1 degree

The global average temperature is about 1° Fahrenheit higher than it was a century ago. This one degree has caused a lot of fuss, including one of my least favorite vice presidents, Al Gore, winning a share of the Nobel Peace Prize.

The fuss isn’t all bad. I may disagree with the way that Al Gore wants to turn around our pollution problems, but I am glad for the new awareness that has been born from all the hoopla he has created. Unfortunately, many Christians are unable to get past the politics to see the need to take responsibility in caring for creation.

I have lost count of the number of conversations where I thought the topic was our responsibility to care for creation, but within a couple of minutes, we are talking about politics and global warming. Is it possible to have good dialogue with a Christian about the environment without changing the subject to how bad Al Gore and the Democrats are? I don’t want to talk about how to clean up Al Gore, I want to talk about how to clean up our environment. I want to talk about the small steps that I can take to contribute to a larger community of effort. That discussion has nothing to do with politics.

When it comes to the politics of this discussion, I recognize that there are a lot of dollars at stake in the federal government. There is a lot to debate when it comes to the government’s role in keeping clean the air, water, and land of the brave. However, I think it would benefit us to separate the two issues, so that personal responsibility doesn’t get lost in a debate over where to draw political lines.

*This post is a part of Blog Action Day.

God’s world

This quote from Philip Yancey’s book, The Bible That Jesus Read is a good follow-up to a discussion regarding what Genesis 1 is really all about. He’s speaking about the Old Testament in general here, but I think it applies:

Like a drumbeat that never stops, in the pages of the Old Testament we hear the consistent message that this world revolves around God, not us. The Hebrews had incessant reminders built into their culture…. A devout Jew could barely make it through an hour, much less an entire day, without running smack into some reminder that he or she lived in God’s world. Even the Hebrew calendar marked time by events such as the Passover and Day of Atonement, not merely by the harvest cycle and the moon. The world, they believed, is God’s property. And human life is “sacred,” which simply means that it belongs to God to do with what he wills.

……………………

By the way, feel free to join the discussion from Saturday’s posting…

scientists are our friends

I remember when evolution was presented in science class during my high school days in the late eighties. We were instructed on how the cosmos came into being through natural means, which, from my perspective, took God out of the picture by default. It was like my science teacher was saying, “Everything you’ve heard is wrong.”

I was mad. Nobody, I mean nobody, was going to tell me that Genesis was wrong. This was more than a science class; God’s very existence was being called into question!

Since then, I’ve continued a layman’s interest in the theory of evolution and how to reconcile that with the creation account in Genesis. The evidence suggests that the process of the earth’s formation was a long, natural process of change where every species came into being slowly, not in the snap of a divine finger. Some scientists call God’s existence into question, since the process was a natural one. Add the reaction from select prominent Christian figures, and we end up with the kind of head-butting we’ve seen in Kansas and other state governments.

As Rick pointed out in his comments on my previous post, it seems that “both communities tend to act as if the other community’s body of knowledge cannot inform the other.”

Could it be that scientists are reading God’s ancient playbook when they pull fossils from a spot of ground in northern Canada? As Stan Guthrie noted in Christianity Today, an increasing number of scientists are seeing design in their evidence. It makes me wonder if God is showing his hand one card at a time.

Reflections of God’s creative power are all around us, and every “breakthrough” scientific discovery is another glimpse into His wisdom. We can’t convince every scientist to see God’s handiwork in their discoveries, but His signature is there, nevertheless.

Theories about the earth’s creation shouldn’t cause any fear in the heart of a Christian. The evolution debate is not a debate over God’s existence for those of us who believe in Him. Think about it: if you found out that evolution was God’s way of creating the universe, would you stop believing in God? I agree with Guthrie’s answer; If evolution is true, “then God is more mysterious than I imagined—but no less God.”

does evolution theory give you nightmares?

A fossil found last year is being hailed by science as a key missing link in evolutionary theory. To put it in layman’s terms, Paleontologists suggest that the fossil shows the link between swimming fish and four-legged, slimy land crawlers. The Tiktaalik “is a really amazing, remarkable intermediate fossil,” scientist Neil H. Shubin told the New York Times.

There is an article in Christianity Today about what these kinds of discoveries mean for Christian faith. Are they a threat? Should we continue to shrug them off as insignificant? The article is at http://www.christianitytoday.com/41438, and here is an excerpt:

Increasing numbers of world-class scientists, as a matter of fact, are in awe of the apparent design and fine-tuning of Creation. “The more I examine the universe and the details of its architecture,” physicist and mathematician Freeman Dyson notes, “the more evidence I find that the universe in some sense must have known we were coming.”

This has prompted me to reflect again on evolution and the question of whether or not it has to be mutually exclusive with our faith. What do you think? Can a Christian believe in evolution without sacrificing their belief in God as Creator? I would love to hear your thoughts before I post mine (if you have time, read the short CT article first).

weakly prayer – glory and creation

Creator God (Elohim),

This sunset view from 35,000 feet
makes me wonder if You gave us the airplane
simply to have a better view.

Is there any place more important right now
than seeing Your glory through this small window?

I’ll stay right here
and look with all my eyes.

Before now, I did not expect so much color
in Your glory!

(We always think of white-bright white
and a long beard)

Color is Your glory
Your glory is color-full!

My eyes have tasted this
creative color palette;

I think I am seeing better now.

Amen.

upkeep of the global garden

Today’s high in my neck of the woods was a chilly 38 degrees. However, I enjoy the irony of pointing out this story in the New York Times which tells of the massive changes in Greenland’s landscape due to the melting of the ice shelf.

