Facebook and Me

My Facebook account has all but eaten my blog. Usually FB is nothing more than a place to reconnect or (more frequently for me) a place to waste time. But last week, it stimulated some heavy thinking! I fell into a conversation thread with a couple of dudes that considered religion to be a "mental virus." He wrote:

"all theistic religions are mind-control cults. People, think for yourselves! All the merited aspects of religions follow from common sense and are very public domain--religion didn't invent them and religion can't take credit for them. Only the negatives, i.e., the manipulation, the mind-control, the subjugation, the vilification of reason, science and free-thought, the greed and the chauvinism are proprietary to each individual cult according to their method..."

Quite a "take" on all things religious. What pulled me into the conversation was this comment: "The attempt to connect (dogma) to mythological figures and parables (such as Jesus, Moses, Mohammad, and the stories of their adventures, et al) is a way to alert the primitive mind to a crude distortion of spirituality..."

Did you just call Jesus, Moses and Mohammad mythological figures? WHAT!?

As the conversation progressed, the agnostic said there was not sufficient evidence to support the existence of God and therefore he does not bother his brain to ponder that which is unknowable. Then he gave me the opportunity to support my view - that there IS sufficient evidence in support of the existence of a Creator-God. The conversation was wild from there, and in the end - as you can imagine - he found my arguments weak. And they probably were, having never given a defense of my faith to a hostile agnostic before.

But it begs the question: if YOU were asked "Why do you believe that there is a God, what would you say?" Here is what I said:

Scott, I am by no means practiced at conversations like this. I spend my time raising our four boys and assisting my husband in running a medical practice. I am not a philosopher, theologian, or debater. I consider myself a thinking person who at one point during my youth put my “knowing hope” in a God I cannot see and have continued since that point to pursue the God of the Hebrews and the Gentiles. I don’t think I have it all figured out, and acknowledge that there are areas unknown to me in which I am either mistaken or misguided. On that last point, who of us could honestly assert anything different?


First off, I do not put my faith in ‘religion.’ As Robert (another participant in our 'friendly' debate) said, religion has a lot to answer for over the years and I agree wholeheartedly. It would be foolish, however, to blame human mistakes (lumping here a wide spectrum of historical failings and atrocities) on the Creator. A simple analogy to make my point: We cannot blame the creator of baseball bats for some abusive father beating his kid with one, can we? It is that father who has committed the atrocity and it is the father who must answer for the crime.

Point B: I would argue that there IS overwhelming evidence of a Creator-God. 
1. The intricate order found in animal, mineral and vegetable points to that Creator (you may argue a theory void of God, inserting the passage of millions of years as explanation for the order we see today. Such Darwinian thought is not necessarily false but without the participation of a Creator this theory is simply drunk on the passage of time: the evidence for something of that scale defying the laws of thermodynamics for such a prolonged period of time defies logic.
2. There is a consistent existence and perpetuation of a belief in a higher power throughout human history, in nearly all societies whether linked or isolated from other tribes or nations. You consider it as merely a psychological instrument to for humans to cope with life and the unexplained. But the alternate view I put forward here is that this Creator that I see evidence for everywhere I look has put into His creation a deep inner knowledge of His existence. I am not appealing to tradition here, trying to assert that "since X has always been true, it must be true." I am suggesting that perhaps the reason there is such an historical presence of a 'higher power' in the psyche of humans is because there is.
And if point 1 and point 2 are true, He is a Creator that not just created us but He also desires - for some inexplicable reason - to be known by his creation. I assert here that if the Creator of the Universe desires to be known, then we would be wise to know Him.
 
3. This one is not scientifically or historically provable but it is something that cannot be ignored: humans have a soul. You will no doubt argue this word or point in some way, shape, or form, but the undeniable truth is that there is something in us that connects our mind, body and spirit together. There is no reason for a soul other than to assist in following (or rejecting) a moral code. I assert that this moral code is a product of our Creator not a product of evolution (over the course of history I would not dare claim that we have evolved much on this front – humans have struggled with incomprehensible evil in every era).
 
Point C: (Dare I tackle this one here?) the historical accuracy and reliability of both the Old and New Testaments is a fascinating study. Of course none of this is interesting if you believe Jesus to be a lunatic or a liar, but supposing there is room for the possibility that he is indeed Lord, you might be interested in the manuscript evidence of the New Testament. You can find this widely accepted evidence in a myriad of places. Here is one that details what I am talking about.

