The Current Struggle

I don't get many newsletters in the mail but I did have two arrive on the same day this past week that both made reference to the West's struggle with Islam.
In the first newsletter, Ravi Zacharias warns that the West's inability to consider the potential impacts of Islam may result in the continuation of our way of life being 'theoretical'. Zacharias says:
"By the complete failure of the West to understand Islam and its secular prophets who evict Christianity from the academy, we are gambling away our own destiny. If this trend continues the survival of our cultural context will become 'merely academic'." - Ravi Zacharias, RZIM Volume 11 Fall 2007.
The second newsletter contains a piece written by former Navy pilot Stuart Witt who describes his experience on a flight which transported the body of American Marine Jared Landaker (pictured above) home to California. Lieutenant Landaker lost his life serving in Iraq. Click here to read Stuart Witt's narrative which was included in the Focus on the Family newsletter.

The Lost Art of Listening

"What miserable comforters all of you are. Won't you ever stop your flow of foolish words? What have I said that makes you speak so endlessly?" The words of Job as recorded in Job 16: 2 - 3

The book of Job in the Old Testament records the travails of a man named Job, the ineffective assistance provided by his friends, and God's perspective in the whole matter. When Job first loses his wealth and family and then comes down with a painful illness, three of his friends arrive to provide encouragement. They start off well. The Bible records that they sat in silence with Job for seven days. Once they opened their mouths, in an attempt to diagnose Job's sin, their attempt at assistance went down hill.

Job's friends did well initially. They sat in silence with Job, showing their empathy. But when they stopped listening, they became a discouragement to Job.

I am a church goer and have greatly benefited from spending time with believers in fellowship. But the church, being an institution made up of fallen people, is not always exactly what God intended. I think that some churches are plagued by leadership and congregants who don't listen. In fact, in some cases 'listening' is not a discipline that is valued in the church.

I remember when a Catholic friend of mine told me about a trip that her church took to South America (El Salvador I think). I asked her what the purpose of the trip was and was shocked to learn that she had gone on a 'fact finding trip'. Us Protestants don't go on fact finding trips, that requires listening!

Back in college I spent the summer as a counselor and basketball instructor at a camp. The camp also employed high school students as maintenance workers and kitchen help. One night, before the campers arrived at the beginning of the summer, one of these high school guys came into my room and poured out his heart about an unhappy ending to his relationship with his girlfriend. He went on for about 20 minutes and I didn't say anything. I prodded him with a few open ended questions, but that was about it. Suddenly, he stopped, looked at me, and said 'Thanks a lot for your advice! It really helped me.' I hadn't said a thing.

Listening is a critical skill for knowing God. We have to listen to His word (the Bible) in order to grow close to Him in relationship. Listening is also a critical skill for human relationships. The church desperately needs listeners!

Trusting God

"Pleasing God is an incredibly good longing. It always will be. But it can't be our primary motivation, or it will imprison our hearts. Pleasing is not a means to our personal godliness, it is the fruit of our godliness for it is the fruit of trust. We will never please God through our efforts to become godly. Rather, we will only please God - and become godly - when we trust God." - From the book TrueFaced, Thrall, McNicol, Lynch, pages 46 and 47.

"But His joy in those who reverence Him, those who expect him to be loving and kind." - Psalm 147:11

I was raised in the church and greatly benefited from my exposure to church life. This experience, however, was not perfect. The emphasis in church training on the disciplines (i.e. pray, Bible study, etc.) is important but can be detrimental if it becomes the focus of a seeker to place more emphasis on pleasing God than trusting God.

Organized religion can inadvertently perpetuate this problem. Some churches teach: "do x, y, z and you will get to heaven". This violates the New Testament teaching which says: 'For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: (it is) the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast' (Ephesians 2: 8-9). Reconciling your relationship with God is a matter of trusting that Christ paid for your sins on the cross. We must live in that trust on a daily basis. We are to make Christ our Lord and confess that alliance to others.

