Well, iMonk family, Gail and I are soon off on our dream trip of a lifetime. Monday, we will fly out of Chicago to Munich, Germany, take the train to Switzerland, and then spend the next couple of weeks around Lake Geneva and in the high Alps. We’ll then journey over to Italy, where a week in a farmhouse inn in Tuscany awaits us.
You’ll be getting dispatches from the road along the way, and some of our other iMonk writers will be helping fill posts while we’re gone.
I promise lots of pictures and impressions when we get back.
The Finding of the Oldest Human Skull Changes Evolution Science
According to this article the recent discovery of a 3.8 million-year-old cranium (skull without the lower jaw) is changing the view of how early hominin species evolved – and how they led to humans. The previous view had Australopithecus anamensis (dated between 4.2m and 3.9m years old) as the ancestor of Australopithecus afarensis (dated between 3.8m and 3m years old). A partial skeleton of A. afarensis is known in the popular media as “Lucy” and was for a long time viewed as the oldest known human ancestor.
The newly discovered cranium, nicknamed “MRD” after its collection number MRD-VP-1/1, showed many similarities to the already existing A. anamensis specimens, and was therefore assigned to this species. However the relative completeness of the MRD skull showed features that were characteristic of younger fossils. This challenged the long and widely-held view that Lucy’s species evolved gradually from A. anamensis without branching of the evolutionary line. Since these modern features were already present in the older species, the most likely scenario is that Lucy’s species formed by evolutionary divergence from A. anamensis. The article says:
If that is the case, then we need to revise the human evolutionary timeline, with A. anamensis existing from 4.2m to 3.8m years ago, and A. afarensis from 3.9m to 3m years ago. This would imply that both species were overlapping for at least 100,000 years, making it impossible for A. afarensis to have evolved gradually from one single ancestral group. In fact, it is becoming increasingly obvious that most species on our evolutionary lineage likely evolved by branching off from existing groups.
The article gives a pretty good view of scientists behaving as they should. As new evidence comes to light, previous hypotheses are modified to account for the new data. All conclusions are provisional, subject to revision as more data is gathered. The realization of the “branchiness” of human evolution means that the popular idea of “missing links” is now passé. There are no missing links for the simple fact that human evolution is not the linear progression from ape to ape-man to man as depicted in the iconic drawing. And it probably wasn’t just in east Africa that modern humans emerged, as this article indicates, but rather branching occurred over the whole continent.
This renders the whole point of this Answers-in-Genesis article moot. The byline to the AIG article reads, “No matter how hard they try, scientists can’t connect the missing links in human evolution. Why not?” AIG notes:
“Furthermore, evolutionists propose different explanations for how humans evolved, so they draw different family trees to connect the same fossil specimens. And the interpretations change over time. The primate branch of the family tree looks much different in textbooks your children might use than it did in yours. The evolutionary claims are much less certain than most authors let on.”
Yeah, as I said above, that is how real science works; real scientist know their “evolutionary claims” are provisional and look forward to revising them as new data emerges. With the speed that new discoveries are now occurring, textbooks will go out of date pretty fast. So what? Did I mention that is how real science works?
Even though this latest discovery has given new insights into our evolutionary past, it has also increased the complexity of the relationships between early hominins. Dis-entangling the complex relationships between these species, as well as characterizing their morphology, and deciphering the complex and intricate story that is being told about hominin evolution is fiendishly difficult. Specimens at each new site capture a different point along the evolutionary trajectory, and the relationships are not at all straightforward or unambiguous. And new discoveries, which will occur, don’t always settle debates, but often raise more questions than they answer. But that, is in fact, what real science does. As the article concludes:
Discoveries all over the world in the last decade have led to a complete rethinking of our evolutionary past. It shows that new fossils do not always support existing hypotheses, and that we must be prepared to change our views and formulate new theories based on the evidence at hand.
Note from CM: Thanks to RDavid, who commented yesterday and brought our attention to Scot McKnight’s post about the job description set forth at Willow Creek Community Church for their new Senior Pastor.
As most of you know, I consider Scot a mentor and friend, and I think he is spot on in his critique of Willow here. Read his piece, and note his specific concerns.
For today, I’d like you folks to read through this job description and discuss it together — good, bad, and otherwise.
Oh yeah, and if you want to apply, there’s a link at the bottom.