Point D: Viewing the Bible for its historical value, you will find recorded there (and substantiated in other historical texts) a group of 11 men (excluding Judas Iscariot) who were lousy followers of Jesus. They were always saying things that Jesus found appalling, had a faith in Jesus’ Lordship that was weak and pathetic. They even argued against Jesus when He said it was time for him to be crucified. These disciples completely abandoned Jesus at his greatest time of need. But then something really interesting happened to all of those yellowbellies and as a result 10 (perhaps all) of them, one by one, was killed for their unwillingness to recant their claims about Jesus. It is my conclusion drawn from this evidence that something life-changing happened. I believe they witnessed the resurrection of Jesus. And for refusing to deny their first-hand testimony, every one of them, save one, was violently killed (torn in half, crucified upside down, etc, etc.). This evidence goes far beyond the existence of a Creator and moves into the finer points of my faith and the love story written in the Bible about the God of the Bible.

This was a very fun exercise for me and I thank you for the opportunity to write. I did not write this to convince or argue. I wrote this knowing that when you and I add up 2 + 2, we come up with different answers… and we both think the other person’s answer is 5.

Hi! My name is Weston

Hi! My name is Weston and this is my nap journey this week.

Day 1: I complained all day long that I was hung-gee (Mom says that when I say, "I'm STIWWLL hung-gwee" what I really mean is that I am tired. She's crazy. To proved her wrong, I spent 2 hours in my room and for the 13th day in a row, I successfully fought sleep.

Day 2: Mom did not make me nap today. She said, "I'd rather put him to bed at 5:30 tonight." Not sure what THAT means.

Day 3: I was very "blinky" today. Mom kept on commenting on it whenever she saw my big hard blinks. I think she's seeing things.

Day 4: I read books for a long time. When I woke up, it was dark and dinner was on the table. And BOY did I feel better! (Still a bit blinky though...)

Day 6: Nap? No thanks. I would rather be cranky and push my baby brother down a couple extra times today.

Day 7: I rubbed my eyes today and mom said, "do your eyes hurt? My eyes hurt when they are tired" I said, "No. My eyes is not tired. My eyes is just hung-gwee"

Day 8: Sleep overcame me despite my best efforts. When Mom woke me up dinner was ohvwer and all my bwuhvers were already in bed. This is what I look like after napping for five-and-a-half hours:

Do I plan on napping tomorrow? HA! What do YOU think!?!?

Getting My Priorities Straight

Can I pull my thoughts together long enough to make sense of what is spinning around in my head? I'd say the chances are 50-50. You be the judge (but please be kind...).

One overarching priciple that drives my parenting is this: What my kids learn in their growing-up years about respecting and responding to my and Ryan's authority will inform how they, as adults, respect and respond to the Ultimate Authority of the Lord. I want my little boys to grow up to be men who have hearts tender for the Lord - eager to please their Lord, ready to do hard things when asked.

Ryan and I agree on a lot of things. We agree foundationally on faith, politics, money, and on many parenting-related topics. But there are a handful of things that we don't see eye-to-eye on. None of these things are foundational Biblical truths but rather secondary and tertiary issues. For example, the methods we use to teach our kids how to respond to the Lord's authority. We both agree that our kids need a healthy and accurate view of God - we both desire that they place themselves under the Lord. But how we get there - we don't always agree.


My Ultimate Authority is the Lord, but the Lord has put me under my husband. The way I respond to and respect Ryan's authority over me is a direct reflection to my kids of how they should handle authority. It is also a direct answer to whether or not I submit to the God's authority. When I married Ryan, God placed Ryan over me. And every day after that, I must choose to come under him.

(I bet you just heard my audible sigh.)

I love Ryan. He is a wonderful man. And even being married to a wonderful man, this task is a difficult one. So often I have my own ideas. I have my own experiences to base my ideas off of. I have my own desires. And sometimes we just plain disagree on the best way to arrive at our destination.

Sometimes the way we differ is how we prioritize the various character qualitites we are building in our kids. What I think is priority numero uno falls much farther down on Ryan's list. How challenging it is to release my own priorities in favor of Ryan's. It is painful to even type that. I want to push my agenda and disregard Ryan's. But ultimately when I do that I have set myself outside of God's protection. I might have a great idea that God would otherwise smile at but if I am pursuing that without the blessing of the man He has given me I am wrong.

It is more important to remain where God has placed me - under the headship of my husband who will take responsibility for me at the judgment seat of Christ. When my flesh wants to go its own way, I can rest peacefully in that blessed assurance.

Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. Oh what a fortress of glory divine!

One Week Down, 3 to go!

