An Atheists Take On The Haiti Situation

My boy Phil ran across a blog from uber-Atheist, Richard Dawkins, who shared his thoughts on God's role in the Haiti Situation. Phil picks apart Dawkins' points like Manning did the Jets' secondary. Well done my man!

(Dawkins points in bold. Phil's smack downs, not bolded)


An Atheists Take on the Haiti Situation


I was browsing around on one of the blogs I frequent to kind of wind down from the state of the union address when I came across a ranking of the top religious blogs on the net at http://teampyro.blogspot.com/

So it turns out, rather unsurprisingly, that one of the top "belief" blogs is one led by an atheist. So I thought I'd check it out, and this is what I ran across:
http://friendlyatheist.com/2010/01/26/haiti-god-evil-and-richard-dawkins

The blog begins on the next line. I'll "bold" the blog.


Blog begins:
Richard Dawkins is responding to Christians who are looking in all the wrong places for some sort of supernatural “reason” that the earthquake in Haiti caused so much devastation. Obviously, Pat Robertson isn’t helping any Christian PR campaign, but neither are pastors who say “God did this for a reason”:

You nice, middle-of-the-road theologians and clergymen, be-frocked and bleating in your pulpits, you disclaim Pat Robertson’s suggestion that the Haitians are paying for a pact with the devil. But you worship a god-man who — as you tell your congregations even if you don’t believe it yourself — ‘cast out devils’. You even believe (or you don’t disabuse your flock when they believe) that Jesus cured a madman by causing the ‘devils’ in him to fly into a herd of pigs and stampede them over a cliff. Charming story, well calculated to uplift and inspire the Sunday School and the Infant Bible Class. Pat Robertson may spout evil nonsense, but he is a mere amateur at that game. Just read your own Bible. Pat Robertson is true to it. But you?

First comment: This won't come as a surprise to Christians reading this, but yes, scripture does tell us that Jesus did these things. I have a hard time, however, understanding how Pat Robertson's claims that the Haitians "had made a pact with the devil centuries ago" has any relation to Jesus Christ exercising control over demons and healing those afflicted by them. Also, there's an implication here from Dawkins that pastors are preaching things they don't themselves believe. I'll acknowledge that there most likely are pastors out there who say things from the pulpit that they don't believe, but this just means they're normal fallen sinners in need of the same grace as the rest of us. Preaching what you don't believe should definitely disqualify someone from the pulpit, but there's no sense in denying that it happens. Accountants shouldn't cheat on their taxes, but some do. Lawyers and judges shouldn't break the law, but some do. Doctors and nurses should never seek to harm their patients, but some do.

This is what Christian pastors do best. They instill this (false) belief in people that awful occurrences like natural disasters don’t just happen randomly or in certain, pre-determined parts of the world; instead, they occur in placed where God wants to make a point. And if you live in a Christ-filled, God-fearing area, you’ll be spared.

People who want any sort of hope will cling to that like rope on a cliff.

I'd love to see a link or some sort of reference that shows where a pastor has said that living in a "Christ-filled God-fearing area" is some sort of holy shield against disaster. Matthew 5:45 in the bible clearly says -- and this is quoted often by secular and religious folks alike -- that God "causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous." We read in Job that God allowed the devil to bring great ruin on one of the most righteous men who ever lived. Cancer strikes within the church just as often as it strikes those who don't believe.

The bible clearly tells us that this is God's world, and He can do with it whatever He chooses to do for whatever His purposes are. We also know that God does things on a much greater time scale than our feeble minds can comprehend, and what may seem like a short-term disaster can eventually become an event of great healing and power. Jesus showed us this EXTREMELY clearly with His death on the cross, taking a symbol of capital punishment, despair, loss, and extreme pain and converting it to a symbol of hope, resurrection, and life.

It’s a shame. There are reasons Haiti (or New Orleans or Southeast Asia) was susceptible to such disasters. We can understand this better with scientific knowledge.

Bad things happen. Sometimes, there are no reasons for it. Other times, there are understandable reasons. The Haitian earthquake falls into that latter category. There’s no need to bring a god into the mix.

So which way is it? Does "scientific knowledge" give us all the answers, or doesn't it? Which makes more sense...that science can occasionally give us the answers to life's questions, or that a God who made everything have the right to use His creation in ways that we don't understand? Dawkins et al often attempt to elevate science and rational thinking to the level of god-hood, but suggest that there might actually BE a God who controls every single solitary thing that goes on in the world, and suddenly it's people of faith who are ignorant?

Daniel Dennett is especially frustrated by God getting a pass when disasters occur:

The idea that God is a worthy recipient of our gratitude for the blessings of life but should not be held accountable for the disasters is a transparently disingenuous innovation of the theologians. And of course it doesn’t work all that well… All the holy texts and interpretations that contrive ways of getting around the problem read like the fine print in a fraudulent contract — and for the same reason: they are desperate attempts to conceal the implications of the double standard they have invented.