• • •
Snapshot
Denomination: Nondenominational
Weekly Attendance: 21,000 at eight locations
Neighborhood: South Barrington, Greater Chicagoland, Illinois
The role: Leading from the South Barrington campus, the Senior Pastor will wear the dual hats of pastor (able to discern God’s direction for the congregation) as well as CEO (with organizational leadership skills to lead a complex organization with more than 350 employees). This leader will bring the right balance of preserving what is, but also will fan the flames of Willow’s DNA of boldness, innovation, and creativity.
Meet Willow Creek Community Church:
Willow Creek Community Church is a local church with a global impact. One church in eight locations; more than 21,000 people gather every weekend across the Chicago area. Each Willow Creek church offers the same high-caliber teaching, experienced live at South Barrington and via high-definition video stream at regional locations. In addition to live worship, each site offers a unique assortment of classes and workshops, robust programs for children and students, and plenty of volunteer opportunities where members and guests can meet people and make a difference in their own neighborhood.
Thousands of local churches across the globe can trace their beginnings to an inspiring vision they received while attending a leadership conference, event, or service at Willow Creek. Although the past year has seen some turmoil for the church, the leadership has not lost its heart for reaching those far from God through relevant, biblical teaching and weekend services, developing impactful teams, and leading compassion and justice initiatives that change the community both in Chicago and around the world.
Casa de Luz, Willow’s Spanish-language congregation, meets at the South Barrington campus and serves their Spanish-speaking community. Each regional church— irrespective of its location or language—is both an extension of Willow Creek and a fully functioning local church with its own staff and ministries to meet the needs of its local community. Although most weekends are live-streamed, each regional Lead Pastor has the opportunity to teach live eight to ten times per year.
The central campus of Willow Creek in South Barrington and its regional campuses, governed by a unified body of elders (installed in January 2019), are united by more than just the “Willow Creek” in their names. Each shares a single-minded focus: to reach people who are far from God and to help them become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.
After our recent visit to Willow, we are convinced she has bright days ahead. This is a fantastic opportunity for a God-centered leader to join the team to continue the rebuilding which has already begun.
About the Senior Pastor:
The Senior Pastor will lead and serve the Willow Creek Community Church at all its locations to become a thriving, healthy family of local churches. This man or woman will provide overall leadership and vision for the entire network of regional campuses. They will ensure Willow Creek’s vision and strategy is clear and understood across all locations, that the right leaders are leading and serving the campuses, and that Willow Creek is positioned for strength well into the future.
The Senior Pastor will have the ability to dream and cast vision for the next season of congregational life and community impact. The ideal candidate will demonstrate spiritual leadership, an authentic walk with Jesus, and a proven commitment to balancing the rhythms of work and life. He or she will be a proven “leader of leaders” who can motivate and inspire high-capacity men and women to use their gifts to further the vision.
The Senior Pastor will accomplish the following goals:
In Spiritual Leadership:
Although not expected to deliver the message every weekend, when teaching, communicate biblical truth in an inspiring fashion that helps reach irreligious people and help people at all levels of their spiritual journey to become fully devoted followers of Jesus.
Exemplify a life of walking closely with Jesus, including strong spiritual leadership in the home.
Can balance leadership and vision along with accountability and submission while working with a board of lay elders. The Senior Pastor will meet with the elders regularly and will have full voice into all matters, but will not be a voting member of the elders.
Help bring healing to a staff and congregation that has experienced significant loss.
In Visionary/Organizational Leadership:
Bring strength to Willow’s network of churches through a unified vision, while continuing to provide a great deal of autonomy that has allowed the regional sites to attract top talent and thrive as self-supported congregations.
Focus initially on strengthening Willow as a local church. Once strength is restored and Willow is healthy and thriving once again, continue Willow’s legacy of high-impact ministry outside the walls in the Chicago area and around the world.
Lead the executive team to bring unity and clarity to all programs and ministries, so that all of Willow is pulling for the same mission and vision.
Work with the elders to clarify the relationship with Global Leadership Network (formerly WCA). Note: GLN (WCA) is no longer under the authority of the elders but still occupying space in the building.
Focus on building an executive team. Initial hires are likely to be a Teaching Pastor, as well as a South Barrington Lead Pastor to focus on the broadcast campus and largest staff.
Put emphasis on leadership development, individually modeling this at the highest levels. Equally, place a focus on building processes and systems so that managers and team leaders across Willow are being developed.
Provide leadership to help Willow discover her target audience. In the past, it was “unchurched Harry and Mary.” This needs to be redefined for 2020 and beyond.
What you bring:
Education
Willow Creek values candidates who are life-long learners. Proven leadership experience is important, and this individual should be theologically grounded, but a formal theological classroom education is not a requirement for selection.
