Thursday, November 10, 2005

Intelligent Design...

Several times today I've run into Intelligent Design as a radio topic. The sources ranged from Christian (WDER AM 1320), to secular (Don Imus on WTKK 96.9 FM), to avidly opposed (NPR Day to Day).

The most maddening came from Ira Flatow, generally the host of Science Friday. On Day to Day he commented on a Kansas Board of Ed ruling that Intelligent Design must be included in any discussion of origins.

He was asked if Evolution is really a theory. "Well, in most truly scientific circles, it's actually taken as a Law or Principle."

He commented that they even had to CHANGE the very DEFINITION of SCIENCE! Why, in the definition, "Science is the observation and study of physical phenomenon," they struck the word physical.

If Mr. Flatow really looked at this defintion of science (before the ghastly change) the study of origins cannot in any way be science. There is no way to OBSERVE what happened in the past.

The further past, the less can be observed. When we get to the margins at the the beginning of the planet, the universe, time, we are out of the realm of science. It is all conjecture.

This tied in elegantly with a conversation on Radio Bible Class on WDER. They are beginning a segment on "Faith's Hall of Fame", Hebrews ch. 11. Notice how it starts:

1 Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen. 2 For by it our ancestors were approved. 3 By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen has been made from things that are not visible.


The first place of faith in the believer's life is in understanding that God created all we see out of nothing. Our faith in God includes faith in Him as Creator.

We step back to the brink of time and peer over the edge. We see nothing. Neither side sees anything.

What we say happened is what we BELIEVE happened. And whether we are aware of it or not, BOTH SIDES say it this way. We do not apprehend this with the senses. BOTH sides apprehend this by faith.

Look at the reality of this. The evolutionist must believe that time and matter have always existed. That they are eternal. They must BELIEVE it for how else can it be known? Eternity past cannot be proven. It cannot be observed. It can be postulated as an a priori a before-the-fact-take-it-on-faith surmisal.

Postulating that a substance, a thing, an entity, a quantity, a value, a force, a whatever, exists outside the bounds of observation... that sounds a lot like belief doesn't it? Isn't belief what is mocked? How is one belief different or better than another belief, if it all comes down to belief?

What the Evolutionists believe is is exactly like the animists and the idolatrous of the mocked earlier times. It is a belief in an eternal deadness. An eternal something that has no will, no life, no force. It's basically modern-informed superstition.

It's dead, Jim (a Trek reference HERE D?)

On the other hand, the Intelligent Design theorist (aka the Creationist) asserts a belief in a willful intelligence, a person, a God.

BOTH lean on faith. Which faith makes more sense to you?

D--

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

Waiting...

They say that you
Are able Lord
To mend this hurt
To heal this pain
To find that answer
Bring that aid
To bind that wound
And save that heart

They say that you
Are able Lord
To show the way
To lift the load
To bring that hope
To fight that fight
To grow this love
To stop this grief

But Lord I wait
I wait on you
And I don't see
Where is this hope
Where is this answer
Where is this joy
Where is this peace

When I will see
When I will know
That you do stand
That you do rise
You'll take my hand
That you aren't deaf
That you aren't blind
You hear my cry
Your peace I'll find


You died for me
You saved my heart
You filled my soul
You made me whole
You shaped my life
To make me yours
To bring me life
To teach me joy

If I but look
Your joy I'll see
Though I must wait
Transformation comes

Monday, November 07, 2005

A Flight of Fancy...

I mentioned earlier my fun at building a tryout tape...

Here it is:

Lights, camera, action :) ...

Enjoy :).

D

Saturday, November 05, 2005

What it's All About...

We ARE in a war. We ARE in a passion play.

Two song lyrics by David Wilcox:

SHOW THE WAY

You say you see no hope,
You say you see no reason we should dream
That the world would ever change
You're saying love is foolish to believe
'Cause there'll always be some Crazy
With an Army or a Knife
To wake you from your day dream,
Put the fear back in your life...

Look... ... ...
If someone wrote a play
Just to glorify What's stronger than hate,
Would they not arrange the stage
To look as if the hero came too late?
He's almost in defeat
It's looking like the Evil side will win,
On the Edge of every seat,
From the moment that the whole thing begins

It is...

