The IM Saturday Brunch: Nov 18, 2017 — Thanksgiving Edition

THE INTERNET MONK SATURDAY BRUNCH

”It is talk-compelling. It puts you in a good temper, it makes you satisfied with yourself and your fellow beings, it sweeps away the worries and cobwebs of the week.”

• • •

THANKSGIVING 2017 UPDATES

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MUSEUM OF THE BIBLE OPENS IN D.C.

The $500 million Museum of the Bible opened in Washington, D.C. this week.

Here’s a report from the Washington Times:

Organizers said they designed the 3,100-object museum for people of any faith tradition or none at all, keeping exhibits light on evangelism and heavy on education.

“We’re nonsectarian, which means that we want to be a comfortable place for anybody — faith, no faith, we don’t care who it is,” museum President Cary Summers said Wednesday at the facility. “Come in and enjoy and walk away and say, ‘I learned something about the Bible while I was here.’”

The three major exhibits — on the stories, history and impact of the Bible — employ impressive audiovisual effects to immerse museum visitors in the worlds of the Old and New Testaments.

…William Lazenby, director of research with the museum design firm PRD Group, which helped design the exhibitions on the Bible’s history, said his goal was to “tell the biography of the Bible.”

“We look at it through the lenses of time, technology and culture, trying to tell the story of the Bible from something that was initially accessible to very few people in just a single language, to what’s grown into something that is near-universally accessible in hundreds and even thousands of languages,” Mr. Lazenby said.

Some of the museum’s most impressive objects include Dead Sea Scrolls fragments that date to the middle of the first century B.C. Also on display is Julia Ward Howe’s original draft of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” which contains biblical language and is included to demonstrate the Bible’s influence on American history.

The above pictures are from this tour at History.

The $500 million project was paid for with private contributions — most notably from the Green family of Hobby Lobby. Admission is free.

The museum has its critics. Here are a couple:

And here’s an article that remarks about how hard the museum tries to be non-controversial, but wonders if it that’s even possible.

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COMEDY WILDLIFE PHOTO AWARDS

These are good for a few smiles. Enjoy some of the finalists for this year’s awards:

• • •

INTERESTING NEWS FROM THE WEEK…

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (USA Today) — A man accidentally shot himself and his wife at an east Tennessee church while he was showing off his gun during a discussion on recent church shootings, police said.


FAROE ISLANDS (Mashable) The Faroe Islands, an archipelago between the Norwegian Sea and the North Atlantic, didn’t have Google street view, but they wanted to. So they strapped 360-degree cameras on the backs of sheep to make their own.

THE INDEPENDENT: It’s the news that Grinches everywhere have been waiting for: overdosing on festive music is officially bad for your mental health. Not least because of the clangy harmonies and insipid lyrics that make Christmas haters want to say “bah humbug” at every smiling passer-by in a bobble hat. It turns out that Christmas songs actually stop us from being able to focus on anything other than mince pies and mistletoe.

• • •

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE “THANKSGIVING” MOVIE?

The Thanksgiving holiday has given filmmakers abundant material for their craft, since it brings together groups of interesting people, families, and strangers around a common table, producing plenty of drama, conflict, and opportunity for character and story development.

Here’s one of my favorite Thanksgiving movie scenes of all time, from Woody Allen’s film “Broadway Danny Rose,” It kind of reminds me of church, starting with the crazy characters who come together at Danny’s house each Thanksgiving for frozen turkeys — the stuttering ventriloquist, the blind xylophonist, the balloon folder, the lady who plays the water glasses, and the woman with piano playing birds. Somehow, there’s an inexplicable bond of grace and hospitality we who are broken share with one another, along with the “pastor” who feels like a failure but truly cares for and believes in all the “losers” (like himself) who gather around. Finally, we meet the sinner who has a hard time fitting in, and the ultimate triumph of Uncle Sidney’s famous saying: acceptance, forgiveness, and love.

It brings a tear and a smile every time I see Danny running down the street to catch Tina in front of the Carnegie Deli, to bring her back for Thanksgiving dinner with his friends.

Blessed are the misfits; there is always a place for them at heaven’s table.

Note: The clip includes the film credits; skip them if you like (though the music is touching).

• • •

THANKSGIVING FOR THE NON-BELIEVING AND BELIEVING

Some humanists, atheists, agnostics and other non-religious individuals want you to know that they are thankful too this Thanksgiving.

“Thanksgiving is a uniquely secular holiday, as gratitude is a universal human emotion,” said Roy Speckhardt, executive director of the American Humanist Association. “This special day of the year is a chance for humanists and other nontheists to express gratitude to their friends and loved ones.”

“The humanist worldview is one that celebrates life,” said Rebecca Hale, president of the American Humanist Association and a Humanist Celebrant. “Because this is the only life that we have, we must constantly practice gratitude toward the people who make our life meaningful and the compassion and love that we experience. By doing so, we can appreciate not only what we have but also strive to make the world a better place for those less fortunate.”

Here is an example of a Thanksgiving Prayer (2016) by Dan Blinn at The Humanist:

We are grateful to be
In a universe in which stars
Are born and over time will die
Giving forth the elements of everything.

We are grateful to be
On a planet orbiting a star
Just close enough that water
Can course over land in oceans, rivers, and streams.

We are grateful to be
In a climate where rainfall
And sunlight both are delivered
In just the right measures for plants to grow.

We are grateful to be
The descendants of life
That began very simply but
Over eons of time developed to great complexity.

We are grateful to be
Members of a species that
Against all odds has developed
The means to understand who and what we are.

We are grateful to be
Members of a society that
Grants us the freedom in which we
May dream of the things that we might become.

We are grateful to be
Among others whom we love
And who love us and support us
Helping us to find meaning and purpose in life.

We are grateful to be
Able to share in a harvest feast
But, first among all of our blessings
We are grateful to be.

For those of us who come to the table with Christian faith, I can’t think of a better Thanksgiving prayer than this general thanksgiving from the Book of Common Prayer:

Accept, O Lord, our thanks and praise for all that you have
done for us. We thank you for the splendor of the whole
creation, for the beauty of this world, for the wonder of life,
and for the mystery of love.

We thank you for the blessing of family and friends, and for
the loving care which surrounds us on every side.

We thank you for setting us at tasks which demand our best
efforts, and for leading us to accomplishments which satisfy
and delight us.

We thank you also for those disappointments and failures
that lead us to acknowledge our dependence on you alone.

Above all, we thank you for your Son Jesus Christ; for the
truth of his Word and the example of his life; for his steadfast
obedience, by which he overcame temptation; for his dying,
through which he overcame death; and for his rising to life
again, in which we are raised to the life of your kingdom.

Grant us the gift of your Spirit, that we may know him and
make him known; and through him, at all times and in all
places, may give thanks to you in all things. Amen.