Maybe some pastors don’t believe this characterization. If that’s true, then they need to be the voice of reason when members of their congregation say that God had any type of role in this tragedy, good or bad.

Otherwise, they’re just part of the problem.

By my way of thinking, Mr. Dennett's frustration is completely misplaced. If he's acknowledging that God did indeed create everything we know, see, feel and touch...everything we can even possibly conceive...then why is it not that very same God's right to do whatever He wishes to do with what He has created? Why (again) is it not conceivable that God is telling the truth when He tells us via scripture that He knows who we are and what we will be before we are born, that He knows the length of our days, and He knows how they will end.

God indeed has a role in the tragedy of Haiti. He created Haiti. He created the people who live there. He created the people who are rushing there to offer hope, healing, rescue, and restoration to those injured or rendered homeless by the disaster.

I acknowledge this: that it is impossibly hard for me to understand why bad things like Haiti and 9/11 and cancer and war and death and divorce and hurt and all the bad things in the world happen. I also acknowledge, however, that if we believe that God created all this, we must recognize His right to do whatever He wishes to do with it, and that in the long run, that He has reasons for doing things that I am not able to understand. I also know that this same God knew in creating us that we as human beings would someday come to understand that we are imperfect, that we need a Savior, and it was God's plan that once we acknowledge that aspect of our humanity, He would provide an alternative to the punishment we deserve for the evil that we've committed. It's this alternative, in the form of His perfect Son, that allows us into the presence of His holiness.

It's normal and natural to question why bad things happen. I'd hope that it would also be comforting (and convicting) to know that there are answers to these "why" questions that only the Creator of the universe could provide.

Nash!

Steve Nash is such a hero to me. Here's a very inspiring story in new Fast Company about how he is shining in both business and bball.

Or just watch this. Nash is the only NBAer who could pull this off and keep it funny...

Add it up

I am horrible at math. Guess that's why I went into the creative services field. Not much advanced calculus or trig required. But this awesome post by the always insightful Dr. Chris Stephens made me realize I can still be a math person. To quote the great Violent Femmes, I wanna add it up!

What Kind of Math Person Are You?
By: Dr. Chris Stephens
Posted: 20 Jan 2010 09:01 PM PST

Hey Friends,

I guess this is an odd question, but what kind of math person are you? Some people add to you and some subtract. Some divide you and some multiply you. What kind are you to the people you come into contact with? Here is a list of some of them. Look it over and see where you find yourself in the equation:

1. Some people add to others. D.L. Moody said, “Do all the good you can, to all the people you can, in all the ways you can, as long as you can.” Great advice from a man that rocked the world. Don’t you love to be around people that add value to you? Chuck Carringer, our Pastor of Fami ly Ministries, does it to everyone with whom he comes into contact. He is amazing. He not only is growing our family ministry, but he is a life coach for individuals that want to improve.

2. Some people subtract from others. ”Subtractors” are not there to help you, they add to your burden. They don’t help you carry your load, they want you to carry yours and also help them with theirs.

3. Some people multiply you. My assistant multiplies my time and my effectiveness. Almost twenty years ago a friend of mine named Melvyn Smith told me that one day I would have a great assistant and life would get better automatically.

4. Some people divide you. They take away from you. For some reason they want you to seem less than you really are. It is an odd thing. I guess some people’s lights burn so dimly that they have to blow out the lights of others to make theirs seem brighter.

Leaders want to take everyone to the next level. They want to add value to, or even multiply, people’s lives so they reach the peak of their potential. That is the reason I wrote The Climb of Your Life – to help people scale summits that seem impossible.

Which kind of math person are you? To make a difference you must build others up. There are more than enough people in the destruction business so let’s be in the construction business – building lives one at a time. I don’t know about you, but I surely am grateful for those that added value to me. It’s pay back time.

Just a thought,

Chris

Get Me Right

Every now and then, you hear a song that strikes such a chord that you remember everything about the moment you first heard it. It's happened to me only a handful of times in my life. The first time I heard "Ain't Talking About Love" and realized Eddie Van Halen was from another planet, one which I would try with all my might to visit. The first time I heard Metallica's "Battery" which was perfect fuel for my years of high school rebellion. The moment I heard Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" as a freshman in college and realized that Kurt Cobain had (thankfully) killed 80's Cheese Metal with 4 beautiful chords (and heavy debt to the Pixies, which I would discover later).

Well, this week it has happened again. Dashboard Confessional's "Get Me Right" is mesmerizing. To me, it's a perfect soundtrack for my struggles and yearnings in my faith journey. Plus, it absolutely shreds. Can't. Stop. Listening.



