lost & found

Harvard establishes chair in gay and lesbian studies

Professorship is being billed as a turning point in the prestigious university's history

Harvard University has taken a step towards shrugging off its image as a fusty straight-laced academic institution by endowing America's first named professorship of sexuality.

The chair in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender studies introduces a discipline still in its infancy into the heart of the country's academic establishment. Its supporters claim that the move by one of the world's most august universities will send a message to other institutions globally that "queer studies", as some call it, has finally arrived....

more here

I came across this the other day. It was written by George Pellew, the class poet at Harvard, 1880.

We ask but time to drift,
We deem it narrow-minded to excel.
We call the man fanatic who applies
His life to one grand purpose till he dies.
Enthusiasm sees one side, one fact;
We try to see all sides, but do not act.
...We long to sit with newspapers unfurled,
Indifferent spectators of the world.

'Mornings on Horseback' - David Mccullogh

Went for a little jaunt in Kan country the other day. It was great to get out!

The mountain won the day though as there was more snow up there than I thought.



On my way down, I stopped to take a break at the top of a small cliff. I took my shoe off to shake rocks out and ended up dropping it! It rolled down the hill towards the cliff and the only reason it did not go over was a small branch that was growing just at the edge! haha, I would have been in serious trouble if I had lost that shoe as there was a lot rock to walk through on the way down. Besides, that is my favorite pair of shoes.

(shoe in bottom of picture)

I went to a lecture tonight on the creation / evolution debate at a church here in Calgary. The church was of the new variety with candles and round tables and carefully placed spotlights and projectors and LCD displays. The modern cathedral I guess.

The speaker was probably one of the most educated individuals I have met. He has three post doctorates in dentistry, Old Testament hermeneutics and evolutionary biology... (I think I have that right)

His essential argument, as I understand it, is that evolution is an indisputable fact; that it is right for Christianity to accommodate scientific theory and that to not do so is to set up an unnecessary stumbling block in the way of genuine seekers. Rather than interpret Genesis as historical literature, it should be interpreted as poetic literature. His main defence of this position is the pre-scientific three tier view of the universe that comes out in the writings of the Hebrew prophets.

I thought I would take this chance to think out loud while the ideas are still fresh and maybe things will become clearer as I write.