Chorus:
Love who makes the mortar
And it's love who stacked these stones
And it's love who made the stage here
Although it looks like we're alone
In this scene set in shadows
Like the night is here to stay
There is evil cast around us
But it's love that wrote the play...

For in this darkness love can show the way

So now the stage is set.
You feel your own heart beating in your chest.
This life's not over yet.
So we get up on our feet and do our best.
We play against the fear.
We play against the reasons not to try.
We're playing for the tears
Burning in the happy angel's eyes

For it's...
Love who makes the mortar
And it's love who stacked these stones
And it's love who made the stage here
Although it looks like we're alone
In this scene set in shadows
Like the night is here to stay
There is evil cast around us
But it's love that wrote the play...

For in this darkness love can show the way

..............................................

 David Wilcox, all rights reserved


and one more ... what I played for my son ... my answer to what we do next, after we pray for God to rise up, victorious...

Rise

I see you dreaming by the ocean window
I hear you breathing like the waves upon the shore
The tide is turning on your time of sorrow
You will never be so lonesome any more

The breezes whisper as the curtain dances
Your dreams are deeper than the mystery of the sea
The sun itself is in the room beside you
With a message of how good your life can be

I know that a heart can just get buried
Stone by stone, crushing hope until it dies
Far away, but the message somehow carries
Beloved, it is time for you to rise.
Time for you to RISE UP...

With a sudden sense of wonder
Though the promise goes unspoken
As the joy comes to your eyes
When the joy comes to your eyes
From the burden you?ve been under
For your soul was never broken

Beloved, it is time for you to rise, time for you to rise.

There's nothing wrong with taking time for sleeping
Your eyes are weary with the things that you have seen
A deeper promise your soul is keeping
Right in time for this appointment in your dream

Angels whisper so as not to wake you
There's nothing else in this whole world for you to do
But follow on to where your dream may take you
To see your footsteps from an eagle's point of view

..............................................

 David Wilcox, all rights reserved


Rise. Playing for the tears in the happy angels eyes. RISE.

D

Friday, November 04, 2005

Hard Truths...

It's hard to know who reads this blog. I know a couple of people who check in now and again (more again than now since my posting has fallen off recently).

I know I've sent a couple of people here, even a work friend. That's a little scary, especially with what I'm about to post.

There have been some circumstances in our household that I am convinced are Satanic. *gasp*

"Oh *I* get it," maybe you're saying. He's one of THOSE kinds of people!

Well, I suppose, yes. I don't come to this lightly. I grew up as the church rediscovered the truth of our spiritual battle. I grew up around some pretty outrageous teaching, little of it grounded in Scripture.

But none of that matters... what matters is that I am convinced we are facing spiritual warfare. Some of it centers on the kids, some of it on money and work issues. I feel a bit like Daniel who agonized and prayed trying to understand a Scripture. He was told that Satan interefered with his answer.

So today is a prayer and fasting day for me. Remember Jesus' disciples hit a rough patch with their demon-throwing-out experiences, and Jesus said, "This type does not come out except by fasting and prayer."

I know people who have formulas for casting out demons. Who have rituals they practice.

But what I see in Scripture is a very simple battle. Putting on the whole armor of Christ (Eph 6) and imploring God on our behalf (Jude). And in this case, fasting and prayer.

I'll be praying for answers for our money disasters. I'll be praying for peace for the kids whose sleep has been terrorized, who don't want to go to their rooms.

If you pray, pray with me?

Thanks!

D

Tuesday, November 01, 2005

Hard to hold on...

I've realized that one of the disciplines that's being worked on right now is perseverance. I have a tendency to try to shuck off things that aren't going well. It's not a bad thing, it's good to clean up non-working parts of your life.

But in this case, to start shucking off things would be very damaging. I have to sit with the difficulty and the unknowing. I can't write creditors and tell them when I'll pay because I have no idea. I can't dump my job because I need its flexibility.

It's a very tough place to be. To just sit with nothing to say and no amount of knowing. It's sheer fingernails' grip faith.

It's learning to wait on God. Wait when everything screams MOVE!

Oh God, rise up. How long can I sit? How long can I stay silent as You are silent? Rise up and answer, my only hope is You.

D