I found this article today at the Drudge Report. Fascinating. This guy thinks either the Japanese or the Russians are tossing Hurricanes at us. Seriously.

Read on…

Pocatello Idaho State Journal: Forecaster leaves job to pursue weather theories

Every once in a while, it’s good to acknowledge the passing of markers. Our baby has now lived a healthy 15 weeks, which is one past where we found out we had lost the last baby. That’s a good marker. I am hopeful we will see this baby, and get to know the person God is forming inside Jen.

Just for fun, here’s some info on our newest family member:

At around 4 inches long, crown to rump, your baby now weighs about 2 1/2 ounces. He’s busy inhaling and exhaling amniotic fluid, which will help develop the air sacs in his lungs. His legs are growing longer than his arms now, and he can move all his joints and limbs. That means his hands are more functional, too. Sweat glands are appearing, and although his eyelids are fused shut, he can sense light. If you shine a flashlight at your tummy, he’s likely to move away from the beam. There’s not much for your baby to taste at this point, but his taste buds are beginning to form.

(from BabyCenter.com)

I mentioned in the previous post that Star Trek creates a universe that is not the creation of a wise and divine Creator, but one that evolved and continues to do so. They come across species all the time who are at a higher state of evolution than humans. 🙂 (Sorry, that one makes me laugh.) I do not want to debate evolution in this post. I noticed a moral dilemma that arises from a world without God.

One issue that constantly arises in the fictional world of Star Trek is their degree of interference with alien cultures. They come across civilizations all the time that, of course, have different social and moral codes. And, as there is no reason other than culture and history for any moral code, they Starfleet way is to not interfere. But, inevitably, one or two crewmen will face an ethical dilemma within themselves whether to stop an act they feel is morally wrong, or to observe the code of conduct expected by their Starfleet rules.

Often for the sake of the plot, one will not follow the rules. They will step in and try to right the injustice they have discovered is part of the fabric of this alien culture. Usually it has dire consequences and their superiors chastise them in some way. However, the real dilemma the authors face is, why do the characters care so much about “righting the wrong” if all of our moral codes have no universal foundation? If we all just get to make up what is right and wrong, why is starfleet’s right always right?

The universe does not exist without God. Everything we know is from him. Not just the physical world that we see that is so detailed and intricately programmed it could not possibly exist just by some natural force that drives everything to “improve” itself. Beyond what we see, there is the conscience within us. We know what is right and wrong. Even if we choose the wrong, we know what is right and wrong. No one has to tell us. It’s built into us because there are absolutes. They are part of who our Creator is. He is Truth. And so a world without him, if it were even possible, is a world without truth.

Beyond fiction, our govermnent continues to separate God from every facet of life. He is not allowed out in public much anymore. Before long, he may not be tolerated in private gatherings, either. That will be sad. It won’t stop him from working in and among us, since there is no reality without God. But it will move us farther away from the life he intends for us. We are meant to live life with him. Not just as a part – as our religion – but every step, as a loving Father. He is not primarily our commanding Lord who is to be revered, but rather, our friend, and our Father. That is what Jesus revealed by his life on Earth. He is very real, and wants to live life with us. The good, and the bad. He is not far from us when we are “bad”, quite the opposite. He’s waiting for us to come back, or he’s out looking for us so he can bring us home. All over-used metaphors, but true nonetheless.

There is no life without the Creator. I know it’s just Star Trek, but I think the writers reflect a sentiment that is prevalent in society today, and it’s sad. Instead of the freedom they hope to discover without a Creator, they are indeed removing themselves from Life himself. He is the way, the Truth and the Life. There is no life without him.

We have been watching Star Trek again. This time we’re going through season two of the latest series, called “Enterprise”. It’s great. We’re big fans. We love the characters, and the stories, and the whole science fiction, space theme. Neato.

But the worldview often leaves something to be desired.

The world they have created is based on a couple things. One, there is no divine creator – we all just evolved, all over the universe – and two, government knows best. That leads them to all sorts of moral dilemmas actually, and makes the show somewhat interesting, but their conclusions can always be interesting.