For anyone who is still reading my sorely-neglected blog, you might be interested to know that I survived week one of January. Check these off the list:
One New Years Eve party hosted
One New Years Eve party cleaned up
One 9.5 hour long business meeting for the new clinic. Check. (Don't YOU wish YOU were in an all-day meeting on a Saturday in January?  It was really exciting, actually. Yeah, I am that kind of dork.)
One Sunday School lesson taught.

Can I just tell you that ALL THAT was done in a period of 3.5 days, from Thursday night to Sunday morning.

The rest of the week's focus: getting the new clinic listed as "in network" at a bjillion insurance companies. The mounds of paperwork associated with that is impressive.

This new clinic we are starting up is quite exciting to me. We are working with a company that just started up. Seeing the woman who started this hand therapy practice her go through this process - all the thousands of tiny (yet huge) decisions that have to be made - reminds both Ryan and I of where we were four years ago. It is a monumental thing to go into business for yourself. Add to that the complexities of healthcare and insurance contracting and you have yourself a big task. Turns out you eat this elephant just like any other piece of meat: one bite at a time.

That is where Ryan and I come in: we are guiding and facilitating the consumption of this elephant. And we are using our prior elephant-eating experience as a guide. It is incredibly satisfying to assist someone else get started with their own business. (It would have been A.MAZE.ING to have someone hold our hand through the process, as the learning curve was tremendously steep.)

So we end this week, Ryan and I, with a date. We are taking our two big boys up to the mountain for a day of skiing (lessons for half the day for them, while Mom and Dad attack the mountain). Thanks to Maryann for watching the little ones while we enjoy being otherwise irresponsible.

And about skiing.. Ryan has been absolutely giddy with excitement. He told me today that he is excited because he is skiing with ME. I love that he wants to spend time with me. I am so blessed to be married to this man.

The Coming January Storm

it is going to be a pretty interesting January at our house. It is like the perfect storm, where every possible event, fun thing, stressful work load, and remodel all comes together in one blast of a month.

If (if, indeed) I have the chance to blog about it along the way you will find us deep in the throes of

• A super fun new year's party
• a bathroom remodel
• four saturday's worth of ski lessons for "the big boys"
• a laundry room addition
• new basement floors
• Basketball practices
• setting up a new clinic in Bend
• teaching sunday school twice
• a new therapist hired (read: lots of paperwork with insurance companies!)
• but NO PUPPY! (let's wait until february at least, sweetie)

Incidentally, I looked up the actual definition of "throe." Turns out it may be a bit of hyperbole on my part. Well anyway, will our marriage survive? Will the kids come out of this first month in 2010 scarred for life?

Stay tuned...

See you in 2010!

Not that I have been posting much anyway, but i am officially taking a break until 2010. I pray your holiday season is truly wonderful!

Reduce, Reuse

RECYCLE!

I came across a couple of funny posts today so I thought I would recycle them. If you care to comment on any of them, I encourage you to comment on the actual, original post, rather than going to the trouble of coming back to this post to comment. (I get all the comments emailed to me, regardless of how old they are. I love Blogger!)

Funny post #1 is brought to you by Jackson, at age four.

And this one, courtesy of Jackson and Davis, last Christmas.

Here is some fact checking from my brain.

And finally, some chuckles from Weston. If you really wnat something enjoyable, be sure to click on the links that are in this post.

Hospitality?

I jsut read a friend's blog post about hospitality. She REALLY knows how to make you feel welcome, and I say that from experience. She also loves the process of preparing for guests. I admire that. Anyway, reading her post made me think of some advice I got once a few years back.

I don't know how hospitable this is, but this older friend of mine told me once that she used to scrub and polish the house to spic-and-span standards (tiring herself out in the process) for when the grandkids who live a couple hours away came to visit. She eventually realized that not only was she too tired to really enjoy the kids but also the dirt she so surrepeticiously scrubbed away was trekked in moments after they arrived. She would have to scrub and polish all over again as soon as they left. She decided from then on that before the kids came over she would "straighten" but not scrub. She now saves the scrubbing for when they leave. The notion absolutely blew my mind. You mean I could NOT spic-and-span my house before a bunch of people come over? Really?!?! I thought about all the times when I was too tired to actually enjoy gatherings at my house because I have worked so hard to get ready for them.

This paradigm shift was right up my alley.

So now you know a little secret about me. Next time you are at my house, feel free to notice the dirty floors. You can know that tomorrow (or maybe the next day), they will be clean. You should stop by then and see.

Now, aren't I hospitable?