November 09, 2006
In Whom do you trust?
God is sure good at making things clear. He leaves us with no confusion about the lives of those who trust in him and those who don’t. What a contrast! God makes it clear how these lives will turn out, doesn’t he? To be a “tumbleweed” or a tree with an endless supply of water…let’s see…which would be better? Wow, what a contrast. So it’s obvious that who you trust in is really important. Trust in one who gives you some stability and life or trust in one who leaves you driven and tossed by every wind.
October 19, 2006
Thanks for working in spite of the mess
Life is messy! For all our desire to live for God we still sin. We still make mistakes. We still choose poorly.
God is so good to us to graciously love us, care for us, and draw us to himself. It is such a blessing to already have our sins dealt with at the cross. It’s such a glorious thing that God has done to forgive our every sin and take care of it all when we receive him as our savior.
The rest of my life is a growing into God dependence, allowing him to do in and through me what I cannot do on my own (note Romans 7). It’s wonderful to have the sin issue taken care of, now my life is focused on the constant goal of setting myself aside for his use (sanctification), allowing him to live his life through me.
It’s messy, and I don’t always get it right, but it’s how he chose to work, so Lord do in me what I cannot do on my own, live through me and show the world what you look like, and thank you for forgiving my sins even before I asked….in all of this your grace is our blessing, and your glory is your goal. Thanks for working in spite of the mess.
October 05, 2006
Poop on Satan
There are times when you see a t-shirt and wish you were the one who came up with the idea for it. This is such a time for me.
July 22, 2006
Israel Update
If you’d like a first-person account of the Hezbollah attacks on Israel, and the Israeli response, head over to David Dolan’s site and subscribe to his e-mail list.
David is a Christian pastor and author who has been resident in Israel for many years. Last year, David spoke at our church, and even for someone like me, who has followed the Mideast conflict, and the region’s history, for many years, it was eye-opening.
July 17, 2006
Identity
Bill Lee is back to blogging:
How odd is it that people find it proper to define God any way they please when they would take great offense at anyone who dared to do the same to them.
There can be only one infinite being we would know as God. One can debate the existence of God if they like, but once the reality of His presence is realized there can be no rationale for the creature to make over the Creator to fit ones own comfortable idea of God.
July 16, 2006
Where do you get your rest?
I know Brent will agree we have some amazing kids on the Holland mission trip.
From Mish:
An observation God just gave me is that a culture will not slow down the human soul or take our spirit out of a vicious spin cycle. I know the only answer to rest is knowing the refuge of hope we have in Christ. Christ gave us access to God’s presence. This is peace. There is no other hope that will give you peace. That’s it. There’s not much more to the gospel, and the truth is simple. Christ gave up his rights on his life to give us the right to know God’s presence and character. What a peace and hope we have.
July 11, 2006
July 08, 2006
Bringing our best to our Friend
I hardly dare to speak of it, but this same great God, in the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, became human. Think of it! The Word, the divine Reason, took on a body and lived in our midst. We saw Him. We could touch Him. We beheld His Glory! Though we cannot know God in His Essence we can approach the Incarnate God … a Savior who let little children come to Him when the disciples would have kept them away. Rationally He should not have paid attention to our very existence except to condemn our foolish rebellion, but loving us He became one of us to save us from our evil.
In an act of unimaginable elevation, this God-Man called His disciples His friends. He is willing to be my Friend … a Friend to a sinner. I don’t deserve, cannot earn it, almost feel like rebuking God for His Divine temerity in loving me, but can only accept it.
And glory in it! Jesus Christ is willing to be my Friend.
July 04, 2006
Everyone can have their own Independence Day
John Adams remarked in 1776, “The Revolution is complete. All that remains is a war.” He elaborated on a different occasion: “But what do we mean by the American Revolution? Do we mean the American war? The Revolution was effected before the war commenced. The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people.”
[…]
It strikes me that the reverse can be said about the work of Jesus Christ. His work on the cross is finished, he has defeated the devil, sin, and the grave. In other words: The war is over. All that remains is the revolution! — the revolution of following Christ and serving in the cause of spreading his kingdom.
May you join the revolution!
June 23, 2006
On the Presby Trinity metaphors
A lot of folks are making hay over the Presbyterian Church’s latest doctrinal statement concerning the Trinity. Joe Carter thinks they get the doctrine right, but their metaphors are beyond utterly wrong.
