The God Box, part 1

Posted on February 7, 2009 by me

The Following is part one of a short story I wrote in 2002.

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Andy and Caroline stood briefly outside the study as Andy gave the slightly open door a short rap.

“Come in,” a booming voice responded. Andy opened the door and allowed his wife to enter first. A tall, balding man in his mid-fifties was hunched in front of a computer screen as he deliberately stabbed a keyboard with his index fingers.

“Sorry to keep you waiting,” he spoke into the air as he made one final poke and rose to greet them. “Sending off the weekly prayer e-mail,” he explained as he reached for Caroline’s hand, “I’m not much of a typist.” He paused for a split second, “Let me see if I can get this right. Carol, isn’t it?”

“Caroline.”

“Of course, my apologies. Andy, nice to see you again,” he shook their hands in turn and led them to two imitation leather chairs, of which there were three arranged in a conversation grouping in the corner of the study.

“Thank you for seeing us on such short notice, Reverend,” Andy began.

“Oh, call me John. I don’t like titles.” He took the third chair, which was arranged in such a way that his long legs had a chance to extend without danger of kicking his guests. “I continue to get a handful of folks calling me ‘Pastor’ around here, but I am trying to break that habit. Religious formality just gets in the way. That’s why I like to come out from behind the desk, and avoid as many of the religious clichés as I can. The world has too much religion, not enough Jesus, I always say.”

Andy was silent, not really having a clue what the distinction between “religion” and “Jesus” was, or how you could have one without the other. He glanced over at Caroline, who nodded knowingly. Right, he thought. She doesn’t get it, either.

“Can I get you some coffee?” Pastor John broke eye contact momentarily as he reached behind him for his well-used but seldom washed mug on his desk. The couple both replied to the negative as Pastor John readjusted himself in the chair.

“This is certainly a pleasure,” he affirmed. “We are all so excited to ‘adopt’ you into our family. It’s rare to have a couple come forward together, but definitely a plus.” Seeing their somewhat confused looks, he continued, “you see, when a husband or wife accepts Christ alone, it can create great stress in a marriage. However, as you are both beginning your new lives together. A most wonderful opportunity, both for you, as for us, as we get to participate with you in that journey. Yes, a very wonderful thing indeed. As I mentioned Sunday, the Bible tells us that the angels rejoice when one is saved. I’d say they had quite a celebration last Sunday!”

Andy and Caroline smiled politely, still not quite sure what kind of a journey they were on. This was all very new to them, as neither had come from a family where religion played a part. Caroline responded first, “This is all very new to us.”

“Of course, of course,” John jumped in. They could see that he was obviously used to doing most of the talking. “I understand completely. Don’t try to figure everything out all at once- you’ve got plenty of time to learn the ins and outs of Christianity and church life. We’re just glad you’re here.” He took a sip from his cup. “Tell me,” he said, looking at Andy, “a little about your backgrounds.”

“Well, neither Caroline or I have ever been what you’d call religious.”

Andy was interrupted by a knock on the study door. “Excuse me,” said John, rising to get the door. The church secretary, Joan, according to the nameplate on her desk, handed the pastor two cardboard boxes, about the size of boot boxes, but with a hinged lid, similar to a cigar box. He thanked Joan and re-closed the door.

“Carry on,” he nodded to Andy as he returned to his chair, setting the boxes on the floor in front of them.

Andy’s eyes fell to the boxes, which he noticed had “Andy” and “Caroline” lettered on the front. “As I was saying, we’ve never been what you could call religious. Neither of our families ever attended church, and at least in my family, the subject of God never came up.”

“Unless somebody was swearing,” Caroline added, smiling. She continued, determined to carry her side of the conversation. “My family went to church for weddings, funerals, and sometimes Christmas, if there was a special program. My mom believed in God, and even claimed to have seen Him once. She quickly added, “she used to do acid in the 60s.”

Pastor John nodded silently, either not catching or not acknowledging the humor.

“Religion never made any sense to us, to me,” Andy continued. “In fact, it still doesn’t.”

Caroline nodded in agreement, “I’m not even sure why we came on Sunday, other than the Nelson’s had been after us forever to come and I told Andy, ‘we’ve got to go once, then we can tell them that it’s just not for us.’ But, “she paused, looking over at Andy to make sure she had his agreement, “we both felt something Sunday that we’d never felt before. I guess you call it the presence of God, or at least that’s what I think it was. I thought it was just me, but then before I knew it, I was kneeling down in front next to Andy. I don’t even know how I got there!”

