Threads from Henry's Web

Author: henry

  • Independent Voters are Concerned

    The Washington Post has an article headlined Independent Voters Favor Democrats by 2 to 1 in Poll, but in the article I found this paragraph:

    Independent voters may strongly favor Democrats, but their vote appears motivated more by dissatisfaction with Republicans than by enthusiasm for the opposition party. About half of those independents who said they plan to vote Democratic in their district said they are doing so primarily to vote against the Republican candidate rather than to affirmatively support the Democratic candidate. Just 22 percent of independents voting for Democrats are doing so “very enthusiastically.”

    That paragraph tells me that many other independent voters are feeling like I do. We’re not happy with the Republican Party, but we’re not all that excited about the Democrats either. Part of the problem is that both parties have become embroiled in packaging and media blitz but don’t really let any substance get out to the voters. I understand that there are many voters out there who can be manipulated by this stuff, but there are also other voters who would like some actual information about the candidates. And we would also like you to have some idea of what you’re going to do.

    Let me speak just for myself now. You see, I have many concerns. I think the Iraq war was a strategic mistake that has been compounded by a number of tactical mistakes. (I’ve blogged on that in the past and will do so again in the future.) But I don’t see where the Democrats have a plan either to deal with the aftermath of that war, or with the war in terror in general. They’re going to do things differently than the Republicans, which is good, but what are they going to do? More diplomacy is good, but I’d like to know where Democrats will draw a line. What could happen internationally that could cause you to go to war? How much force would you use?

    I have concerns about education, but other than believing that budgets are low, what are the Democrats going to spend my money on in educational budgets? I’m actually willing to pay more taxes for education, but I want to know that the money will actually be improving education. I have concerns about social welfare programs. I actually don’t mind having some of my taxes go to safety net programs, but I do want to know that the money is actually solving problems rather than creating more, and right now I’m afraid I’m not convinced that the safety net money is being used wisely.

    I could go on and on. But instead of answers to these questions I get more criticism of the Republicans. I already got that. I know what I don’t like. But for anyone running against an incumbent, I want to know specifically what you’re going to do better.

    And as for the media, you can start by not using words such as “favor” in a headline when what is actually going on is that independents are turning away from Republican candidates, many of whom they voted for with their nose held, and turning to Democrats while still keeping their nose held because there are so few alternatives.

    The Democrats aren’t doing well; they’re just there at the right moment when the Republicans have run a number of bad plays.

  • Philophronos Blogroll

    Laura has posted some code to help add this important new blogroll to your site. Just head down to the bottom of that post to copy and paste. This blogroll is not just about this election. We wanted it to appear before this election, but we’ll be going straight into presidential issues leading up to 2008, and there will always be political blogging.

    I understand the need for blogrolls with scrollbars, because even with two sidebars, things get busy, and it’s hard to post everything. But the blogosphere is about communicating and exchanging ideas, and this is the sort of thing that can help.

    If the bloggers on this philophronos blogroll will post in accordance with the guidelines, not only will there be more dialogue, there is some hope that we can educate ourselves and some other voters about the candidate positions on issues.

    Let’s help make the next election more about issues and less about mudslinging, personalities, and media packaging.

  • Moderate Christian Blogroll Update

    I have just added two new members to the Moderate Christian Blogroll and aggregator. Check out the lists. That makes 19 members of that blogroll at this point. I hope it continues to grow.

    I am working on the aggregator. There are still some glitches which have to do with parsing what I want from all of the different formats. I’ll keep working on that. I also have plans for a couple more choices of ways in which the information can be displayed.

    Thanks to all for their participation. Send me any ideas via e-mail or as a comment to this entry.

  • An Intelligent Designer in the Gaps

    I think there is a great deal of misunderstanding of the problems with a “God of the gaps” position. This is not a logical fallacy, but rather is more like an observation on the one hand and an implication on the other. I’m not going to try here for a deep philosophical discussion, but rather a simple overview of what I see as the practical application of God of the gaps positively and negatively.

    Essentially, “God of the gaps” results when people first credit some observed phenomenon to the action of God, then discover that this phenomenon has a natural explanation, and finally remove that activity from God’s sphere. In reverse it effectively says that God’s action is to be observed in the things that we do not understand.

    It is quite possible for someone to hold that God is equally active in both the things we understand and the things that we do not. But that is not the God of the gaps position. When one argues that God is demonstrated by particular things that we do not understand, and that complete understanding would remove that evidence, that person is essentially using a God of the gaps type of argument for the existence of God.