Another Look: The overwhelming giftedness and goodness of life

Dream Pools. Photo by Ian Sane

It doesn’t get any more basic than this.

Here is foundational perspective for life, from a master wonderer and wordsmith.

We wake up each morning to a world we did not make. How did it get here? How did we get here? We open our eyes and see that “old bowling ball the sun” careen over the horizon. We wiggle our toes. A mocking bird takes off and improvises on themes set down by robins, vireos, and wrens, and we marvel at the intricacies. The smell of frying bacon works its way into our nostrils and we begin anticipating buttered toast, scrambled eggs, and coffee freshly brewed from our favorite Javanese beans.

There is so much here — around, above, below, inside, outside. Even with the help of poets and scientists we can account for very little of it. We notice this, then that. We start exploring the neighborhood. We try this street, and then that one. We venture across the tracks. Before long we are looking out through telescopes and down into microscopes, curious, fascinated by this endless proliferation of sheer Is-ness — color and shape and texture and sound.

After awhile we get used to it and quit noticing. We get narrowed down into something small and constricting. Somewhere along the way this exponential expansion of awareness, this wide-eyed looking around, this sheer untaught delight in what is here, reverses itself: the world contracts; we are reduced to a life of routine through which we sleepwalk.

But not for long. Something always shows up to jar us awake: a child’s question, a fox’s sleek beauty, a sharp pain, a pastor’s sermon, a fresh metaphor, an artist’s vision, a slap in the face, scent from a crushed violet. We are again awake, alert, in wonder: how did this happen? And why this? Why anything at all? Why nothing at all?

Gratitude is our spontaneous response to all this: to life. Something wells up within us: Thank you! More often than not, the thank you is directed to God even by those who don’t believe in him. . . .

Wonder. Astonishment. Adoration. There can’t be very many of us for whom the sheer fact of existence hasn’t rocked us back on our heels. We take off our sandals before the burning bush. We catch our breath at the sight of a plummeting hawk. “Thank you, God.” We find ourselves in a lavish existence in which we feel a deep sense of kinship — we belong here; we say thanks with our lives to life. And not just “Thanks” or “Thank it,” but “Thank you.” Most of the people who have lived on this planet earth have identified this you with God or gods. This is not just a matter of learning our manners, the way children are taught to say thank you as a social grace. It is the cultivation of adequateness within ourselves to the nature of reality, developing the capacity to sustain an adequate response to the overwhelming giftedness and goodness of life.

• Eugene Peterson
Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places, p. 51f

I find two sentences especially striking as I read this passage now.

“We wake up each morning to a world we did not make.”

“After awhile we get used to it and quit noticing.”

Note to self: Today, stop. Listen to the silence. Pay attention. See where that leads . . .

• • •

Photo by Ian Sane at Flickr. Creative Commons License

Evolution: Scripture and Nature say Yes!  Chapter 6- Moving Beyond the Evolution vs. Creation Debate

Evolution: Scripture and Nature Say Yes!
Chapter 6- Moving Beyond the Evolution vs. Creation Debate

By Denis O. Lamoureux

In this chapter Denis asserts that there are at least five basic positions on the origin of the universe and life.  So we don’t have to be locked into only two positions and “either-or” thinking.  They are:

  1. Young earth creation
  2. Progressive creation
  3. Evolutionary creation
  4. Deistic evolution
  5. Dysteleological evolution

He notes that the topic of origins is not limited to these 5, but he feels these are the best-known categories familiar to evangelical Christians in North America; his target audience.  The chapter is summarized in Denis’ Figure 6-1, which I have re-created here.  Denis then gives a summary of each position.

Figure 6-1. Positions on the Origin of the Universe and Life

Young Earth Creationism

Young earth creationism (YEC) believes God created the entire cosmos and every plant and animal in just six 24-hour days only 6,000 years ago.   They embrace scientific concordism and believe Genesis 1 gives a true scientific description that is accurate.  They reject cosmological, geological, and biological evolution and insist there is no actual scientific evidence to support them.  Typically, surveys among Americans claiming to be born-again-Christians show nearly 90% believe the world was created in one week and Genesis 1 is “literally true, meaning that it happened that way word-for-word”.

They believe that the majority of Christians throughout history hold that position.  They believe that Jesus himself confirms a strict literal meaning when he said, in responding to his critics in Matthew 19:4-5, the Lord asks: “Haven’t you read that at the beginning the Creator made them male and female”, and said, “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two shall be one flesh?”  Paul also confirms a literal reading when in Romans 5 he draws parallels to Adam and Christ.

Progressive Creation

Progressive creationists accept that the universe is 13.8 billion years old and the earth is 4.5 billion years old.  They believe that God created life sequentially by introducing different organisms at different times.  This view is also known as “old earth creation” or “day-age creation”.  They claim the “days” of Genesis 1 are actually long ages.  They hold that God used natural processes to create the inanimate aspects of the universe but living organisms were created by special miraculous interventions.

The best known proponent of progressive creation is Hugh Ross and his organization is Reasons to Believe .  He is an astronomer but still believes in scientific concordism.

Their mission statement is:

RTB’s mission is to spread the Christian Gospel by demonstrating that sound reason and scientific research—including the very latest discoveries—consistently support, rather than erode, confidence in the truth of the Bible and faith in the personal, transcendent God revealed in both Scripture and nature.

Ross’ main sidekick is Dr. Fazale “Fuz” Rana. Rana is a biochemist and does most of the heavy lifting with respect to biological evolution for the organization.

Evolutionary Creation

Evolutionary creationists believe God created the universe and life through the natural process of evolution.  The world did not arise from blind chance and our existence is not a fluke.  It was the Creator’s plan from the beginning to make a world featuring men and women who bear the image of God.  It is, of course, Denis’ position, and he says this about it:

This origins position is sometimes known as “theistic evolution”.  Personally, I don’t care for this term because it makes the noun “evolution” the most important category; and it turns the Greek noun theos, meaning “God” into merely a secondary adjective.  I find such an inversion in the priority of words to be completely unacceptable.  God is never subordinate to any scientific theory.

Evolutionary Creationists believe that the Creator ordains and sustains all natural processes in the world, including the evolutionary process.  This view of origins endorses the sciences of cosmological evolution, geological evolution, and biological evolution.  Therefore, these Christians believe that evolution is teleological.  It is planned and purposeful, and it has a final goal—the creation of men and women to have a personal relationship with the Lord.

