Archive for the ‘Religion’ Category
Friday, March 21st, 2008 |
I just came across this article as I went through my daily reads regarding the “science” of the Bible’s advice that it’s better to give than to receive:
The researchers started by asking a sample of 632 Americans, 55 percent of whom were women, to rate their happiness on a scale of 1 to 5, the higher the number the happier.
Then they asked the participants to report their annual income and estimate how much they spent on paying bills, buying gifts for themselves, buying gifts for others and giving to charity.
The first two were considered personal spending and averaged $1,714-a-month, the second two were termed “prosocial” spending and averaged $146-a-month.
“Personal spending was unrelated to happiness,” said the researchers. “But higher prosocial spending was associated with significantly greater happiness,” they found.
Not content with that, they then studied 16 employees of a company in Boston, asking about their happiness one month before and six to eight weeks after each received a profit-sharing bonus from their employer.
In the second interview they also asked about personal and prosocial spending and once again those who spent more on others were happier.
“The manner in which they spent that bonus was a more important predictor of their happiness than the amount of the bonus itself,” the researchers found.
Finally, 46 Canadian students were asked to rate their happiness and then each was given a random envelope containing money, ranging from $5 to $20. Some were instructed to spend it on themselves, others were told to buy a gift for someone else.
At 5 p.m. that day, they were called together again and asked to rate their happiness.
The amount of money had no impact on happiness, but those assigned to buy something for another person reported greater happiness than those told to get something for themselves, the researchers said.
It struck me as I read this that I am definitely happier when I give. It also struck me, quite profoundly, how much I’ve received. Not only do I have a wonderful, beautiful wife, three healthy children, and work that I enjoy, I’ve been granted the opportunity for salvation. If anyone ever exemplified what it means to give it was Jesus. John 15:13 puts it this way:
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
My giving, whether it’s to my church or to another charity, has very little to do with my inherent goodness. But I recognize how much I’ve been given—I’m not talking money here—and feel that the only way to truly be happy is to try and live my life the same way that Jesus lived His.
Don’t get me wrong. I fall short many times, and I wouldn’t dare say that I’ve accomplished the task. And I know that this article is talking about money, but I can’t escape the fact that Jesus was always giving. He gave of His time to the children. He gave of His wisdom to Nicodemus. He gave of his resources to the crowds that followed Him. He gave healing to the sick. He gave forgiveness to the sinner. And He ultimately gave His life to those who required it of Him—you and me.
Maybe you believe, and maybe you don’t. That’s a decision that you’ll have to make on your own. To believe that there was a man, God robed in flesh, who lived, died for you, and rose again takes some faith. But can I challenge you today that maybe, just maybe, it doesn’t take as much faith as you think? We live in a nation governed by people we never see, can never talk to, and who make decisions we don’t understand. Yet we have faith that the roads will still be there tomorrow, that the mail will run, that we’ll be safe … in short, we have faith that the unseen will do their jobs.
Today is Good Friday, the day we mark the crucifixion and death of Jesus. What better day to ask yourself about what you believe? About where you put your hope and faith? The only thing you have to give is some room in your life. Room for God to deal with you about His plans for you. Room for Him to change your mind about some things that maybe you misunderstand. And room for Him to give you the greatest gift you’ll ever receive. You have to give, but today is a good Friday for it.
Posted in Musings, Religion | No Comments »
Wednesday, August 15th, 2007 |
Unbelievable:
AMSTERDAM - A Roman Catholic Bishop in the Netherlands has proposed people of all faiths refer to God as Allah to foster understanding, stoking an already heated debate on religious tolerance in a country with one million Muslims.
Bishop Tiny Muskens, from the southern diocese of Breda, told Dutch television on Monday that God did not mind what he was named and that in Indonesia, where Muskens spent eight years, priests used the word “Allah” while celebrating Mass.
“Allah is a very beautiful word for God. Shouldn’t we all say that from now on we will name God Allah? … What does God care what we call him? It is our problem.”
God DOES care what we call him:
“Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”
Acts 4:10-12
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Tuesday, April 10th, 2007 |
Last week I came across a great article over on MSNBC.com that’s basically a moderated conversation between Pastor Rick Warren and Atheist Sam Harris. Just a taste:
WARREN: Where do you get your morality? If there is no God, if I am simply complicated ooze, then the truth is, your life doesn’t matter, my life doesn’t matter.
