Wasted Energy

If you have worked in a wood shop you have probably heard the saying "Measure twice and cut once." I wish there was more of this type of attitude in industry. I have to believe that if we were to live by this motto a little more often we would consume less of our precious resources. One obvious area of savings would be time. I don't know how much time I have spent fixing other people's gross negligence. It is very frustrating. We all know that time relates to money, so we could save some of that too. In a more subtle way, it could be the new motto for "going green." Think about the amount of electricity, gasoline, and raw materials that are wasted by producing and transporting products that are not made to specifications. I would venture to say that the amount of precious natural resources that are wasted due to people's careless inaccuracy is astounding. Maybe we could start a new saying "Think twice, act once." That's something to think about.

Pride

Some people say that the hardest words to say are "Will you forgive me?" I agree that those are difficult words, but I think equally difficult to express are these words, "I really need your help." This is not just in the way of "Help me carry this heavy object," but a deeper admission that we need other people around us to support us in all areas of life. The difficulty in both of the above situations is pride, and I am sure we all struggle with this to some degree. I think about the many times that I have been humbled, and what a lasting impression those times of forced humility have had on me. It is a good reminder for me to remember that we cannot be an island. Not only do we need to fully depend on the Lord "when I am weak, He is strong," but we also need to humble ourselves by letting others help us. Think of how humbled the disciples were when Jesus washed their feet.

Light: A particle or a wave?

I am sure much has been said relating light to the nature of God, but I had a new thought yesterday (I am sure others thought of this before). I was thinking about how God is both a God of mercy and a God of justice, and the Scriptures say that Jesus is the lion and the lamb. At initial glance, we think "How could He be both of these seemingly opposing characteristics?" It is something of a mystery to us, but we know it is true. Similarly, we know that light is both a wave and a particle. How can this be? The properties of light baffled physicists for a long time until Einstein came along and showed how light has both aspects. From a physics perspective, particle and wave characteristics are very different. Wave characteristics include refraction, diffraction, interference, reflection, while particle properties are evidenced in different ways through "bits" or "photons" which are sent like impulses as demonstrated in x-rays and other ways . Everything has both a particle nature and a wave nature, and depending on the frequency, one will be more dominant than the other. Each serves a different purpose, and both are necessary. When Yeshua (Jesus) said He is the Light of the world, why should we wonder how he can be both the Lion and the Lamb?

Collapse

This week everyone has been talking about the collapes of the 35W Bridge in Minneapolis, which was a very tragic event. I have been over that bridge at least a couple times over the last several years when I have been in Minneapolis. I have friends and relatives who live in the Twin Cities who could have been on that bridge when it collapsed, but as far as I know they were not. We can praise God that the anticipated number who perished is much lower than initially expected.

Now comes the investigation period. How did it happen? Why did it happen? Who was at fault? I am sure by incorporating video footage, forensic evidence, and circumstancial evidence (loads, temperature, etc.) that the first two questions will be answered fairly conclusively.

The last question is the one that could continue for a long time--"who was at fault?" I am guessing there will be a lot of finger pointing. The government will probably blame the engineers, and the engineers will blame the government. There will be a lot of finger pointing within each group as well. Of course everyone will want to pass on the responsibility. And in reality, the responsibility does not likely rest on one individual and is probably shared by many. Many times engineering decisions are not based solely on observed data, but are tempered by financial and political considerations. Too often significant repairs are not undertaken because the cost is great and useful service of the entity will be diminished or closed while work is being done.