1. The classification of Genesis as poetic literature is fairly subjective. There is no doubt that the structure of the days of creation are arranged in a very structured way so that the environments are first created and then they are filled. So God created the world in a very structured way. But let’s say that Genesis is a poetic description of the creation of our world.
2. If Genesis 1-3 is an allegory of creation then probably one of the main ideas I would take from it is that death is a foreign intruder into what was an otherwise perfect world.
3. This does not correspond well with evolutionary theory.
4. Death is the vital mechanism necessary for evolutionary theory to operate.
5. Evolution requires that populations coexisted in the past in the same way they do now. One population is held in check by the predatory or competitive pressures of another species or by organisms within the same species.
6. Two observations:
7. This world is incredibly beautiful and complex.
8. Nature can be extremely cruel and at times even perverse.
9.. All of nature is adapted for either defence or attack.
10. Nature red in tooth and claw.
11. These realities make it virtually impossible for us to imagine a world without death.
12. Any account of origins that states that the world was created perfect and w/o death must give a reason for death's intrusion.
13. Genesis attributes death to sin.
14. It is interesting that every aspect of the curse of man and Satan involves a change in nature.
15. Women’s pain in childbirth required some kind of anatomical change.
16. Once useful plants became pests.
17. The serpent would slither.
18. Together these imply a much greater change so that the world we experience today is so different from the original world that we cannot begin to imagine what it was like or explain its dynamics based on our current understanding of biology.
19. Is it possible that the changes induced in the created world as a part of the curse were some form of adaptation? Species were given by God the ability to adapt and change in response to their environment as a matter of survival in a fallen world.
20. Adaptation, then becomes another astounding aspect to the design of life. God made life self replicating, self healing and able to adapt.
21. These characteristics all trace their roots to the genetic code and the truly marvellous way that individual characteristics are coded for by multiple genes.
22. Creation currently groans and is waiting to be redeemed. If it was never perfect and has slowly evolved to its current condition, then it has been groaning for 10-15 billion years. That is a long wait.
23. If massive adaptation is an aspect of the design of life, does it then follow that we should also believe in the descent with modification of all life from molecules?
24. Micro evolution lacks the explanatory power to explain the formation of the first cell.
25. To say that Christians use the ‘God in the gaps’ theory to explain everything that science has not is false.
26. The gaps in macro evolutionary theory are more like oceans. To argue that these ‘gaps’ must have a natural scientific explanation because this is the only kind of explanation that is acceptable is nothing more than methodological naturalism. It is a philosophical belief and is not necessary for good science.
27. All knowledge should lead us to understand how little we know and lead us to the conclusion that we are little children.
28. Knowledge can lead to idolatry.
29. It is possible for a great number of extremely intelligent and well educated people to be very badly mistaken. Much of our current economic crisis was created by very smart people with a thorough understanding of economic theory.
30. Truth is not found in the consensus or in doctorates.
31. The further science deviates from the present, the more arbitrary and uncertain it becomes. G.K Chesterton says it well,
32. An inventor can advance step by step in the construction of an airplane even if he is only experimenting with sticks and scraps of metal in his own backyard. But he cannot watch the Missing Link evolving in his own backyard. If he has made a mistake in his calculations, the airplane will correct it by crashing to the ground. But if he has made a mistake about the arboreal habitat of his ancestor, he cannot see his arboreal ancestor falling off the tree. He cannot keep a caveman like a cat in the backyard and watch him to see whether he does really practice cannibalism or carry off his mate on the principles of marriage by capture. He cannot keep a tribe of primitive men like a pack of hounds and notice how far they are influenced by the herd instinct... Thus while most science moves in a sort of curve, being constantly corrected by new evidence, this science flies off into space in a straight line uncorrected by anything. ‘The Eternal Man’
33. Was the Spirit of Christ evident in words that were spoken?
33. ...Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Colossians 2:2-3

This article caught my eye and is worth a read.

I am not sure if I agree with everything here but it provides an interesting perspective.

The Coming Evangelical Collapse

This is from David Wilkerson's blog. I came across it on the Drudge Report under the headline "Christian Pastor Warns of Impending Doom" or something like that. I can't remember exactly. So here is the text from Wilkersons blog:

I am compelled by the Holy Spirit to send out an urgent message to all on our mailing list, and to friends and to bishops we have met all over the world. AN EARTH-SHATTERING CALAMITY IS ABOUT TO HAPPEN. IT IS GOING TO BE SO
FRIGHTENING, WE ARE ALL GOING TO TREMBLE - EVEN THE GODLIEST AMONG US.

For ten years I have been warning about a thousand fires coming to New York City. It will engulf the whole megaplex, including areas of New Jersey and Connecticut.
Major cities all across America will experience riots and
blazing fires—such as we saw in Watts, Los Angeles, years ago.There will be riots and fires in cities worldwide. There will be looting—including Times Square, New York City. What we
are experiencing now is not a recession, not even a depression. We are under God’s wrath. In Psalm 11 it is written,“If
the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?” (v. 3).God is judging the raging sins of America and the
nations. He is destroying the secular foundations.

It reminds me a little of some of the things said after Sept. 11. when several ministers (I can't remember who they were) said that Sept. 11 was Gods judgement on America. I guess I have been hearing more of this lately and it has me asking questions and thinking some about what it means to listen to the voice of the Good Shepherd and how that differs from prophetic words like the ones Wilkerson has spoken.

The prophets of the OT often began their message with "Thus says the LORD..." So, what do we do when we hear people today begin their statement with the same line? By what authority are they saying these things? Has God chosen again to speak through prophets like he did in the past? If so, then their words should be marked with the same power and wisdom that marked the minsitry of men like Jeremiah or Isaiah.

