Back to School

That time is near, and I am (hopefully) ready. My kids are prepared, excited even. My students, at least those with whom I've spoken, are jazzed and ready to be officially one grade higher.

Sounds like any school around the world, right? Well, yeah...but it's SO much more than that. What is truly unique about this school year is the fact that we KNOW without any shadow of a doubt that it is all directly from the LORD and His Will for us.

I teach Middle School Science at a small Christian school (see my previous post about starting this position). At the end of last school year we were, quite frankly, not sure our school would even exist. However, we as a school family took time in June for prayer and discussion. We then cast aside those doubts and, as one body, took a leap of faith.

The LORD, who is always faithful to us and ALWAYS knows what is best for us, almost immediately rewarded our faith in Him and His Work.

Now we look back on the stress we placed upon ourselves and laugh. God's got it all under control.

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t there more to life than food and more to the body than clothing? Look at the birds in the sky: They do not sow, or reap, or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you more valuable than they are? And which of you by worrying can add even one hour to his life? Why do you worry about clothing? Think about how the flowers of the field grow; they do not work or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his glory was clothed like one of these! And if this is how God clothes the wild grass, which is here today and tomorrow is tossed into the fire to heat the oven, won’t he clothe you even more, you people of little faith? So then, don’t worry saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For the unconverted pursue these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But above all pursue his kingdom and righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. So then, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Today has enough trouble of its own. - Matt 6:25-34

It's all about ME!

On Sunday, my wonderful wife indulged me yet again...we went down to the 16-plex to see the new Indiana Jones movie. The flick itself was not really anywhere near Indiana Jones standards, but that's another blog entry.

We got there almost two hours early, so we nosed around the shopping center in the Old Mill District. What I saw looked like a strip mall straight out of an affluent suburb: trendy clothing stores whose daily revenues could feed a Third-World country for a year, restaurants offering hamburgers for $18 (more than BOTH our movie tickets combined), and an expanding Victoria's Secret outlet with 2-story pictures of underwear-clad models on the front of the building. Honestly, it seems VERY out of place in the middle of rural Central Oregon.

The most ridiculous sight involved the historic old mill.

See, this town used to house one of the largest sawmill operations in the world. After operations shut down, the mill sat abandoned and was prey to vandals. When someone started renovating it, many locals rejoiced. As for me, I thought they were going to set up some kind of museum.

There's an REI store in there now...what a blow to the history of this town.

Now, for reference, Bend is not huge. It HAS grown significantly in the last few years (50,000 people in 2000 to 78,000 in 2007), but there's not really a lot of people there. What in the world keeps these places in business?

I can sum it up into one phrase: "It's all about ME."

Our world has drifted away from the greater good, morals, ethics and simply doing the right thing towards a self-centered society. To the guy who steps in front of cars without looking, blithely assuming that pedestrians always have right-of-way, to the teenybopper who sprays clouds of scent into the air in a store with no mind on whom she douses, to the person who blows off their bills because they can get away with it, we are a self-centered bunch of people.

Self centered people will do what they do best: spoil themselves. They will go up to their ears into debt just so that they have the latest clothes, the nicest house and the coolest car/motorcycle/boat/ATV. This is why such a small town can support such a decadent retail industry.

Honestly, I blame Darwin.

No, really. Follow me here: Darwin suggested that we were not created but evolved. People decide that if we evolved, then maybe God doesn't exist. If God doesn't exist, then nobody's watching if I do this...or this...or maybe even THIS...

See where I'm going from here? Granted, it's not all Darwin's fault, but before Darwin the atheist movement had no real foothold in the sciences; the majority of scientists were openly Christian. Now the number of American scientists openly professing Christ is but a small fraction of the whole. The majority of the rest are devoutly atheist and profess Darwinian theory. And hey, if a scientist says it, it's gotta be true, right?

My point, and I do have one, is that our society is "all about ME." The tweener who demands (and gets) the latest fashions and newest cell phones, MP3 players etc. and her parents who overspend in the hopes of peace and quiet at home. The woman who murders her unborn child because having a baby at this point in her life would be "inconvenient." The scientist who will reject all that is good and Holy for the sake of being right in the eyes of the world.

Maybe these changes to our society are the reason why it's tough for even Christians to see that it's all, and I mean ALL, about GOD.

Disinherit the Wind

So when you hear "Scopes Monkey Trial" what do you think? What images come to mind? I know after watching Inherit the Wind back in college, the images were pretty clear: fanatical Southerners espousing Christianity, an oppressed Science teacher who is just trying to teach what he feels is the truth and an attorney who is simply interested in Justice.

Up until recently, I had chalked this up as yet another example of the Lord's people trying to do things their own way and messing things up in the process.

Earlier this month I read an essay that addressed quite a few common perceptions of the Scopes "Monkey" trial, otherwise known as State of Tennessee v. John Scopes. This essay, titled A Second Look at Fundamentalism: The Scopes Trial and Inherit the Wind, was written by a historian named Nicholas M. Aksionczky. A Second Look is essentially a thesis intended to cut through the sensationalism and present the Scopes trial as "...one of the most misunderstood and distorted events in American History."