HARRIS: That is a total caricature of—
WARREN: No, let me finish. I let you caricature Christianity. If life is just random chance, then nothing really does matter and there is no morality—it’s survival of the fittest. If survival of the fittest means me killing you to survive, so be it. For years, atheists have said there is no God, but they want to live like God exists. They want to live like their lives have meaning.
and then…
HARRIS: So you and I both stand in a relationship of atheism to Islam.
WARREN: We both stand in a relationship of faith. You have faith that there is no God. In 1974, I spent the better part of a year living in Japan, and I studied all the world religions. All of the religions basically point toward truth. Buddha made this famous statement at the end of his life: “I’m still searching for the truth.” Muhammad said, “I am a prophet of the truth.” The Veda says, “Truth is elusive, it’s like a butterfly, you’ve got to search for it.” Then Jesus Christ comes along and says, “I am the truth.” All of a sudden, that forces a decision.
HARRIS: Many, many other prophets and gurus have said that.
WARREN: Here’s the difference. Jesus says, “I am the only way to God. I am the way to the Father.” He is either lying or he’s not.
At the end Warren gives a great conclusion:
WARREN: I believe in both faith and reason. The more we learn about God, the more we understand how magnificent this universe is. There is no contradiction to it. When I look at history, I would disagree with Sam: Christianity has done far more good than bad. Altruism comes out of knowing there is more than this life, that there is a sovereign God, that I am not God. We’re both betting. He’s betting his life that he’s right. I’m betting my life that Jesus was not a liar. When we die, if he’s right, I’ve lost nothing. If I’m right, he’s lost everything. I’m not willing to make that gamble.
I highly recommend reading the entire article. I’m not 100% with everything Warren says and does lately (ie meeting with the President of Syria), but it’s hard to dispute his effectiveness against an “intellectual” like Harris. Well done.
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Tuesday, April 10th, 2007 |
In a case of “I know you are but what am I?” journalism yesterday, Don Imus apologized for his remarks about the Rutger’s women basketball team on Al Sharpton’s radio program. Of course Al Sharpton was playing the race card (unsurprising, as his entire deck consists purely of black kings). But Al has said his fair share of absurd and outrageous things that are just as shocking to the majority of Americans as Imus’ comments. Just a few:
I suggest to you tonight that if George Bush had selected the court in ‘54, Clarence Thomas would have never got to law school. (Interpreted: Our President is such a racist that he wouldn’t allow a black man to get his law degree.)
During my 2004 presidential campaign, I was fond of saying that it was high time for the Christian right to meet the right Christians. (Interpreted: Republicans aren’t the right kind of Christian ~or~ You can’t be Republican and be a good Christian.)
If O.J. had been accused of killing his black wife, you would not have seen the same passion stirred up. (Interpreted: Crackers get away with murder all the time.)
I am in no wise defending Don Imus’ comments, but I do think that someone other than Al Sharpton should be “casting the first stone”.
Posted in Musings, Religion | 1 Comment »
Sunday, March 25th, 2007 |
This is one of the best articles I’ve seen in a while. It comes at an opportune time as we begin to discus the changing face(s) of conservatism and start looking for candidates who can once again capably lead the conservative movement from the roots up. From Newsweek’s Rabbi Marc Gellman:
The great spiritual questions of our time concern the use of power to secure freedom. The world of Islam has never faced the jarring revolution of the Enlightenment, which severed Christianity’s ties between faith and power, and, lacking a Muslim Voltaire, some segments of Islam still pine for a restored caliphate in which the sword is wielded by mullahs and the line between religion and the state is obliterated. In the West, this melding of faith and secular power was rejected 400 years ago. Rendering worldly power unto Caesar left faith free to focus on the promise of personal salvation.
One crushing obstacle to personalized religion always remained, however, and that was the threat to freedom. Religion can choose to live outside of what Marx called “the noisy din of world history” only as long as that din does not become a deafening roar. Fascism, communism, and now jihadist terrorism compel religions to ask whether faith can truly survive without freedom.
(Writer’s note: the following comes after Gellman talks for a few paragraphs about Captain America’s Death and the movie ‘300′) Leonides and Captain America were heroes not because they entered the field of battle with a shield of Vibranium or were in possession of abs of steel, but because they entered battle with a spiritually authentic idea: that God is free and we are made in God’s image to be free as well. We were not placed on planet earth to avoid death. We were placed here so that we could avoid surrendering our God-given freedom to tyrants.