And it seems kind of propitious that these statements are made when things already seem pretty bleak and the whole world is talking about it... (another example is the multitude of books that came out about the millenium bug) Go on any financial blog today and you will find a lot scared people making much the same predictions David Wilkerson is... except without mention of God. What is the value of preaching doom when events are already in full swing and the media is having a heyday with it? Wilkerson says that he has been saying the same thing for 10 years... and in fairness, I haven't read his past remarks, however I remain skeptical, not so much of his predictions (maybe things will get that bad... although I choose to remain more optimistic) but the nature of his statement and authority he claims for his words.

Maybe if I get some time I will do a little more homework...

This is amazing! These little critters are the fastest moving organism on earth... or at least their jaws are. Apparently they can wind up their jaws like a crossbow and release them with an incredible amount of force, which they sometimes use to propel themselves. It appears that they have yet to evolve stabilizers. lol

I stumbled across some old videos of Francis Shaeffer and thought this little review of recent history very interesting.  It is a sober reminder of where we are at today and how empty life is when all we have to live for is ourselves.



So what was left? Apathy. Having been worn out trying to find meaning, forgiveness and love... and failed, all that was left was to go to sleep.

But there is cure for our disease! There is a Doctor.

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." Matthew 11:28-30

I just finished watching the Senate debate over the 1 trillion dollar stimulus package. (I know, I need to get a life)

But it is a monumental decision that represents an additional 12,000 debt for every household in the U.S. (if I understand correctly) In Canada we have had our own debate and have similarly chosen to go the route of massive spending.

I guess I can understand the need to inject capital into the financial system in order to keep credit flowing but I lack faith in our govn's ability to spend money efficiently or effectively. At some point we have to take our medicine and the prescription is not more debt.

Robert Reich in his book 'Supercapitalism' points out some of the serious problems that exist with the relationship between the corporate world and the gov'n. He points out that our gov'n has to balance the demands of the 'consumer / investor' with that of the 'citizen'. Each one of us is both. For example, as a citizen, I want my town to have a dynamic downtown core. But as a consumer, I want to have the option of going to Walmart where I can buy things for dirt cheap and as an investor, I want my stock in Walmart to go up. The corporate world will always cater to us as a 'consumer / investor' but only our elected officials can act on our behalf as 'citizen'. But our government often doesn't and this represents a serious problem for democracy. Since the 1970's, corporate lobbying in the Washington has grown into a massive industry that has effectively drowned out the voice of citzen groups.

Ultimately this is a problem for the markets as well. We can no more have healthy free markets without an uncompromised regulator than we can have a good soccer match without a guy on the field with a loud whistle and yellow cards. As much as we might dislike refs as players, we need them and we don't want them hitting the pubs with the opposing team after the game.

While Obama is promising change, I wonder if he is willing to make the kind of change necessary? Putting a 500,000 cap on CEO salaries for U.S. financial institutions that have received bailout funds (which is nearly every major bank in the US) sounds like a good idea but I am not sure. We need the best people leading these corporations but how many CEO's will be willing to take on that kind of responsibility when the pay is no better than that of a lesser position? A CEO at the helm of a multi billion dollar company will get paid more than the rest of us and, hopefully, he will make use of his salary for philanthropy. The size of the salary is not the problem, it is the lack of integrity. I would rather see the gov'n put regulations in place that adjust CEO compensation so that long term success is rewarded rather than year end balance sheets.

At gut level, it doesn't seem right that some people should get paid so much while others struggle to get by. But what are the options in this flawed world corrupted by human nature? When I worked on a communal farm in Israel, I had a chance to see the effects of socialism on a community. When the idealism of the early days wore off, human nature took over and people got lazy. Many kibbutzim today are nearly insolvent. I read somewhere that socialism is misery equally shared whereas capitalism is wealth unequally distributed. That seems to be true.

But capitalism is only a system of economics. It has no heart. And this is where the church has a great role to play. Our society needs at least one institution (in the best sense of the word) that has a heart and that speaks a different language. That reminds its members to, "lay up treasure in heaven where neither rust or moth destroy" and that the true religion which the Lord our God finds acceptable is to "look after orphans and widows in their distress."