Honestly, I was surprised. Even I as a Christian thought that the dramatic portrayal of State v. Scopes was supposed to be historically accurate. Heck, most of the scientific community refers to the play or movie when they mention the trial.

That should have been my first clue.

The dramatic productions (a 1955 stage play, a 1957 screen play and a 1988 TV version) present John Scopes as an oppressed teacher, the prosecutor (and pretty much all Christians) as fanatical and portrays the entire trial as part of a Crusade against "reason" by a bunch of backwards hillbillies. Contrary to popular opinion about Inherit the Wind, this does not reflect reality. Let's look at some reality:

-> In January 1925, the State of Tennessee passed the Butler Act which stated:

"That it shall be unlawful for any teacher in any of the Universities, Normals [teachers colleges] and all other public schools of the State which are supported in whole or in part by the public school funds of the State, to teach any theory that denies the Story of the Divine Creation of man as taught in the Bible, and to teach instead that man has descended from a lower order of animals."

This act and the fact that it passed the Tennessee State legislature reflects the prevalence of Christian Fundamentalism in the state at the time.

-> Before the trial, John Scopes was merely a substitute teacher and football coach. He taught Physics, not Biology. He was later quoted as saying "...I wasn't sure I had taught evolution" and that he was "afraid that if I was put on the stand I would be asked if I actually taught Biology."

-> John Scopes was not specifically persecuted for teaching or not teaching something. He was recruited by the ACLU so that they could challenge the Butler Act. They actually meant to lose so that they could take the case to a higher court.

-> The portrayal of Christians in the dramatic presentations do not reflect the actual goings-on inside the courtroom and really don't reflect Fundamentalist beliefs of the time.

-> While there were some dramatic outbursts, overall the trial was reasonable. In fact, the most inflammatory rhetoric of the time actually came from an agnostic newspaperman by the name of H.L. Mencken. During his coverage of the trial, Mencken took libel and defamation to new levels, and Mencken's hateful words against Christians are still parroted by atheists today.

So essentially, the landmark case that opened the door to exclusively teaching evolution in public schools really wasn't so landmark after all. In fact, it was one of the first high-profile events that paints a facade of "reasonable" science vs. "backwards" Christianity.

Mencken's ideas are still prevalent in scientific circles today. To an atheist scientist, if you are Christian then you are against everything for which science stands. This paradigm, as widely accepted as it may be, is simply and unequivocally false.

The study of the sciences has, until recently, been a Christian pursuit. Don't believe me? Ask Nicolaus Copernicus, Johannes Kepler, Galileo Galilei, Rene' Descartes, Blaise Pascal, Robert Boyle, Sir Isaac Newton, Carolus Linnaeus, Michael Faraday, Charles Babbage, Gregor Mendel and Max Planck just to name a few. These are people whose contributions to the sciences are not disputed by atheists. However, atheist scientists choose to ignore the fact that every one of these people and MANY more saw the sciences as a way to understand God's Creation.

It wasn't until the widespread acceptance of Darwinism that the pendulum swung away from this approach to science. Now, "big science" is to the point where if a scientist even mentions the possibility of a designer in a class or publication, that researcher puts his/her career at serious risk (see previous entry "On Ben Stein and Chuckie D.")

It's time for the world to see once again that science is the pursuit of knowledge and understanding. Suppressing good science simply because it disagrees with Darwinism and an Old-Earth worldview is not acceptable. It's time for science-minded Christians to stop riding the fence and to stand up for what is right. It's time for Christian schools to build strong science programs and train up the future scientists of the world.

It's time for the atheist choke-hold on science to end. Start by reading A Second Look, and let the Lord lead you from there.

On Ben Stein and Chuckie D.

On Friday, my incredible wife indulged her science geek husband. We went to see the new documentary "Expelled" starring Ben Stein. All pot-stirring aside, this movie is a great wake-up call to anyone who thinks the scientific community is always open to new evidence.

First, let me just point out that there is currently a movement among scientific circles that suggests very strongly that there is order in the universe that could not have arisen without someone or something controlling it. Essentially, order does not arise on its own from chaos as Darwin suggested, so people have lately been questioning Darwinian dogma, much to the chagrin of other scientists. This movement is commonly known as "Intelligent Design" or ID for short.

Now, for a science-minded Christian, the concept of ID is nothing new...the Book of Genesis says God created the universe, and it's the job of the scientist to determine what He did, how He put it together and maybe even how He did it in the first place. No issues here.

However, once you propose such an idea to an atheist scientist and challenge his neo-Darwinist religious dogma, he or she goes on the attack. You don't even HAVE to mention a deity...the attack on Darwin's ideas alone is tantamount to heresy in atheistic circles.

Basically, the prominent scientists featured in "Expelled" have been excluded from academia because they have in some way, shape or fashion promoted ID. Not promoted religion per se, but promoted the idea that SOMEthing had to put it all together. And really, when you look at the universe in enough detail, there's no other conclusion.