“I’m still not even sure what it all means,” said Andy earnestly. “I mean, I feel different – lighter, I guess you could say – but I have absolutely no language to explain it. I started reading that Bible you gave us on Sunday, but to be honest, it hasn’t helped explain anything at all to us.”

Caroline was shaking her head, “It’s all so foreign. It’s like a different language, a different culture. I feel inside that it’s true, but I guess my head hasn’t arrived there yet.”

With that the pastor smiled. “I am very excited for you two. I really am. You are in the best possible place to learn about God and what it means to be a Christian.”

“What do you mean?” Caroline asked.

“What I mean is, most people have preconceived notions about God and Christianity, especially if they have watched Christian TV or have been reading that so-called Christian fiction that is so popular now. It’s sometimes very hard to shake those notions loose and get them on the right track.”

“My mom always said – in fact, she said it again yesterday – that there are many tracks, that’s why there are so many churches,” interrupted Caroline.

Andy grinned, “Caroline’s mom is sometimes on several of them at once.”

Caroline gave him one of her looks, and continued, “I mean, Judy Nelson warned me about that church down on the corner of 5th, to make sure we didn’ t go there instead. She said they had some strange ideas. How do we know which church has it right?”

Pastor John sat for a moment, his hands pressed together with the index fingers pressed against his lips. “I can tell that you are both real thinkers,” he said slowly. “That’s good . that’s very good. I think our church is a good place for you. We have classes that will help you to sort out all of these questions.”

With that, he reached down and picked up the two boxes, and handed one to each, glancing at the names to make sure they had the right ones. “These are for you,” he said.

John took the box, which was obviously empty. Caroline opened the lid on hers anyway, then after a moment looked up. “What is this?”

John smiled warmly, “These are your God Boxes.”

To Be Continued …

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It’s just a “mistake”

Posted on February 2, 2009 by me

Okay, I try to keep out of politics as much as possible, but I just can’t help myself. For all of Obama’s talk about “change,” whatever that means, so far I haven’t seen anything new.  His proposed “stimulus” package is, from what I’ve heard, only about 1/5 actual stimulus, and the rest is just the typical pork-barrel spending.

Now, we see just how committed to integrity Obama is. First, we have his pick for Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner, who was discovered to have not paid $34K in self-employment tax. He blames Turbo-Tax for not telling him he should report those earnings.  Anybody see the irony here?  A Treasury Secretary who doesn’t know enough to report a few hundred thousand of self-employment income?  If he’s put in charge of the Treasury, do we all get to rely on the Turbo-Tax defense?

If that wasn’t enough, now we have poor old Tom Daschle, who apparently just forgot to pay over $120,000 in taxes.  But, apparently it’s okay, because he sent a letter of apology.  Tom didn’t use the Turbo-Tax defense… for Tom, it was just a “mistake.” So, will this be precedent-setting for the IRS?  This sounds an awful lot like an old Steve Martin routine, where he suggests using the excuse, “I forgot:”

You.. can be a millionaire.. and never pay taxes! You can be a millionaire.. and never pay taxes! You say.. “Steve.. how can I be a millionaire.. and never pay taxes?” First.. get a million dollars. Now.. you say, “Steve.. what do I say to the tax man when he comes to my door and says, ‘You.. have never paid taxes’?” Two simple words. Two simple words in the English language: “I forgot!” How many times do we let ourselves get into terrible situations because we don’t say “I forgot”? Let’s say you’re on trial for armed robbery. You say to the judge, “I forgot armed robbery was illegal.” Let’s suppose he says back to you, “You have committed a foul crime. you have stolen hundreds and thousands of dollars from people at random, and you say, ‘I forgot’?” Two simple words: Excuuuuuse me!!“

Obama is on record as saying he “absolutely” stands by Daschle.  He, too, must accept the “I forgot” defense, which makes it even better. How can the IRS come after you or me for not paying taxes if it’s okay with the whole Executive Branch?

I’m trying to figure out, based on all this, what Obama really meant by “change.”  It could mean a couple of things. One, it could mean – as it seems – that the tax code is “more of a guideline than an actual rule.”  Considering Obama’s post-modern constituency, this could be the case, and it probably won’t stop there; I can see them looking at the whole Constitution as “more of a guideline.”   Obama also could have meant that in light of his stimulus package, which could exceed $1 Trillion, $120,000 is just “chump change.”