Denis believes that the Embryology-Evolution Analogy is very helpful in appreciating how evolution can be seen as God’s method of creating life and us.  Your typical American evangelical has no problem accepting the gradual biologic process beginning with conception that leads to the “creation” of a new and unique human person.  They realize that Psalm 139:13 “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb” doesn’t mean every person is created by a supernatural intervention.  No does the gradual natural biologic process of embryology mean that God didn’t create each and every person.  Denis also says this about evolutionary creation and the spiritual life:

The analogy between embryology and evolution also assists evolutionary creationists to appreciate the appearance of our spiritual characteristics during human evolution.  Through our own personal development, each of us began to bear the Image of God, became morally accountable, and then committed sinful acts against our Creator and other humans. In a somewhat similar fashion, prehumen ancestors became fully human when they were given God’s Image and made morally responsible.  And like each of us, every one of them began to sin.

Deistic Evolution

Deism is the belief in an impersonal god.  The deistic god is not involved in the lives of men and women.  He never reveals himself personally through scripture, prayer, or miracles.  Deists claim that God started the process of evolution with the Big Bang and then stepped away from the universe.  The deistic god is also known as “The Watchmaker God” from the idea that he wound up the universe like a clock and lets it run down on its own without ever entering it.

Deism grew out of the Enlightenment and rationalism and flowered especially in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century.  Many of the leaders of the French and American revolutions followed this belief system, including John Quincy Adams, Ethan Allen, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Thomas Paine, and George Washington.  Many direct quotes from these Founders substantiate this claim.  Matthew Tindal’s Christianity as Old as the Creation  and Thomas Paine’s The Age of Reason  are considered the defining texts of deism.  In the Jefferson Bible, Thomas Jefferson excised all reference to the miraculous.  In a letter to Reverend Charles Clay , he described his results:

“Probably you have heard me say I had taken the four Evangelists, had cut out from them every text they had recorded of the moral precepts of Jesus, and arranged them in a certain order; and although they appeared but as fragments, yet fragments of the most sublime edifice of morality which had ever been exhibited to man”.

It is common for YEC and Progressive Creationist to accuse theistic evolutionists or evolutionary creationist of deism.

Dysteleological Evolution

Dysteleological evolution is Denis’ term for evolution from the atheist’s viewpoint.  He says:

Dysteleological evolutionists claim that the universe and life evolved only through blind chance without any plan or purpose whatsoever.  Regrettably, many people today believe that this atheistic interpretation of evolution is the evolutionist position and held by all scientists.  Dysteleologists assert that humans are nothing but an unintended spin-off of biological evolution.  In other words, our existence is just an accident and a mistake.  These evolutionists believe that there is no ultimate right or wrong and that life is ultimately meaningless… God is merely a figment of human imagination… the Bible is just a fairy tale… Miracles like Jesus rising from the grave after his death are said to be nothing but fantasies concocted by wishful thinking.

Denis asserts his summary as illustrated in Figure 6-1 demonstrates that there are more than just two simple positions on origins.  He says it proves that the so-called “evolution” vs. “creation” debate is misguided and a mistake; the debate is a false dichotomy.  The figure demonstrates that there are at least four different types of creationists and three kinds of evolutionists.  Two views of origins believe in God AND accept evolution.  Three positions are Christian positions on origins—young earth creation, progressive creation, and evolutionary creation.  In Denis’ opinion, the key to understanding the origins debate is biblical interpretation.  The assumption held by most Christians is that Scripture features scientific concordism and that’s why they reject evolution.

Well, dear readers, do you think Denis framed the issues well?

Is his Figure 6-1 a useful illustration that leads one away from a simple dichotomy?

I’d be interested to hear from atheists if you think Denis was being fair or polemical.

Same question to any YECs, is Denis fair to the other positions, or he is slanted in this presentation?

My Evangelical Hangover: Praying for Stuff

Don’t worry about anything;
instead, pray about everything.

• Philippians 4:6 (NLT)

• • •

My Evangelical Hangover
Praying for Stuff

Hi. I’m Mike and for a long time I lived and served in the world of evangelicalism. Now I practice my faith in the Lutheran tradition (the original “evangelicals”). But I’m talking about American Evangelicalism. I followed the path of others who “went into ministry” in the generation when “evangelicalism” became a thing here in the U.S.

I was “saved” in the Jesus movement, “discipled” in youth group, “equipped” in a non-denominational Bible college, “called” to be a pastor, “worshiped” to “Contemporary Christian Music (CCM),” further “equipped” in an evangelical seminary, and I served in non-denominational churches that emphasized a “church growth/church planting/discipling” model.

I’ve written about this many times here, and about why I eventually left the culture of evangelicalism. But you know the old saying about not being able to take the country out of the boy. I appreciate much of my evangelical heritage, but I also have plenty of “hangovers” from those days — angst and guilt and doubt and questions about whether I’m “following the Lord” in one area of my life or another.

Take prayer.

The churches I attended and pastored were the kinds that had regular “prayer meetings” on the schedule. Usually Wednesday nights. A few persistent souls gathered to have a short devotional study (10% of the meeting), share “prayer requests” (80%), and pray intercessory prayers on behalf of those with needs (10%). When these meetings became less and less attended, there were always those who saw this as a sign of impending doom. People just weren’t committed to prayer anymore. Dagnabit.

We also had, or were encouraged to have, regular personal “devotions.” A meeting with God each day to hear him speak through the Bible and to speak to him in prayer. We were encouraged to keep our own “prayer lists” of intercessory needs to pray through regularly, from our own “walk with God” to our families to missionaries in the farthest flung places around the globe.

Praying was an integral part of my evangelical life, well, at least in the sense that we talked about it all the time and deemed it of utmost importance. How much actual praying we did is a mystery to me to this day.

One thing we often talked about with regard to our lives was making decisions. Life, of course, is filled with choices, and in the evangelical community a great premium was placed on getting those decisions right in a way that God would be pleased. And the pertinent question we always asked one another was: Have you prayed about it? We believed that God would provide providential guidance or specific biblical direction about almost any decision you can think of. One key sign of his leading was that the pray-er or group of pray-ers would feel “peace” about the decision.

I always struggled with this. I found prayer, though always practiced in a “spontaneous” and never a “liturgical” manner, to be formulaic, often shallow, unimaginative, and relentlessly repetitive. And there was a whole host of matters that I never felt comfortable praying about.

Which brings me to my hangover today. For those of you who don’t know, we are in the process of trying to sell our house and relocate nearby. I won’t bore you with the details, but let me just say it’s a season of life decision. If we’re going to make a move, this would be a good time in our life to do it. At least the way we see it.

But throughout this process I’ve felt guilty. I haven’t prayed about this. In fact, I can’t make myself pray about this or encourage my wife to sit down with me and devote time to praying together about it. I don’t think it’s appropriate to ask others to pray about this.

In fact, if you pressed me I would probably tell you I don’t think God really cares a fig about this situation. I can’t imagine that God is really concerned about whether we live here or there.

Also, frankly, it’s about as “First World” a problem as I can envision. I can’t define moving as a “need.” Either place would seem like a palace for 80%+ of the world’s population. Our needs would be far more than met in either location.