In a recent episode (that we watched) they were told to go rescue three scientists from another world who were on a planet that had seen a military coup overturn their government during the scientists visit there, and now all visitors were unwelcome, and would be jailed or worse if not out in 3 days. So, the Enterprise crew work hard to go rescue these folks. Meanwhile, their doctor, who is another species finds that a patient they have taken aboard is from a different species that has a long history of war and hatred toward the doctor’s species. The patient needs to be treated, or he will die. But, initially he refuses treatment, because of who the doctor is.

All of that sets up the plots for the show, and reveals perhaps a flaw in their thinking.

As the show continued, Phlox (the doctor) refuses to treat the patient because the patient has refused treatment. He said he could not go against the patient’s wishes. But the star trek captain dude is quite angry, and suggests that the patient is being stupid, and they should forcibly treat him. Choice, is not an option.

On the planet, the rescue team finds the scientists, and they refuse to go, saying they will be fine, no one will find them. But the rescue team thinks they are being stupid, and threaten to take them by force. Choice, is not an option.

Let’s step back into reality for a moment. We have all seen the coverage of Hurricane Katrina. Whether online, or in the papers, or on TV, you have heard of the great destruction of property and lives that this storm has caused. And many times I have heard it suggested that the government (on whatever level) should have done better at getting people out. That somehow the government is responsible for most (if not all) of the lives lost to this storm.

People. Come on now.

First, this storm was huge. It was going to hurt and even kill some amount of people. We can not stop such events, no matter how prepared we might be. Second, I believe that most of the people who stayed in New Orleans and other areas were doing so BY CHOICE. I realize there were probably some who were not able to leave for some reason, and that is very sad. But a large part of those who did stay, were told to leave, and refused. Choice WAS an option.

But, some say that it should not have been. There is a way of thinking that says the government knows better, and should have stepped in and told those people, “You’re stupid, we’re smarter, you’re leaving.” And then, proceeded to remove them by force from their homes. Folks, that is not American. We are built on individual freedom in America. If you are not directly endangering other people, you have the full right to be an idiot! Really! Choice is DEFINITELY an option. But some would take that away, and hand over choice either directly to the government or to some other group of “experts”.

In the end, the scientists decided to “cooperate”, though they were forcibly coerced. And, the end result was they were “saved”, but at what cost? And the doctor actually made a good speech to convince the patient to allow treatment, and he was saved. That story turned out a bit better, as the patient was allowed to choose, even to his death. (A weird move for Star Trek) But in both cases, there was definitely evidence that choice was not really that important.

I hope we do not lose that right in this country. I hope we don’t lose that ideal. That God has endowed us with the ability and the privilege to choose where we will go in life. Often we may choose unwisely, and there are consequences both natural and structured to attempt to correct those choices (that injure society in some way). But overall, God has created us to think, and to choose, and that should never be taken away. Even if we choose to be stupid. We still get to choose.

As I attempted to decipher why I do not have time to blog or even more, it seems, to read these days… I remembered that I have kids. Kids = Time.

Can I get an AMEN? 🙂

Sometimes, when I watch football… I wish I could still get out there and play. Perhaps I should join one of those semi-pro teams, where you have to pay to play.

Perhaps not.

But it would be fun. 🙂

Bills didn’t do so well today. Check out the review on Tuesday morning.

I love my Grandma. She’s quite a character. I was just talking with a friend this morning about names, and I thought I should share my Grandma’s name story here, just for posterity.

My Grandma was born Theba LaVida Stevens. She grew up being Theba. I am not certain how much she disliked the name as a child or as a teenager, but once she was married, and had already changed her last name, she decided she was unhappy with her full name. She no longer wanted to be Theba LaVida Campbell.

So, she filed to officially change her name. Went through all the official process, so that not only her friends, but the government and all official relationships with society would know her, and call her by her newly chosen, and preferred name.

