To Indy & Back (Day 1)

Jeff and I completed the first leg of our cross country road trip to scatter Dad's ashes last night. We arrived in Las Vegas just after 11:00 p.m. We played a little blackjack in the casino with my cousin Harry and his wife Kim. Harry is evidently a regular and was able to get us a room with his points, which was awesome because Jeff can't sleep in a house where a cat has been.

Today we have breakfast with my uncle Harry and will begin the process of scattering ashes. Driving cross-country with Dad is a strong memory for me. I am actually a little surprise not to feel more sentimental yet. But, I think that is where I am these days. There is not much rhyme or reason to when I am moved by his memory.

Okay, time to start Day 2.

I don't like idenity politics . . .

but that doesn't change with whom I identify. CNN reports that the Senate narrowly defeated a "measure would have required each of the 48 states that currently allow concealed firearms to honor permits issued in other states." I generally feel like states should recognize the licensing of other states. I also generally think people without felonies should be allowed to carry firearms where they choose. So, I'm also fine with what the story described as "an unexpected setback [for gun control advocates] in May, [when] gun rights advocates attached a measure allowing people to carry guns in national parks to credit card legislation. President Obama signed the package into law."

I think a lot of people in favor of gun control are in favor of it because they don't like people who want gun rights. I think that if someone thinks they need a gun for protection they should be allowed to have one unless there is evidence that that specific person cannot be trusted.

Of course, it shocks me that those who believe they government can't tell them where they can carry a firearm believe the government can tell a women when and how she can terminate her pregnancy. They can tell doctors what medicine to prescribe (not because it is or is not safe, but because the legislators don't like it).

I support the rights of gun nuts and dirty hippies. But when we trample the dirty hippies' rights, I have to admit is upsets me more.

Getting Back At It

We did something fun with today's scripture. I reminded me of when my Engineering Officer on the submarine taught me how to inspect a space. He said, "Walk into the space, think about where you are about to look, then turn around and look the other direction. So, if you go down a ladder to get into Engine Room Lower Level, look up on the way down for dirt. If the passage way goes off to the right, look left first. You'll find the things that aren't easy to find."

Jesus left there and went to his hometown, accompanied by his disciples. When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed.

"Where did this man get these things?" they asked. "What's this wisdom that has been given him, that he even does miracles! Isn't this the carpenter? Isn't this Mary's son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren't his sisters here with us?" And they took offense at him.

Jesus said to them, "Only in his hometown, among his relatives and in his own house is a prophet without honor." He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. And he was amazed at their lack of faith.

Then Jesus went around teaching from village to village. Calling the Twelve to him, he sent them out two by two and gave them authority over evil spirits. These were his instructions: "Take nothing for the journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. Wear sandals but not an extra tunic. Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town. And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave, as a testimony against them."

They went out and preached that people should repent.

The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, "Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest."

So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.

By this time it was late in the day, so his disciples came to him. "This is a remote place," they said, "and it's already very late. Send the people away so they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat."

But he answered, "You give them something to eat."

Mark 6:1-12, 30-37 It is fun to focus on the unemphasized portions of stories like these. Many of us know the story about Jesus be rejected at home and the story of John the Baptist being beheaded (which is in the middle) and the feeding of the Five Thousand. But looking at these unemphasized beats gives us a feel for the disciples. Looking for rest, perhaps jealous to tell all they had done, Jesus is still on with the feed my people bit. You can see why they were frustrated.

I haven't posted for a month because I went to camp and then off to a quiet place and then back to work and all this seemed to run together. I am ready to start writing again a bit, and I updated my blog. You will notice that I've changed my opportunity for impulse giving to an MDA page. Like a sucker I agreed to raise money for them through their raising bail page. I've also updated my book selection with McLaren's Generous Orthodoxy, which I got half way through while on vacation. (I need to start taking the train in some more.)

I'll post something on what I did on my summer vacation later.

The Jesus Problem

What role does the historical Jesus play in our faith today? I have consisted resisted images of Jesus predicting an end to the world because Jesus of the Gospels does not. Of that I am quite confident, although I've changed my mind about many thing for which I was once confident.

