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it's snowing at the moment, but this is supposed to be the final day. And thankfully, we've had as much, or more, sleet/gropple/rain, what weather people call 'wintry mix,' as we've had powder. Otherwise I would have been snowed in for days. Still, my yard is buried. I'm guessing four feet? Some of the drifts are certainly that high. A bulldozer finally came by and shoved the pile of snow flanking my driveway up in to a huge mound. We haven't lost power except for that one night when the transformer was popping, and the plows have come by every day. I'm impressed.
Lots of news: I bought a truck. I traded in my subaru legacy for a toyota tacoma with 4wd and the trd off road package. 31 inch tires, baby. Locking rear diff. V6. Someone make that tim allen huh huh ape noise.
It's older than my legacy, and has a few more miles, and I had to pay more! But not much more, and it looks brand new. I wanted the height and the horsepower in the weather; also, I miss my old jeep wrangler, and this drives a lot like it. Heck, it's a boy car. My wife has the outback. Think we're set. The subarus are great in snow, plowed snow. This thing will hump over a low berm like nothing.
Asking around I've found out the snowblower my mom got us for christmas (actually she gave us one she never used) is way outclassed for where I live. I wonder if it would be rude to give it back? I don't want it in my yard (though it's mostly buried now).
I feel sorry for the people that just moved to my town from the bay area or elsewhere where it doesn't snow. What a baptism this last two weeks has been.
Again, thank God for all that rain. And the plows and dozers and everything else the county has working up here 24/7. And for the power company, who amazingly kept the power on!
It looks like we've weathered the worse; pun intended, natch.
***
I've had lots of time to think. Uh oh. Actually, I've had a pretty decent vacation, with some true high spots.
I've watched the aftermath of the tsunamis as we all have. I've wondered how and why God lets such things happen, though I think, essentially, the destruction in indonesia is no different than one death, one child or mother or father being killed by a drunk driver. Of course the tsunami is a natural disaster, what insurance companies still call 'an act of God.' People die in avalanches every year. And of disease, many times slowly and painfully. The good die and the evil live long. I have no idea why.
I've seen websites, and I probably have no need to link them, where various religious leaders have discussed the tsunami. Some have even declared that those countries persecute Christians more than others and that's why they were hit; Muslims, Jews, Christians of all drift have addressed the issue and given different answers why God would let such a thing happen. Since God isn't saying anything about it at this time, I prefer not to speculate. I do think of the passage in Luke 13 where Jesus says that those who died when the tower fell in Siloam, eighteen innocent people, were no more guilty of any sin, no more singled out for God for destruction, than any others living in Jerusalem. Their disaster held no more religiuos meaning than the disaster of individual death, from any cause and at any age.
And then Jesus goes on, imperious, peremptory, and warns that all present will perish unless they repent. Was this a special message to the Jewish nation? To those presenting the question at hand? What about those who never hear the gospel, who hear it distorted, or the children and babies who died in Inodensia?
I don't have those answers. If Jesus is who he says he was, then he will make the correct, and the unassailable, judgement regarding each of us. If he was a self-deluded, religiously inflated apocalyptic human who believed that he personally was going to judge the world...well, then the universe and its disasters are absurd, random, without meaning (barring all transcendence, I mean of course). I find the latter premise no less problematic or distressing than the first. What of those who never hear? Tough one. But what if Jesus is not God, what if there is no creator at all and many of those who drowned in the waves were rescued from years of poverty, distress, and violence? Christian belief poses drastic, unanswerable questions. So does non-belief. Atheism and its cosmic philosophy of accident and luck, of a universe which just happened to produce self-reflective creatures who ponder their own mortality and need for meaning (and certainly humans do both of these) is no less difficult a philosophical problem than a God who allows innocent death and suffering.
I had a chance to attend an interfaith dialogue at a local church (on a very stormy night) and listen to a Tibetan monk, a Native American, a scholar of Islam, and a Christian pastor address the issue of suffering within their respective religions. The two comments that stood out to me: from the Christian, 'if a man breaks into my home and is attacking my wife, her life is in danger, I have no right to take his life to stop the attack;' and from the Buddhist (who brought a translator) 'if a wild dog is trying to bite you and the only thing you are holding is the sacred text, you may use the sacred text to strike the dog in defense.' I respected, admired even, the first point though I know it doesn't describe what I'd do; the Buddhist illustration I appreciated quite a bit.
