Archives for November 2019

Disney World, Giraffes, and Random Chance

November 27, 2019 by admin

Disney World, Giraffes, and Random Chance

My friend’s daughter loves Disney World, from the age of eight to her present age of 45. A few years ago, her entire extended family joined her to spend a week in Disney World, spending a day in each theme park.

The “Animal Kingdom” Theme Park is a large Nature Preserve of wild animals in their natural habitat. A long, wide wooden pier extends hundreds of yards into the preserve, which protects the viewers, while not disturbing the animals. (There are no noisy motorized vehicles or mechanical devices in this part of the preserve.)

After lunch in the “Animal Kingdom’s” restaurant, the family members ventured into the middle of the preserve, at the end of the long pier. My friend’s granddaughters, then ages 9 and 6, were particularly fascinated by the giraffes. They were mesmerized, watching the giraffes nibble at the tree-top-leaves, and then bend their long necks down to drink from the pond below. The giraffes leisurely repeated that process to the delight of the grandchildren.

My friend then asked them, “Why didn’t the giraffe’s head explode when it bent down to take a drink?” His granddaughters looked puzzled. The younger one asked, “Why would its head explode?” The Professional Park Attendant began to inch closer to the group.

My friend explained, “The giraffe has a very large heart, which it needs to pump the blood all the way up to its head when its nibbling the tree-top leaves. Its heart is like a massive, powerful pump. And its heart keeps pumping, continuously.” The Park Attendant nodded her head in agreement.

“So, when the giraffe bends down to drink, its powerful heart keeps pumping blood, which should flood its head, causing it to explode.” The children’s confused looks indicated that they understood the problem. The younger one asked, “So, why doesn’t it head explode?”

My friend explained, “It doesn’t, because its neck has a very complex, series of strong valves that begin to close as the giraffe’s neck begins to bend downward. That system of closing valves is so precise, that the amount of blood in the giraffe’s brain remains constant when its nibbling tree-top leaves, as when it’s taking a drink from the pond below.” The older granddaughter shouted, “That’s amazing.” The younger one screamed, “Wow.” The Park Attendant said, “Your Grandpa is correct.”

“Equally amazing and wonderful is the complexity of the bird’s wing. All animals with feathers need them to keep warm. Except the feathers of a bird’s wing. A bird’s wing is a very complex structure of hooks and other things that allows birds to fly”, explained my friend to his grandchildren.

He continued, “More amazing, are your eyes and ears, which are a complex combination of nerves and sensors that are coordinated with your brain so that you can see and hear. And most amazing, is your DNA molecule with a precise combination of amino acids in a long chain of other atoms that makes you the unique person you are. There are seven billion people on earth, all different from each other, because each DNA molecule is different from each other. Isn’t that amazing?”

Their mother, who is a doctor, nodded in agreement.

The Above YouTube Music Video Expresses the Essence of this Blog Post Message

That day in Disney World, my friend’s granddaughters learned that the irreducible complexity found in living things is not the result of random chance through time. It’s the result of God’s profoundly intelligent design. They learned what atheist/evolutionist, Gould, admitted, “The irreducible complexity found in organic things cannot be explained by random chance through time.”

Gould created the term, “Punctuated Equilibrium”: “Some complex things just appear fully functional, with no scientific explanation or basis.” Gould’s explanation is as nonsensical as “Abracadabra.”

Disney World is a wonderful, magical place, the product of incredible imagination.

Our world is magical place of inexplicable complex wonder.
The product of incomprehensible wisdom and Intelligent Design of Irreducible Complexity.
Beyond all human understanding.

That’s a lesson some adults refuse to learn, but children intuitively understand.

The Touch of the Master’s Hand

November 27, 2019 by admin

The Touch of the Master’s Hand

My friend told me a story about the value of something changing, depending on how it is treated and the intervention of a “Master”. People’s perception of its value changes accordingly.

