nakedpastor

You, my readers, have become familiar with my good friend Sarah who lost her boyfriend, soon-to-be-fiancé to suicide on January 8 this year. Read here and here and here to catch up if you aren’t aware of what’s going on. The other day Lisa and I were visiting with her, having drinks and chatting, when she told a story that I thought you’d all like to hear about. It’s about how she’s felt God guiding her through her grief. I asked if she’d mind writing a post about that for nakedpastor. She sent it to me the other day. She also gave me the accompanying photo which I embellished with words. Nato took the photograph. Those were happier times. I doctored the photograph and received Sarah’s permission to post this creative endeavor of mine. I feel it expresses so many of the things she’s going through. By the way, she appreciates so many of the kind words this online community have given to her. So bless you!
So, here’s her story in her own words:

“My Guidance Through Darkness”

Before Nato died, a few days before, I felt I should read psalm 57…”Be gracious to me O God, be gracious to me, for my soul takes refuge under the shadow of your wings. My soul will take refuge under the shadow of your wings until the disaster has passed”. It didn’t really mean anything to me at the time. Then he died. He took his own life…’my soul will take refuge under the shadow of your wings until the disaster has passed’. When we got home from Ontario, Nato’s funeral, the Lord said, “You’re going to be out for the next three weeks, lie down, but don’t worry, Nato and I are making the plans”. So I laid down. Again, later he said, “the next 4 days are going to be dark’, so I told my mom, “I feel that the next few days are going to be very dark, pray for me and take care of me’. And they were dark.

In March I sat outside one night having a smoke and was overwhelmed by starkness and terror that my love, my beloved, was gone, and that he took his own life. I felt the Lord say ‘ the third month is going to be the worst’. I came inside and told mom, and she told me that statistically the third month is the hardest because there is no shock left to buffer the pain and suffering. I’m glad I didn’t know that before. In that same moment outside with my smoke, I felt, or saw, the words ‘March 21st’, and ‘equinox’. I didn’t know what equinox meant, so I looked it up and the definition said, “When the day is longer than the night”. When the light becomes more than the dark. And March 23rd, I got dressed when I woke up, the first time I have felt like it since Nato died.

Though I may rant and cry through my grief and suffering that God is not faithful, He is.

I would like to take this post to honor some sites devoted to atheism that I think are respectful and worth looking at. As you can see from my post on An Anti-Response to An Atheist, with 116 comments so far (not even a prize was offered!!), it is entirely possible to have a congenial discussion between people who radically disagree on an issue. I commend all those who took part in the discussion, and some of the atheist writers and I have agreed that we should continue talking. In fact, as one atheist commented:

“This is the first online conversation I’ve observed where both sides actually engaged with each other. It’s also been refreshingly troll-free. That says a lot about the quality of the online community you attract to your blog, David.“

Another wrote to me personally to say,

“I agree that the debate was very interesting and held in a tone of unusual sportsmanship, considering the differing views on display. Both sides are to be commended. I can’t help feeling that if all Christians were like you and your readers, there would be no problem.”

This is a testiment not only to the sincerity of the atheists who did comment on my post, but also to my regular readers, many of whom are members of my church. All are quality people. The fact is that I agree with much of what atheists are saying, such as we are not aware of any scientific proof of the existence of God; that religion has a bad track-record; that religious people often resort to infantile and circular arguments to support their positions; that the brain is an incredibly complex organ which borrows, creates, and stores our beliefs; etc., etc., etc. So I sincerely look forward to some good discussions.

Here are some links to check out:

daylight atheism.

a load of bright.

Lynn’s Daughter Thinking.

That’s it for now. I’ve invited these atheist bloggers to link to me. So far a load of bright has agreed. Daylight is thinking about it. We’ll see what happens with the others.

I took this photograph last Sunday. Lisa and I went to the shore and just walked, threw stones, and talked for the afternoon. This small fishing vessel gently dancing in the brilliant sunlight sparkling on the salty sea spoke beauty and peace to me.

I made a comment last Sunday that several people have commented on. I came to the conclusion a long time ago that if a “truth” doesn’t work in all situations, then it isn’t truth. It might seem true. But if it isn’t true for everybody, then it isn’t true, ultimately, for anybody. This applies to theology. If it isn’t true for everybody, then it isn’t true for anybody. That’s why much of our western theology is poor. Much of what is taught in churches and in our books today seems true, but only if you are middle-class or better and live in North America or Europe. If someone says to me that God would not let me go hungry or bankrupt or die by brutality, that’s a lie! He obviously lets many people go hungry and bankrupt and die of brutality. This line of reasoning, as harsh as it may be, must apply all the way down the line. If it is true for me, it must be true for a starving Aides orphan in Darfur or a Christian in China locked away in a solitary cell never to be heard from again. Some people think that some of the best theology these days is coming out of third-world countries. I believe it, because it is less likely to be tainted by comfort- and success-oriented thought patterns that enamour us.The fine art photograph is the creation of my friend Mark Hemmings.

For years now I have been interested in brain science and studies. So I was pleased when I came across a recent article in Time called, The Mystery of Consciousness. Check it out for a fascinating read. Steven Pinker writes that it is an illusion to think that the feeling we have of there being an “I” that “sits in the control room of the brain, scanning the screens of our senses and pushing the buttons of the muscles“. Consciousness doesn’t reside in a “soul” that uses the brain. “Consciousness IS the activity of the brain.” And one of the brain’s most skillful talents is spin doctoring. It will use healthier parts of the brain to explain away the weaker parts. This is a unified function of the one self. Pinker asserts that “few scientists doubt that they will locate consciousness in the activity of the brain.” He believes this is a “terrifying prospect” to non-scientists because it throws the whole concept of “soul” into question.

I think the discovery of science is exciting and challenging. But it isn’t only science that is making these discoveries. So are philosophers and theologians. For instance, read Krishnamurti:

So, according to your culture, according to your conditioning, according to your knowledge, you are going to seek that which you call truth, happiness, what you will. It is according to the past, to your experience, to your knowledge, to all your accumulated memories, that you are going to seek. That is, (more…)

Over at Ebon Musings, one atheist writer offers a challenge to theists who claim that all atheists are closed-minded and exhibit their own brand of fundamentalism. Although he (I’m calling the write a “he” for brevity’s sake alone) must agree that there are closed-minded atheists who are fundamentalists, I think he is right to defend the possibility that not all atheists are the same. To prove that he is open-minded, he is willing to convert if he could be convinced of the truth of any particular religion.

I would like to comment on the article. He puts two categories that proof would fall under: the first category deals with “things that would absolutely convince me of the truth of a particular religion“. He says that he would “convert on the spot” if any of these could be shown to him: verifiable fulfillment of prophecies that couldn’t have been contrived; scientific knowledge in holy books that wasn’t available at the time; miraculous occurrences, especially if brought about through prayer; any direct manifestation of the divine; aliens who believed in exactly the same religion. The second category he calls “circumstantial evidence“, which, if he was shown any of these, might cause him to rethink his position even if he doesn’t convert: a genuinely flawless and consistent holy book; a religion without (more…)