What I did see what four different people striving for an ethic of love. It has been noted (by non-Christian scholars), and it is possible, that the shift in Indian religion from varna or caste, from the ancient Vedic laws and rituals, to bhakti, love for and devotion to God, to the Hinduism of the Gita, was the result of Christian influence. Maybe. Not all world religions do or have espoused the brotherhood of humanity, the need for compassion and mercy. But many non-Christian ones do, especially at this point in history. True, Hindus and most Buddhists believe in samsara or rebirth, and karma. Each life we live leaves its karmic imprint, and our birth into the next life, into a good family or a bad one, depends on that karmic balance we all carry. If someone holds this view and yet strives for a spirituality of love will this person be denied the love of Christ?
Again, I don't know. But I tend to believe, and the hair stands on my neck as I write it, that many who have 'prayed the prayer' may not be known by Christ, and many who have never heard his name will recognize him and be recognized. Love is the Christian law. I am amazed, at times amused, how Christians sift through the nt looking for specific prohibitions. As if Christ brought a new legal code. Jesus only affirmed what was hidden deep in the Torah already: love is the universal law. Paul and St. John say the same. I saw J.P. Moreland speak once and he argued that the precept, 'do the loving thing in all situations' was too vague. Wake up. Moreland is far too brilliant to miss it: that's exactly what Jesus said the new law is.
My wife and I were white-knuckling it home in the subaru with the friend who had invited us to the interfaith discussion. He is Hindu I think, a bit Tibetan Buddhist; actually he worships, though I may have the wrong verb, a particular Indian healer named Amma. Or he calls her Amma; I don't know if that is her name or a title. His devotion is quite real. He belives in samsara or reincarnation, in karma also (of course in Hindu thought these are intertwined). And when I asked Mark how he found this woman he told me that she found him. Here is his story in brief.
He had a dream in which Amma appeared. When he later heard about her coming to a town near us he knew this was the person he dreamt of and he went. His stories only get more remarakable. Perhaps they are too personal to tell. But he has met a woman who claims to have been cured of cancer by Amma; he has a story of a man who was cured of leprosy. It is possible Amma is someone who thinks she can heal but who really can't. Such a claim could then be raised against at least some of the gospel miracle record of course (walking on water, personally resurrecting these would be tough to fake or misunderstand). It's also possible Amma really can heal. She might be a self-aware fraud, though this seems the least likely possibility. Whatever she is, Mark is on a spiritual path of genuine love, personal accountability; he truly is. He noted those who hate Bush share in the violence of Bush, show the same thoughts of aggression which seem to be behind the Iraq war. Essentially, Mark was describing an Eastern form of matthew's sermon on the mount.
Is this not a spiritual path? Mark believes Jesus was a master, like Amma or the other lamas and avatars (actually, I believe these are different things, but close enough). He would probably say Jesus was the son of God, though perhaps not in a unique way; I didn't ask him. He is certainly not a Christian in the doctrinal sense. But inwardly...he has found the essence, though it is mixed with a certain asceticism, a flaw found in every religion, including Christianity, in my fleshly and not very humble opinion: 'pass the syrah and the ham please; where are my shearling booties; oh, I'm late for my massage.' And of course he believes in reincarnation, as did Plato.
Now I think I've drifted very far from where I began. And again, I don't want to edit this. I apologize. I should. All who read this far should get the benefit of revised writing. But I'm shovel-tired and need to start a fire and this is, after all, a web log.
I'm trying to say that I think there are no easy answers. Some of those who died in the tsunamis may never have heard of Jesus but may be with him now. And the children...their presence with Christ would not surprise me.
Do I believe in a burning hell of suffering? No. I could of course be wrong. I don't even know if I believe in the soul at all (a resurrected body could in fact be a body). None of this really matters; truth will out soon enough. What does matter is whether I choose to indulge the destructive parts of my psyche or actively love. We say in the baptismal vows, 'I will, with God's help.' And that I do believe. I can't go it alone. But if there is any pinnacle, any transcendent truth, to human religion it is love. If love is proven to be a product of evolutionary need, and how could it ever be proven so?, it would not preclude God from holding me responsible.
***
Well, the snow has stopped, for the moment. And it's butt-cold in my office. Be well all. It's great to be able to write here once again. Thanks to all who read.
