fun directions

Alright, got an email from someone with these simple directions:

1) go to Google Maps
2) click on "get directions"
3) in "from" section type "New York"
4) in "to" section type "London"
5) check out direction number 23!

yeah, I really want to know who at google got the crazy idea to put that in there.

I'm a Dad!!!

Yep, it's official. Zachary Keaton Jones arrived yesteray morning (that's right, Easter Sunday!) at 9:05 am, clocking in at 8 lbs and 9 ozs, at 20.5 inches from head to toe! A little scary at the last minute because of an emergency ceasarean, but everybody is fine and dandy now. And I'm lovin' being a dad!

Best bet or not?

I really enjoy when people give me feedback on any of my blogs, especially when they disagree. I always a love a good conversation where opposing views can get expressed. I did get a good response from my last post. I guess one of the things I want to avoid in approaching my "religion" or my pursuit of Christ is this post-modern mindset of "spirituality", which seems to transmute any belief system into some sort of journey wherein you are transformed into a better man. I think the danger is wherein my relationship with Christ suddenly becomes about me being a better man. The reality is that should be a result of my relationship and belief in Christ, not a purpose or goal. And I do think that most people would agree with me, but the emphasis in their mind still is skewed.

Christ came to reconcile man to himself, not to make man better. There is a heretical view being propogated of late that emphasizes Christ's example. The danger is it makes light of the cross and the resurrection. This view says that Christ came to show us a new way to live, and it is his example we must follow. We must believe in what he believed in.

But Paul saw things differently. He wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:17-19 that if Christ was not raised from the dead, then our faith is useless, and we are still in our sins. Paul concludes by saying that if we can only hope in Christ in this life, then we are the most miserable people in the world.

So if you like to think of Christianity as your "best bet" for this life, we may have to agree to disagree. For I fear that puts us too much in the drivers seat: let us evaluate all belief systems and what they offer, let us make what we seems to be the best choice. What if it doesn't deliver up to our expectations. What if we wake up one morning and realized the depravity of our sins, and that there is nothing we can do to change who we are?

I see Christ as the answer to that last question. For I am depraved, and my sins are many and deep. I have been estranged from God. But there is Christ, and in him alone do I trust. For it was he who died to reconcile me to God, not that I might live better, but that I might draw near to God and worship as I should (see the entire book of Hebrews).

My only Hope

Just read an interesting article wherein Rick Warren (celebrated christian pastor and author) was brought together with Sam Harris. The latter of which is apparently a very intelligent atheist who has recently written a book attacking religion, and I think specifically Christianity. Overall, I thought the conversation was very interesting. Lately I have found that I am slightly wary of Warren's ecclesiology, primarily because of the way he has structured his church. In what I have been studying of late, it appears to me that he has strayed from the biblical example of what a church should be, delving slightly into a post-modern mindset and organization. Thusly I was curious what he would say to defend the faith.

Overall, I think Warren did a pretty good job of "defending the faith" against Harris' attack. I think what most christian's understand (or should understand) and non-believers can't quite grasp is that there is an innate element of foolishness to Christianity. Paul harps on this theme throughout his writings (1 Corinthians 1:18 and the following paragraphs). If you want to have a "logical, rational discussion" about Christianity with a non-believer, there is this bottom line problem, that at some point you will hit that line of foolishness that the nonbeliever cannot cross without the help of the Holy Spirit.

What scares me about Warren's defence is that he summed it up by stating, "We're both betting." One of the pastors I'm interning under made an interesting statement this past week, that if all Christianity is is a bet, then that is a sad state of things. That following Christ, if Christ be a liar and the bible false, would be a great waste of a life. I think I understand that logic. For if this is all I have, this life and nothing more, then I do see that all is meaningless, and therefore the thing I must do is get the most I can for myself out of it. It's survival of the fittest and in that every man for himself - altruism has no rational foundation outside of God and eternity, and there I think Harris is a complete fool. He wants to believe in eternal purposes, but not an eternal God.

I am betting the ranch on Christ. All I have. If I am wrong, if there is no God and the bible false, then I have lost everything. My hope is Christ alone, and in him do I glory and trust.