Here are the lyrics. Everything except the line about "cutting your hair" makes total sense to me. :)

Get Me Right
I made my slow way home
Limping on broken bones
Out of the thickest pine
Across the county lines
On to your wooden stairs
I know you can repair
I know you've seen the light
I know you'll get me right

Right
Right
Right

I own a sinners heart
I know the rain falls hard
I know the currency
I know the things you'll need
I hope he hears my prayers
I see you cut your hair
I know the saving type
I know you'll get me right

Right
Right
Right

But, Jesus I've fallen
I don't mind the rain if
I meet my maker
I'll meet my maker clean

But, Jesus the truth is
I've struggled so hard to believe
I'll meet my maker
I'll need my maker

To cure of my doubting blood
And drain me of the sins I love
And take from me my disbelief
I know it should come easily
But it remains inside of me
It battles and devours me
It cuddles up the side of me
And whispers it convinces me I'm

Right
Right
Right

MLK

The first thing my daughter said to me when she woke up today was "Yay for MLK!"

Can't really improve upon that. Do yourself a favor and go back and listen to MLK's "I Have A Dream" speech. Amazing. Revolutionary. Riveting.

May you and I do our part today to keep that dream alive.

"Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase" - MLK

What Gospel Does Pat Robertson Read?

Seriously. Pat Robertson talks, thinks and acts like no Christian I know. Yesterday he inexplicably said Haitians brought the earthquake on themselves because the country has been "cursed" since it made a pact with Satan in the 18th century. (An assertion disputed by this Haitian minister.)

Really Pat? So where does Jesus' message of loving one's neighbor and helping the poor and lost come into all this? These people somehow "deserved" this!? Instead of calling a country cursed during a national tragedy, Christian leaders should be focusing on what so many Christians already are doing—leading the charge with prayer, sacrificial aid and demonstrating the love of Christ. Christians should be known for healing, not causing more hurt.

And if you can't get down with that Pat just start by shutting your mouth. Please. You speak and act like nothing I read about in the Gospel of grace, mercy and love.

Rob Bell on power of Social Media

Here's an excellent interview w/ Mr. Bell as he takes break on his current tour. He talks about his next new project (post Nooma) and the power of social media. Good stuff.

Handbook 2010

A friend passed along this list which I thought was a tremendous way to look at your 2010 resolutions. If I could just really do half the things on this, 2010 will be legendary!

HANDBOOK 2010

Health:
1. Drink plenty of water.
2.. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar.
3. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants...
4. Live with the 3 E's -- Energy, Enthusiasm and Empathy.
5. Make time to pray.
6. Play more games.
7. Read more books than you did in 2009.
8. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day.
9. Sleep for 7 hours.
10. Take a 10-30 minute walk daily. And while you walk, smile.

Personality:
11. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
12 Don't have negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.
13. Don't over do. Keep your limits.
14. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
15. Don't waste your precious energy on gossip.
16. Dream more while you are awake.
17. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
18. Forget issues of the past. Don't remind your partner with his/her mistakes of the past. That will ruin your present happiness.
19. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don't hate others.
20. Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present.
21. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
22. Realize that t life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
23. Smile and laugh more.
24. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

Society:
25. Call your family often.
26. Each day give something good to others.
27. Forgive everyone for everything.
28. Spend time w/ people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6.
29. Try to make at least three people smile each day.
30. What other people think of you is none of your business.
31. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.

Life:
32. Do the right thing!
33. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
34. God heals everything.
35. However good or bad a situation is, it will change..
36. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up..
37. The best is yet to come.
38. When you awake alive in the morning, be thankful for it.
39. Your Inner most is always happy. So, be happy.

Open by Andre Agassi

Even thought we're just a few days into 2010, I just finished reading what has to be one of the best books of the year. Andre Agassi's Open is an amazing, inspiring page turner that I simply could not put down.

I'd always been a fan of Andre's, mainly because he brought such flair and attitude to a sport that frankly, I could care less about. (Also because we're both follicly-challenged and have world-class return games). But in this book you learn that he literally hated the sport that made him a worldwide icon.

It's all in here: his admission that he smoked crystal meth. The epic battles (and frequent losses) to Pete Sampras. The horror over going bald and even wearing a hairpiece that was falling apart before one of his biggest matches. Hustling NFL great Jim Brown out of $500 in a game of tennis at the age of 11. Dating Streisand and finding himself in a marriage to Brooke Shields that he wanted to escape.

But at the heart of the story, is an epic father wound. Andre's father building him a home made tennis ball machine (Nicknamed "The Dragon") and making a 9 year old boy return thousands of tennis balls shot out at over 100 mph a day. Andre's dad pulling him out of class to play tennis and sending him to an infamous tennis "boot camp" at the age of 15. All in the name of one day becoming the #1 tennis player in the world.

Which Andre did, at two different points in his career. He was also one of the few players to win all four slams. He's used his fame from his game to create his own school for disadvantaged youths in his home town of Las Vegas and has donated millions of dollars to the cause.

But his new identity and purpose came at a great cost. Open captures all the highs and lows, like the best VH1 Behind the Music episodes do. (Think Motley Crew)

Read this one now.