I don’t know what I would ask God if I did commit the matter to prayer. God, please help us sell our house (for a good price)? God, please help us get this new house (for a good price)? That seems a bit self-indulgent, doesn’t it? A bit like a spoiled child asking for another toy or a bit more candy. God, search my heart and help me know if I’m doing this for the right motives? What motives would those be? We’re just doing what millions of others do — trying to find a place we like that might be well suited for us and our family in the years to come.

Isn’t something like this just a matter of responsibility, stewardship, and common sense wisdom? Is it something that must be prayed about? What would I be trying to do by praying, get God to sign off on it? Get God to “bless” us with what we want? Seek God’s “favor” on our decisions? Do I think God might actually tell me, “Yes, sell this house,” or “No, don’t buy this house?” Seems like a waste of breath and a waste of God’s time.

But I have this evangelical hangover. There’s a voice pounding in my head over and over:

“Have you prayed about it?”

“Why not?”

Another Look: The Great Divide

Hopperstad Stave Church, Norway

To the bath and the table,
To the prayers and the word,
I call every seeking soul.

• Inscribed on a church bell in Wisconsin

* * *

I did a couple of talks at my church recently, discussing my transition from evangelicalism to the Lutheran tradition. As I talked, words from several iMonk commenters came into my mind. A number of you have observed that perhaps the greatest divide in Christendom is between those who take a sacramental view of life, faith, and worship, and those who take a non-sacramentalview. This struck me with new force as I explained my journey.

Gordon Lathrop writes,

This fact [that we need “things” to worship] has often disturbed and offended some Christians. It seems as if we ought to be above such material crutches, as if a gathering come together to speak of God ought to be more spiritual. But that is just the point: for the great Christian tradition, the spiritual is intimately involved with the material, the truth about God inseparable from the ordinary, as inseparable as God was from humanity in Jesus. If these things are crutches, so be it. They will then be for us the very “ford, bridge, door, ship, and stretcher” that Luther said we need. These things will show us something about all things.

– Holy Things: A Liturgical Theology

Once, when I was visiting a woman who had come from an evangelical church to our Lutheran congregation, she complained that we didn’t talk more about the Holy Spirit. On one level she was probably correct. But her concern was not that we failed to name the Third Person of the Trinity often enough. Rather, she was saying we didn’t sufficiently emphasize the supernatural work of the Spirit in our midst. Having lived in both worlds, I understood her point. My answer was, “But remember friend, we experience the supernatural every time we come together for worship. God literally speaks to us from the word. Jesus is present and real when we receive the bread and wine. When we celebrate baptism we are literally witnessing a new birth!”

No church believes in the supernatural more than one that truly practices the sacraments.

Stuff of Life

Lathrop observes that the material things around which the church gathers not only provide a center for our community of faith, they also represent things that have long had a “centering power” among human beings. For example, he speaks of the rich imagery of bread: “…bread unites the fruitful goodness of the earth with the ancient history of human cultivation. Bread represents the earth and the rain, growing grains, sowing and reaping, milling and baking, together with the mystery of yeast, all presented in a single object. This loaf invites the participation of more than one person. In its most usual form, it is food for a group. It implies a community gathered around to eat together, to share in the breaking open of this compressed goodness.”

Bread is the staple food, the fundamental provision that keeps us alive and enables us to overcome famine and death. We pray in humble dependence, “Give us this day our daily bread,”to remember that, despite the affluence many of us enjoy, in the end we live by grace from God’s hands. So with wine, around which we gather in festive joy. And water for washing. And a book filled with words. All invite us to contemplate the essentials of life through the utmost simplicity.

Doorway into the Story

However, there is more. Lathrop, again:

… the business of this assembly will look more than a little silly to us unless we know that the bread and wine, water and words are used here with historical intent. Bread and wine are ancient foods in Israel, figuring in many of the ancient stories and coming to frame the Jewish festive meal in the time of Jesus. Water for washing is important in Israel from the time of the crossing of the Red Sea and the washing and appointing of the newly constituted priests down to the apocalyptic expectations of the Qumran community and of the early Christians. And Israel was a community of the word from the time of the exile, when collecting, writing, and reading the stories and poems, oracles and laws became immensely important to Israel’s very existence. These things at the center of our assembly connect us to that history. The very choice of these things as the communal central symbols arises from that history.

By these means we enter the Story. Simple objects engage our senses and stimulate our imaginations and we find ourselves as though we had picked our way the through the wood, fur, and fabric in Lewis’s wardrobe and entered Narnia. There we remain ourselves and yet we are more, since we are breathing new air, experiencing new adventures, learning new lessons, and becoming what we never thought possible, under the tutelage of that land’s true Ruler.

Where God Meets Us

Thus, the sacramental elements are those “thin places,” those sites in the world where heaven and earth intersect and God himself meets us, inviting us to receive forgiveness and renewal. For these elements all focus on Christ and introduce us to Christ. Where we hear the words, “for you,” from our Host’s mouth, faith awakens within us, faith that reaches out to Jesus to receive a tangible gift of mercy and promise. In the sacraments, God washes us, God feeds us, God’s promises bring us life. They are not our works to be performed, but his gracious gifts to be received because of the work Jesus already did.

Nothing could be more simple, more earthly, more unexpectedly heavenly.

“Surely the Lord is in this place—and I did not know it! How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”

• Gen. 28:16-17

An Invitation to Communion

Recently, I reworked the text we put in our church bulletin each Sunday inviting people to the Lord’s Table. As I have said in our discussions here before, I think that “open” communion is the approach that is most compatible with the faith of Jesus. That is not to deny that the Lord’s Table has a special place in the life of the baptized, merely to say that, just as Jesus fed the multitudes, and even Judas in the upper room, so our guests at church should not be denied a place at the Table, where they can meet Jesus and be encouraged to have faith.

This is the emphasis you will see in the following statement, and I would love to hear your feedback and discussion about it.

• • •

Invitation to Communion

At the table of our Lord Jesus Christ, God nourishes faith, forgives sin, and calls us to be witnesses to the Good News. Here we receive Christ’s body and blood and God’s gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation. We receive these blessings through faith for the strengthening of faith.

Participation in the sacramental meal is by invitation, not demand, however we urge our church members and guests to make the sacrament a frequent rather than an occasional part of their lives.

Communion is primarily a meal for those who are baptized, but all are welcome because it is the Lord’s Table and Jesus invites everyone to come to him. If you have not been baptized, we invite and encourage you to come to Christ in baptism, to learn the faith of the Church, and thereafter to faithfully receive Holy Communion as a member of the church family.

Trinity 22: Cantata & Sermon of the Week

Leaves Alight (2017)

(Click picture for larger image)

• • •

For Trinity 22

Today we hear from one of Bach’s “chamber cantatas,” BWV 89 — “Was soll ich aus dir machen, Ephraim?” (How shall I give you up, Ephraim?). These required only about a dozen performers, and may have given Bach space at various times throughout the church year to work on more elaborate pieces.

