Tuesday, December 30, 2008

End of Year

Now is the time when everyone gets sappy regarding the end of the current year and the beginning of the new one. It would be best to spare myself (and you, dear reader) the pain of such disjointed musings. What would be nice instead is a lovely mug of Earl Grey and a day on the couch reading.

I will say that in the past year, some of my thinking has been challenged and to a certain extent remodeled. An anti-abortion, pro-war, pro-death penalty mantra as exercised by mainstream evangelical America is conflicting at best. Who really deserves to die?

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Re: Current Events

Habakkuk 2:4-14

4 “Look at the proud! They trust in themselves, and their lives are crooked. But the righteous will live by their faithfulness to God.[b] 5 Wealth[c] is treacherous, and the arrogant are never at rest. They open their mouths as wide as the grave,[d] and like death, they are never satisfied. In their greed they have gathered up many nations and swallowed many peoples.
6 “But soon their captives will taunt them. They will mock them, saying, ‘What sorrow awaits you thieves! Now you will get what you deserve! You’ve become rich by extortion, but how much longer can this go on?’ 7 Suddenly, your debtors will take action. They will turn on you and take all you have, while you stand trembling and helpless. 8 Because you have plundered many nations; now all the survivors will plunder you. You committed murder throughout the countryside and filled the towns with violence.
9 “What sorrow awaits you who build big houses with money gained dishonestly! You believe your wealth will buy security, putting your family’s nest beyond the reach of danger. 10 But by the murders you committed, you have shamed your name and forfeited your lives. 11 The very stones in the walls cry out against you, and the beams in the ceilings echo the complaint.
12 “What sorrow awaits you who build cities with money gained through murder and corruption! 13 Has not the Lord of Heaven’s Armies promised that the wealth of nations will turn to ashes? They work so hard, but all in vain! 14 For as the waters fill the sea, the earth will be filled with an awareness of the glory of the Lord.
"PRIDE GOES BEFORE DESTRUCTION" AND IN OUR MODERN ERA, PRIDE AMONG THE NATURAL SCIENCES HAS TAKEN THE FORM OF OVERESTIMATING OUR KNOWLEDGE, OF ARROGATING FOR SCIENCE A KIND OF OMNISCIENCE THE WE DO NOT IN FACT HAVE. OR, TO REFINE IT A BIT: "PLAYING GOD" MEANS WE CONFUSE THE KNOWLEDGE WE DO HAVE WITH THE WISDOM TO KNOW HOW TO USE IT.