Chicago |
9. I pray for the sick because I love seeing God glorified.
Note: All this is out of my comfort zone. I am becoming comfortable with that, since nearly everything Jesus is and does is out of my comfort zone.
Thoughts about God, culture, and the Real Jesus.
Chicago |
(Woman, selling sock, in Istanbul, Turkey)
Years ago God told me, “John, why are you trying so hard to change other people when you can’t even change your own self?” I have come to the freeing conclusion that: we cannot change other people. Only God can. So I can let go of trying to do that.
One result of this insight is that Linda and I rarely, if ever, “advise” others. We only do it if requested. This is because unasked-for advice is usually received as criticism. For example, if I saw you today and said, “Did you know that Macys has some nice shirts on sale?”, you would think, “John doesn’t like my shirt.”
If I want your advice I’ll ask for it. I do ask people for advice, on a variety of things. If the advice is about something personal, I ask people who know me, love me, are themselves vulnerable and open, and trustworthy. When Linda gives me unsolicited advice (like, “Your pant zipper is down”) it always comes out of care for me.
In relationships, and in ministry, the desire to change other people is toxic. I like how Thomas Merton puts it. Merton writes: “Nothing is more suspicious, in a man who seems holy, than an impatient desire to reform other men. A serious obstacle to recollection is the mania for directing those you have not been asked to reform… Renounce this futile concern with other men’s affairs! Pay as little attention as you can to the faults of other people and none at all to their natural defects and eccentricities.” (New Seeds of Contemplation, 255)
If God shows you another person’s fault it’s mostly so you can pray for them.
Before God, be concerned with your own transformation into Christlikeness. Pray "change my heart, O God." That prayer will keep you occupied all your life. To such a person, God will send people who desire change. That's called influence.
(The parent-child relationship is different. As is the teacher-student relationship. As are hierarchical-authority relationships, when acknowledged and willingly submitted to. Like, e.g., a sports coach who shows their athlete what they need to do to perform at a higher level.)
(Redeemer sanctuary)
The only kind of atheism worth entertaining logically implies physicalism. But physicalism brings problems to atheism. Physicist Richard Muller, in Now: The Physics of Time, writes:
"The denial of nonphysics, nonmath truths has been named physicalism by philosophers. Physicalism is faith based and has all the trappings of a religion itself."
This is not because of the difficulty of not having enough time to parse everything physically. It is because of the impossibility, in principle, of doing so.
For example, "there are other issues that are real but not in the realm of physics, questions such as, what does the color blue look like?" (Ib.)
And...
"Gödel’s theorem inspires us to wonder about the completeness of physics—not of any particular theory, but of physics itself. Are certain aspects of reality, in addition to those affected by the uncertainty principle, beyond the reach of physics? Once you start thinking along these lines, you discover that many aspects of reality not only are untouched by current physics, but also appear to be untouchable by any future physics advances. One example is evident in the question of what something looks like."
(See also, perhaps, Thomas Nagel's "What Is It Like to Be a Bat?")
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(Sunset on a Lake Michigan beach) |
(Maumee Bay State Park, Ohio)
I know Greg Boyd, a little bit. We've had him at our church, twice. Greg is an excellent scholar, and a great preacher. And, he is his own person. It would be a mistake to try and label him. For example, his belief in a real Satan immediately places him outside true progressivism. (See here.)
In a recent book, where Greg argues for the plenary inspiration of Scripture (more non-progressivism), he expresses concern over the progressivist diminishment of Scripture. PC diminishes the authority of the Bible. It undermines faith, especially the faith of young believers. Greg Boyd, in his recent book Inspired Imperfection, has a similar concern.
He writes,
“[Some are abandoning] the plenary inspiration
of Scripture, which is precisely what I fear some progressive evangelicals are
doing. I consider this a grave mistake. Among other things, denying Scripture’s
plenary inspiration is inconsistent not only with the church tradition, but, as
I will later argue, with the teachings of Jesus and some New Testament (NT)
authors.
Not only this, but history demonstrates that when groups
relinquish the church’s traditional view of Scripture, they tend eventually to
float outside the parameters of historic orthodox Christianity.*
I consider the recent Emergent
Church phenomenon to be a case in Point.”
This is tragic because, as Greg writes,
“If we imagine
the church as a ship on a tumultuous sea, the Bible has always served as the
rudder that keeps her on course. In our postmodern, post-Christendom, and (some
are claiming) post-truth world, the sea in the Western world is as tumultuous
as it has ever been. Which means, the Western church arguably has never needed
its rudder more than it does right now.”
(Boyd, Inspired Imperfection: How the Bible's Problems Enhance Its Divine Authority)
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(Monroe County) |
(In my front yard, meditating on a cloud.)
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(Bolles Harbor, Michigan) |
(Esther and Hugo Piippo)