A Clear Signal About Cell Phones

I am pretty out of touch when it comes to texting and cell phones. I was sitting in the stands at an Ada football game earlier in the year when I saw a young woman holding a cell phone with two hands, banging on it with such force I thought she was trying to break it. I finally realized, as she snapped it shut and then back open when it began to rattle, that she was sending text messages to a friend (probably someone sitting a few rows away from her...).

If you're ever surprised or frustrated by cell phones, or if you ever wonder why you feel like cell phones are a bit of nuisance but haven't been able to put your finger on it, then check out this article http://www.thenewatlantis.com/archive/6/rosen.htm It spells out what you may have thought but hadn't yet got around to articulating. It's long, so print it out, and enjoy the read while you're digesting Turkey this week.

Is This The Best The Athiests Can Do?

Over the past year or two, a slew of books promoting atheism have been published and are selling like hotcakes. Perhaps the cream of the crop is Richard Dawkins' "The God Delusion." I checked it out of the library recently to see what all the fuss is about.

One of the first things you notice about the book is how angry the author is. The book would have been much more effective if it had attempted to maintain some level of objectivity. It's obvious by the author's tone, that he has a major beef with anyone who believes in God.

One particular observation I would make has to do with Dawkins' criticism of the morality of the Old Testament. He makes reference to the story of Jephthah's daughter in Judges 11. Jephthah makes a rash vow where he pledges to offer as a sacrifice whatever comes through his door when he comes home from a battle, provided God grants him victory in battle. Tragically, Jephthah's daughter is the first one to great him, and she is sacrificed by her father as an offering to God.

Dawkins points to this as an example of the twisted morality of the bible: How can one use the bible as a source of morals when this is the kind of story you find in the bible? Dawkins seems to miss the whole point of Judges, which is to remind Israel how far they've fallen from God by adopting the practices of their pagan neighbors (who did practice child sacrifice as part of their religious worship.) Dawkins doesn't seem to grasp the point that the bible honestly records actions that are contrary to the will of God. It shows the human race in all its evil and sin to help drive us to the mercy of God in the gospel.

I find it interesting that Dawkins is outraged by the story of Jephthah's daughter, yet he doesn't allow God to be outraged by it. Instead he criticizes God for punishing sin and calling his people to be loyal to him. Dawkins wants to judge Jephthah, but God isn't allowed to judge or else he is being vindictive and jealous.

To round out the story, it's vital to grasp that God doesn't ask for Jephthah's vow. Jephthah makes the vow of his own accord, which reveals how much he is in step with the Canaanite culture that surrounds him. God has nothing to do with it. It's an example of Israel's evil, which results in her continued judgment, which is proper for God to exercise if there is any hope for justice in the world.

If you're reading the book, be sure to also look at the response by Alister McGrath in his book "The Dawkins Delusion?".

Amish Crackdown in Kenton Ohio

I had a letter to the editor published in the Kenton Times on Saturday March 3, 2007regarding the crackdown on the sale of Amish food. Please read it below and post your comments!

The recent crack-down on the Amish in Hardin County reveals a fundamental misunderstanding about health. The Hardin County Health Department together with ODA officials are focused rather narrowly on a single aspect of health—the physical health of our bodies, in this particular case, the connection between food storage and potential illness. That there may be other types of health is an assumption that does not seem to be under consideration.

For example, healthy community life and neighborliness are forms of well-being that the officials overlook. The ability to purchase food from local producers builds trust and cooperation between the farmer and the person purchasing food. As one who travels from Ada to buy food from the Amish, I know many of these people and count them as friends. When officials undermine the ability of local farmers to provide food for their neighbors, these relationships deteriorate.

As relationships deteriorate, trust and cooperation and friendliness among different people also erode, yet these are the very ingredients necessary to a vibrant and well-ordered civic life. With a more holistic view of community life, officials would do everything in their power to connect our residents with local sources of food rather than sever those connections. The officials may justify their harassment of the Amish under the banner of health, yet it is precisely the health of our community that is at stake.

The same misunderstanding of health has injured community life here in Ada. A few years back, a women’s group in a local church quit baking bread and pastries for a community festival due to pressure from health officials. The effort to meet the regulators’ requirements didn’t justify the time to produce the food. As a result, a group of ladies didn’t meet, and by not meeting, their relationships suffered, and the community suffered for not being able to socialize with the older generation these ladies represented.

To be sure, there is a legitimate place for health departments in the life of a community, but surely these recent tactics are overzealous. Is it necessary to protect the local community from an Amish matriarch’s pies, pies that give pleasure to thousands of people, pies whose recipes have been handed down through generations with no ill effect? Most of us know that Amish food is no threat to our physical health, but even if it were, our officials should tread with great caution, recognizing that the health of communities, the fabric of relationships between friends and neighbors, is not something easily repaired once lost.

Smooth Talk and Flattery

In my final sermon on Romans, we talked about those who would lead us away from being established in the gospel by smooth talk and flattery. We all tend to be suspicious of the cults and radical groups that have clearly distorted the gospel, yet we may not be quite as discerning with spiritual leaders and pastors closer to home.

For example, many people trust Oprah more than their pastor. Her gospel of self-fulfillment is the religion for many Americans. See this USA Today article for more on her "ministry."

Popular t.v. preacher Joel Osteen has rightly come under criticism for failing to articulate the gospel (as Paul presented it in Romans) clearly. Click here for a review of one aspect of his book. And click here for a bit of satire on Osteen's philosophy of Christianity.