June 21, 2006
About Rain
For some reason, there’s just nothing like rain gently falling on your face from haggard clouds that are worn out from pouring rain on the earth all day. There was a calm. There was a silence. There was a resonate feeling of life and purpose around — yet removed enough to be just beyond the grasp of full understanding — that tweaked the flame of awe inside. For a moment there was nothing but Nature, a reminder of how little we are, and a blatant knowledge that there is a Creator that spun this world into existence, maybe because He, too, likes the idea of rain falling on His face. He, too, likes the way a day full of rain awakens the deep green of Nature. He, too, likes a silence in which you can only hear His creation whispering.
I like the feel of a gentle rain on my face, too. Lord, we could use some more up here in north Texas.
June 16, 2006
Mad Science
This came from an e-mail my mom sent:
God is sitting in Heaven when a scientist says to Him, “Lord, we don’t need you anymore! Science has finally figured out a way to create life out of nothing. In other words, we can now do what you did in the ‘beginning’.”
“Oh, is that so? Tell me … ” replies God.
“Well,” says the scientist, “we can take dirt and form it into the likeness of You and breathe life into it, thus creating man.”
“Well, that’s interesting. Show me.”
So the scientist bends down to the earth and starts to mold the soil.
“Oh no, no, no…” interrupts God, “Get your own dirt.”
June 06, 2006
Fourteen
About this time fourteen years ago, my beloved and I were dancing our first dance, or cutting the cake, or visiting with the numerous friends and family members who were generous enough with their time to spend it in celebration with us.
A lot has changed in the world in fourteen years. A lot has changed within each of us. If you had told me fourteen years ago how our lives would be today, I would have thought you insane. Yet we have a really great life. Sure, there are a few things I wish could be better. I wish my mother-in-law would have had more than nine months with her only grandchild. I wish my Granddaddy would have been around to see his first great-grandchild, and my Pappaw would have seen his tenth or eleventh. (There are so many great-grandchildren on that side of the family, it’s hard to keep track.)
We’ve had our ups and downs, but all of that plays in to shaping the kind of people we are today, and the life we have together.
I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I love you, Kelly. Happy Anniversary.
June 04, 2006
On the "silence" of God
It was not God who failed during the Holocaust or in the Gulag, or on 9/11, or in Bosnia. It is not God who fails when human beings do barbaric things to other human beings. Auschwitz is not what happens when the God who says “Thou shalt not murder” and “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” is silent. It is what happens when men and women refuse to listen.
May 16, 2006
See what He sees
Here is what it comes down to: God looks at us and sees what He can make us into. We look in the mirror and see our flaws. We see our shortcomings. We see our mistakes. But God sees us and says, “I see what you can be.”
[Free registration required to see archives at Harvest Online.]
April 16, 2006
He's Alive
Today is Resurrection Day. Today is nearly over. It’s taken me this long to come up with something to say about this day, the greatest day of the year. This is the day Christians celebrate something no other faith can claim: the resurrection of our Savior.
So I thought I would finish the day the same way I started it. One of my favorite albums is Don Francisco’s The Live Concert, which he closes with the song “He’s Alive”, sung from Peter’s perspective. This was the song that was running through my head as I showered this morning, getting ready for church. You can download a MP3 to listen along.
He’s Alive
The gates and doors were barred
And all the windows fastened down
I spent the night in sleeplessness
And rose at every sound
Half in hopeless sorrow
And half in fear the day
Would find the soldiers breakin’ through
To drag us all away
And just before the sunrise
I heard something at the wall
The gate began to rattle
And a voice began to call
I hurried to the window
Looked down into the street
Expecting swords and torches
And the sound of soldiers’ feet
But there was no one there but Mary
So I went down to let her in
John stood there beside me
As she told us where she’d been
She said they’ve moved Him in the night
None of us knows where
The stone’s been rolled away
And now His body isn’t there
We both ran toward the garden
Then John ran on ahead
We found the stone and the empty tomb
Just the way that Mary said
But the winding sheet they wrapped Him in
Was just an empty shell
How or where they’d taken Him
Was more than I could tell
Something strange had happened there
But just what I did not know
John believed a miracle
But I just turned to go
Circumstance and speculation
Couldn’t lift me very high
‘Cause I’d seen them crucify Him
Then I saw Him die
Back inside the house again
The guilt and anguish came
Everything I’d promised Him
Just added to my shame
‘Cause when at last it came to choices
I denied I knew His name
And even if He was alive
It wouldn’t be the same
Suddenly the air was filled
With a strange and sweet perfume
Light that came from everywhere
Drove shadows from the room
Jesus stood before me
With His arms held open wide
I fell down on my knees
And just clung to Him and cried
He raised me to my feet
As I looked into His eyes
Love was shining out from Him
Like sunlight from the skies
Guilt in my confusion
Dissappeared in sweet release
And every fear I’d ever had
Just melted into peace
He’s alive! He’s alive!
