iGod

Richard Dawkins causes stir with suggestion that there could be a God

 I am grateful to Quaerentia for tipping me off about the article by Melanie Philips in this week's Spectator.

She was at the lecture at the Natural History Museum in Oxford for the debate between John Lennox and Richard Dawkins.

Here's an extract:

"Dawkins was badly caught off-balance by Lennox’s argument precisely because, possibly for the first time, he was being challenged on his own chosen scientific ground.

This week’s debate, however, was different because from the off Dawkins moved it onto safer territory– and at the very beginning made a most startling admission. He said:

A serious case could be made for a deistic God.

This was surely remarkable. Here was the arch-apostle of atheism, whose whole case is based on the assertion that believing in a creator of the universe is no different from believing in fairies at the bottom of the garden, saying that a serious case can be made for the idea that the universe was brought into being by some kind of purposeful force. A creator. True, he was not saying he was now a deist; on the contrary, he still didn't believe in such a purposeful founding intelligence, and he was certainly still saying that belief in the personal God of the Bible was just like believing in fairies. Nevertheless, to acknowledge that ‘a serious case could be made for a deistic god’ is to undermine his previous categorical assertion that

...all life, all intelligence, all creativity and all ‘design’ anywhere in the universe is the direct or indirect product of Darwinian natural selection...Design cannot precede evolution and therefore cannot underlie the universe."

More starling still came the revelation that he believed that extra terrestial life from another planet

"Even more jaw-droppingly, Dawkins told me that, rather than believing in God, he was more receptive to the theory that life on earth had indeed been created by a governing intelligence – but one which had resided on another planet. Leave aside the question of where that extra-terrestrial intelligence had itself come from, is it not remarkable that the arch-apostle of reason finds the concept of God more unlikely as an explanation of the universe than the existence and plenipotentiary power of extra-terrestrial little green men?"

Anyway, have for a read for yourself.

ASD

Probably the best way to advertise God

I saw the story today that apparently the British Humanist Association is looking to run a bus side campaign to advertise the notion that perhaps there isn't a God and so we need not worry about life.  By even saying this it will provoke an interest in exploring God. 

It comes the day after we read sadly how a young Christian charity worker thought her faith was important enough to risk working with disabled children in Afghanistan was shot dead by the Taleban.

Was she preaching Christ, as claimed?  Well, if we mean was she doing what Jesus would be doing, caring the poor and needy, yes. Ultimately, as St Francis of Assisi said, we preach Christ best not with our words but with our actions.

So I am really not quite sure why the BHA feel they need to run their campaign or what they expect to get out of it.

However, we should be grateful to them for keeping the conversation going.

Thanks, BHA, we owe you one.

asd

Being the real deal

I came across this cartoon from Leadership magazine which made me smile as well as ponder the question: do people know a real Christian when they come across one? You know what I mean, beyond the ones we see in TV shows and Hollywood films. 

Do people see the real Christian carrying a Bible on a Sunday morning as they walk to church.  Or is it the one always inviting them to a church service?  Is it the one who has a metal fish on their lapel or a religious car sticker? Is it the one who talks in hushed and sincere tones, giving meaningful looks?  Is it the one that looks, well, er, a bit odd. Could they be one?

I think people are smart. Well, they would be, being in made in God's image and all that, but I think they know when someone is not the real deal. So what does the authentic Christian look like?

We can say a Christian is someone who loves God and his son Jesus Christ and has surrendered their life to following Him one hundred per cent, but it can't be just someone living a philosophical belief system and adhering to a set of moral codes. It has to mean more.

The Bible says we should imitate Christ and become like him. What does that mean in practice? I guess a good place to start is by looking at what Jesus was like and how he lived among the people of Palestine in the first century. Was Jesus obsessed with religious services and attendance? Was Jesus just about getting people into the nearest synagogue?

For me, it is how we live our lives and want to change which says the most about having real love, faith and hope. Having 'theological love' is no love at all. Having Christ-like love is everything. Maybe then we could stop being the increasingly invisible church. But, hey, you may have another opinion.

ASD

Video for Reckoner by Radiohead

Find more videos like this on w.a.s.t.e. central

I came across this video on the Radiohead blog and found it deeply moving, beautiful, profound and spiritual. Whether you are a fan of the boys from Oxford or not, it really is worth taking two and a half minutes of your day to watch it. What the lyrics actually mean, I am afraid I cannot tell you.

Reckoner
You can't take it with you
Dancing for your pleasure

You are not to blame for
Bittersweet distractor
Dare not speak its name
Dedicated to all you
all human beings

Because we separate like
ripples on a blank shore
(in rainbows)
Because we separate like
ripples on a blank shore
(in rainbows)

Reckoner

Take me with you
Dedicated to all you
all human beings

ASD

Relationships - tricky things

A guest blog from Emma Stewart-Darling

Relationships are tricky things, if you ask me. 

 

We are all so different.  You think you’ve mastered the ins and outs of a friendship and then the person goes and does something utterly unpredictable.  People can be quite untrustworthy- the more you let someone know who you are, the more you have to risk, or at least that how it feels.

 

Getting to know God is a lot like getting to know a person.  In order to get to know him I have to let my guard down somewhat and allow him into my thoughts and my life and to let him effect my feelings, which makes me feel vulnerable…just like in any other real relationship.  But in order to get to know God, perhaps a good start would be to think about who he is.  Jesus is definitely a help, because he is a tangible person who demonstrates what God is like, but a true relationship is two-way and therefore needs to be more than a set of beliefs. 

 

‘Searching for God knows what?’ on Thursday 16th October at The Mill House Hotel in Sudbury, Suffolk.  It’s an opportunity for people to talk about God and to join the conversation and listen to other’s experiences.  Often, people want to talk about spirituality but find the church an alien place to be.

 

Emma Stewart-Darling

Emotionally and spiritually challenged with tiredness?

I have just come across the blog by American pastor Pete Scazzero and loving it. He is senior pastor of New Life Fellowship Church in Queens, New York City, and author of Emotionally Healthy Spiritually (Nelson, 2006) and has a website by the same name.

His latest post includes a great quote by Russian author Leo Tolstoy: "Everybody wants to change the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.”

He goes on:

"There is only one pathway - the pathway of Jesus.  Ronald Rolheiser in The Holy Longing outlines this as the only way to profound transformation. We repeat it over and over again in our walks with Christ.

1. Name your deaths   (Good Friday)
2. Claim your births    (Easter)
3. Grieve for what you have lost and adjust to the new reality (40 days)
4. Don’t cling to the old. Let old ascend and give you its blessing.  (Ascension)
5. Receive the Holy Spirit for the new God has for you. (Pentecost)"

Worth bookmarking.

ASD

Putting our own lives into a little perspective

Just catching up with Asbo Jesus and came across this little gem.

ASD