The soprano recitative and aria presented here change the mood of the cantata from minor to major and point to Christ’s death as the hope of forgiveness and cleansing.

Well then! My heart lays anger, quarreling and discord aside;
it is ready to forgive my neighbor.
However, how terrified is my sinful life,
since I am full of guilt before God!
Yet Jesus’ blood
accounts for the reckoning,
if I turn to Him, as the source of the law,
in faith.

Righteous God, ah, do you judge?
Then for the salvation of my soul
I will count the drops of blood from Jesus.
Ah! Reckon the total to my account!
Indeed, since no one can fathom it,
it will conceal my guilt and sin.

• • •

Sermon: Edification (1 Thessalonians 2.1-12)

You yourselves know, brothers and sisters, that our coming to you was not in vain, but though we had already suffered and been shamefully maltreated at Philippi, as you know, we had courage in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in spite of great opposition. For our appeal does not spring from deceit or impure motives or trickery, but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the message of the gospel, even so we speak, not to please mortals, but to please God who tests our hearts. As you know and as God is our witness, we never came with words of flattery or with a pretext for greed; nor did we seek praise from mortals, whether from you or from others, though we might have made demands as apostles of Christ. But we were gentle among you, like a nurse tenderly caring for her own children. So deeply do we care for you that we are determined to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you have become very dear to us.

You remember our labour and toil, brothers and sisters; we worked night and day, so that we might not burden any of you while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God. You are witnesses, and God also, how pure, upright, and blameless our conduct was towards you believers. As you know, we dealt with each one of you like a father with his children, urging and encouraging you and pleading that you should lead a life worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.

• • •

The epistle readings for this final month of Ordinary Time are from 1Thessalonians, and we have been focusing our sermons on Paul’s instructions in this letter. We have also been linking these texts and teachings with principles from Martin Luther and the Reformation in this 500th anniversary year. We have thus far considered the Protestant principles of conversion, revelation, and resurrection. Today we look at a fourth theme: the principle of edification.

The word “edification” means to build up or to strengthen. In Christ and in the church and among our neighbors, we are called to live in such a way that we will build up the people around us. We will serve others in such a way that they will grow and be benefitted as people as we relate to one another. In other words, the faith we have in Jesus will naturally and continually move us to love those around us. In one of his letters, Paul writes that the religious rituals some were urging people to participate in in order to be part of God’s family really count for nothing. What really matters, he reminded them, is faith working through love. And love always seeks to build up, and not tear down, those around us.

In 1Thessalonians 2, Paul writes his friends in the church and shares about the ministry of the apostles — what they were all about. There were many religious leaders in Paul’s day (and there continue to be many in our own day) who say they are for the gospel, but in reality they are all about self-glorification. Their goal is to build impressive organizations that garner fame and recognition and wealth and power. Though they may say many things that are good and encouraging to people, ultimately their focus is on building monuments to themselves and not to our Lord Jesus Christ. In contrast to that approach, the Apostle Paul tells the Thessalonians what real ministry looks like, what a real pastor looks like, what a true servant of God and people looks like. Paul describes a ministry here that is all about edification and not self-glorification. It’s all about building others up, not inflating one’s own wealth, power and status.

In 1528, as the Reformation was growing, Luther and other reformers did a systematically visitation of the churches and communities in Saxony, in order to assess the state of spiritual vitality there. The results were discouraging, and Luther wrote:

Dear God, what misery I beheld! The ordinary person, especially in the villages, knows absolutely nothing about the Christian faith, and unfortunately many pastors are completely unskilled and incompetent teachers. Yet supposedly they all bear the name Christian, are baptized, and receive the holy sacrament, even though they do not know the Lord’s Prayer, the Creed, or the Ten Commandments! As a result they live like simple cattle or irrational pigs and, despite the fact that the Gospel has returned, have mastered the fine art of misusing their freedom”

One of the results of this visitation was that Martin Luther wrote his Small Catechism. Luther saw the Catechism as a book to be used in home and congregation. The Catechism soon became one of the most important documents of the Reformation. It reinforced the gospel message that the people were hearing from Saxon pulpits as God’s Word was preached, and gave both pastors and parents an excellent resource for training the people in the communities in the faith.

Martin Luther had a pastor’s heart. He cared for people like us, ordinary people who engage in our daily work, who raise our families, and who care for one another as neighbors in the communities where we live. He understood that the Reformation would only be as strong as the individuals, families, and churches that were in those communities. The priests and others in the church in his day were weak and ineffective. They cared more about money and power than they did about people. Luther knew that one key element of reforming the church was turning this around so that the church would have spiritually vibrant, well trained, and caring ministers.

And this is the emphasis that what we see in Paul’s text for today.

  • Paul says we came to please God and not to flatter you so that you would become attached to us.
  • Paul says we didn’t come to gain riches for ourselves, or positions of great honor.
  • Paul says we came with a motherly kind of love, a love that is gentle and self-sacrificing.
  • Paul says we came with a brotherly kind of love, not demanding anything from you, but working side by side with you.
  • Paul says we came with a fatherly kind of love, not concerned about what you could do for us, but about how we could encourage you to follow Jesus and put his kingdom first.

My favorite words in this section are found in verse 8: “So deeply do we care for you that we are determined to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you have become very dear to us.”

That, my friends, is the heart of a true minister of the gospel of Christ. As Christ has loved us with an everlasting love, a true pastor loves and cares for people. As Christ laid down his life to serve others, so a pastor gives not just words, but his or her own self in serving others with Jesus’ love.

But these are not only the qualities of an ordained minister that Paul is describing here, in my opinion. Paul always hoped that his actions and the actions of his coworkers would be an example of how all Christians should live. Faith, genuine faith, works itself out in loving service to others. It is the duty of all the people in a congregation to serve each other with motherly, brotherly, and fatherly love.

One pastor who writes books about ministry that I dearly love to read once wrote: “I knew that my leadership role was to let Jesus Christ lead the church” (David Hansen). He went on to say that his job was to love and care for the people God had entrusted to him as parishioners, neighbors, and friends.

My friends, if every church, if every minister, if every person in the congregation would take this attitude, the church would experience continual reformation. It is faith and love that will continually make us new. I pray that, in this church, we will always let Jesus lead and that we will always love and serve one another and our community. Amen.

The IM Saturday Brunch: November 11, 2017

THE INTERNET MONK SATURDAY BRUNCH

”It is talk-compelling. It puts you in a good temper, it makes you satisfied with yourself and your fellow beings, it sweeps away the worries and cobwebs of the week.”