Lots of news: I bought a truck. I traded in my subaru legacy for a toyota tacoma with 4wd and the trd off road package. 31 inch tires, baby. Locking rear diff. V6. Someone make that tim allen huh huh ape noise.
It's older than my legacy, and has a few more miles, and I had to pay more! But not much more, and it looks brand new. I wanted the height and the horsepower in the weather; also, I miss my old jeep wrangler, and this drives a lot like it. Heck, it's a boy car. My wife has the outback. Think we're set. The subarus are great in snow, plowed snow. This thing will hump over a low berm like nothing.
Asking around I've found out the snowblower my mom got us for christmas (actually she gave us one she never used) is way outclassed for where I live. I wonder if it would be rude to give it back? I don't want it in my yard (though it's mostly buried now).
I feel sorry for the people that just moved to my town from the bay area or elsewhere where it doesn't snow. What a baptism this last two weeks has been.
Again, thank God for all that rain. And the plows and dozers and everything else the county has working up here 24/7. And for the power company, who amazingly kept the power on!
It looks like we've weathered the worse; pun intended, natch.
***
I've had lots of time to think. Uh oh. Actually, I've had a pretty decent vacation, with some true high spots.
I've watched the aftermath of the tsunamis as we all have. I've wondered how and why God lets such things happen, though I think, essentially, the destruction in indonesia is no different than one death, one child or mother or father being killed by a drunk driver. Of course the tsunami is a natural disaster, what insurance companies still call 'an act of God.' People die in avalanches every year. And of disease, many times slowly and painfully. The good die and the evil live long. I have no idea why.
I've seen websites, and I probably have no need to link them, where various religious leaders have discussed the tsunami. Some have even declared that those countries persecute Christians more than others and that's why they were hit; Muslims, Jews, Christians of all drift have addressed the issue and given different answers why God would let such a thing happen. Since God isn't saying anything about it at this time, I prefer not to speculate. I do think of the passage in Luke 13 where Jesus says that those who died when the tower fell in Siloam, eighteen innocent people, were no more guilty of any sin, no more singled out for God for destruction, than any others living in Jerusalem. Their disaster held no more religiuos meaning than the disaster of individual death, from any cause and at any age.
And then Jesus goes on, imperious, peremptory, and warns that all present will perish unless they repent. Was this a special message to the Jewish nation? To those presenting the question at hand? What about those who never hear the gospel, who hear it distorted, or the children and babies who died in Inodensia?
I don't have those answers. If Jesus is who he says he was, then he will make the correct, and the unassailable, judgement regarding each of us. If he was a self-deluded, religiously inflated apocalyptic human who believed that he personally was going to judge the world...well, then the universe and its disasters are absurd, random, without meaning (barring all transcendence, I mean of course). I find the latter premise no less problematic or distressing than the first. What of those who never hear? Tough one. But what if Jesus is not God, what if there is no creator at all and many of those who drowned in the waves were rescued from years of poverty, distress, and violence? Christian belief poses drastic, unanswerable questions. So does non-belief. Atheism and its cosmic philosophy of accident and luck, of a universe which just happened to produce self-reflective creatures who ponder their own mortality and need for meaning (and certainly humans do both of these) is no less difficult a philosophical problem than a God who allows innocent death and suffering.
I had a chance to attend an interfaith dialogue at a local church (on a very stormy night) and listen to a Tibetan monk, a Native American, a scholar of Islam, and a Christian pastor address the issue of suffering within their respective religions. The two comments that stood out to me: from the Christian, 'if a man breaks into my home and is attacking my wife, her life is in danger, I have no right to take his life to stop the attack;' and from the Buddhist (who brought a translator) 'if a wild dog is trying to bite you and the only thing you are holding is the sacred text, you may use the sacred text to strike the dog in defense.' I respected, admired even, the first point though I know it doesn't describe what I'd do; the Buddhist illustration I appreciated quite a bit.
What I did see what four different people striving for an ethic of love. It has been noted (by non-Christian scholars), and it is possible, that the shift in Indian religion from varna or caste, from the ancient Vedic laws and rituals, to bhakti, love for and devotion to God, to the Hinduism of the Gita, was the result of Christian influence. Maybe. Not all world religions do or have espoused the brotherhood of humanity, the need for compassion and mercy. But many non-Christian ones do, especially at this point in history. True, Hindus and most Buddhists believe in samsara or rebirth, and karma. Each life we live leaves its karmic imprint, and our birth into the next life, into a good family or a bad one, depends on that karmic balance we all carry. If someone holds this view and yet strives for a spirituality of love will this person be denied the love of Christ?