Experience and Skills
Has a proven communication gift with the ability to effectively deliver talks with a large audience in a room that seats 7,500, while simultaneously engaging with people who are viewing from other locations via high-definition video.
Has the ability to deliver messages that reach the seeker, as well as provide depth to help believers grow in their faith.
We have a strong preference toward leaders with multi-site or complex organizational experience.
Has life experience in connecting with professionals, entrepreneurs, and people who have outwardly made it in life but are seeking significance.
Has a heart for those who are under-resourced and history of fighting poverty and injustice.
Has a track record of developing and equipping leaders.
When you look in the rearview mirror of this leaders life, you see growing organizations.
Personal Characteristics
Values and champions women in leadership roles at all levels of the organization, in both executive and ministry capacities.
Has likely worked in a nonhomogeneous environment and embraces a diverse culture.
Can balance being accessible, while also exhibiting healthy personal boundaries.
Is known to be a humble servant leader. This shows up in learning, asking questions, and relying on the strengths and gifts of others.
Displays a high level of emotional and relational intelligence.
While very grace-filled, holds to a traditional view on marriage (between one man and one woman).
Has likely weathered a season of great pain and loss which has helped humble, refine, and shape him or her into a better leader and pastor.
What it’s like to live in South Barrington, Greater Chicagoland, area:
Each Willow Creek campus is located in the greater Chicagoland area. Chicago is the third most populous city in the United States, after New York City and Los Angeles, with 2.7 million residents in the city, and 9.5 million in the metropolitan area. In addition to its renowned upscale establishments and restaurant districts, the city’s unique location on Lake Michigan, its rich architectural heritage, its lively theater, arts, and comedy community, and its vibrant nightlife attracts residents and tourists alike. Chicago was recently named the fourth-most “walkable” city of the 50 largest cities in the United States (2011, Walk Score).
Chicago has numerous nicknames, including Chi-town, Windy City, and Second City. The city is a center for business and finance and is considered one of the world’s top global financial centers. Located near a portage between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River watershed, Chicago has remained a major hub for industry, education, telecommunications, and infrastructure since its founding, with O’Hare International Airport being the second busiest airport in the world in terms of traffic movements.
Chicago offers a large array of cultural, historical, sporting, and entertainment focal points that bring thousands of tourists to the area yearly. Grant Park hosts the annual Taste of Chicago festival, while also featuring Millennium Park, home to the iconic Cloud Gate Structure, Buckingham Fountain, and the Art Institute of Chicago. The city is home to numerous major-league sports teams, world-class museums, and the Magnificent Mile shopping district, all along the beautiful Lake Michigan shoreline, creating an atmosphere not soon to be forgotten.
Willow’s broadcast campus is located in South Barrington, a suburb of Chicago just about an hour away, is consistently ranked one of the best places to live in Illinois. Living in South Barrington offers residents a suburban feel and most residents own their homes. In South Barrington, there are a lot of parks and great green spaces to enjoy, as well as proximity to the greater city of Chicago while still feeling like a “small town,” with just over 4,000 residents. The public schools in South Barrington are highly rated.
Think you’re a great fit for this role? Become a candidate here.
“A Real Church for Real People.” “A warm, loving fellowship of people who care about you!!” “Come hear practical, spirit-anointed messages by a man of God.” “Continuous Revival!!” “A Church with Christ at Heart and You in Mind.” “Such and Such Church: Where You Matter.” “People Being Transformed By the Power of God.” “Healing and Miracles in Every Service.” “Where God Touches Lives!!” “Dynamic Music from our Praise Band will take you into the presence of God.” “A dynamic youth program!” (Dynamic is very good.)
Ok. Ok. Enough. What is going on here? From the bowels of some church growth conference has come the worldly wisdom that we need to “cast a vision” of who we are. In other words, exaggerate up a storm to outdo the other guy. Lure, lie, woo, beg, pretend, spin, deceive, tell a whopper. So what if the actual congregation is not quite what is advertised? So what if the pressure is now on to produce the goods? We’re trying to see ourselves in a way that others will find appealing. This is fine with cars or Jacuzzis, but not with churches. I know it makes a cool brochure, but that’s not the point.