She probably didn’t think too hard about her name change. It was probably an obvious choice. Perhaps she had thought about it for a while, but finally made the effort to make it official.

My grandma’s new, and current official, legal name is:

LaVida Theba Campbell.

🙂

My brother-in-law was reading a book one time, and asked a circle of us to tell him what our greatest fear was. So, we all told him, and one by one he proclaimed with certainty what our fear was. “You have a fear of abandonment.” “You have a fear of the unknown.” “You have a fear of spiders.” (OK, I added that one.) When he heard my answer to his question he said, “You have a fear of failure.” Matter-of-factly, there you have it, that’s all she wrote.

I scoffed at the notion of me being afraid of failure. And, I am still not certain that it is completely accurate, but there may be some degree of accuracy to it.

This week it has been abundantly clear that I am good at being a failure. And, when that is pointed out to me, I hate it. A lot. I don’t want to really talk to the people I have failed. I don’t like thinking about it. But, for some reason, I tend to dwell on it. Trying to figure out how to make amends and reparations for my failure.

But sometimes, I can’t. And I really, really don’t like that.

This week I have seen how I have failed my kids in so many ways as their Dad. This week I have seen how I have failed my family as a provider. We are in a serious financial pinch at the moment. And yesterday I was made aware of an error that I committed that will end up costing us hundreds, maybe thousands of dollars. Just because of an oversight. Today, to top everything off, I was making one of our favorite meals – that feeds us for at least a week – and in an easy-to-understand error, instead of adding cornstarch to the yummy-smelling chili, I added baking soda. And though not completely ruined, an enormous amount of Cincinnati-style chili stands as a testament to my repeated failures this week.

So where do I go from here? Last night, a friend reminded me to not beat myself up over failures. To be sure to learn from mistakes, but not dwell on them. I think in my perfectionism, that is super hard to do. I wrote a little while back about how I realized that I am actually trying to be God – to be like him in his perfection – though I intellectually comprehend the absurdity of such an attempt. Somehow along the way, I convinced myself it was possible and I still try to achieve his perfection.

I can’t. This week is proof. Painfully obvious proof. And yes, it hurts. I am saddened by my propensity for failure. I know that I also am able to accomplish things, but somehow this week has been far too good at reminding me of how I am not able to accomplish things.

I want to know Jesus and him crucified. The simplicity of his love for me. The depth of that love. The life-giving power. None of the stuff that bothers me today will last. My failures do not affect eternity. It’s no fun to fail, and perhaps it is a weakness of mine to be more susceptible to being effected by my failures, but fail we will. And we’ll do it again. I will fail again.

I do not fear failure, as I know I can learn from it. But today I am realizing that God is working on me in that way somehow. I am still a misshapen lump of clay, awaiting the results of the Potter’s painstaking, attentive forming of my life.

I know he will not fail.

I am a big Star Trek fan. My wife and I try and watch a Star Trek each day. An ambitious goal, but on a good week we can keep close to that. So we are quite familiar with the doctrine of one Earth, one humanity that has eliminated war and commerce and of course, eradicated poverty. And, I have mentioned before, it seems like a good idea, doing what you do for the good of other people, and everyone else returning the favor – so everyone’s needs/wants are met by everyone else. A happy, communal, harmonious society.

Unfortunately, the Star Trek writers have forgotten to include the sin quotient in the equation.

See, sin messes everything up. Without sin, that world, that vision might be possible. If everyone was capable of choosing to be selfless and thoughtful of others around them – above their desire for power, or greed, or lust, or any other form of selfishness that is powered by sin – then, we might have a world that would be akin to the one springing from the imagination of Gene Roddenberry.

The UN and many nations in the world have declared that by banding together, and working as one, we can eliminate poverty by the year 2015. (Sounds like they’ve been watching Star Trek, too…) And I heard a radio guy commenting on this today, laughing at how preposterous such a claim was.

And he’s right.