He’s alive and I’m forgiven
Heaven’s gates are open wide
He’s alive! He’s alive!
He’s alive and I’m forgiven
Heaven’s gates are open wide
He’s alive! He’s alive!
He’s alive and I’m forgiven
Heaven’s gates are open wide
He’s alive! He’s alive!
He’s alive!
Today we celebrated Resurrection Day, more commonly known as Easter. The difference is that every day is Easter. Every day is Resurrection Day, because our God is alive.
“He’s Alive” Copyright © 1977 Don Francisco / Rocky Mountain Ministries
January 31, 2006
Amazing Grace
At least one local news station is acknowledging that a baby is a baby before the child is born:
A local baby made medical history by becoming the first in the world to undergo a unique heart surgery before she was even born.
[…]
Performing a procedure that had never been done anywhere in the world, doctors sliced a hole in Grace’s grape-sized heart and propped it open with a stint. Then, 13 days later she was born naturally.
January 16, 2006
Crossroads Podcast
So three months ago, I sent an e-mail to our pastor, inquiring if the church was looking in to offering his sermons in MP3 format, rather than the Real and WMP formats found on the church’s site. Tim, not being, in his words, a “tech guy”, informed me that a couple of the more technologically-inclined associate pastors, along with some volunteers, were looking in to it. I was taking a class under Dave, one of the aforementioned associate pastors, and he told me they were working on getting the sermons encoded, and even looking at signing up in the podcast section of the iTunes Music Store.
Two days ago, I thought to go take a look at the downloads page, and the podcast is now available. You can also subscribe from the iTMS, if you prefer.
The current line-up includes the full Galatians series we closed out the year with, and I highly recommend it. The Quest for Reality series is what we’re working through now, and are only two weeks in. Download and give a listen; I really think you’ll enjoy Tim’s teaching.
January 01, 2006
Happy New Year
For New Year’s Eve, my wife and I went out to dinner, toddler in tow. Over our meal we toasted the new year, praying it would be better than 2005, which was better than 2004, which was only slightly worse than 2003.
My prayer for my family, my friends, and you, dear reader, is that 2006 is a better year for you as well. God bless, and be God’s.
December 21, 2005
Are you Herod?
In today’s devotional (free registration required), Greg Laurie talks about King Herod, and how disturbed he was by what he heard from the wise men of the East.
The word “troubled” used in Matthew 2:3 means, “agitated, stirred up, shaken up.” Herod was shaken. Whenever Herod was stressed out, everyone was stressed out, because when Herod sensed there was a rival to his throne, he would start having people killed. By bitter experience, people knew that if Herod suspected a threat to his power, heads would roll. Literally. Herod viewed the dignitaries’ announcement as a threat to his kingdom. So he sent word to have this so-called King of the Jews killed.
There are a lot of people like Herod today. They will not allow anyone or anything to interfere with their career, their lifestyle, or their plans. They see Jesus as a threat to all of that. They don’t mind celebrating the birth of Jesus, as long as He stays in the manger as a baby. There are OK with God, as long as He stays out their lives. But like Herod, they miss what they have been searching for all along.
November 24, 2005
Happy Thanksgiving
Despite the financial hardships and the extended family dysfunctional, I have an incredible amount of things to be thankful for again this year. I pray you do, too.
“It is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favors.” —George Washington, Thanksgiving Proclamation, 3 October 1789
November 23, 2005
Puritans, the Sabbath, and Whole Foods
Jeff Jacoby notes how Whole Foods is being restricted from opening its doors in Massachusetts on Thanksgiving. The law cited by the Bay State’s attorney general is a holdover from the old, puritanical Blue Laws. Blue laws have long been a subject of liberty in our country, and I would posit their usage is in direct opposition to the freedom Christians should have in their Savior.
First, the Puritans got it wrong with regard to the Sabbath, since the Blue Laws had to do with conduct on Sunday. Sunday is not, and has never been, the Sabbath. That falls to Saturday, the last day of the week. Sure, the Seventh-day Adventist Church, and certain Baptists, and other Sabbath-keepers get that part right, but that doesn’t make their legalistic view of the day of worship right. Not since Christ has come.