I have absolutely no basis for assuming the following scenario, but this is a situation that I imagine could have happened. I imagine a meeting where bridge inspectors reported their findings to a group of decision-makers. They probably said that the bridge had some deficiencies that needed to be corrected. The people controlling the budget probably said that there was no money for such repairs and asked for a plan that would streamline the cost for incremental repairs, so they could be planned in the budget for years ahead. This scenario happens all the time in the engineering world. Engineers give recommendations for proper repairs, and the engineering plans are cut back to fit the budget. In some cases, this may not necessarily be a bad thing as it may force an engineer to focus on the essentials, and perhaps cause him/her to think outside-the-box on how to accomplish the goals in a more cost-effective manner. (I am sure we can all think of times when a "Cadillac" solution has been suggested when a "Kia" would be sufficient.) However, when budget constraints overpower sound engineering judgment, the consequences can be devastating. We probably won't really know what happened in this case for many months, but we all can learn some lessons here.

Evolution

I think that the introduction of evolutionary theory was probably the most detrimental philosophy that has invaded our culture. You might ask why a theory that attempts to explain the origin of species could have such a negative effect on culture. At a surface level, it would seem that evolutionary theory is just another scientist's hypothesis that can't totally be proven or disproven in a laboratory, so how could that affect a culture? By the way, I am a scientist who believes that God created the universe and all that is in it.

Lately, I have been noticing some things that I have never tied together before. I would propose that the macro theory of evolution, which attempts to answer how humans, plants, animals, and everthing else came into existence, has had a much deeper impact on our worldview than we realize. This theory has created much confusion and misguided intentions.

1. Medicine--The fact that humans exist as a product of chance makes disposing of human life much more justifiable (from abortion to euthanasia).

2. Law--did you know that in the U.S. the laws were originally made to coincide with Biblical laws? When a new law was being proposed, a common question would be, "where do you find that in the Bible." I have been told that in the mid 1800s the legal approach in the U.S. began to change when the idea of progressive law was introduced at Harvard. The idea is that laws and their intrepation build on previous decisions, so they should progressively improve over time. Unfortunately, I don't think improvement actually occurs because when a bad decision is made, it can negatively influence future decisions. In the end there is nothing solid to use as a foundation, but instead we end up with a moving target.

3. Environment--Have you noticed how some people are prone to worshiping nature? I see this especially on the West Coast. It is my opinion that this stems from Darwin's theory of evolution because inherently we all want something to believe in. We want to rally behind a cause. This poses a problem when God has been erased from the picture. If we don't believe that He exists, then what is there that we can stand behind? Many people decide to "save the world." While I believe that we need to be good stewards of the earth that God has given us, I do not believe that it or the animals on the earth should be held in higher esteem than God Himself. There is a verse in the Scriptures that says that people choose to serve what has been created rather than the Creator. If a person starts with the premise that there is no Creator, then what else is there other than created things for that person to serve? I saw a bumper sticker today that said "Praise dog." I was totally appalled. Only our Father in Heaven who created the Universe deserves all of the honor, glory, and praise.

Divide by infinity?

I have been attending some of the weekly sessions of the Truth Project, which is a DVD series produced by Focus on the Family. I was a bit skeptical when I first heard about it, but after watching some of the sessions, I am sold. It contains some well-thought and well-organized foundational material regarding the Scriptures and the concept of Truth. I highly recommend it.

Part of this evening's session was about how God dwells in believers through the Holy Spirit. Believers do not have just a part of God becasue he cannot be divided. His very nature is about oneness. Dr. Tackett on the DVD used the mathematical illustration that when you divide infinity by any number you get infinity, so that is how God can dwell within each believer at the same time. It is truly amazing that God dwells in me through the Holy Spirit!

I started thinking about the mathematical converse. What if you take any number and divide it by infinity? Mathematically this is undefined, but from Calculus, we know that the limit of this approaches zero. Therefore, if we apply mathematics to the spiritual, we could say that if we try to remove (divide) God (infinity) out of anything, we are left with nothing of value.

Tragedy at Virginia Tech

I have been very affected by the recent tragedy at Virginia Tech. I had actually met one of the professors who was killed. Two years ago, I interviewed there for a post-doc position and possible faculty position. The interview was a full day, so I met with many faculty members. I toured the lab of Kevin Granata and talked to him about his research. He was a very nice man who was doing some great research. I took some brief notes from that day, and one thing that I noted about Dr. Granata was that he had taken time out of his schedule to meet with me even though he had a grant application due the next day. I may have also met one of the other professors who was killed on Monday.