Now, I like to share all that God has given me. Even though it’s not much, if I can share it… I do. I think that is a great idea to share the abundance of the wealthy countries and peoples to help get others who are so much in need it’s unfathomable. It would certainly be a boost to us if someone would donate from their abundance to reduce or even eliminate the high-interest debt that keeps us in a frustrating cycle that seems to never end. Many bills are paid late due to that enormous debt over our heads. But, they get paid… and we move on.

I am not comparing our situation to the plight of people in Africa who live on a miniscule amount of money per year. There is no comparison. We have food that we need, and many other things – in large part thanks to the generosity of family and other supporters. But, the idea is the same… eliminate debt, get everyone on a “level” playing field, and we’ll be good to go.

For a large group of people – I would hope me included – that would be good. With a fresh start, assuming all things normal, that charity, that donation, would be the jump start to get out of poverty for good. But there is something to say for the value of earning something. When something is earned by time or labor or talent or some thing we have somehow put effort into, that effort assigns a value to the money (or other compensation) we receive in return. That is the value of money – it represents us, spent. We get X amount of dollars for X amount of time spent doing something. (Or, at least that’s how it should be) 🙂 So, while I would love for a large lump of cash to be given to us to wipe out our debt, it seems that maybe there will be more value to the slow progress of steadily paying it off as God provides each week, and month and year?

All of that aside, the main reason we will never eliminate poverty even if we somehow manage to evenly distribute all the wealth in the world is…

Sin.

Sin makes a man lazy. Sin makes another man greedy. Sin creates wedges between us that are driven only by self. Sin blinds, and even destroys. We can never be stronger than sin. That’s why Jesus had to step in and do it for us. He did, but sin still has power in this world. And because of that, even our best, most well-intentioned efforts will not lead to the demise of poverty.

Consider this quote from Proverbs:

Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones. Learn from their ways and be wise! Even though they have no prince, governor, or ruler to make them work, they labor hard all summer, gathering food for the winter. But you, lazybones, how long will you sleep? When will you wake up? I want you to learn this lesson: A little extra sleep, a little more slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest – and poverty will pounce on you like a bandit; scarcity will attack you like an armed robber.

Proverbs 6:6-11

Even if we were to get a bunch of people who had initiative up on their feet and out of poverty, many would choose to slump right back IN to poverty. It is literally, I believe, impossible to “end poverty”.

Noble words. A good idea. But, impossible.

Rather than coercing governments to allocate funds to large sweeping debt-eliminating grants to poor countries… perhaps the only way to make a dent in poverty is to build relationships with those around us. When an elderly neighbor, living on some sort of fixed income is in a pinch, drop by with a bag of groceries. If someone you know needs gas money to visit a relative, or even just to get to work, buy them a tank of gas. When someone’s loses everything they own in a hurricane and a flood, take them in, give them a place to eat/sleep and get them back on their feet. One family, one person at a time, we can share each others’ burdens. Just like the church did when it first started.

But, we can never end poverty. Not by 2015. Not ever, until Jesus returns, and we join him where there is no longer any curse.

The one last observation on this almost eliminates everything I have written. Once again, we are looking at the outward stuff. We are looking at the visible and trying to fix things by treating the symptoms rather than curing the disease. (Perhaps, because we know we can’t cure the disease?) When we talk of ending poverty, we want to make sure everyone has enough money to buy food, clothing, shelter. We are talking about physical possessions and needs. While those are important, life is more than even those.

Someone who appears to have everything they need can actually be quite poor. And someone on whom the world takes pity because of their seeming poverty, might have wealth beyond what that same world could even understand.

Let the weak say, I am strong

Let the poor say, I am rich

Let the blind say, I can see

It’s what the Lord has done in me

I am a proponent of sharing our abundance with anyone in need. As a family, we do. But this illusion put forth by the UN (probably for poilitical gain, also) is just that: an illusion.

Only the giver of all good things can “end” poverty. That can be now, with his peace and life in your heart and mind, or, when we meet him face to face. When he will wipe away every tear, and we will drink living water forever… for free… together with all the nations…

Hmm… sounds like Star Trek…

🙂