Do these observed climate changes represent a pollution problem on planet Earth? Or are these normal fluctuations in global temperature? Weather history isn’t extensive enough to give a definitive answer to that question, but there has been general agreement among scientists that at least part of the observed warming is the direct result of gases produced by Earth’s favorite inhabitants: humans.

If global warming isn’t convincing enough, then Google a search for pollution statistics worldwide, and you’ll have plenty of evidence that humanity has failed in its upkeep of the global garden.

Earlier this week, while in the middle of a short run in my neighborhood, my breathing privileges were revoked by a 1993 Ford Festiva that drove by. I’m sure that passersby thought I was a lunatic as I waved my hands wildly in front of my face in a fruitless effort to clear the air. It was a blunt reminder of the need for diligence in our efforts to care for creation.

In Genesis, the very first words of Scripture tell of the admonition to humanity to rule over (or manage) the earth. In other words, God said, “You are responsible for My creation. The earth is mine, and I’m trusting you to care for it.”

What will be the consequences if every generation decides that creation care isn’t important enough? Gradually we will end up masking the Word that God speaks* every day through His varied earth:

“Let there be light…”

____________________
*Psalm 19:1-6

The Nature Conservancy is an example of an organization that takes balanced, positive action to protect the planet. You can find out more at their web site.

arizona

“I bought a cactus. A week later it died. And I got depressed, because I thought, ‘Damn. I am less nurturing than a desert.’ “
- Demetri Martin, New York Magazine, October 3, 2005

I just returned from a trip to Arizona. In that great land, where the cactus milk flows like honey, I realized that the glory of God was evident in the harsh, dry conditions of the desert, just like it is in the moist greenery of the Smoky Mountains. It was the first time I have been there, and I was caught off guard by the beauty. Glory covered the land in that dry, overheated region.

One evening, we ventured to the edge of the Sonoran Desert and saw a sunset that silenced us by its splendor. The sky was a tapestry of orange, blue, and yellow as the sun reflected off the thin evening clouds. Maybe the image was meant to remain only in my memory–I failed to bring a camera.

Somehow, the sparce plant life there finds nourishment in the sandy soil. I bought a small cactus back for Krista and the instructions say to water it with a few teaspoons of water once a month. It’s a survivor, for sure.

Psalm 19 announces that “the heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.” This is no less true in the land of lizards, cacti, and rattlesnakes.

Selah

fall creek falls weekend

Krista took me on a weekend trip to Fall Creek Falls for my birthday. For me, that is like going to Disney World. Here are a few pictures, which I will soon have posted on my pictures page (Mouse over each picture for a brief description).

Some thoughts while sitting out on the balcony on Friday night:

There are a million bugs of various sort hovering, flying, crawling, and creeping all around us. It is dusk, and the night crawlers and flyers are doing their thing. This is their domain, along with the birds, snakes, deer, and squirrels (who seem to survive anywhere).

They don’t stop buzzing, crawling, and biting just because it is an annoyance to me.

I’m watching a spider weave his web on the railing outside on the deck of our room. He’s one of at least twenty spiders lined up along the railing, each having their own section to build a web. Krista has noticed three of them. I don’t think she realizes how many are right in front of us, preparing for a night of capturing unsuspecting insects.

Radar-equipped bats are flying over the lake now that the sun has mostly set. They are feeding on the millions of insects that buzz over the lake.

Observing these things reminds me of my smallness. I am part of God’s world, not the other way around.

imago Deo

“So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.”
(Genesis 1:27, ESV)

“Then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.”
(Genesis 2:7, ESV)

Image of God.
Dust from the ground.
Eternal stamp on perishable paper.
An imprint that somehow makes dust seem desirable.
Dust of earth becomes shards of gold, made in God’s image.

So many things beautifully made: day, night, the great waters and the great light, living creatures in the skies and on the ground. But only humanity was made with the imago Deo. Trees “pleasant to the sight” sprung up from the very same ground from which came man, but the imago Deo was reserved for the pinnacle of his creation.

Even in light of the obvious special care and blessing God has placed on us from the very beginning, it is often hard to see God’s glory through humanity as a whole. Stand under the shade of tall mountain pines and see how quickly you marvel at how beautiful they are compared to our technological accomplishments.

The trees and skies have consistently “poured forth speech” and declared God’s glory (Psalm 19). But humanity created in the image of God has become barely a dim reflection of this glory.

Our lack is clearly evident. We are short on glory. We are in need of a return to God’s original intent for us, and our only hope of that is to be reconciled to God. This divine-human reconciliation isn’t simply about cleaning up our act. Following Christ is a putting on of a “new self”. Isn’t it ironic that this new identity is a return to an “old” identity from the beginning of creation? Being human as God originally created us means we resemble “the likeness of God” (Ephesians 4:24).

No one lives a life of God-like perfection, but we are considered “in his likeness” when we are reconciled to him. It seems that when walking close to the Creator it is difficult to tell the difference between Him and me. In light of my glaring flaws and failures, this is extraordinary.

autumn’s quiet and color

Have you noticed the peace which begins to settle over creation during this season before the deadness of Winter?

The trees have quietly brought out new colors in Autumn as one last reminder that the deadness we will see in Winter does not have the last word.

By the way, Brian and I took a few pictures during our camping trip that I’ve posted on flickr. I also posted some shots of the foilage in Brentwood that I took last week. Above is one such picture.