I was offered a post-doc position at a lab in the building next to where the shooting occurred, but I didn't accept it because I felt like I was to stay in Seattle. The thought that I could have been there makes me think. How would I have reacted? What would I have done? My first thought is "I am glad I wasn't there." Not just because I could have been killed--"For to me to live is Messiah and to die is gain"--but because it would be such a trauma to witness something like that. The grief must be overwhelming for those who knew the victims well.

I think about the real possibility that some of the people who were killed did not know the Lord as their Savior. That makes me very sad. I saw the webpage of one of the victims who said that Jesus was the love of her life. She is in a better place now. I pray that through this tragedy many people will turn to the Lord and be saved through Jesus the Messiah who offers eternal life to all who call on Him.

May we all be ready to meet the Lord when our time on this earth is ended.

Adopted

I had a discussion with a friend last week who was telling me how he finally could see that we as believers are connected to Israel because Jesus (Yeshua) is the Messiah of Israel and we are His children. I don't know how many years I have been trying to articulate that idea to my friends who think I am a little crazy. I thought about the concept so many people have where they think "the church" and "Israel" are two entities that can never mix or else they believe that the former has replaced the latter. Both viewpoints are in error according to Scriputre.

I, as a Gentile believer, am a child of God the Father, who was the One who made covenants with Noah, Abraham, and the children of Israel on Mount Sinai. Therefore, if I have been adopted into the family of God (see the writings of Paul), and can call God my Father and am made a co-heir with Messiah, I am in the same family as believing Israel.

As I thought about this more, I came up with the following illustration from my own life. I have two sisters adopted from South Korea. They are part of a very Finnish family. There is no difference in how my parents treat them compared to how they treat me or my biologic brother. They have all the rights and privileges of being in our family, same name, same inheritence, etc. They would not say they are of Finnish ethnicity, but they would say that they feel very Finnish (and for good reason). However, no one could say that they don't belong to our family. Likewise, I would not say that I am Jewish, but I am grafted into the same olive tree through Messiah (see Romans 11).

A Prophet?

Last night I went with a friend to hear a speaker at a "prophetic conference" north of Seattle. We left before he was finished speaking because we were both rather disturbed by what was being spoken. I was mostly upset because he was saying many things that were not Scriptural. Isn't a prophet supposed to speak God's Word?

His main points "sounded right," but when listening closely, it seemed that something was amiss with the message. I get very frustrated with people who act like they are preaching the Word, but only use little bits and pieces out of context to support their agenda. I want people to preach/teach God's Word and not their own.

After seeing these conference go-ers I realize that many of them are just "conference groupies" who travel from place to place chasing after the "next great move of God." I think people should be ready for God to move in your own community in your own congregation. A person does not have to chase after the wind. God will not leave you behind. The speaker last night said his greatest fear was that he would miss out on the next great move of God. I don't believe that someone who is seeking after the Lord with all their heart, soul, and mind will miss out on what He has in store for them. It may not be as flashy as someone else might experience, but God is into tailor-made experiences with Him. He will not leave us behind or in the cold if we are following after Him (which doesn't mean running from conference to conference to "catch the wave"). I would say that if a person is chasing after things of this world, his/her own glory, or pleasures of sin that there is a risk of missing out of being part of what God is doing.

The other thing that was mentioned is that we as believers need to be "culturally relevent." I think this is a great misconception because we are part of the culture, right? I live in this culture in Seattle; I contribute to it. Instead of catering to the cultural norms, I believe we need to be building a culture of Godliness around us. People will notice. If we are living lives of Godly character we will exude his love, grace, and mercy to those around us and it will draw attention. Of course, I believe we need to speak to people in a language they will understand, but I do not think we need to become like the world to win it--that is not Scriptural. We are to "be in the world but not of the world."