    Let’s take an example. In arguing for intelligent design, Michael Behe proposes that there are irreducibly complex systems, that there is no evolutionary explantion (using all natural causes) to explain the existence of such systems. He further claims that there can be no evolutionary explanation because incredibly improbable events would have to occur to produce all the parts of the irreducibly complex system simultaneously and in the proper relationship. The proposed solution is an “intelligent designer” who puts these things together.

    Now Behe does not claim that the intelligent designer must be God, but nobody actually proposes any plausibly designer other than God. Any lesser intelligent designer would itself require explanation. So for the moment, let’s assume that the intelligent designer is God, and that Behe’s argument is an argument for the existence of God. There is this system which could not be produced by natural causes, yet it exists, so it must be designed, and through other logic we arrive at God as the designer.

    Now suppose I am convinced of the existence of God by this particular argument. Then some fine microbiologist discovers a plausible evolutionary path for producing the system that I was convinced was irreducibly complex. What do I do? Well, if I’m honest I determine that this piece of evidence for the existence of God is no longer valid. If it was the key to my belief, I might have to give up my faith. Otherwise I might still believe, but have one less piece of evidence for that belief. God essentially would have retreated, at least in part, from this section of my universe.

    This is not precisely a logical fallacy, although it could lead to one or two. It is quite possible that something of which I am not aware has tinkered with the development of life on earth. Though I personally don’t believe it to be so, God could be intervening regularly in the development of life. One is not required to reject the notion that “God did it” outright.

    But of what value is that claim? We have two major problems. First, it’s been done many times. As natural explanations have been discovered, people have seen less and less need to assume God’s activity. Second, God makes a rather lousy hypothesis. Now before my Christian friends accuse me of blasphemy, let me note that my car makes a lousy hypothesis as well, but it’s quite an excellent car. God doesn’t make a good hypothesis because he is not an hypothesis. He is too undefined for that, and more importantly his power is not sufficiently limited in our definition. An hypothesis that explains everything explains nothing. It’s the equivalent of “stuff happens.”

    Christian students of the Bible and theology who reject the God of the gaps type of argument do not do so because it is logically impossible. We do so because it conflicts with our understanding of how God functions in the universe, and because as such it has been an untenable position in the past.

    Intelligent design resembles a “God of the gaps” argument in that it finds gaps in human knowledge and plugs God into the gap in our knowledge. I cannot be certain that they are wrong in each and every case, though I see no particular reason to believe they are right. But simply asserting that an undefined intelligent designer did it sure sounds to me like the intelligent designer in the gaps.

    It’s going to be simple to watch and see. If evolutionary scientists continue to discover new processes and fill in the gaps, then ID will continue to look like a “gaps” type argument and will have all its failings, particular a receding God, and explanations that explain nothing. ID advocates now accuse evolutionary scientists of lacking detailed explanations of the development of various systems, while in turn they simply claim that “the designer did it.” I can’t exclude that as a possibility, but I also can’t see any positive evidence in its favor. It’s pretty clear to me now, and time will serve to make it even clearer.

  • Christian Carnival CXLV

    Theme park

    I’ve chosen a theme ride at an amusement park as the metaphor with which to present the posts. Please don’t take it too seriously–I chose where to place some of the posts based more on numbers than on content, though I tried to keep it reasonable. After reading all these posts, I was reminded of the text:

    “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven” — Ecclesiastes 3:1

    Getting Going

    We start at the entrance to our ride, which has a historical theme. We’ll be moving through various rooms and displays in small boats on the water, with the displays interpersed with various water slides, bumps, dark rooms, and so forth.

    At the entrance we have to wait. There are people trying to sell us drinks, snacks, candy, imprinted hats and shirts, and even tickets to other rides. We have to keep focused!

    Polly at Life is a Buffet gets sidetracked by life.

    Fish and Cans offers Am I like Jeremiah?, noting: I find that like Jeremiah, there are times when I am beseiged by distrust. I don’t trust that God will take care of me, that he will bring me relief from the various things that trouble me. And like he did with Jeremiah, God calls me out of that.

    Christian Living / Church Life

    After a dark tunnel with bumps and groans, we come to a room that looks like it might be an arena. People are running back and forth. There are landslides of loose papers, and scattered books. Our boat tips back and forth as the water surges and carries us through.

    all kinds of time… provides some thoughts on the need for true accountability in the corporate body of the church in
    real accountability

    John is continuing to journal the study questions in the book The Life You’ve Always Wanted, by John Ortberg, at Brain Cramps for God. This week he’s in the process of answering the questions for Chapter 2, Surprised by Change and Chapter 3, Training vs. Trying.