The Gospel is not about how wonderful the church is or how dynamic the pastor is or how friendly the people are. If that is all true, word will get out, trust me. If you have to put it on a billboard or an ad or video, it’s spin. And the Gospel isn’t spin about us. It’s a straightforward proclamation about Christ. Remember? “For our appeal does not spring from error or impurity or any attempt to deceive, but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts. For we never came with words of flattery…” (I Thessalonians 2:3-5)
When people are told that the church has all the benefits of a store or a club or a product, they are not hearing the message of sinners saved by grace through faith, not are they being prepared to hear it in a real community of fallen people gathered around the cross. They are hearing the crafted ploy of exaggeration, and sooner or later they will figure it out. The pastor may be a whiz, but he won’t visit grandma in the hospital. The church may have a heart for God, but nobody invited you over for dinner. The Spirit is moving in the services, but not you are remarkably similar to the person who walked in the door six months ago, problems and all. And that dynamic youth pastor ran off with some kid’s mom. Welcome to the real world.
I have a lot of people in self-imposed church exile who write to me, and I am beginning to believe that part of the problem is too many of them believed it. The ads. The hype. The spin. The video intro. The actual truth about people and the institutions they build may be disillusioning and embarrassing, but it’s important. It’s very important for those of us who worship a God of truth to put the focus on Him and His Gospel instead of our little parades.
I don’t want to see the church become a pop-up ad proclaiming instant weight loss from grapefruit pills. We aren’t there yet, but we are getting there fast. Its time to ask the image enthusiasts to spend some time keeping it real and a little less time tinkering with the graphics on the projection system.
I believe it was Job who said “Please be quiet! That’s the smartest thing you could do.” (Job 13:5)
Maybe it’s as simple as a difference in personalities, but I still can’t quite fathom it.
Why is it so hard for some pastors to express sympathy and break out of their ministerial routines when they officiate funeral services?
I attended a service today that I really wanted to go to. I know members of the family from the community. I was part of the hospice team, and we only had a brief chance to visit and provide support until one of their beloved family members died. She was about my age, which is to say, far too young.
In the first visit I got to know her daughter, her husband, her son, and couple of her adorable grandchildren. Great family. They had built houses within a stone’s throw of each other down a gravel road in the country near where I live. They planned and toiled together, shared a remarkable communal family spirit, and from all accounts mom — the patient — was the glue that held it all together.
One of the skills a chaplain or social worker or anyone who works with people needs to develop is an ability to connect quickly, to earn people’s trust right away so that you can have conversations that cover sensitive and intimate topics in a sympathetic and reassuring way. This family welcomed me right into their home, the kids were delightful, they shared their thoughts and feelings openly, and we made that connection well.
Only a couple of days later, when the patient died, I went by myself in the wee hours of the morning and spent an extended time with a couple of them again. Again, we connected well as the husband in particular opened up and shared how stunned and lost he felt. I waited with them until the folks from the funeral home came (local people who have a good sense of compassionate engagement with hurting people). I assisted in handing their dear loved one into the care of these good folks, prayed with them before she left the home, and left with tears and embraces.
I went to her funeral today and joined a host of well-wishers in greeting and sharing our condolences with the husband and family. A DVD played on screens, setting forth snapshots of their life story and experiences. Comforting Christian music, well chosen, wafted over all of us. The funeral was held in an impressive facility, and the staff was readily available to help those in attendance. It felt like a real community, one in heart and mind, come together for one of life’s most blessed and painful small town rituals.
It was all as perfect as can be, from my perspective. Then the pastor got up.
Immediately, even though he said that the main purpose for us being here was to honor the deceased, he began to talk about himself. It was as though he had to give us his credentials for standing up to speak at this occasion. This 70-something evangelical minister came across as a salt of the earth Hoosier — plainspoken, commonsensical, grounded in his respectable, sensible midwestern upbringing, and what he saw as a simple, straightforward reading of the Bible.
After a rather perfunctory overview of some of the deceased’s admirable qualities, he prayed and then said he had a message for us. Without a trace of sympathy that I could detect, this pastor treated us to a didactic lecture on apologetics. With little emotion, he encouraged us to ruminate on a host of historical, philosophical, and literature references and cliches, despite his earlier announcement that he would simply talk to us as neighbors and friends.
He tried to get us to think about who we are and why we’re here as human beings. Nothing wrong with the subject, mind you, if presented in a proper way and with personal sensitivity to the occasion. But he gave it as a discourse, a presentation, a teacher talking to a class, and not a pastor taking a flock in his arms and reassuring them. I’ve no complaint with giving people something to think about, but in the context of a funeral, that requires a special touch — nine parts sympathy to one part information.
I won’t complain that there was no liturgy, no sense of mystery or transcendence, no “rites.” I would never have expected that in this situation. However, I expected a whole lot more than what was given. How about a bit of humanity? How about some words of consolation to the family and friends gathered? How about some sense that we were not attending a lecture but the commemoration of a life and an empathetic, pastoral offering of reassurance through faith, hope, and love? How about being a pastor?