Eagle Creek Park, Indianapolis (2017)

Oh, we’ve had a gorgeous week of fall weather this week in central Indiana after torrential rains last weekend. The temperatures have dropped and we’ve seen some frosty mornings. But during the days, the air has been crisp and clear, the skies blue, and the trees that haven’t lost their leaves yet have been brilliant. It’s my favorite season and my favorite kind of weather. Here are a few shots of Eagle Creek Park on Indy’s northwest side from an afternoon walk this past week. Click on each picture for a larger image.

• • •

YARN-BOMBING

From NPR:

From door handles to double-decker buses, Magda Sayeg “yarn bombs” inanimate objects by wrapping them in handmade knitting. She wants her bright, fuzzy artwork to make the world a little friendlier.

Considered to be the mother of yarn bombing, Magda Sayeg transforms urban landscapes into her own playground by decorating everyday objects with colorful knitted and crocheted works.

Her work has evolved from a single knitted stop-sign pole to large-scale installations around the world. She has also been featured at festivals and museums such as South By Southwest and La Museo des Esposizione in Rome.

Here are more examples:

• • •

NOTABLE NEWS BRIEFS
Interspersed with Comics for Carl Sagan’s birthday — Nov. 9, 1934

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A police interrogation of a Kansas City man charged with drug and gun offenses ended prematurely when an investigator was driven from the room by the suspect’s excessive flatulence. A detective reported that when asked for his address, 24-year-old Sean Sykes Jr. “leaned to one side of his chair and released a loud fart before answering.” The Kansas City Star reports that Sykes “continued to be flatulent” and the detective was forced to quickly end the interview.

DUNCAN, Okla. — An Oklahoma woman who married her biological mother has pleaded guilty to incest. Court records show 26-year-old Misty Spann of Duncan pleaded guilty Tuesday in Stephens County District Court. Under the deal, she was sentenced to 10 years of probation. Her mother, 44-year-old Patricia Spann, has pleaded not guilty to incest. Prosecutors say the two married in 2016. Court records show the marriage was annulled last month at the request of Misty Spann on the grounds of fraud and illegality. Patricia Spann has said she thought the marriage was legal because she had lost custody of her daughter and two sons years ago and isn’t listed on their birth certificates. Prosecutors say Patricia Spann also married one of her sons. That marriage was annulled in 2010.

AP — Police in Pennsylvania say they’ve arrested a man who showed up to an elementary school intoxicated and hoping to vote — on the wrong day. Authorities charged Douglas Shuttlesworth, 34, with a DUI after they found him at a school in Harrisburg on Monday. Police say Shuttlesworth appeared intoxicated and they later found out he drove to the school thinking it was Election Day. A woman who identified herself over the phone as Shuttlesworth’s mother says her son mistakenly thought it was Tuesday. He was not available to comment on the charge.

The Duplex

NEW YORK, NY — It lasts just a split second, almost imperceptible in a two-hour score. It’s over too quickly to summon the dogs of the Upper West Side or to break any nearby windows. But brief as it is, the A above high C that the soprano Audrey Luna reaches in Thomas Adès’s new opera, “The Exterminating Angel,” is so high, it has never been sung in the 137-year history of the Metropolitan Opera.

• • •

ONE LESSON FROM TEXAS

One of the lessons last Sunday’s shooting at the church in Sutherland Springs, Texas should teach us is this: we need to pay more attention to domestic violence. Devin Patrick Kelley, the shooter, was a habitual abuser who “had a lot of demons or hatred inside of him,” his ex-wife said in an interview with CBS News.

Kelley pleaded guilty in 2013 to hitting, choking, kicking and pulling her hair. The then-23-year-old Air Force airman also admitted to fracturing the skull of her young son. On Friday, she described the marriage as filled with abuse, and said she was once threatened over a speeding ticket.

“And he had a gun in his holster right here and he took that gun out, and he put it to my template and he told me, ‘Do you want to die? Do you want to die?'” Brennaman said.

The guilty plea earned Kelley a one-year sentence in a military prison, followed by a bad-conduct discharge.

She said he threatened to kill her and her whole family.

…Investigators have said Sunday’s shooting appeared to stem from a domestic dispute involving Kelley and his mother-in-law, and that he had sent threatening messages to her. The mother-in-law sometimes attended services at the church but was not present on Sunday.

Nancy Nason-Clark at RNS comments:

One angry man arrived at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, on Nov. 5 and began shooting those assembled for worship. His private woes, his access to weapons, and his rage produced a tragedy that is almost unparalleled in terms of the magnitude of suffering that it spawned. This massacre changes forever the congregation and the community of which it is a part. So many grieving families. So much pain. So much heartache. They will never forget. And neither should we.

However, there is a holy hush that permeates church life when it comes to thinking about domestic violence within and beyond congregational life.

Holy hush silences pastors and church leaders. Far too often, they fail to speak out against abuse in intimate relationships, or to highlight the vulnerability of children who witness or experience violence at home. Sometimes they lead themselves or others to believe they do, when they don’t.

Michael Spencer saw this same “holy hush” in the churches in his region and wrote about it several times. Here are a couple of iMonk posts on the subject, and one we published about our friend Ruth Tucker and her book about her own personal experiences:

• • •

THE REAL PROBLEM: A CULTURE AWASH IN ANGER

Some have tried to blame mass shootings and a lot of other violence on mental illness in our society. But, according to Laura L. Hayes at Slate, mental illness is not the problem.

Violence is not a product of mental illness. Nor is violence generally the action of ordinary, stable individuals who suddenly “break” and commit crimes of passion. Violent crimes are committed by violent people, those who do not have the skills to manage their anger. Most homicides are committed by people with a history of violence. Murderers are rarely ordinary, law-abiding citizens, and they are also rarely mentally ill. Violence is a product of compromised anger management skills.

In a summary of studies on murder and prior record of violence, Don Kates and Gary Mauser found that 80 to 90 percent of murderers had prior police records, in contrast to 15 percent of American adults overall. In a study of domestic murderers, 46 percent of the perpetrators had had a restraining order against them at some time. Family murders are preceded by prior domestic violence more than 90 percent of the time. Violent crimes are committed by people who lack the skills to modulate anger, express it constructively, and move beyond it.

Hayes quotes Paolo del Vecchio of the Federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration who has said, “Violence by those with mental illness is so small that even if you could somehow cure it all, 95 percent of violent crime would still exist.”

She also notes studies that show hat 80 to 90 percent of murderers had prior police records, in contrast to 15 percent of American adults overall, and that family murders are preceded by prior domestic violence more than 90 percent of the time. Nearly half of domestic murderers have had a restraining order against them at some point in time.

Laura L. Hayes puts her finger on how we are blaming the mentally ill and other factors while ignoring real causes of violence. Her final paragraph (emphasized in bold below) is wisdom worth its weight in gold:

The attribution of violent crime to people diagnosed with mental illness is increasing stigmatization of the mentally ill while virtually no effort is being made to address the much broader cultural problem of anger management. This broader problem encompasses not just mass murders but violence toward children and spouses, rape, road rage, assault, and violent robberies. We are a culture awash in anger.