It was battered and scarred. And the Auctioneer thought it was scarcely worth his while to waste much time on the old violin. But he held it up with a smile: “What am I bid, good folks he cried, Who will start bidding for me? A dollar, a dollar; then, Two! Only two? Two dollars, and who will make it three? Three dollars once; three dollars, twice; Gone for three.”

But no. From the room far back, a grey-haired man came forward and picked up the bow. Then, wiping the dust from the old violin, and tightening the loose strings, he played a melody pure and sweet, as a caroling angel sings.

The music ceased, and the auctioneer, with a voice that was quiet and low, said, “What am I bid for the old violin?” And he held it up with the bow. “A thousand dollars, and who will make it two? Two thousand! And who will make it three? Three thousand once; three thousand twice. And going and gone said he.”

The people cheered, but some of them cried, “We do not quite understand, what changed its worth? Swift came the reply: “The touch of the Master’s Hand.” And many a man with life out of tune, and battered and scarred with sin, is auctioned cheap to the thoughtless crowd, much like the old violin.

The Above YouTube Music Videos Lyrics Express the Essence of this Blog Post Message

A mess of pottage, a glass of wine, a game – and he travels on. He’s “going once”, and “going twice”, “he’s going and almost gone.” But the Master comes, and the foolish crowd never can quite understand, the worth of a soul and the change that’s wrought, by the “Touch of the Master’s Hand.”

The Above YouTube Music Video expresses the essence of “The Touch Of the Master’s Hand”

That story & song describes the Cosmic Mystery of the intervention of God’s Grace in a man’s life.

A Life of Participation in Communion with God’s Love – A summary of the “Letters of St. Paul”

November 4, 2019 by admin

A Life of Participation in Communion with God’s Love – A summary of the “Letters of St. Paul”, by Richard Rohr

The power and value of St. Paul’s letters is that they are a transformational experience of his relationship with God – participation in the Mystical Body of Christ – participation in a corporate personality bigger & stronger than himself.

Paul was a devout Jew, who strictly obeyed “The Law”. On the road to Damascus to arrest more Christians, he was blinded by a bright light and heard a voice say, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” I am Jesus, the Nazorean.” N. B. The pronoun: “Me” was the life-changing distinction. Paul was persecuting people who believed in Christ. For Christ to make no distinction between Himself and those who believed in Christ, was transformational for Paul. Belief in Christ was the same as sharing the life of Christ – the same as Christ being in the life of the believer. It was the basis for Paul’s analogy of the Mystical Body of Christ.

The antecedent of “YOU” in the above YouTube Music Video is GOD

We are acquitted of our sins by belief in Christ’s death. By belief in Christ’s resurrection, we are reconciled into the life of God. As worthless broken branches, we are re-grafted into the life-giving vine of God. As such, God’s love flows though us, to others. That is the wonderful dynamic of the Mystical Body of Christ. God’s unilateral gift of love to one part, is shared with each other part. There is a Corporate, Cosmic Unity to the Mystical Body of Christ, where each member is “Lifted Up” by all the other members.

More incredible, was Christ choosing Paul, a sinner (a hateful murderer), to be His “Apostle to the Gentiles”. Paul understood that he did nothing to deserve that selection, which led to his theme of “Grace”. Grace means free gift.We do nothing to earn it. Grace is not performance based. God loves us as we are – imperfect sinners.

Paul states, just as the first Adam separated us from God, so the second Adam redeemed us. One man caused sin in all. One man redeemed all from sin. Our redemption was nothing that we earned by keeping Laws (Galatians). Keeping Laws and doing good deeds doesn’t make God love us. God already loves us, so He sent His Son, to reconcile us with Him.

Paul eschews the notion of meritorious “Ladder Theology” – that we climb to heaven by the performance of good deeds and adherence to Laws, to make us worthy of God’s acceptance. Our culture believes in Pavlov’s paradigm: Stimulus /Response /Reward: If we work hard, and produce good results, we get our reward. It’s a legal quid-pro-quo system based on performance & justice.