In fact, and I just realized this as I was writing, even though he appealed to the Bible and set forth an apologetic case for a theistic worldview and the hope for an afterlife, he made no explicit reference to the cross or resurrection. No mention that Jesus walked among us, died our death, lay with us in our grave, and rose in anticipation of our own reawakening to life. No Christus Victor, no harrowing of hell, no evisceration of the power of sin, death, and the grave. No forgiveness, no new creation, no community of Word and Spirit in which to find solace and companionship in the darkness. For an avowedly evangelical pastor speaking to a family connected to his church, I find this unacceptable.
Sunday with Walter Brueggemann An Artistic Rendering of Life
For the work of teachers, preachers, and interpreters, an artistic rendering of life is now an urgent responsibility, not only because of the character of the text but because of our social-cultural-moral circumstance. The community gathered around this text (in church, in synagogue, in religion department) is one of the few places left in contemporary society where an artistic rendering of life may be pursued. Ours is a society beset by excessive certitude and reductive truth, in which we uncritically manage our small perceptual fields. Our propensity to a “historical” reading of life runs the risk of reducing the life process to power, arms, force, and violence, because what really matters is muscle, in personal and in public life. Conversely, our attention to a “theological” reading of the life process seduces us into certitudes that quickly become too convinced and end in a monopoly that is authoritarian, coercive, and occasionally totalitarian. Our historical approach tends to end in Realpolitik (reducing social relations to the operation of sheer power), and our theological reading tends to end in a monopoly of certitude. Both are dangerous in a social situation where power to dehumanize and destroy is so readily available.
I submit that an artistic reading that follows the contours of the narrative is not only faithful to the intended convergences of the text concerning realism, David, and Yahweh but is peculiarly required in our cultural situation of brute power and monopolistic certitude. This artistic rendering lets us be open to the surprises, ambiguities, incongruities, surpluses, and gifts present in Israel’s life, wrought by God, through which humaneness sometimes emerges and where holiness is strangely present. What strikes one about this artistic reading of Israel’s transformation in the Samuel narratives is the power of speech in these stories. People talk to one another, and their talking matters. The playful possibility of speech is at work in the public process of Israel. People listen and are changed by such speech, and God is drawn deeply into the conversation. That is how Israel discerns what has happened in its memory and in its life.
I believe, moreover, that the shapers of the Samuel text intended that each return to the text would evoke a fresh discernment of life as a place where the power of speaking and listening matters to God and to us. My hoped-for outcome in this commentary is that sustained interpretation of the Samuel text may aid in evoking and convening communities of artistic discourse where conversations about power, personality, and providence can be enacted and where these factors are all noticed, honored, and celebrated as constitutive of life. Against the conventional pious reading of the church and against the conventional historical-rational readings of the guild, we have pursued another way of interpreting. I believe we are at an important and urgent threshold of finding a way of taking the text more nearly on its own terms. If this judgment is right, we have important work to do. The next generation of teachers and interpreters may be weaned away from “facticity” and “truth” to a more dangerous conversation.
Hello, friends, and welcome to the weekend. Part of this post actually came out yesterday. I apparently scheduled it for the wrong date.
I’ve been feeling light-hearted this week, so most of this post is in the same vein. Hope you don’t mind my silliness.
Let’s start with the sports. The NFL season got under way last week. Did you watch? I have to say that its getting harder and harder for me to get excited about football (what with all the concussions, commercialization and Patriots winning again). The ratings have declined the past few years; it will be interesting to see if that is a trend or a blip.
Are the Miami Dolphins tanking? Sure seems like it, since the had a fire-sale of their best players. After losing by almost 50 points in their opener, a lot of their remaining players were apparently calling up their agents, asking to be traded. On the plus side, they do have a cool new logo:
Also a plus:
19-year Bianca Andreescu won the women’s half of the U.S. Open, becoming the first Canadian to win Grand Slam singles title.
A Champion horse failed a drug test. Last year, Justify won the Triple Crown, one of the most storied achievements in sports. His owners later sold his breeding rights for $60 million. But The New York Times has learned that the colt failed a drug test and should not have run in the first Triple Crown race, the Kentucky Derby. Instead, the California Horse Racing Board took over a month to confirm test results, then quietly moved to drop the case and change its rules, retroactively clearing the horse.
Have you heard of the Mountain of Hell cycle race? Yeah, it seems you and 1,000 other race down a frozen mountain at speeds up to 130 kph.
Two thoughts on this next video: 1. That is a magnificent catch and teamwork. 2. This is the weirdest game of baseball I’ve ever seen.
