Why blog about Science and God? An aside to friends and foes...
I now work with a guy I think is the best Youth Pastor in the world. Bill and his wife, Shelly, are sensationally good at reaching teenagers. He has been offered chances to be THE pastor at other churches and, while he has occasionally preached at other churches on a Sunday morning he tells them all no, thank you. When I came to this church he was glad to share the main teaching load with me, a former Youth Pastor myself, and so I get to be useful and used at this church while going into semi-retired mode as far as church ministry goes. I am free to follow my call without the burden of having to be in charge of the whole thing. Been there, done that, literally have the t-shirt(s)!
Do you know what a calling is? The Newsboys had a hit album entitled "Going Public" and the most popular song on the album was certainly "Shine." It was one of several award-winning Christian music albums they produced. They were at that time a pop and rock group that mixed in rap sometimes. As the change in lead singers and group leaders has gone from John James to Peter Furler to Michael Tait they have become more rock oriented while still being focused on spreading the Word. I'll reference a song from that album a bit later. As THE youth pastor at my last church I often took the teenagers to Christian concerts and camping trips and special events and even to Alivefest which was all three combined. Thankfully the 90's was a golden age of Christian Rock music
Do you know what a calling is? The Newsboys had a hit album entitled "Going Public" and the most popular song on the album was certainly "Shine." It was one of several award-winning Christian music albums they produced. They were at that time a pop and rock group that mixed in rap sometimes. As the change in lead singers and group leaders has gone from John James to Peter Furler to Michael Tait they have become more rock oriented while still being focused on spreading the Word. I'll reference a song from that album a bit later. As THE youth pastor at my last church I often took the teenagers to Christian concerts and camping trips and special events and even to Alivefest which was all three combined. Thankfully the 90's was a golden age of Christian Rock music
"And He gave some to be apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry, and for the edifying of the body of Christ,"
That portion of scripture refused to leave my mind. I knew that I was being called into ministry. I wasn't sure WHAT ministry but whatever it would be I was ready and willing to do it. I became a volunteer immediately at my newfound church as I voraciously devoured the Bible and kept walking into my mentor's office with questions about the application of various portions of scripture. Within a couple of years I had left home and friends behind and pulled up stakes to go to Seminary. I could write a month's worth of blog posts about how that was the WRONG school to attend. Then again, in retrospect I learned how NOT to live the Christian life and how NOT to preach the Word. Like aversion therapy, the widespread hypocrisy and apathy and the boneheaded approach to understanding and teaching scripture that was being lived out before my eyes propelled me in the opposite direction. I learned that God doesn't need anyone else to tell me His will, He will use the Word and that still, small voice inside to direct me. I learned that Christianity is not about having an appearance of righteousness, it is about having a living relationship with Christ and doing your best to follow His will.
The funny thing is that I found myself doing every single imaginable part of ministry in a normal American church. I started one, helped start two others, renamed yet another one. The only things I never did are, I believe custodian, head of women's ministries or be a deacon. I won't bore you with a long list of church and related organizational duties. After all these years I have it figured out - be a Youth leader, be a singer, be part of the evangelism team and volunteer to teach when we have a series of teaching modules. That is it. It is all I should try to do and I am sure God is pleased. I don't try to do too much but I am willing to do whatever He leads me to do. This is one of the secrets of the Christian life. Figure out what God has gifted you to do and then let Him lead you into ministry when you are ready. Don't try to be a star, it will bite you in the butt. Let God promote you and demote you and never do it to impress anyone or yourself. When you have all that figured out and you have learned to hear the voice of God you can be His faithful servant effectively.
Having been in the world of crime and drugs and hedonistic wastrel living, being in a drug gang, being shot at by people and searched for by the police and having become a user who had to stick that needle in his veins every day no matter what...having done all the stuff and read all the garbage and considered all the empty philosophies that sucked in guys like John Lennon and George Harrison and all the self-involved lifestyle choices that produced people like Mich Jagger and Eric Clapton I see the clear differences. Once I popped LSD and went driving as if it was a sport. Now I know the joy of the Lord beats any drug highs I ever experienced. I don't need LSD to access my imagination. I don't need to smoke a joint to be happy. I don't need to inject drugs into my veins to make it through. God has completely overhauled my wants and needs and thankfully the drugs are many decades back in my rear-view mirror. I may be the only person I know who didn't just hitchhike many thousands of miles all over the Western US, I also hitched a ride on a PLANE! Yeah, I was kind of out there. Wa-a-a-a-a-a-a-ay out there. Walking into the Pentagon to work while tripping on LSD kind of out there.
When God called me I knew He was calling me to be willing to do His will. It wasn't certain what it would be and to this day I serve at His discretion. I would have been a missionary or anything else He told me to do. To me this attitude is the normal Christian life.
But this blog...I think I started it out of love, to spread the Word of God in part by teaching the creationist findings and discoveries taking place out of sight or care of the mainstream media. Most of my commenters are brainwashed and will not consider the information I post. Many nights I consider the comments thread and I am reminded of the concepts of not "casting pearls before swine." and "Answer not a fool according to his folly."
Most of my audience doesn't get it. They don't want to know the truth. They don't want to question what they have been taught. They dare not review their belief systems. They think they can just cruise through life and then they tell themselves when they die they will simply be gone. Every single one of them has a still, small voice that has prompted them to consider God. Some of them have hardened their hearts to this and drowned out that voice until it can no longer be heard.
The words to "When you called my name."