Second, the keeping of the Sabbath, one of the Ten Commandments, was part of the covenant God made with the nation of Israel. Not with all of mankind, but solely with the nation of Israel. In other words, unless you chose to believe in the God of Moses, the God of the Torah, you were not bound by the Law. This holds true to this day, including Christians.
Jesus said, “I have not come to abolish them [the Law] but to fulfill them.”. So even if you do believe we were all once under the Law of Moses, if you believe that Jesus was who He said He was, that He is the Son of God, then you should believe we are no longer living under the Law, but rather solely in the grace of our Lord and Savior.
Do you really think God cares what you do on Saturday or Sunday? Does God want you to take a day to worship Him? Of course. But for a Christian, anything and any time can be worship to God. When one becomes a Christian, one is accepting in to their heart the Spirit of the risen Christ. We are indwelt, and the true Christian life is one of not trying to abide by a bunch of rules to make ourselves appealing to God, but rather allowing God to live through us in our daily lives. So your entire life could be one long worship of the Father. Still being imperfect beings, we know that isn’t the case, but the potential is there.
Does God want you to take a day of rest? Of course. He set the example Himself. But in Christ, the day of the week for you to take is up to you. Christians worship on Sunday, the first day of the week, because the early Church wanted to distinguish itself from Judaism. Our pastor works on Sunday, and I’m sure his Saturday is spent in preparation for the next day, so when is he supposed to take his rest, according to the Law? (For the record, Tim’s stated his day of rest is on Monday; he doesn’t keep office hours, and the other ministers handle any needed visitations.)
Because He came to fulfill the Law, Jesus told us how we should live: love the Lord God with all of our heart, mind, and spirit, and love our neighbors as ourselves. I’ve looked through the New Testament, and I don’t see anything in there about not conducting business on Sunday. Or Thanksgiving, for that matter.
We don’t have the problem of grocery stores not being open on Thanksgiving here in Texas. For one, Whole Foods competitor, Sprouts, will be open in our town from 8 AM to 3 PM, for precisely the reason Whole Foods notes in Jacoby’s column: in case people need last-minute items. I’m not sure if it’s an all-volunteer effort, as is the case with Whole Foods, but that’s not really the point.
Blue laws have never had their place in the lives of those who truly understand their New Testament. If car dealerships want to be open on Sunday, they should be. If Whole Foods wants to be open on Thanksgiving, they should be, in Massachusetts as well as anywhere else.
October 27, 2005
Science or Indoctrination?
Every day, non-natural explanations are pooh-poohed IN SCIENCE CLASSROOMS. It’s a rigged game. One side is getting all the calls. That’s why the ID stratagem of “teach the controversy” is ultimately going to win out in school districts and the courts. It’s simple fairness AND objectively accurate AND in keeping with the true scientific enterprise of being objective about reality. I do think it should stop there. Creationism should NOT be taught in science class. But do teach kids how to think…that’s why science class without some critical thinking skills attached is not really education. It’s “what the teacher says is true.” That’s a bit scary.
October 16, 2005
Good question
James Scott Bell (hey, I just discovered his blog, okay?):
Which brings up the question: is anybody out there really listening to all this? Or is the blogosphere a big shouting match, with a few loud voices, but mostly just a lot of chattering away no one hears?
This Just In
James Scott Bell notes the results of an interesting Gallup poll question.
October 07, 2005
Where's your enthusiasm and effort going?
John Papanek, the editorial director of ESPN New Media, referring to sports fans congregating together:
“There’s nothing more communal that human beings do, outside of worship — and sometimes it’s hard to tell the two apart.”
I’ve heard from more than one pastor something along the lines of, “If Christians put as much enthusiasm and effort as they do in to cheering on their favorite sports teams, what a real difference the Church could be making in this world.” Reading Papanek’s comment reminded me of that.
August 22, 2005
Whither an open inquiry?
David Limbaugh ponders why the scientific community seems determined to slam the door on the debate of intelligent design:
Consider what Harvard chemistry professor David Liu said about Harvard University’s plan to spend $1 million annually toward research concerning the origin of life. “My expectation,” said Liu, “is that we will be able to reduce this to a very simple series of logical events that could have taken place with no divine intervention.”
Liu’s statement is a tacit admission that Darwinists (used loosely here to include all scientific materialists) have yet to demonstrate the origin of life but nevertheless still fervently hold to their rigid presupposition that only a natural explanation is conceivable. That life began without intelligent causes is thus dutifully accepted without question and merely awaits the inevitable confirming evidence.