Speaking of baseball, I’m not saying it’s booooring…but you won’t see this at a Rugby match:
How about a round of tag from a World Tag Chase tournament?
One last sport-related item: this is apparently a thing, now.
“Hasbro announced a new version of Monopoly” is a sentence you could write every week. What is it this time? Ms. Monopoly. In this version, women players get 20 percent more money at the startup and every time they pass GO. It is supposed to “start conversations” on sexism and the wage gap.
So basically you have a game which was strictly gender neutral, now giving a large advantage to one gender (with the implication that this gender could not compete otherwise). I…I just wish there was a word for a concept like that…
Mangayamma Yaramat really, really, wanted a baby. But it seemed destined not to be. Mangayamma and Raja Rao, an agriculturist, got married on March 22, 1962, and had been childless for the past 57 years. She could not succeed in her attempts to conceive even after visiting several hospitals. But she never gave up her desire to become a mother.
Mangayamma gave birth on Thursday, at age 74 (her husband is 80).She had twins, who were conceived via in vitro fertilization with her husband’s sperm and a donor egg.
No jokes on this one, but just a question: Is this a good thing? What should be the cutoff age?
Is STEM ruining American education? Jared Woodard thinks so:
But the technology pushed into schools today is a threat to child development and an unredeemable waste. In the first place, technology exacerbates the greatest problem of all in schools: confusion about their purpose. Education is the cultivation of a person, not the manufacture of a worker. But in many public school districts we have already traded our collective birthright, the promise of human flourishing, for a mess of utilitarian pottage called “job skills.”
Liberal arts education, which has always given a central position to mathematics and the sciences,2 will only be harmed by the recent push to “get more STEM in schools,”3 because today’s STEM has only a cosmetic relationship with the sciences. STEM ideologues and real educators are pursuing very different goals. The purpose of education in the sciences is to cultivate children as knowers in and of the world. The purpose of STEM programs is just to create more of a certain kind of worker.
STEM ideologues and real educators are pursuing very different goals. The purpose of education in the sciences is to cultivate children as knowers in and of the world. The purpose of STEM programs is just to create more of a certain kind of worker.
Technology, even in the narrowest commercial sense, depends on the liberal arts—pursuits that are subject neither to the practical demands of society nor to its untrained desires—to provide the higher ends that technology serves, as well as the new thinking on which it is based. The blatant commercial wastefulness and impracticality of number theory, not to mention literature or playing the violin, offers hints that those pursuits are priceless rather than worthless.
The sciences and mathematics have a historic place in the curriculum, and technology does not, for the simple reason that the latter is not inherently “about” anything. Absent human contributions on specific topics, cut off from the subject matter of academic work, technology is nothing—an electron microscope without any samples, darkened VR goggles, an empty spreadsheet. Specializing in techne as such means trying to teach people to be good at “making” without having any idea of what to make, or why to make it.
Woodward concludes his essay with these penetrating words:
This fight is not just about jobs or middle-class college admissions hysteria. Joseph Ratzinger gave the most penetrating comment of all on what is at stake in a sermon that predates the internet and social media, delivered during Lent in 1973:
The machines that [man] himself has constructed now impose their own law on him: he must be made readable for the computer, and this can be achieved only when he is translated into numbers. Everything else in man becomes irrelevant. Whatever is not a function is—nothing.
The Common Core standards, adopted now in most states, include sets of functionalist requirements for meeting key goals. Many of the English language arts anchor standards, for instance, require that children cite evidence and write (and thus think) in patterns that can more easily be graded by computers.38 Here is the triumph of technology over wisdom and learning: Submit to Tech in Every Matter. We are Eliot’s human engines, humanity made readable for the computer.
A short history of baths in literature: “Baths are very comforting: gentler, calmer than showers. The slow clean. For a while, though, across a patch of nervous books in the mid-twentieth century, baths were troublesome. They were prone to intrusion and disorder. They were too hot, too small, too crowded with litanies of junk: newspapers, cigarettes, alcohol, razors.”
Great article from the Babylon Bee: More E-Cigs Being Disguised As AR-15s To Avoid Ban
U.S.—According to a new report, more e-cigs are being disguised as AR-15s to avoid a looming White House ban on the devices.
Upon hearing that President Trump was looking to ban the devices, vaping companies quickly began looking for ways to circumvent the new regulations. Then, they came up with a solution: design the vapes to look like a hunting rifle.