Again, I don't know. But I tend to believe, and the hair stands on my neck as I write it, that many who have 'prayed the prayer' may not be known by Christ, and many who have never heard his name will recognize him and be recognized. Love is the Christian law. I am amazed, at times amused, how Christians sift through the nt looking for specific prohibitions. As if Christ brought a new legal code. Jesus only affirmed what was hidden deep in the Torah already: love is the universal law. Paul and St. John say the same. I saw J.P. Moreland speak once and he argued that the precept, 'do the loving thing in all situations' was too vague. Wake up. Moreland is far too brilliant to miss it: that's exactly what Jesus said the new law is.
My wife and I were white-knuckling it home in the subaru with the friend who had invited us to the interfaith discussion. He is Hindu I think, a bit Tibetan Buddhist; actually he worships, though I may have the wrong verb, a particular Indian healer named Amma. Or he calls her Amma; I don't know if that is her name or a title. His devotion is quite real. He belives in samsara or reincarnation, in karma also (of course in Hindu thought these are intertwined). And when I asked Mark how he found this woman he told me that she found him. Here is his story in brief.
He had a dream in which Amma appeared. When he later heard about her coming to a town near us he knew this was the person he dreamt of and he went. His stories only get more remarakable. Perhaps they are too personal to tell. But he has met a woman who claims to have been cured of cancer by Amma; he has a story of a man who was cured of leprosy. It is possible Amma is someone who thinks she can heal but who really can't. Such a claim could then be raised against at least some of the gospel miracle record of course (walking on water, personally resurrecting these would be tough to fake or misunderstand). It's also possible Amma really can heal. She might be a self-aware fraud, though this seems the least likely possibility. Whatever she is, Mark is on a spiritual path of genuine love, personal accountability; he truly is. He noted those who hate Bush share in the violence of Bush, show the same thoughts of aggression which seem to be behind the Iraq war. Essentially, Mark was describing an Eastern form of matthew's sermon on the mount.
Is this not a spiritual path? Mark believes Jesus was a master, like Amma or the other lamas and avatars (actually, I believe these are different things, but close enough). He would probably say Jesus was the son of God, though perhaps not in a unique way; I didn't ask him. He is certainly not a Christian in the doctrinal sense. But inwardly...he has found the essence, though it is mixed with a certain asceticism, a flaw found in every religion, including Christianity, in my fleshly and not very humble opinion: 'pass the syrah and the ham please; where are my shearling booties; oh, I'm late for my massage.' And of course he believes in reincarnation, as did Plato.
Now I think I've drifted very far from where I began. And again, I don't want to edit this. I apologize. I should. All who read this far should get the benefit of revised writing. But I'm shovel-tired and need to start a fire and this is, after all, a web log.
I'm trying to say that I think there are no easy answers. Some of those who died in the tsunamis may never have heard of Jesus but may be with him now. And the children...their presence with Christ would not surprise me.
Do I believe in a burning hell of suffering? No. I could of course be wrong. I don't even know if I believe in the soul at all (a resurrected body could in fact be a body). None of this really matters; truth will out soon enough. What does matter is whether I choose to indulge the destructive parts of my psyche or actively love. We say in the baptismal vows, 'I will, with God's help.' And that I do believe. I can't go it alone. But if there is any pinnacle, any transcendent truth, to human religion it is love. If love is proven to be a product of evolutionary need, and how could it ever be proven so?, it would not preclude God from holding me responsible.
***
Well, the snow has stopped, for the moment. And it's butt-cold in my office. Be well all. It's great to be able to write here once again. Thanks to all who read.
Comments
I attended and inter-faith thing similar to the one you described years ago. It was at CSULB. Very illuminating.
By the way. You bought my truck I have been salivating for years over the very model you bought. Enjoy.
the truck is worth salivating over. I got a 98, with 105 K already on it. They're not that expensive used, and I can count on it running to 200 K at least. Good luck shopping.
And thanks, if I haven't said it, for that nice Christmas letter and photo. I dug it very much.
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