    Tim Schmoyer at Life in student ministry asks “What does it take to have an explosive and dynamic prayer life? Sometimes I feel that my prayers are pointless and ineffective and then scripture points out that I pray like a wuss. Recently God’s been teaching me a lot about how to change that.” and replies in his article, Learning how to have a dynamic prayer life

    Andre of Every Square Inch asks “What does a well lived life look like?” and finds that it’s about living a quiet life of humility, faithfulness and a love for others. He offers a brief profile of the late Katherine Hubner as an example of how to run the race and finish strong in his post Katherine Hubner – A Life Well Lived.

    Weekend Fisher at Heart, Mind, Soul, and Strength asks “How many people go through the motions of life without feeling, without loving, without caring, without resting?” and then challenges a post-modern Apathetic with the question whether they are alive, or simply undead, in Halloween Special: Night of the Living Dead.

    Have you ever went through a tough time? It’s an inevitable part of life. So this week at Light Along the Journey John offers up Ten Steps for Walking Through the Tough Times with God.

    Chasing the Wind offered Living in Hope. Just like the Hebrews wanted to fall back on the rules of the Levitical priesthood, we say we rely on Jesus, we say we understand that God will provide all our needs, but we want to hold a little something back, just in case. Is that truly placing our hope in Jesus, or are we secretly placing our hope in something worldly, just in case?

    Dave Taylor, from Every Thought Captive offered Seeing and not seeing. What happens when old wineskins are being exchanged for new?

    . . . that one took awhile, but did you learn how to deal with the rocking boat as you passed through?

    3 The Lord gives perfect peace
    to those whose faith is firm.
    4 So always trust the Lord
    because he is forever
    our mighty rock. — Isaiah 26:3-4 (CEV)

    Living in the World

    We ride down a long water slide and come upon a room depicting life in a small town. But the buildings have been cut out so that we can see the people inside and look at how they live. We see pictures of phone lines, satellites, cell phone towers, and broadcasting towers, showing how the people are connected to the rest of the world.

    We are reminded of Paul’s statement in 1 Corinthians 4:9: “. . . we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels and to mortals” (NRSV).

    Laura at Pursuing Holiness (a conservative) and Henry Neufeld from Threads from Henry’s Web (a liberal) have a challenge for Christian bloggers who blog about politics – philophronos blogging.”

    NerdMom presents America founded on Secularism?? posted at Nerd Family.

    Romans 15:4 Project presents Left Wing Liberal Republican for Governor? No, we have a choice!, a wake up call to Christian values voters in Illinois. The Republican candidate for Governor does not hold our values, but we have a choice!

    Jeremy Pierce presents Dawkins Prefers Pedophiles to Christians posted at Parableman. Richard Dawkins thinks teaching children to traditional Christian doctrine is more harmful than sexual molestation.

    The Evangelical Ecologist has been following the greening of the Church, including covering the recent Grist/PBS series “Is God Green,” with their interview of long-time Christian environmentalist Cal DeWitt. We also have a review up of “A Spiritual Field Guide: Meditations for the Outdoors.”

    Jack Yoest presents Looking For A Job…With Tattoos? posted at Reasoned Audacity. Our US Army is getting more recruits with tattoos. And so are you. A third of the population 18 to 29 has a tattoo. Your Business Blogger is a bit outside this age range and our five-kid penta-posse has not yet demanded needles with ink. But this is an exploding fad that will affect business hiring….Sometime ago I questioned my Rabbi, Daniel Lapin, on the issue of tattoos. Yes, I’m Presbyterian who sits at the feet of the JollyBogger. But everyone also needs a Rabbi . . .

    Patricia at A Better You Blog tells us How To Know Who You Are In 20 Minutes. But she doesn’t stop there. She continues by suggesting ways to make that better.

    Theology

    The next room is a maze, and it’s dark as we work our way through in the water. But over in the maze are some folks with bright flashlights, and it looks like they know where they’re going. Perhaps we can find our way out of this after all!

    A Penitent Blogger reflects on faith, division, and the power of Christ in Tear down this wall.

    Thom at Everyday Liturgy offers Behave or Believe?, a discussion on the return to Biblical principles in Discipleship, Evangelism, and Spiritual Theology so that belief is emphasized over behavior in the modern church.

