get them somehow to wake up and see what great treasure awaits them if they realized that people love them and are willing to help them out of their own malaise.  But they turn to drugs or alcohol or other addictions that help soothe and medicate the pain they feel.  One person is scared about the growing anger they feel within.  Another is worried about the results of years of alienation.  Like I said, most of them were women who have been through terrible storms in life because of men who never grew up.  Men who chose to sulk, pout, hit, punch, verbally abuse or otherwise intimidate the people in their lives.  


It makes me want to hurt those people . . . to scream and holler . . . to threaten them to get a grip on life and stop hurting others.  But doesn't that just continue the cycle of intimidation and violence?  God, how do you do it?  How do you suffer through another day of these people hurting the innocent?


It is funny, my blog post from the other day on Facebook read, "Christians mess up everything" and an old cynical friend from high school reacted with a reply: "I agree."  Perhaps that was a touch of Catholic school speaking, but it is a day like this that I couldn't disagree with him more.  If people actually lived out the Christian faith this world would be different.  Christianity doesn't mess up the world - actors who play Christianity do.


Imagine a world where people never lied.  Never cheated - at school or on loved ones.  Imagine a place where no one stole from a store or from someone's marriage.  Imagine a world where no one was made a sexual object.  Everyone honored their parents and loved the hard-to-love.  Imagine a world where people put others' interests first.  


Christianity is a great idea . . . if we ever chose to live it.  


We hear so much about how religion divides and fractures people, but imagine a world where true faith was enacted.  It is possible.  Really.

#1 "The Proof Please?"

     In 2005, Oregon State Physics graduate Bobby Henderson got tired of attempts by Intelligent Design advocates to get Creation taught in schools.  So he started his own very popular religion - the religion of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (FSM for short).  FSM, also known as pastafarianism, became a quick hit on the internet and FSM disciples across America began to gather to parody the Christian faith.  It's kind of funny.  They have slogans like "He boiled for your sins" or "WWTFSMD?"  or this interpretation of Michelangelo's "Creation of Man:" 
     




     Of course the premise for this comes from  the thought that Christianity is just like any other human-concocted idea . . . you have your Jesus from 2000 years ago and I have my FSM and both have the same amount of evidence.  Where's the proof?
     Now of course when we talk about 'proof' - we need to really put our finger on what it is we mean.  No credible historian would doubt the actual existence of a Jesus from Nazareth.  What is in doubt is whether what He said and did is faithfully preserved for us in a collection of highly biased sacred works we call the Gospels.  So what is it that we are 'proving?'
     Maybe it is the claim to have risen from the dead.  
     Isn't it interesting that the Romans or the religious Jews of Jesus' time who had the power to find His body and expose this whole thing as a sham never did?  Throw the body in a wheelbarrow, run it through Jerusalem and the whole thing is over.  Equally interesting that somewhere around the middle of the first century, story lines explode with the idea of people raising from the dead . . . physically.  According to Wright, this idea was nonexistent for centuries leading up to 50AD.  Suddenly it explodes in popular literature - as if a switch was turned on.  That and a hundred other "hmmm . . .  that's interesting" kind of thoughts we could spend time on.
     But it is actually this idea of 'proof' that is more interesting to deconstruct.  
     So what qualifies as evidence?  Is it enough to see it?  What if one person sees Jesus - is that enough?  Probably not.  For one person to see the proof would only produce a very enthusiastic convert.  Can you imagine?  Everyone else would be like, "so what'd He look like? Can I see too?"  Pretty soon you would have people questioning what it is that he really saw.  In time it would be dismissed.
     So maybe you have ten people witness the evidence of God - directly seeing Him.  Would that be enough?  Well, you would have to have at least five scientists.  The real miracle would be 5 scientists agreeing to the test!  But since scientific law doesn't allow for the supernatural, wouldn't the explanation of what they saw just be some naturalistic mumbo-jumbo?  "My cerebral cortex was highly excited by the positive emission of radiation from an external source" or something like that.  Don't think for a moment that 'proof' is what anyone wants.  It is a sucker's bet.  I mean, the religious Jews just wanted to talk with Jesus and get his story.  


     Yeah right, and half a day later He is hanging on a tree.


     The argument about 'proof' is a continuing illusion that collapses upon itself and I think that is why God is not in the business of obliging us.  I like that God doesn't give us what we want. I am glad that God is above it - that the 'proof' is subjective . . . an inside joke for the downtrodden and those that have no other place to turn.  For the junkie that has no pride to stumble over who has nothing else to lose.   For the kid that has no friends and just wants someone to talk to.  For the single mom that learned that she is getting laid off and that her ex is getting married in the same day.  These kinds of people aren't waiting for proof to discover that a relationship with God is real . . . they just need help . . . and they are ready to put their faith in something that seems ridiculous because they have nowhere else to turn.
     And once they step inside, they receive the proof that they never looked for and could never establish outside of themselves.  
     That is faith - the unproved proof.