I highly recommend this film to everyone. Not just Christians, not just scientists, but everyone. Don't just blindly believe what the public schools fed you in Biology class...think about the possibilities other than Darwin's outdated theory.

Oh yeah, and my favorite part is near the end and features prominent atheist and evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins. When questioned about how order may have come out of chaos, Dawkins is clearly spitballing...he rambles out all kinds of speculations and finally concludes that IF a superior intellect did influence life on our planet, then it couldn't have been God...it must have been aliens.

Um..yeah. So the clear implication is that an atheist scientist will let his atheism cloud his science and he will choose the incredibly improbable concept of extraterrestrial life over the much-documented, much-discussed (and very REAL) Creator of the universe.

Got Bias?

On Sheep and Men

My in-laws have a small sheep ranch out near Albany. Out there, I’ve seen the miracle of birth during lambing season, I’ve learned that sheep poop gets EVERYWHERE and that sheep are about the DUMBEST animals on the face if the planet.

No, seriously. They are REALLY dumb. Someone recently told me a story of a ewe who jumped up onto a 55-gallon drum and got stuck...she simply couldn’t get down off of a barrel. Apparently, this stupid wool-ball sat there balanced on this barrel with her legs dangling until she starved to death. Not too smart, eh?

Sure, we’re pretty smart creatures...arguably the smartest ones on the planet. To quote Douglas Adams :

"On the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much - the wheel, New York, wars and so on - whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man - for precisely the same reasons."

But seriously, when it comes down to it, God has put us in charge of this planet and everything on it. We’re the stewards of this world until He comes again.

So this begs the question in my mind: if we’re so smart and sheep are so dumb, why does Christ refer to us as His sheep? In the secular world, people who blindly follow someone or something are sometimes referred to as "sheeple." Atheists will derisively refer to Christians as sheep, citing the stupidity, timidity and flock behavior of domestic sheep. So, given this, why are we sheep?

It doesn’t sound like something one would WANT to be, but I for one don’t mind being a sheep in the Christian sense.

Let's first look at the sheep.

Sheep (Ovis aries) are quadrupedal ruminants. They are fully herbivorous, and have cloven hooves. People raise them for their wool and meat and are often used in biological experimentation. Oh yeah, and by human standards, they’re dumber than a box of rocks.

Now, as far as sheep are concerned, they know exactly what they need to know to get by: find food, find water, reproduce, care for lambs, eliminate waste and avoid potential predators. If you set a sheep loose in a pasture, they will live their lives happily as long as they have what they think they need. Oh, sure some lambs will be taken by coyotes, some ewes will leave lambs behind, mother ewes may die, some rams will butt their children to death...but the sheep as a whole don’t usually care too much.

However, the sheep rancher (or shepherd) has a lot invested in these stupid wool-balls and he doesn’t want to lose livestock. He’ll inoculate them against disease, provide food and water for them, guide them to where they need to go, keep the lambs near their mothers and bottle-feed lambs who lose their mothers.

Jesus Christ is the Good Shepherd...the best ever. He doesn’t want to lose any "livestock," so to speak: He doesn’t want to lose a single human being to the evil one. We go through our lives in our "pasture" doing exactly what we think we need to do, but the Good Shepherd knows what we need MUCH better than we do. Like an earthly shepherd cares for his livestock, Jesus guides us, feeds us (spiritually and physically), "innoculates" us against evil...and honestly, He is God...He is much wiser than I could ever be.

Now, the analogy only goes so far...for example, Christians shouldn’t just blindly follow religious leaders. We should instead learn everything we can about the Lord through scripture and prayer and judge everything in light of scripture.

Still, I’d rather trust the Good Shepherd over any human being, no matter how smart they think they are. After all, they are sheep too, whether they like it or not...they just may be in the wrong pasture.

Martian Death Flu

Years ago a very funny smart alec by the name of Dave Barry wrote an article about the flu. Here’s an excerpt:

"We have the flu. I don’t know if this particular strain has an official name, but if it does, it must be something like ’Martian Death Flu’. You may have had it yourself. The main symptom is that you wish you had another setting on your electric blanket, up past ’HIGH,’ that said ’ELECTROCUTION.’"

My recent (and rare) bout of flu is nothing like what Mr. Barry describes, but I can sympathize.

Now, I have a list of questions that I want to ask God once I go to heaven. Among these questions are: Why are we here? Why do people insist on hating each other? What the heck is up with the platypus?

I have a new addition to this list: Why are there viruses? I mean, in all my years of studying science, I have never found even one positive effect of a virus. As one scientist put it, a virus is "bad news packed in protein."

Perhaps the answer lies in one of the "Deadly Sins"...pride. We as human beings have delved the depths of the ocean, walked on the moon and probed the outer reaches of our solar system. Some scientists have even been so proud as to supplant the Lord with worship of science.

We are, as a whole, a VERY prideful species of beings.

The fact that we can, at any time, be laid low by a barely microscopic chunk of genetic material is very humbling to even the staunchest atheist. As a Christian, I know that I can take the lesson that this little virus teaches me and apply it to the rest of my life, thus being even more of a witness for the Lord.

Too bad more people don’t see it this way.