The disguised devices include a switch for selecting a fire mode, from semi-auto and burst fire to “Sick Vape.” The devices are fully functional AR-15 rifles. Should a federal agent ask if you have an illegal e-cig loaded with high-capacity Raspberry Hurricane cartridges, you can just turn down range and fire off a few rounds to show them it’s actually just an assault rifle.
Also from the Bee: John Bolton Waves Goodbye, Returns To Sea To Be Walrus Again
Okay, that’s it for this week. Let’s close with some 2019 finalist pictures from The Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards. I’ve added some silly captions, but would love to hear yours in the comments.
“This week on Mythbusters…”“You want a piece of me, bro?”“He’s right behind me, isn’t he?”“Guess what? I’m a vegan!”“Ralph, are you even trying to dance?“Hello ladies…guess who’s back on the market”“Calm down?? Whaddya mean, calm down??”“So, a hippo, a lion, and a hyena walk into a bar…”“Okay, Okay, what’s your bright idea?”“Why did I push ‘send’?”“Help! The vortex is pulling me in!”“Stop! In the name of love!”“Trust me, I’m a proctologist”Just relaxin while dad and mom read the Saturday Brunch“Ralph, check out my new dance moves”; “Dude, you’re just embarrassing yourself”“Is hunting season over?”“Oh My. Karen is wearing white after Labor Day!”“I wish for a tree full of nuts this winter”“I am NOT amused”
“Stop it. Stop it. You’re killing me.”And every bunny was Kung Fu fighting…
The Christian Post has an article that notes “The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod passed a resolution at their convention affirming the belief that God created the Earth ‘in six natural days.’” The article is commented on in Jim Kidder’s blog “Science and Religion: A View from an Evolutionary Creationist”. The Post reports that:
At the 67th Regular Convention of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod on Tuesday (July 23, 2019), the theologically conservative denomination adopted Resolution 5-09A, titled “To Confess the Biblical Six-Day Creation.”
“We confess that the duration of those natural days is proclaimed in God’s Word: ‘there was evening and there was morning, the first day,’” resolved the resolution. The resolution also declared that the creation of Adam as the first human being was a “historical event” and rejected the claims of the theory of evolution.
This is why my Science and Faith postings remain relevant in our conversations in the “Great Hall” about Jesus-shaped spirituality. The LCMS is the eleventh largest Protestant denomination in the U.S., with about 2.3 million members. That is a significant number of Christians who have officially proclaimed a blatantly anti-science resolution. Now, to be fair, it is notable that the vote was 662 in favor and 309 against, so there was quite a bit of dissent about the resolution. Nevertheless, the resolution also called on pastors to equip congregations with resources on faith and science. Really? Where are those resource on science supposed to come from? Perhaps from their 1932 resolution:
“Since no man was present when it pleased God to create the world, we must look for a reliable account of creation to God’s own record, found in God’s own book, the Bible. We accept God’s own record with full confidence and confess with Luther’s Catechism: ‘I believe that God has made me and all creatures.’”
Ah, yes, the “were you there?” argument. As noted in the article and Kidder’s blog, dissenting members decried the lack of clarity in that what the heck is a “natural” day before there was any sun in the sky. How do you have an “evening and a morning” without a sun, because, remember, the Genesis account says the sun wasn’t created until the FOURTH DAY? (You can read a convoluted and incoherent explanation from Answers in Genesis that basically says God created a light source on Day One, which was replaced with the sun on Day Four). Yeah, because that’s the plain reading of Scripture /sarcasm off.
Why does this bother me so, and what does it have to do with Jesus-shaped spirituality?
Instead of defending the Scriptures as inspired by God this type of argumentation denigrates the Scriptures by insisting scientific nonsense is the proper interpretation.
Scientific illiteracy in the American public in general and professing Christians in particular is further exacerbated by this type of proclamation.
It substantiates anti-religious atheistic viewpoints that religion, and Christianity in particular, is harmful to society.
You can’t have Jesus-shaped spirituality without the truth. We are supposed to be following He who is Truth Himself. You can argue scientific questions don’t have bearing on spiritual truth, but that is not so. Because physical reality and spiritual reality are aspects of the one reality. If you can’t grasp reality, you are subject to deception and illusion. The sun is the center of our solar system. We revolve around the sun and have the seasons, we revolve on the earth’s axis and have “evening and morning”. The authors of scripture didn’t know that when they wrote Genesis, but we know that now. Pretending otherwise is dangerous spiritual deception.
