Another Quote for Today

“God’s highest purpose of creation is achieved when his rational creatures are seeking above all else to please him.”

Jack Cottrell, God the Creator, 128

Quote for Today

"Millions all around us are living the tragedy of meaningless life, the 'life' of spiritual death. That is what makes our society most radically different from every society in history: not that it can fly to the moon, enfranchise more voters, have the grossest national product, conquer disease, or even blow up the entire planet, but that it does not know why it exists."

Peter Kreeft, Heaven: The Heart's Deepest Longing, p. 12

Christian Songs that Inspire Me: In Christ Alone by Stuart Townsend and Keith Getty

I love this song. It's not perfect, but I love it anyway because it is simple melody, easy to learn, and, most important to me, it has lyrics that are carefully written and full of meaning. Here are the words, and I'll save my comments for the end.

In Christ alone my hope is found;
he is my light, my strength, my song.
This cornerstone, this solid ground
firm through the fiercest drought and storm.

What heights of love, what depths of peace
when fears are stilled, when strivings cease.
My comforter, my all in all,
Here in the love of Christ I stand.

In Christ alone, who took on flesh,
fullness of God in helpless babe.
This gift of love and righteousness
scorned by the ones he came to save

'Til on that cross as Jesus died
the wrath of God was satisfied,
for every sin on him was laid -
here in the death of Christ I live.

There in the ground his body lay:
Light of the world by darkness slain.
then bursting forth in glorious day,
up from the grave he rose again!

And as he stands in victory,
Sin's curse has lost its grip on me
for I am his and he is mine,
bought with the precious blood of Christ.

No guilt in life, no fear in death -
this is the power of Christ in me.
From life's first cry to final breath,
Jesus commands my destiny.

No power of Hell, no scheme of man
can ever pluck me from his hand.
Til he returns or calls me home,
here in the power of Christ I'll stand.

I'm thankful to the Gettys, who wrote this modern hymn (their description of it). From the first time I heard it, it became one of my all-time favorite songs. I would, however, like to clarify a few things about the lyrics, perhaps fine-tune them a bit:

• "'Til on the cross as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied." Yes, this is true, but it was not God's wrath alone that put Jesus on the cross. It was his great love for us that put him there. I agree with Jack Cottrell: it should say ". . . God's wrath and love were satisfied."
• Darkness did not slay Jesus, the Light of the world. It is poetic and it balances out the reference to light. Certainly the devil thought he had won a great victory, but even he knew that it was not his doing. God is the one who "made him who had no sin to be sin for us." Basically, God the Father slayed Jesus, pouring out his wrath on him and pouring out his love on us.
• I'm not sure that "from life's first cry to final breath Jesus commands my destiny," unless this is a reference to eternal life and Heaven being our destiny (and even then there are some problems with the phrase). This sounds Calvinistic, as if there were no free will. Perhaps we Arminians and our Calvinist friends could agree on this: God foreknew that we would be saved by grace through faith, and therefore it can be said that from birth to death, our "destiny" is settled by God's foreknowledge.

In spite of a few tweaks, I still think this is one of the greatest songs of the last 25 years. I'll post a video of it above this post.

Michael Graunke chatting and being naughty

From the other day. Michael's definitely starting to push some boundaries, but he's still super cute, and he's getting better at mimicking real words. He understands a lot more than he speaks, and it's great to see him do something by simply telling him to. Look for our other videos on YouTube; search for the user adamheidi.

And the Yo-Yo Goes Down

Well, I haven't run since the last week of October. I held off at first because of my new job, which was quite physical and had long hours on my feet. I've probably regained most of the weight I've ever lost (haven't weighed myself for about a month, but last time it was 245). That job was a seasonal job, and I was laid off a week and a half ago. I start my new, permanent job tomorrow, which has better hours and is five days a week (the seasonal job was four days a week).

What I need is motivation and a reason to get back on the horse, or the Pig, or whatever. We'll see.

Dr Pepper Commercial - I Would Do Anything For Love

Fun for today. I love Dr. Pepper!