However, it seems Paul's letters are a much more reliable source of what the historical Jesus thought, and Paul thought the world was coming to an end--e.g., no reason to get married because it is happening so soon. Perhaps the Gospels served as a rebuttal to Paul--who never saw Jesus in the flesh--but my understanding is that this is not the case.

Jesus wrote nothing down and neither did any of his closest followers. That is an undeniable fact. There is a phrase "the post Easter Jesus" that is usually employed by folks who claim that not just the ministry of Jesus, but the Spirit of Jesus continued on past his death. The problem with this understanding for me is differentiating between (1) the holy spirit (2) post Easter Jesus and (3) the eminent God with us. Sort of a Trinity without a Distinction.

Who First Thought Progress Was Possible?

The idea of progress—belief that the conditions of life can improve, and that history can in this sense get somewhere—originated in the West. Insofar as other peoples have come to this notion, they have acquired it from the West.

Striking as this fact is, it seems explicable. If we confine ourselves to the two other enduring civilizations—South Asian, centering in India, and East Asian, centering in China and its cultural offshoots—we find that there presiding outlooks were forged by people who were in power; in India these were the brahmins, and in China the literati. By contrast, the West’s outlook was decisively shaped in this matter by the Jews, who for most of their formative period were underdogs. Ruling classes may be satisfied with the status quo, but underdogs are not.

~Huston Smith.

This is really marvelous. First, I like it because it affirms and explains my faith that Western religion is about justice for the down trodden. (Smith writes a little later, perhaps gilding the lily a bit, "The prophetic protest against social injustice is universally conceded to be without close parallel in the ancient world.) Second, I love this because it provides an explanation for why Eastern religions are so much more focused on the internal self.

I do cringe a little from overlooking the religions that originated in--you know--the other four populated continents. That notwithstanding, this really struck me as an eye-opening passage.

Is The Kingdom of God Heaven?

Here is a bit from 2 Corinthians 5, which is this Sunday's scripture.

Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. . . . Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. We live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

An eternal house in heaven. It sort of reminds me of Psalm 23:6, "Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever."

A generation or two later Mark and Matthew wrote about the Kingdom of God. Here is sort of a run on of quotes. First from Mark:

"The time has come," he said. "The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!" 1:15; He told them, "The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables." 4:11; He also said, "This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground . . . 4:26; 4:30 (like a mustard seed); And he said to them, "I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God come with power." 9:1.

Now Matthew:

"But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you." 12:28; "Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." 19:24; Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him." 21:32; "Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit." 21:43;

There is some mention of entering the Kingdom of Heaven for sure. And, without quoting them I think there are ample passages suggesting that Jesus and his followers believed in an afterlife. But, does it sound like the Kingdom of God is describing Heaven or the afterlife?

Direct Observation

How much do we know about our world from direct observation? Consider a pretty basic law at work all around us all the time. Newton's first law of motion is that "a body at rest stays at rest, and a body in motion stays in motion, unless it is acted on by an external force." Doesn't this contradict what you have directly observe--that is, things in motion eventually come to rest.

At some point in high school you learned that when a body moves over any surface there is a force that action opposite to the direction of motion. That force, which we call friction, is different for different surfaces and proportional to the normal force against the surface. So the heavier the object, the higher the Force of Friction, but if you put the body on an incline, the Force of Friction decreases. By the way, while you are pushing on an object that doesn't move, the force of friction increases exactly to keep pace with the force you are putting on the body. (How does it know to do that?)

Anyway, friction is also why things in motion tend to come to rest; there is a force acting on them. Or so we've been told. Which is my point, do we directly observe Newton's first law, or is it a convention we learned? Do we, everyday folks, have any reason to feel any more certain about it than people from the Dark Ages had to feel certain that if you knocked on wood it would scare away the fairies that caused bad luck?

And this isn't even talking about carbon dating or evolution or red shift; it's about what really happens when we push a box across the floor.