Christ’s death & resurrection turned that paradigm upside-down. Christ knows we are guilty, and acquits us, anyway. This is counter intuitive to the performance principle. It is God’s unconditional love, not performance & justice, that hung on the Cross. Paul acknowledged the guilt and futility of “Ladder Theology” when he wrote, “When I what to do good, I don’t. And when I want to avoid evil, I do it anyway.” – (Romans). Paul’s transformation came from his experience of God’s love, not Paul’s worthiness.

The above YouTube Music Video Confirms Blog Post Message: We don’t “Earn” God’s Love. God loves us “As Is” – It’s a GIFT.

Paul knew that the Old Testaments’ bi-lateral covenants were broken by humanity. Christ’s New Testament covenant is unilateral love. Paul wrote his letters without the benefit of reading the gospels, which were written later:

Paul never knew about the thief, crucified with Christ, who said, “I deserve my punishment, because I led an awful life. You don’t deserve to be crucified, because you are a good man.” To which Christ replied, “This day you will be with me in Paradise.”
Paul didn’t know that Christ prayed for His false accusers & brutal executioners, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”
Paul didn’t know that Christ told the synagogue official, whose child had died, “Be not afraid. Just have faith”, and the child lived.
Or, that Christ’s parable about the “Prodigal Son” is about mercy, as is, the parable about paying laborers the same for different performance.

That’s the Paschal Mystery.

The hardest thing to do is to accept that God accepts us, “As Is”. God knows we are guilty, then acquits us, by Christ’s death. We become a “new creation” – children of God – heirs to heaven by belief (FAITH) in Christ’s resurrection. As such, we will love God, and others, as much as we allow God to love us. Or the reciprocal, we will love God as much as we love someone else the least.

The dynamic of the Mystical Body is to allow the “vertical” love of God to flow “horizontally” through broken vessels to each other, whose love, in turn, flows back to God, and so on and so on. We share God’s love because we want to, not because we have to. We love God out of gratitude, not out of the fear of punishment.

This transformational conversion experience of living “In Christo” results in “suffering and death”. Paul speaks of dying to the old-self. The old-self is selfish. It’s petty and needy of admiration and affirmation though praise of achievement – through the acquisition of things. The old-self is defined by persons and things outside of itself. It’s fragile, because its validity is determined by changing life situations.

Paul turns that cultural notion upside-down. Our value comes from the life of Christ within us. We are made by God, and for God. Until we understand that, life won’t make sense. By dying to selfishness, we experience the presence of God within us, and live “In Christo”. The “old-self” is powerless against “Powers and Principalities”. The “New Creation” in Christ, triumphs. When we suffer reversals by rebellion (sin – “kicking against the goads”), we gain renewal through participation.

Participation in the Mystical Body of Christ shares in the Pascal Mystery of death & resurrection, of loss & renewal. By Christ sharing in our humanity, our humanity shares in His Divinity. Not by doing what is right, nor by knowing (Augustine wrote that Satan knows the creeds of the Church), but by experiencing the presence of God within us. The Mystical Body of Christ is a bunch of broken branches re-grafted into the life-giving vine of God. It’s the progeny of Christ’s unilateral covenant of unconditional love.

The Sanctuary of our Soul experiences God’s Love: By being in Communion with God we will keep His Commandments & do Good Deeds.

The Above YouTube Music Video’s Lyrics Reflect Being in Communion with God

The Companionship of God’s Peace, Comfort, and Joy is a relationship that thrives when shared.

“Beetle” Song Lyrics Similar to Biblical Themes

November 3, 2019 by admin

“Beetle” Song Lyrics Similar to Biblical Themes

Recently, my friend was listening to “Beetle” songs on a CD in his car. The CD had 27 songs, some of them memorialized in the current Movie “Yesterday”. My friend realized that the lyrics to some of the “Beetle songs were congruent to the messages of Bible verses. Thee Beetles primarily wrote songs about the relationship between teenage boys & girls.