Uncontrolled anger has become our No. 1 mental health issue. Though we have the understanding and the skills to treat the anger epidemic in this country, as a culture, we have been unwilling to accept the violence problem as one that belongs to each and every one of us. We have sought scapegoats in minority cultures, racial groups, and now the mentally ill. When we are ready to accept that the demon is within us all, we can begin to treat the cycle of anger and suffering.

• • •

HOW ‘BOUT SOME GOOD NEWS ON THE CRIME/VIOLENCE FRONT?

In the quarter century period between the early 1990s and 2015, the homicide rate in America fell by half. So did rates of robbery, assault and theft. In cities like New York, Washington and San Diego, murders dropped by more than 75 percent. Although violence has increased over the last two years in some cities, like Chicago and Baltimore, even those places are safer than they were 25 years ago. Shootings are at a record low in New York, and crime has continued to fall in other cities as well.

The Unsung Role That Ordinary Citizens Played in the Great Crime Decline is a piece by Emily Badger at the New York Times that looks at ground level activism that made a difference in this regard, giving us hope for what ordinary citizens joined together can do to tackle tough issues like crime, violence, and murder and make their communities safer.

Noreen McClendon, the executive director of Concerned Citizens of South Central Los Angeles

Most theories for the great crime decline that swept across nearly every major American city over the last 25 years have focused on the would-be criminals.

Their lives changed in many ways starting in the 1990s: Strict new policing tactics kept closer watch on them. Mass incarceration locked them up in growing numbers. The crack epidemic that ensnared many began to recede. Even the more unorthodox theories — around the rise of abortion, the reduction in lead or the spread of A.D.H.D. medication — have argued that larger shifts in society altered the behavior (and existence) of potential criminals.

But none of these explanations have paid much attention to the communities where violence plummeted the most. New research suggests that people there were working hard, with little credit, to address the problem themselves.

Local nonprofit groups that responded to the violence by cleaning streets, building playgrounds, mentoring children and employing young men had a real effect on the crime rate. That’s what Patrick Sharkey, a sociologist at New York University, argues in a new study and a forthcoming book. Mr. Sharkey doesn’t contend that community groups alone drove the national decline in crime, but rather that their impact is a major missing piece.

“This was a part that has been completely overlooked and ignored in national debates over the crime drop,” he said. “But I think it’s fundamental to what happened.”

Perhaps it’s time to focus some more attention (and dollars) on the kinds of grass-roots efforts described in this story as viable and proven means of strengthening and supporting community infrastructures that promote safer, more peaceful communities.

• • •

TODAY IN MUSIC

Finally, some perfect autumn sounds, courtesy of a band the High Road Touring website describes as a “world-weary, seven-piece orchestral-pop ensemble known as Hey Marseilles.”

I love their mix of melancholy, melodious sounds, undergirded by restless percussion, that all supports an insightful lyricism.

This song is one of my favorites, from their 2013 album, Lines We Trace.

Another Look: Group Seeks Genesis Ban

A Christian group, concerned about moral breakdown in American society, is pushing for a ban on the book of Genesis.

A spokesperson for “People Involved in Saving, Securing, and Defending the Old-Fashioned Family” (PISSDOFF), said that decent citizens have come together to protest the publication and distribution of Bibles containing Genesis. They say that our culture cannot go on promoting materials like Genesis to our children without devastating consequences.

Jonathan Fussminder, a parent and activist for the group said, “This book [Genesis] is a classic case of the devil’s bait and switch. It opens with an outstanding scientific depiction of how God created the universe 6000 years ago, but then you turn the page and you have two people running around naked in a garden! That’s Satan’s way. He draws you in with something that sounds good, and before you know it, you are looking at pornography. ‘They were naked and not ashamed’? That is exactly how the world wants us to feel about immorality! No shame! I wouldn’t want my boys reading a book like this for anything.”

When asked if that passage is the only one to which he and the other members of PISSDOFF objected, Fussminder rolled his eyes and said, “Oh my, no. Genesis is filled with R-rated material at best. You’ve got violent killings, parents having sex with their own children, men giving their wives away to harems to save their own skin, sodomy, lies, deceit, polygamy, child-slavery, seduction, and so many explicit sexual scenes and references that I’m embarrassed to even talk about them.”

When this reporter asked about the fact that some people consider Genesis to be “God’s Word,” Fussminder became animated. “God’s Word? God’s Word? That just shows how far into decadence we’ve fallen. Can you imagine a good and holy God inspiring a book like this? Can you imagine God asking parents to tell these stories to their children? They’d be warped for life!

“No, this most certainly is NOT God’s Word! How it got into the Bible we don’t know. I think the Catholics had something to do with it. The fact that it is in there may point to one of the most insidious conspiracies in history, and it’s time we uncovered the lie. We are pushing hard for publishers to delete Genesis from future Bibles. And we are also going to keep investigating. If Genesis got snuck in there, who knows what might be in some of the other books? As we speak, PISSDOFF has teams of readers combing through the other books in the Bible so that we can root out this kind of immoral and corrupting material.

“Just recently, I heard a rumor that the very next book, Exodus, may contain depictions of infanticide, murder, nightmarish and gory plagues straight from the latest horror movies, idol-worship, immoral partying, and more sexual perversion. Who knew? I certainly never read any of that from the Bible Promise Loaf we had on our kitchen table when I was a kid!”

So your work won’t be ending with Genesis? Fussminder was asked.

“No way!” he replied. “We’re PISSDOFF, and we are not going to take it anymore! We are here to protect the children of America from these sick and perverted influences, and we won’t stop until we’ve cleaned it all up, from Genesis to Revelation.”

(From 2011)

Evolution: Scripture and Nature say Yes!  Chapter 5- Ancient Science and the Book of God’s Words

Evolution: Scripture and Nature Say Yes! Chapter 5- Ancient Science and the Book of God’s Words

By Denis O. Lamoureux

Like Denis, when other Evangelicals find out I am an evolutionist and a Christian they immediately want to challenge me by asking: “If evolution is true, then where in the Bible does it say that God uses an evolutionary process?”  There is that presupposition that scientific concordance is a feature of the Bible.  There is also the assumption that if God “accommodated” the ancient authors by using their understanding of science then God is a liar.  Questioning the truthfulness of scientific concordance is difficult because it is deeply ingrained within Evangelical churches, and has been at least since the early 1900’s.  As Denis confesses:

There was a critical moment when all this biblical evidence pointing to an ancient science came together and exploded in my mind.  It was a terrifying and dark moment.  For about twenty to thirty seconds, I thought about walking away from Christianity.  I felt completely betrayed.  Why had no one in my church or Sunday School ever taught me about the ancient science in Scripture or the Principle of Accommodation?