So held to their own standards, isn’t the Darwinists’ presupposition that life began without design unscientific? At the very least it requires as much faith as ID could conceivably require. Darwinists haven’t even been able to prove, through empirical testing or otherwise, the evolution of existing species to others by Darwinian mechanisms.
August 16, 2005
Nothing worth having is ever easy
This is what Rebecca Hagelin reminds us:
The greatest gift we can give our children is to let them know that there is a God who loves them and knows them by name. We must teach our sons and daughters that the God of the Universe is intensely interested and familiar with every aspect of their lives and wants what is best for them. Today’s culture teaches even the young child that he is here by accident, and that he is just another creature on a big, impersonal planet, no different from any other animal. It’s no wonder that kids today are experiencing depression and loneliness in record numbers.
[…]
A few years ago the mantra was, “It’s quality time, not quantity time, that counts.” WRONG! Kids need a good dose of both from their parents. If we think we can spend one great hour a day with our kids and counteract the negative garbage they’re getting from the culture “24/7,” we’re fooling ourselves.
August 10, 2005
On proving God
I had studied biblical worldview for years and believed that I could prove beyond a doubt that the biblical worldview is the only one that is rational, the only one that conforms to the truth of the way the world is made. But that led to a spiritual crisis of sorts, when one morning in my quiet time I realized that while I could prove all of this, I could not prove who God was. I began to worry: When this life was over, would I really meet Him?
Some weeks later, as I describe in my new book The Good Life, it hit me that if I could prove God, I could not know Him. The reason is that, just as He tells us, He wants us to come like little children with faith. If you could resolve all intellectual doubts, there would be no need for faith. You would then know God the same way that you know the tree in the garden outside your home. You would look at it, know it is there, and that’s it, as Thomas Aquinas once said.
Faith is necessary because without it you cannot love God. So as I said to Dr. Flew, if you could prove God, you couldn’t love Him, which is His whole purpose in creating you.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t want a God I can fit in a box, which is what so many people seem to want. We want God in a box, where we can peek in and see Him, talk to Him, then close the box back up. We want a God that is like us, because we can understand “us.”
I know me, and I want a God that is so much more than me. I need a God that is beyond my understanding, because what good is it to follow and worship a god who is no better than we are? The God of the Bible, through the salvation He offers in His Son, Jesus the Christ, is the only God that fits the bill.
June 03, 2005
May 11, 2005
Plausibility in scientific explanations
I am admittedly non-committal about accepting the current incarnation of ID theory. Whether it is sufficient as an explanatory research program or whether it will morph into a more fruitful line of inquiry remains to be seen. What should appear obvious, at least to anyone who hasn’t built a plausibility structure that excludes design explanations, is that a design inference is the best possible explanation for a systematic and coherent explanation of the physical universe. From the creation of the universe to the development of consciousness in humans, the role of a designer seems to be readily apparent. All it takes is a willingness to look at the evidence objectively.
Naturalism, on the other hand, is a plausibility structure for the near-sighted. Only by squinting, focusing on details, and ignoring the periphery can it be considered an adequate explanation. Pay close attention to microevolution but ignore the origins of life. Examine random fluctuations in astrophysics but don’t ask what was behind the Big Bang. And whenever the anthropic principle or the language-like structure of the genetic code is pointed out, wave hands wildly to distract attention. Is it any wonder that purely naturalistic explanations are losing their credibility with the general public?
April 04, 2005
Andrew Manzione, your father is looking for you
John Manzione is trying to locate his son Andrew, with whom he has had no contact in 18 years. If you know Andrew, or if for some reason Andrew is reading this, here is John’s e-mail address.
March 24, 2005
The Foolishness of the Cross
David R. Nichols, from Decision’s Devotional of 22 March:
At Easter many Christians would rather ponder the Resurrection than the Cross, because to them the Resurrection is God’s greatest display of power. But in the words of the Apostle Paul, “The cross is … the power of God‚” (1 Corinthians 1:18, NIV). It is wisdom out of foolishness. It is a reversal of human expectations concerning religion and a relationship with God.
The Cross is still the symbol that embodies the shock value of this fact: God became a Man and was willing to die for us. Because it reverses human sensibility and noble intentions, the Cross can guarantee results only on its own terms. The terms of the Cross are simple: unconditional surrender. Because God the Son was willing to enter into an unconditional surrender to a death that He did not deserve, He sets the pace for a unique revelation of God. He provides this for human beings who deserve judgment. Jesus, unlike many human leaders, did not tell His followers to do something that He was unwilling to do. He tells us to do what He was willing to do: Go to the Cross.