Those of us that know better need to continue to speak out against this nonsense. Despite the fact that the LCMS members that voted for this resolution are our brothers in Christ, this is not a “both sides have point” issue. That they are headed for heaven the same as me in no way minimizes the societal damage this wrong-headed resolution engenders. Some might say that issues like the separation of young children from their parents and their subsequent incarceration in order to discourage asylum-seeking is a more serious problem more worthy of our attention. But I’m telling you the same gullible mindset is at work in both situations. Well, I’d be interested to hear from some of our LCMS readers; what say you?
He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: ‘Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax-collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, “God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax-collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.”
• Luke 18:9-12
He expects us to make mistakes. He gives us millions (indeed billions and trillions) of chances. If anything, God likes our weaknesses because it enables him to exercise his infinite mercy. When Paul prayed earnestly to be delivered from a particularly annoying weakness, God said to him, “My grace is enough for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9) According to this text, we do God a great favor by accepting our weakness. So there is no reason to be saddened by the fact that we do not measure up to our idealized image of ourselves and of how we should perform in the spiritual journey. That obviously is an ego trip.
• Manifesting God by Thomas Keating, p. 104
• • •
“Lord, I thank you that I am not like other men.”
Of course, we are like other human beings. The Pharisee’s prayer was an exercise in self-deception. Informing God that we aren’t like other people is a particularly pointless endeavor, though it made enormous sense to the Pharisee, whose entire religion was based on separation from others.
“I’m right and you’re wrong.” How far should we go down that road? It does take us somewhere, but where does it ultimately take us? If you get out the map, it eventually takes all of us to the place where we’re all wrong, in one way or another.
“I don’t do the bad things that some men do.” But if you keep traveling, sooner or later the scenery starts to look familiar. We all arrive at the town where WE do bad things.
“I’m more religious than other people.” That’s a short road, because religion is a short road to nowhere. No one is religious enough, and the more religious we are, the less we have of what God is really looking for.
In a post from another time, I called it “the Ecclesiastes attitude.” Eventually, the same things catch up with the whole human race and we all turn into the same kind of monster. Life is one big rerun, with a few different whistles and bells.
Do we have a sense that Ecclesiastes is telling us the truth when it says that all our efforts to outdistance ourselves from the unwashed masses and the common sinners, while impressive today, are page 9, section F tomorrow?
Do we get it that the awards we give ourselves for avoiding the errors and failures of other people tarnish very, very quickly?
Do we realize that in the gaze of God, all our thrashing around, outrage at unrighteousness and extended speeches correcting the errors of our neighbors end up being the very evidence that convicts us of being unrighteous, unloving and condemned by God’s holiness?
The problem with being a religious leader, or a husband, or a dad, or a preacher/writer, is that eventually EVERY SINGLE WORD you’ve spoken to your wife, your kids and your various congregations will revisit you and condemn you.
All of it. Which doesn’t mean we shouldn’t speak or teach or correct, but which does mean there’s no separating ourselves so far away from or above others that we become spectators on their condemnation and repentance.
When we have a bad man in our sights, we are at particular risk. His flaws loom large and fill the screen. Our condemnations and criticisms fill ears, eyes and pages.
It never seems to occur to us that while the circumstances may be different, the human failure is the same. Eventually, we all will be sitting by that bad man in the same bus station, going to the same destination.
So Jesus’ story reminds me that the difference between the tax collector begging for mercy and the Pharisee reading all the reasons he was right amounted to a matter of self-perception, not God-perception.
And from God’s point of view, what mattered was sola fide. And that was all. Dressed in the righteousness of Christ alone, I have no place to stand and point at how poorly dressed someone else happens to be.
Note from CM: Thanks to RDavid, who commented yesterday and brought our attention to Scot McKnight’s post about the job description set forth at Willow Creek Community Church for their new Senior Pastor.
For the work of teachers, preachers, and interpreters, an artistic rendering of life is now an urgent responsibility, not only because of the character of the text but because of our social-cultural-moral circumstance. The community gathered around this text (in church, in synagogue, in religion department) is one of the few places left in contemporary society where an artistic rendering of life may be pursued. Ours is a society beset by excessive certitude and reductive truth, in which we uncritically manage our small perceptual fields. Our propensity to a “historical” reading of life runs the risk of reducing the life process to power, arms, force, and violence, because what really matters is muscle, in personal and in public life. Conversely, our attention to a “theological” reading of the life process seduces us into certitudes that quickly become too convinced and end in a monopoly that is authoritarian, coercive, and occasionally totalitarian. Our historical approach tends to end in Realpolitik (reducing social relations to the operation of sheer power), and our theological reading tends to end in a monopoly of certitude. Both are dangerous in a social situation where power to dehumanize and destroy is so readily available.
If we have become a people incapable
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