    In the field of medicine and ethics, from Ales Rarus, we have Plan B: Literature Review (Part II). This is the second post in a series. Last time I looked at a couple literature reviews about the methods of action of Plan B emergency contraception (levonorgestrel, LNG). This time I’m presenting On the the mechanisms of action of short-term levonorgestrel administration in emergency contraception (Durand, et al., 2001).

    However difficult it may have appeared when we entered the room, we depart safely.

    18 I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. — Ephesians 3:18-19 (NRSV)

    The Interlude

    Between major scenes we have some more peaceful times, but with tastes of various things offered by our ride . . .

    Sun and Shield offers Sunspots 78. Each week, after the Christian Carnival, I publish a few links to things I have found of interest, including the Christian Carnival, and, often, posts from that Carnival. This week’s Sunspots includes links to New York Times Book Review reviews of Andrew Sullivan’s The Conservative Soul, by David Brooks, and of Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion, and a few other interesting items. You may need a free log-in to the NY Times to access these links.

    And getting started early on Christmas, Noneya weighs in with some reviews of Christimas music. Perhaps we’ll listen to some through the rest of our ride!

    Bible Study

    Here’s your map and equipment room. Whatever you wanted to do, you’ll find the instructions and the tools. But what is that I see over in the corner? Shovels? You mean we’re going to have to dig?

    4 If you seek her as silver
    And search for her as for bhidden treasures;
    5 Then you will discern the afear of the Lord
    And discover the knowledge of God. — Proverbs 2:4-5

    Rey (from the Bible Archive) looks at the Genesis 6 – 9 story from the perspective of Noah to imagine how this man relied on God’s word.

    Richard of dokeo kago grapho soi kratistos theophilos introduces a new series on the Parables in Luke designed to demonstrate the radical nature of the works of Christ in his post
    Slave Parables in the Gospel of Luke    .

    Steve, from An Accidental Blog, looks at the parable of the pounds (minas) from Luke ch 19. He concludes:

    The parable was not told, then, to show that if we have gifts and talents we should use them wisely or lose them. Rather, it is a warning that if we try to win power in the way that ‘the world’ does, all that will result is that the oppressed will experience only greater oppression. Instead, we are to follow the example of the man on a donkey, who gave up all to attain all.

    The Scriptorium

    Once we’ve helped dig a new route for our ride (can you do that???), we find ourselves passing through a room full of low tables we see wax images of monks painstakingly copying manuscripts by hand. It doesn’t look like fun . . .

    Barbara of Tidbits And Treasures tells of a New Bible publication literally cuts out unused parts–a Dutch organization has published a Bible for contemporary Christians and cut out all the scripture which might put stress in their lives.

    David Ker presents Martin Luther on Bible Translation posted at Lingamish. If Martin Luther were alive today, what would he say about the frequent debates over literal and idiomatic Bible translations? This post looks at some of his colorful quotes about this subject.

    William Meisheid presents The Problem With Bible Translations posted at Beyond The Rim… . A look at the growing Tower of Babel of biblical translations.

    Thanks for all the submissions, and for reading to this point! If you found any errors or omissions, please e-mail me, or add a comment. I’ll be happy to make corrections. I sent trackbacks to those who provided trackback URLs.

  • Who am I Trying to Please?

    Note: I’m cross-posting this from my wife’s devotional list. I’ve been writing a number of devotionals for her during a season when she’s often too busy to write them. This one I thought might apply rather broadly right now, especially during the elections.

    10So is it people that I’m trusting now, or God? Do I try to please people? If I tried to please people, then I wouldn’t be a servant of Christ! — Galatians 1:10

    What is your final authority? How do you decide what is right and wrong?

    In this passage, Paul makes it very clear. He doesn’t put his trust in people. He doesn’t try to please people. But even more forcefully, he says that trying to please people is incompatible with being a slave (or the more gentle servant) of Christ.

    Now if you read the whole passage from which this verse is take, at least Galatians 1:6-24, you’ll find that Paul is talking about the gospel, the message the he had preached to the Galatians. He was not prepared to give up the gospel of Christ for anyone. It didn’t come from people, he didn’t learn it from people, and he was not going to give it up for anyone.

    But I want us to look behind Paul’s concept here for something that is more universal. Normally when people teach from this passage they are telling us to look at Paul’s gospel, and to stick with that. And I think it’s good to check your understanding of the gospel against what Jesus and the apostles preached. But I don’t think that quite gets to the point.