Click here with all due haste to read the full article.
Posted in Religion, US Politics | No Comments »
Thursday, March 8th, 2007 |
Last night Comedy Central’s newest show, The Sarah Silverman Program, featured its title character having relations with “God”. I won’t go into it all here — the idea is so offensive and maddening — but afterwards Sarah (fresh from her Jesus is Magic program success) rejects “God” and eventually ends up kneeing him in the groin. This whole thing is not only talked about, but shown, with “God” being represented by black actor Tucker Smallwood.
Now, I’m not shocked by Comedy Central doing this. They are, after all, the channel that we owe South Park to. But that brings me to an interesting point.
Just one year ago, March 2006, Comedy Central pulled an episode of South Park because of its references to Scientology and Tom Cruise. They didn’t want to “offend” Scientologists (Uh… right. Both of them would have been really mad.)
A month after that, April 2006, Comedy Central refused to air another South Park episode that showed the likeness of the Prophet Muhammad after the Danish cartoon dust-up. Again, not wanting to offend anyone.
Hypocrisy in media is certainly nothing new, but this is a new low. Think about this. Can you IMAGINE anyone showing Muhammad or Buddha having sex with someone, being rejected in an embarrassing and humiliating way after, and then being kneed in the groin? There would literally be a small war in the Islamic world over it. But because we’re supposed to be a bunch of “turn the other cheek” Christians, these shows feel the freedom to mistreat our beliefs.
I defer further comments to this article written by Cardinal Cormac Murphy-Connor, Archbishop of Westminster:
I am becoming tired of the mockery of those who seem to regard faith communities, especially Christian ones, as intrusive and contrary to the common good. I label them Christophobic. They wish to close off every voice and contribution other than their own. Their inability to see the Christian seed in what is noble and good in Western culture chills the possibility of a true pluralism. Sometimes it spills over into the kind of anti-Christian bigotry that has appeared on some university campuses.
The great majority of people in our country do not want the erosion of a culture that is ultimately rooted in Christianity and its values. The presence in Britain of Muslims and other faith communities is leading to a renewed interest in Christian identity, boiled down if you like to the simple proposition that if a Muslim woman may wear a headscarf, a Christian woman should be able to wear a cross.
What is lacking in the new secular aggressiveness is the very Christian virtue of doubt. Only secularists such as Professor Dawkins seem to have no doubt when it comes to faith. We cannot build a truly human society on such narrow and rigid foundations.
Posted in Religion | 5 Comments »
Wednesday, December 13th, 2006 |
Like millions of others around the world I read Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven Life. It was good, but I have to confess that it was a little less than life changing (see, I had already read this excellent book, The Bible, that explained my purpose). At any rate, I must have missed the “let’s check our Christian values at the door of enlightenment” chapter because I just read this on the Chicago Tribune site (requires registration):
…in December, Obama will go where few progressive Democrats usually venture–to a large, conservative evangelical church that boasts a Sunday attendance of more than 20,000 people.
Even more unusual is that he’ll attend at the invitation of megachurch Pastor Rick Warren, evangelical icon and author of the popular Christian book “The Purpose-Driven Life.”
I have absolutely no problem with churches being politically active, but I have to say that Pastor Warren has lost it. I can certainly stand behind the idea of wanting to help and reach out to those with HIV and AIDS, but by no means do I think that Senate Freshman Obama is the leading source of information on the subject. If Senators are the leading authority, then there are plenty of conservative Republicans who could have spoken intelligently on the issue. No, this is purely political positioning and shows a lack of common sense from Pastor Warren. (For example: you can’t divorce Obama’s views on AIDS from his views on the unborn.) After all, what better way to endear Obama to the masses of the all-important Evangelicals than having him speak for one of the most visible pastors in the country?
The problem is that Obama is a couple years too late. Most evangelicals have noticed Bro. Warren going off the deep end and have let him take the left-most fork in the road, so to speak. This is why the Purpose Driven organization has officially closed down today, and Mr. Warren’s blog is officially no more. Evangelicals aren’t buying his new found philosophies (as opposed to the old, Bible-based ones).
It’s really too bad. If he truly wants to have an impact on the Evangelical vote, Mr. Warren would be wise to cut down on “John Kerry visiting the Vietcong” styled trips to Syria and get back to preaching and teaching from the Word. Just a thought.
Posted in Musings, Religion, US Politics, World Politics | No Comments »