I want to preach the Word
they want massages
I check chapter and verse
they check their watches
I spy another yawn
I might as well be gone
let's stand and say "Amen"
they want massages
I check chapter and verse
they check their watches
I spy another yawn
I might as well be gone
let's stand and say "Amen"
some days I must admit
I still don't get this
could be it's time to quit
when days get like this
I slip into the night
then stumble towards the light
wake up and try again
when You called my name
I didn't know how far the calling went
when You called my name
I didn't know what that word really meant
when I recall Your call
I feel
so small
could be I'm losing touch
could be they don't care
Lord knows I don't know much
Lord knows I've been there
I trip toward my retreat
I fall down at Your feet
get up and try again
could be they don't care
Lord knows I don't know much
Lord knows I've been there
I trip toward my retreat
I fall down at Your feet
get up and try again
when You called my name
I didn't know how far the calling went
when You called my name
I didn't know what that word really meant
when I recall Your call
I feel
so small
I didn't know how far the calling went
when You called my name
I didn't know what that word really meant
when I recall Your call
I feel
so small
Lord, what did you see
when you called out for me?
I start losing heart
and then
it comes again
lifted from despair
by the prayers of someone
lifted from despair
by the prayers of someone
and then
it comes again
lifted from despair
by the prayers of someone
lifted from despair
by the prayers of someone
I didn't know how far the calling went
when You called my name
I didn't know what that word really meant
when I recall Your call
I feel
so small
Ministry is all about love. One thing I have learned for sure in this world is that most people do not understand what love is. Love isn't a squishy feeling, it isn't romance or lust and it isn't being "nice" to people. Love cannot be understood without being in the context of action. Love gives to others rather than seeking to take. Love stops what it is doing to help someone who is troubled. Love gets on its knees and prays for other people. Love will warn you before you fall into a ditch. Love will even sound mean. I have shouted at my children to stop them from walking into the street or pushing something into an electrical outlet. I have grabbed them by the shoulders and sternly warned them about playing with the oven. As they grew up I set firm rules and then gave them freedom within the context of those rules but if they disobeyed they got punished...and that was love. Love sets boundaries. The parent who lets their kids do whatever they want and then gets back to doing what they want to do is not loving their children.
I work with teenagers. The ones who have Christian parents who set firm rules and have raised them with intentionality are usually the happiest and healthiest teenagers of the group.
Some teens have parents who make them miserable. The most miserable teens I see are the ones whose parents pretty much ignore them and let them do what they want. The most miserable have fewer rules at home and get less attention from parents and often they will get in trouble just to get any attention from their parents at all. Some of them have been abandoned, some have been abused, some from volatile homes with warring parents or from one-parent homes where the mother or father have an ever-changing array of boyfriends or girlfriends parading in and out of the home. So many of these teens are hungry for someone who will care enough to pay attention to them simply because they exist. They are hungry for people who care enough to set and enforce rules and try to keep them accountable.
There is another class of teenagers, this is the group who come from so-called Christian homes where the parents go to church and look religious and then live like unbelievers the rest of the week. So many of these kids battle confusion and frustration. The world is full of hypocrisy. Christians should avoid being part of that subset of humanity. These teens are often laboring to follow God despite rather than because of their parents.
I do not understand this kind of living. Be who you are both at home and at work and at church and at the store. When I was a wild party animal I was that guy both at work and at home and out in public. When I became a Christian I became that new guy everywhere I went. My old party friends were either puzzled or mad. I had to make new friends because the old ones couldn't understand and had no desire to find out what I had discovered.
Christian, how can you be so apathetic about God that you do not even seek to live a life that pleases God? How can you be so selfish as to ignore your kids unless they are causing trouble?
I don't understand anyone who doesn't find a cause and a purpose for their lives. I cannot understand those who just float along through life with no real goals or purposes other than just find the next thrill or the next pleasure. Life is more than just selfish pleasures. Even when I was an ungodly heathen I was looking for answers. Deep inside the hunger for finding meaning in life kept asking to be fed. No matter how many drugs or drinks I poured into my body there was a dissatisfied voice within asking why I wasn't finding out why? All the worldly philosophers and hucksters and mystics and nihilists and hedonists in the world were devoid of answers.
Of course there will be commenters who will lie and make false charges and produce a seemingly endless drivel of inconsequential questions, attacks on my character, attacks on the character and qualifications of my sources and yadda yadda yadda. Derision and faux laughter is commonplace from the comments thread when I post things they cannot argue with or reveal the paucity of their worldview. If someone on the comments thread agrees with me they will often decide to attack him/her as well. The theme of Darwinist troll commenters is derision, personal attacks and the changing of the subject. For instance there was absolutely no comment of substance made on my last DNA post in the comments thread. I know when they are attacking me or laughing at me it is because they have no arguments to make. When they try to baffle the reader by resorting to terminology and processes not directly pertinent to the discussion I am not fooled. I know what you are trying to do. Have you noticed that it doesn't work? Have I backed away from my quest?
What will stop me from blogging? I can think of four reasons to quit. If my wife asked me to quit I would, but that isn't going to happen. If God wanted me to quit I would, but I believe He is calling me specifically to do it. If I am badly injured I might quit for awhile. If I die I will be too busy partying in Heaven to even remember I ever wrote a blog. You see, I get so many comments from all over and even though most of them sound like they are all coming from one person at times (Does the NCSE publish an "annoying commenter style book?") or something that was cut and pasted from one of the many delirious Darwinist blogs there is always the possibility that a younger version of me will begin to comment, begin reading the evidence and the light will come on. Really, if I blogged every day for twenty years and just one person wound up finding faith in Christ it would be well worth it.
My next post will be about a man of integrity and character, a real scientist who put truth above comfort or position or financial gain. Stay tuned...