    (more…)

  • The Beautiful Gate

    I’ve been meditating a bit on Acts 3:1-10, the story of the healing of the lame man at the Beautiful gate of the temple. Often we look at stories like this and just think it’s a nice story of miraculous healing. But I believe that miracles are intended to communicate a message, and when they are told in detail, there’s a very important message there indeed.

    I see this one in two parts. Now some folks are going to agree mostly with the first half of what I’m getting out of this passage, while others will agree with the second, but I think they go together.

    There’s something ironic about a lame man begging at the “beautiful” gate. The name of the gate suggests attraction and welcome, and yet here he is, brought every day to watch people go into the temple and beg something from them. The others can go into the blessing of worship, but he’s left outside. There were some who felt that those who were deformed should not enter the temple (Leviticus 21:17-18 applied to priests; Deuteronomy 23:1-7 applies other restrictions, including those against foreigners, all to be removed according to Isaiah 56), but it was a rule that was to pass with the Messianic age (Isaiah 56:1-8).

    So as Peter and John pass by, proclaiming Jesus as the anointed one of God, there was a message to give. It was time for this man to enter the temple–and he did.

    This passage led me to thinking about open doors. How many people are sitting at the gates of the church, waiting to be let in. I’m not just talking about the physical doors to your church, but the doors to your community, to the body of Christ in your neighborhood. Are there people waiting just outside, looking for someone to help them? Are the folks just walking by, occasionally throwing them a glance or a even a coin, and then going on in, leaving them outside?

    What are the barriers? Class? Race? (Yes, it’s still a factor.) Theology? Drug addiction? Cleanliness? Sexual orientation? Known sin that disgusts us? (All theology to the contrary there are clean sins and dirty sins. Clean sins are the ones I commit, dirty sins are the ones everyone else commits. Not really–but you get my drift!)

    My church, the United Methodist Church, currently has a slogan “Open hearts. Open minds. Open doors.” There are some relatively slick ads to go with it. That’s the basic idea here. Is the door open?

    But despite believing that we need open hearts, minds, and doors in the church, I’ve been uncomfortable with the campaign as it is. When I have a tickling of discomfort about something I agree with, perhaps I need to think a bit more. And reading Acts 3, led me to that point.

    Peter and John tell the man that they have no money, but they will give him what they do have. Now I don’t think this is a statement against giving people money. Money is good and helpful, used in the right way. If we have money, it’s right to use it charitably.

    But what Peter says is this: “What I have, I give you. In the name of Jesus of Nazereth, stand up and walk!” After that he enters the temple. He enters the temple healed.

    We do need to ask whether our hearts, minds, and doors are open. But we need to go on and ask what’s going to happen when someone goes through those doors. Is there healing offered? Is there going to be a proclamation of the gospel inside? Will lives be changed? Too frequently in the church today we get people through the door and then leave them just the same. That beautiful gate needs to be open, but it needs to be open to lead to discipleship.

    Now please don’t hear me saying that the church needs to be filled with a judgmental attitude. Jesus suggests (Luke 14:12-14) inviting those who need to be healed, but he wants them fed. It’s not a matter of bringing people in and condemning them. Rather we bring people in and together we seek healing from God.

    The question I’m thinking about today (and it’s early Sunday morning, before I leave for the church) is this: How is coming through our doors going to change someone’s life? I’m praying that we’ll find a good answer to that. I’d like people to find Someone in our church who can heal them.

  • Philophronos Blogging

    Laura (Pursuing Holiness) and I started discussing civility in debate about politics in a couple of comment exchanges and have continued via e-mail. As a result she proposed the idea of a blogroll and aggregator to support civil debate. In particular, we are challenging Christians to follow Christian principles in speaking the truth in love.

    This is not a request to give up convictions. Rather the plan is to express those convictions with civility. This is not going to make your communication of your convictions any less effective. Insults and negative personal comments often help rally the people who support you, but your opponents are not likely to be persuaded by them in any case.

    The actual requirements of this blogroll are in Laura’s post. I fully endorse those and hope that others will join in.

    Let’s become better informed voters together!

  • Scripture Index

    I have created an index of major Bible passages for all my blogs and sites. It is not complete as yet, but I will continue to add all new blog entries and essays to it and to catch up with old ones. It does not include all scripture references but just those passages that are the topic of the particular entry.

    The link is Scripture Index.

  • Server Problems/Lost Comments #2

    This is the second try. Everything collapsed again immediately after my last post. The server folks say they’re “working on it.” It seems to be up right now, so let’s just hope this will keep up!

    I can restore comments and will try to do so over the next couple of days.