At some point in their lives, young men experience a loss of confidence and doubt the value of their lives, as lamented in “Yesterday” – “All my troubles seemed so far away. Now they seem to be here to stay. I’m not half the man I used to be. There’s a shadow hanging over me. How I long for yesterday.”

That malaise is exacerbated by the culture’s lack of solutions expressed in “Day Tripper” – “Got a good reason for taking the easy way out. She was a day tripper. One-way ticket, yeah. It took me so long to find out. And I found out. She’s a big teaser. She took me half the way there.”

When the culture doesn’t provide the solutions they promised to be, young men cry out for “Help” – “Help. I need somebody. Help. Not just anybody. When I was younger, I didn’t need anybody’s help in any way. But now those days are gone, and I’m not so self-assured. Help me if you can, I’m feeling down. I do appreciate you being around. Help me get my feet back on the ground. Please, please, help me.”

Then, the young man finds the solution he seeks on the “Long and Winding Road” – “The Long and winding road that leads to your door, will never disappear. I’ve seen that road before. It always leads me here, leads me to your door. Many times, I’ve been alone, and many times I’ve cried. Anyway, you’ve always known the many ways I’ve tried. And still they lead me back to the long and winding road, that leads me to your door.”

The Above YouTube Music Video is One Example of Beetle Song Lyrics Referenced in this Blog Post

The solution he finds is quite simple, “Let It Be” – “When I find myself in times of trouble, Mother Mary comes to me, speaking words of wisdom, “Let it be.”. And in my hour of darkness, she is standing in front of me, speaking words of wisdom, “Let t be”. And when the broken-hearted people living in the world agree, there will be an answer, “Let it be”. And when the night is cloudy, there’s a light that shines on me, speaking words of wisdom, “Let it be”.

To execute that solution, “All You Need is Love” – “There’s nothing that you can do, that can’t be done. Nothing that you can sing that can’t be sung. There’s nothing that you can make, that can’t be made. No one that you can save that can’t be saved. All you need is Love. Love is all you need.”

The books of the Bible were written for the relationship between God & humanity, and each other. Although written thousands of years apart, for different audiences, the common denominator of relationships is basically the same. By substituting God in the lyrics of the above “Beetle” songs their themes resemble the following Biblical Verses, paraphrased & condensed, about the relationship between God & humanity:

“God created man & woman in His Image & likeness. God called His creation Good. Adam & Eve lived in a Paradise of abundance, in concert with the animals. (Genesis) Dissatisfied, the Prodigal Son took his father’s inheritance, and traveled to a far-away city to spend it on wine, women, and song. When the money was gone, he ate & slept with the pigs, longing for his father’s home. (Luke) They wandered through the desert for 40 years before they came to the land of milk & honey. (Genesis) But God so loved the world, that He sent His only Son, so that all who believe in Him, shall not perish, but have life everlasting. (John) Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, the beauty awaiting believers in heaven. (Revelation) That reward only requires acceptance of the Great Command: Love God with your whole heart, mind, and soul. And love one another as I (Christ) have loved you. (John) There is Faith, Hope, and Love. And the greatest of these is Love. (Corinthians)

The “Beetle” songs in the movie, “Yesterday”, & Bible verses tell stories of mutual attraction and affection. Then, one party drifts away thinking it can do better. The realization that the alternative was an illusion is stark and bitter. But, the prodigal party needs help to return to the original relationship. I’s a long and winding journey, broken-hearted, through darkness, to go back home. It requires to let things go, let things be.And in the end, all you need is Love. Love is all you need.

Sometimes it takes a lifetime to understand & accept those lyrics & the verses.

In the end, the resulting relationship of Peace and Joy and Love with God, and each other, is Priceless and Infinite.

The Above YouTube Video Confirms the Blog Post Message Above

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