One of the greatest lessons I learned during my theological education was to read Scripture like a person in ancient time.  Though the Bible was written for everyone in every generation, it was written to a specific ancient people during a specific ancient period.

Of course Ken Ham, AIG, and all the YEC crowd cannot acknowledge the Principle of Accommodation because their entire house of cards would come down.  Simon Turpin, AIG writer, in his review of Denis’s book  says:

Lamoureux recognizes that referring to the Bible as “ancient science” brings with it the accusation that God lied; therefore, he is quick to point out that this is not the case, as God “accommodated in the Bible and permitted the use of an ancient understanding of origins in the creation accounts.”

For Lamoureux the concept of accommodation means Genesis is ancient (i.e., false) historiography; the human author of Genesis 1 believed the events happened just as described, but because of evolution we now know they did not. This does, however, imply that God is responsible for communicating a flawed worldview to His people. Lamoureux confuses the concept of accommodation with the idea of error in the Bible. Rather, the traditional understanding of accommodation means “that [God] speaks truth in such a way that we can understand it, insofar as it can be understood by human beings.” For example, parents often accommodate their children with the question “where do babies come from” by answering, “They grow in mommy’s tummy.” On the other hand, to answer, “A stork delivered the baby,” would be a lie, not an accommodation.

To maintain this idea that God’s accommodation of the ancients does not extend to their scientific understanding and their description of the cosmos, the YEC folk must maintain that the writers of scripture used phenomenological language in the same way we use it today.  We still say the sun “rises” and “sets” as figurative or phenomenological language, but it is an incontrovertible fact that the visible phenomenon was accepted as scientific fact until the seventeenth century. From Martin Luther himself (Table Talk):

“There is talk of a new astrologer who wants to prove that the earth moves and goes around instead of the sky, the sun, the moon, just as if somebody were moving in a carriage or ship might hold that he was sitting still and at rest while the earth and the trees walked and moved.  But that is how things are nowadays: when a man wishes to be clever he must needs invent something special, and the way he does it must needs be the best! The fool wants to turn the whole art of astronomy upside-down. However, as Holy Scripture tells us, so did Joshua bid the sun to stand still and not the earth? “

And from the trial of Galileo:

“We pronounce this Our final sentence: We pronounce, judge, and declare, that you, the said Galileo . . . have rendered yourself vehemently suspected by this Holy Office of heresy, that is, of having believed and held the doctrine (which is false and contrary to the Holy and Divine Scriptures) that the sun is the center of the world, and that it does not move from east to west, and that the earth does move, and is not the center of the world; also, that an opinion can be held and supported as probable, after it has been declared and finally decreed contrary to the Holy Scripture…”

The mistake that AIG and other Evangelicals make in trying to explain passages that refer to the movement of the sun is that they read these scriptures through their modern phenomenological perspective.  It is a clear case of eisegeses.

Denis introduces his “Message-Incident Principle” as illustrated in his Figure 5-2.  The Message-Incident Principle asserts that the spiritual truths in the Bible are inerrant because they are absolutely true.  These eternal truths are the foundation of Christianity.  So, for example, in Genesis 1 the central message of faith is that God is the creator, the creation is good, and humans are created in the image of God.  God then accommodated the ancient authors understanding of nature, which is only incidental to the truth God was trying to communicate.

A New Testament example would be in Philippians 2:9-11 where Paul says:

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Most Christian rarely think of the phrase “under the earth” but a better translation of the Greek word for “under the earth” would be “down in the underworld”.  This reflects Paul’s and other ancients understanding of the “3-Tier Universe” as depicted in Figure 5-3.

The truth of the Philippians passage does not hinge on Paul’s ancient understanding of how the cosmos was constructed (incidental) but rather the message is that Jesus is Lord over the entire creation.  So ancient incidental science:

  • Immovable Earth. The “world is firmly established; it cannot be moved”  1 Chron 16:30, Ps 96:10, Ps 93:1
  • The Circular Earth and the Circumferential Sea. The horizon gives the appearance of being a circle and travel in the ANE usually ended at the shoreline of a sea.  Is 40:22
  • The Underworld. Hebrew Sheol and Greek Hades.  The idea that the underworld where dead people go is under the surface of the earth.  Amos 9:2, Ps 139:8, Phil 2:10
  • The flat earth. The devil takes Jesus up to a high mountain from which they could see the “whole earth” Mt 4:8-9
  • The Firmament. Translation of Hebrew raquia, “to flatten”, “to hammer down and flatten out” like a beaten copper pot. Gen 1, Job 37:18
  • The Heavenly Body of Water. Gen 1, Ps 148:4, Jer 10 :12-13
  • The Sun, Moon, and Stars in the Firmament. Gen 1, Isaiah 34:4, “All the stars in the sky will be dissolved and the heavens rolled up like a scroll; all the starry host will fall like withered leaves from the vine, like shriveled figs from the fig tree.”

Which brings us to ancient biology.  Ancient taxonomy classified bats as birds (Lev. 11:13-19) and rabbits as ruminants like cows (Lev. 11:6).  God made plants and animals “according to their kinds”.  You got wheat from wheat seeds, figs from a fig tree, grapes from a grape vine, female sheep gave birth to sheep, and women were always the mother of human infants.  In other words, plants and animals never changed and were always the same.  In the ancient understanding of human reproduction, only men were said to have reproductive seed, never women.  The women’s womb was the “field” where the man’s seed was planted.  Infertility was always the women’s fault and the Hebrew word “barren” means to “uproot” and the Greek word meant “hard” like the parable where the hard ground wont’ accept seed (Luke 8).

There is no hint of transitional organisms or biological evolution in the Genesis account of creation, or anywhere else in the bible.  I think Denis kind of oversold the “Evolution: Scripture and Nature say Yes!” meme.  The Scripture doesn’t say “yes” to evolution because the ancient authors had not the slightest idea that such a thing was even possible.  To them, the “kinds” were immutable.  Since sheep always brought forth sheep, logically if you worked your way back through sheep ancestry you would come to the first sheep.  Likewise with humans, if you worked your way back through human ancestry you would come to the first pair.  That’s why the author of Genesis gives their names as “Human” and “Life”.  And if God is the creator of everything, then he created the first humans de novo, how else could it have been?

So they told the ancient stories, and that was good enough, it got the point across.  And let’s be honest here; it makes a better story than the one evolutionary anthropologist are trying to tell.  Most moderns have imaginative trouble conceiving of populations shifting alleles ever so gradually until the distinction between modern humans and their immediate predecessors can no longer be differentiated, but somehow modern man has emerged.  Even the useful “Embryological Analogy” breaks down because at a distinct point in time a human child emerges from the womb.  It is a knick-point that evolutionary anthropologists have yet to describe.