At the Cross we find that we must repent, because unlike Jesus, who was sinless in Himself, we are sinful. In repentance we die to the love of sin and are liberated to live lives of victory in Christ. It is then that we can truly appreciate the glory and the power of the Resurrection. That is how the foolishness of the Cross becomes the power of God.
March 22, 2005
Whose fool are you?
Despite its biases and other shortcomings, the mainstream media tends to be more self-correcting than we give it credit for being. Most journalists are, in fact, hard-working, honest folks who strive to acheive the peculiar goal of “objectivity.” And even those who are less that virtuous realize the cost of missing out on a story because of preconceptions about religion (i.e., the “values vote” during the last election). It is due to these tendencies that the media has begun to take religion more seriously.
That can’t be good.
Like the tares that grow with the wheat, dysfunctional theological ideas inevitably grow alongside orthodox doctrine. Combine such aberrant views with the natural sinful nature of man and it’s not surprising that religiously based atrocities occur with alarming regularity. It is a frustrating state of affairs that can be reduced but never eliminated. As Christians, we must never fail to denounce such evils and clarify how they subvert the true Word.
March 14, 2005
I don't read the papers, either
As a Christian, I’m expected to take an eternal perspective, viewing events not just in their historical but in their eschatological context. But I can’t do that while focusing on the churning events in the last 24 hours. Events that are truly important are rarely those captured on the front page of a daily paper. As Malcolm Muggeridge, himself a journalist, admitted, “I’ve often thought…that if I’d been a journalist in the Holy Land at the time of our Lord’s ministry, I should have spent my time looking into what was happening in Herod’s court. I’d be wanting to sign Salome for her exclusive memoirs, and finding out what Pilate was up to, and…I would have missed completely the most important event there ever was.”
My wife and I often have conversations over dinner or while driving about the “news.” She hits Yahoo! during the day to pick up on what has been deemed newsworthy, and she usually watches at least one local news program a night, generally the ten o’clock edition. Thinking back on these conversations, and specifically the items discussed, I have to agree with Joe’s premise that very little of what passes for news actually is newsworthy. Most of it I could care less about, especially a week or two after the fact.
As a matter of fact, just this evening, Lee, in an IM, asked me if I had heard about Cameron Diaz’s head injury. He linked to the story on Yahoo!, and off I clicked. She fell off a chest of drawers while trying to put some camping equipment up on a shelf, and boyfriend Justin Timberlake found her later, unconscious, bleeding from the head. She had to have 19 stitches. I just gave you all the pertinent facts, and I’m sure many of you are having the same thoughts I had: So?
This is the kind of nonsense that has been deemed newsworthy, because the 24-hour news cycle has to report something to justify its existence, when most of us would be perfectly happy if the 24-hour news cycle simply evaporated. (This is where you can blame Ted Turner for the 24-hour news cycle, should you care to. And to think I got to use the phrase “24-hour news cycle” four times in a single paragraph.)
In the grand scheme, I could care less that Cameron Diaz smacked herself in the head on a chest of drawers. This is no more newsworthy than if my dentist smacked himself in the head on a chest of drawers. I would care quite a bit more if my dentist had injured himself, as I personally know the man, and care for him, at the least on a professional doctor-patient level, and more so on a human-being-that-I-know level. I’m quite sure there are lots of people who personally know Ms. Diaz who are greatly concerned about her welfare, and thank the Lord for placing people in her life who sincerely care for her. But this doesn’t change the fact that her accident has little to no bearing on my personal increase of knowledge and wisdom.
To put this in to more of a Christian perspective, I would say that I only care about Ms. Diaz’s incident in light that I hope it may open a door for her to reconcile herself with God. I admit to not knowing the condition of any person’s soul, and can only infer from observation. Having done so, Ms. Diaz, like many in the entertainment industry, does not appear to have a personal relationship with the Lord. Perhaps this accident, which, let’s admit, could have ended her life, will provide an opportunity for her to listen to that knocking on her heart’s door. So I will say a prayer for Ms. Diaz, and one for the scores of others who may have almost lost their lives today, but didn’t make the news.
Fear of the same
There are few words in the English language more contrived and worthless than “homophobia.” Combing the Greek prefix “homo” and the suffix “phobia” should give us a term meaning “fear of the same.” Instead it is used in reference to a fear of homosexuals, a definition that is at best imprecise and at worst completely absurd.