I was watching Band of Brothers - 'Carretan' last night and had to write out this conversation that takes place between two soldiers.

Spears: What's your name trooper.

Blythe: Blythe sir, Albert Blythe.

Spears: Do you know why you hid in that ditch Blythe.

Blythe: I was scared.

Spears: We're all scared. You hid in that ditch because you think there is still hope. But Blythe, the only hope you have is to accept the fact that you are already dead. And the sooner you accept that, the sooner you will be able to function as a soldier's suppossed to function...

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Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. Matthew 10:39

This is Klassen's custom door opener made with an old hydrolic pump and assorted tractor parts. It is truly a piece of workship.

Yoko Bro's Fabrication Ltd.

I just read the Pilgrims Progress for the first time recently and understand now why it is such an enduring classic. Interestingly, at the time it was written, high churchmen put it down as simple and naiive. But I think that is beauty of it. This simple allegory contains more truth than volumes of philosophy because it speaks to joys and struggles of 'everyman'.

Any way here is my little summary:

An outcast in his own city, Christian seeks the narrow way that leads to the Beautiful Land. He gets off to a rough start when he speaks with Worldy Wise Guy and is led astray. He nearly walks off of a cliff on Mt. Sinai and gets stuck in the Slough of Despondency. Along the way Christian meets a friend and fellow pilgrim, Faithful. Together they face the temptations of Vanity Fair and are not at all sure if they will escape. Faithful is killed there but Hopeful joins Christian and together they climb a mountain where they can look across the valley of death which they had crossed and catch a glimpse of the Celestial City. Later, they take a well worn track that leads to Doubting Castle were they are beaten for days by the Giant Despair. Then, when Christian wants to die and put an end to it all, Hopeful reminds him that there is a key called Promise. It is the only key that can unlock the gates of iron and it can only be turned with Prayer. They cross the enchanted ground that puts the unsuspecting to sleep and have to work at keeping each other awake.

At the end of the journey, the terror of death overwhelms Christian as he crosses the deep Jordan river and he loses his footing. But he is helped across the river by Hopeful and together they arrive at the Celestial City, Mt. Zion, the City of the Great King where there is joy in His presence forever!

Anyway, that is all out of order, selective and completely mixed up but it is what stuck with me.

No doubt it is complete foolishness to many, but then as John Bunyan writes in his intro,

Art thou for something rare, and profitable?

Wouldest thou see a Truth within a Fable?
Art thou forgetful? wouldest thou remember
From new-years-day to the last of December?
Then read my fancies, they will stick like Burs,
And may be to the Helpless, Comforters.


Would'st thou be in a Dream, and yet not sleep? Or wouldest thou in a moment laugh, and weep?
Wouldest thou lose thyself withou a charm?
And find thyself again without a harm?
Would'st read thyself, and read thou know'st not what,
And yet know, whether thou art blest or not,
By reading the same lines? O then come hither,
And lay my Book, thy head, and heart together.

I posted a news article a while ago about a group of Mennonites who were forced to leave their homes and province because their school's curriculum did not meet Quebec's standards...

I just came across another interesting piece in the National Post about a new curriculum being introduced into Quebec schools. It is very ambitious in scope and will be incorporated into students education throughout primary and secondary education.

Here is a link to a video that is basically Quebec gov'n propaganda supporting the curriculum.

I guess it has always been a struggle for me to understand the separation of church and state. If one of the key tasks of the state is to uphold justice and if justice is ultimately rooted in who God is then the idea of separation of church and state is not clear... I think its a legitimate distinction (Luke 20:25) but it's not black and white.

The church has already been pushed out of any meaningful contribution to public policy but now the gov'n is intruding into what has traditionally been the role of the church. Their message is relativism, the religion of secularism. And... attendance is mandatory. Maybe we could make church attendance mandatory as well!

Trudeau once said that the State has no business intruding into the bedrooms of its citizens... but apparently that is the only place that is off limits.

Anyway, read this article from the NP. I think the writer makes some good points.

People turn to faith in times of trouble but what does that mean exactly?  Here is a little video clip and also a snippet from the article in the Washington Post.