A Few Theological Thoughts on Natural Disasters

Any time a natural disaster strikes in the world (especially in the poorer parts of the world like Haiti), someone, somewhere will ask why God allowed it to happen, or why God caused it to happen. Why doesn't God stop the earthquakes, floods, volcanoes, tornadoes, hurricanes, fires, and any other disaster?

Theologians differ on how to answer this question. It depends on a more foundational question: did God know it would happen? (This also give rise to the related question: could God have stopped it?) Orthodox Christianity says yes. Some Christians believe that God knew it would happen because he decreed for it to happen. That is, God predestined it to happen exactly as it did, and that's why he knew about it. Some Christians believe that God knew it would happen because he simply foreknew or foresaw it happening. That is, God sees the future without causing the future. He permitted it. A few Christians believe that God did not know it would happen (at least not until he could calculate future plate tectonics based on his perfect knowledge of the physical world and his infinite ability to figure things like that out). Once he knew it would happen, he could stop it but permitted it anyway.

I embrace the second option listed above, that God knew it would happen, but allowed it without causing it. Fortunately (but sometimes frustratingly), it's not our job to explain why God permits or prevents anything. He is totally sovereign over all of creation. A few thoughts in that direction, however, can't hurt:

• Whether you think the movement of the tectonic plates is a result of the fall and cursing of the ground or not, the fact remains that it is a natural, normal event on Earth. It happens all the time. It is the location and timing that make it tragic, not the fact of the occurrence.
• As long as people continue to choose to live and build cities along known fault lines, it's only a matter of time for things like this to happen. We can't really be surprised when the next San Francisco or Mexico City earthquake happens, and we shouldn't ask, "how can God let this happen?" We should ask, "how can man let this happen?" "They knew there's a fault line there!"
• I can't say for sure, but perhaps one reason God allows natural disasters to happen (and this probably goes for other kinds of suffering and evil) is because for God to prevent every disaster or suffering caused by nature would basically involve God constantly interrupting or overriding things like gravity, trajectory, momentum, and a hundred other factors which are usually predictable. The world would be entirely unpredictable. If I try to light a match, will it work? What if hitting my brakes would have caused suffering; will God cause my brakes not to work? How could I ever confidently do anything? The scientific method, which depends so much on the principle of uniformity (e.g., gravity works the same everywhere in the universe, photons behave the same etc.), would be rendered useless and scientific progress/knowledge would cease.
  
• A certain amount of pain in life is actually very good, and healthy. The fact that your hand hurts when you put it near fire is a good thing; physical pain is a warning that something is going wrong with the body. The lack of sensation of pain (e.g., Hansen's disease/leprosy) shows us this truth.
• Without some pain and tragedy in life, such virtues as bravery, self-sacrifice, and forebearance wouldn't mean much.
• Just because God is allowing evil and suffering to exist now doesn't mean that evil people are "getting away with it." Don't criticize God when history is not over; he has promised that when Jesus returns, every person will be judged on the basis of what they've done, and if they do not belong to Christ, there is no forgiveness of sins and eternal punishment awaits them.
  

There are probably a dozen other thoughts that could be added, but the reality for the people of Haiti, and for anyone else suffering, is this: all the reasons in the world can't undo the suffering, can't bring anyone back, can't heal the pains and can't reduce the severity of the experience. Arguments like those listed above may have some value, but to those who are actually suffering, it is cold comfort at best.

Theology must always lead to ministry. Ministry, the living out of one's theology and the application of that life onto the lives of others, is the most profound answer to the question of where God is when it hurts. As Philip Yancey concludes, the answer to the question "Where is God when it hurts?" is another question: where is the church when it hurts?

The answer? The church is in Haiti, has been for a long time. You won't read about it much in the papers or on the major news media, but dozens of ministries like International Disaster Emergency Services are making a difference in the name of Jesus.

As it turns out, the question of why God allows things is important, but perhaps not as important as the question of what the Church of Jesus Christ does in response to all the evil and suffering.