You've Got To Watch This Video

Notes From July 2007 Trip to Cape Cod - # 9

It's hard to believe that our nephews are having kids of their own now. To the left Benjamin shows interest in Jacob's straw.

Caleb really enjoyed playing with Benjamin and Anna.

Benjamin is wise to Jennie's attempts at thievery.

Notes From July 2007 Trip to Cape Cod - # 8

The funnest games that I've ever learned have come to us through Jennie's sister Beth's family. A few years ago they introduced us to an addictive game called Settlers of Catan. We played at least five times while on the Cape.

From left to right Jessie, Terry, and Jacob are in deep strategical
thought as the game begins. Don't worry, nudity is not a require- ment of the game.

Notes From July 2007 Trip to Cape Cod - # 7

I had a great time golfing with Jennie's brother Chris, his girlfriend Robin, and Jennie's brother- in-law Terry. Robin (pictured left) does some land- scaping.



Terry (pictured below) is a great golfer (although he did have home course advantage).






Robin putting out.









Chris being goofy!

Notes From July 2007 Trip To Cape Cod - # 6

When we arrived on Cape Cod we got to visit with Jennie's sister Beth and brother Chris (pictured left). Chris is the chief BSer in the family.















Meanwhile, Emma and Jacob (pictured above) show amusement at the picture taking visitor.







At left Jennie is thrilled to be with her family.









This is a picture of Jennie's nephew Jacob. At this point he is ready to bust the camera over my head.












Cute little Anna.

Notes From July 2007 Trip to Cape Cod - # 5

Here are some more pictures from our summer vacation. We stopped at Bowcraft in New Jersey on the way to the Cape. Bowcraft is a mini amusement park that the kids loved. Above the twins are getting ready to ride what I used to call the 'Tilt-a-Whirl' with their cousin Erin. Below the twins are on a ride that I call the 'umbrellas'. It was a great day and all the kids had fun!

Can Science and Faith Co-exist?

Several years ago I read Michael Denton's excellent book Evolution: A Theory In Crisis. Since then I've been fascinated by the origins debate that is taking place in our lifetime. A few days ago a close friend of mine shared with me a 'letter to the editor' that he wrote to Scientific American in response to a recent article addressing science and faith. Julian makes some very interesting points so I'm sharing his letter with Life Hound readers .....

From: Julian Macri
Sent: Saturday, July 21, 2007 12:06 AM
To: The editors of Scientific American
Subject: Letter to the Editor

Regarding the debate in “Should Science Speak to Faith?”, I must say I was very disappointed in Professor Krauss’s condescending attitude toward people of faith. His approach will only harden people’s feelings, won’t advance the debate in a positive direction, and will only further make it appear as if science and faith cannot co-exist. As a Christian and a physics graduate of MIT, I believe I speak for many when I say that science and religion can co-exist and, in fact, complement one another. As I attempt to keep up with the latest discoveries and theories in cosmology and physics, my faith has actually increased because it opens the door to possibly explaining some of the things told in the Bible. How can there be this invisible place called Heaven? Scientific theory is pretty convincing about the existence of more that 3 dimensions of space so perhaps Heaven exists in these other dimensions. What does it mean when the Bible says that we are from ashes and dust? Some evolution theories indicate that life may very well have arisen from clay and that the heavier elements necessary for life may have come from the ashes of supernovas. How is it that God create the Earth in 7 days and that God can see the future? Einstein pretty much established that time is relative and attempted to even argue that time itself may not even exist!

Both science and religion are trying to achieve the same thing and that is to find “the truth”. While science attempts to do this by observation, religion does it via revelation. What is observed or revealed can be clouded by interpretation (or misinterpretation) and that, I believe, is where the difficulties arise. We must all be open-minded about this debate. We must learn to respect one another’s positions and beliefs. Only then, together, can we hope to understand that observation and revelation, science and faith, can both support one another.

Julian Macri

Charlotte, NC

luvmusic@alum.mit.edu