Or, it could be simply that he lied. It could be that he’s no different than any other politician, with little or no scuples, making empty promises and plans to get away with whatever he can. I wonder, will he look the other way at the forgetfulness of Republicans, or just his fellow Dems?  He’s only in his 2nd week as President- what he does now will set the stage for the next 4 years.  It he a man of integrity, or not? Only time will tell … but, he should know that there are many of us who are not as forgetful as his cabinet picks.

Posted in Politics/Current Events | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

Episcopal issues

Posted on February 1, 2009 by me

In the last couple of months, I have become a regular at a local Episcopal church, and absolutely love it.  The liturgy is very meaningful, the music seclections are well chosen, and the sermons keep to the message and are always right on point.  At this point in my life, this is what I need (and yes, I’m aware that I’m focusing on my need here, and don’t apologize for that).  Furthermore, everything had, so far, been scripturally sound. That’s one of the benefits of liturgy.

However, the Episcopal church as a whole has problems, which has resulted in many congregations leaving the church. The main issue is over the fairly recent decision to allow gay priests. Now, there’s a move within the EC to broaden the definition of marriage to include gay unions. George Clifford writes in the Daily Episcopalian,

The next step in that unfolding narrative of grace is to expand the concept of marriage to include a gay man marrying a gay man or a lesbian marrying a lesbian. This timely, grace filled step rightly extends the Christian concept of marriage to people whom the Church for too long has marginalized or demonized, the very categories of people with whom Jesus spent his ministry. The Church wrongly has attempted to foist a life and love denying form of sexuality – heterosexuality – upon people whom God created with a different gender orientation. Consequently, their gender preference has too often caused gays and lesbians to deny their very identity or to express their sexuality in promiscuous, exploitative, or other destructive ways. Same-sex monogamous marriage inherently promotes healthy lifestyles, models the union of Christ and the Church, and can powerfully mediate grace to all whom they encounter.

George calls for the complete dismantling of the marriage rite, creating one blessing of any and all unions, regardless of whatever.  Besides completely ignoring Biblical teaching, including Romans 1, the logic is just wacko. This is one step away from blessing adulterers or worse (“… but he was born a pervert!”).

I agree that homosexuals have been treated badly over the years, and that they should be shown the same grace that we show any other sinners – which includes all of us. I don’t have a problem with that; I have welcomed gays and lesbians in church.  However, there is a great chasm between extending love and grace and supporting a lifestyle that is clearly against Scripture.  Suppose I was a compulsive adulterer – it is my nature; it may even be genetic, for all we know.  Why shouldn’t this behavior be condoned?  Why not show the same “grace” to that kind of sin?

As Karl Menninger once asked, whatever became of sin?  Or as Paul asked, should we sin more so that grace should increase?

It pains me that this kind of mindless pseudo-theology could drag a major denomination into heresy.  And yes, this is a major heresy, not just a civil rights issue, or an issue of which sins are worse than others. You see, Paul has identified marriage as holy not just because it is ordained by God, but because it is also a type of the relationship between Christ and the Church.  “Behold, I tell you a mystery,” Paul says concerning the issue.  To me, this goes right to the heart of the nature of the Church.

After finding a church that, for the first time in years, makes me want to get up early on a Sunday morning, I am deeply saddened by this issue, and pray that people listen to the Spirit of God, not the spirit of this age. I’d hate to have to go off in search of a church once again…

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The critical analysis behind the Bible canon

Posted on February 1, 2009 by me

Eusebius was an early (263-339) Christian historian who eventually became Bishop of Caesarea, although his is more commonly known for his work on early church history.  His work has been exceptionally helpful in that he references a number of early church writings which to our knowledge have not survived. The blog Heart, Mind, Soul & Strenth has posted a very interesting peice on Eusebius’ comments concerning the criteria used to determine whether a writing should be considered authentic and worthy of being included as scripture.  The article states:

… Eusebius’ general stance is that a writing was not accepted unless there was positive reason to accept it. That is to say, the default position was one of skepticism. Rather than accepting any book by default unless it could be disproved, the position was the opposite: he rejected any book which did not have historical evidence in its favor.

There are a lot of spurious claims made about the Bible, and about why books were included and others were not.  Thankfully, we have writings like that of Eusebius to give some clarity, not that those who have already chosen to doubt will accept this as sufficient evidence to change their minds.

Posted in Faith, Science & Doubt | Tagged , , | 2 Comments