Mr. James

"As a rule we disbelieve all the facts and theories for which we have no use."
-William James

Think this over for a moment. Agree with it? Have you ever even entertained a theory or idea for which you had no use? Do you pay attention at lectures during which the speaker heralds a new way of seeing the world if yours seems to be working "fine" at the moment? Why consider someone else's idea? Yours is good enough.

You tread dangerous ground when you consider the validity of ideas that don't quite mesh with the world that you've constructed. And I think it's the exact remedy necessary to avoid bigotry, racism, and most importantly, a self centered vantage point.

Case-in-point: Hugo Black. Justice Black sat on the Supreme Court during a time when it was politically expedient for him to be racist. And he was racist, that is, until he began reading late at night, checking out more books from the Library of Congress than anyone before him. He educated himself out of racist thought. That ALL people, including african americans, were created equal was not a useful belief (for him), and he would have done well to continue a comfortable life, never questioning his view. Except that his view was just plain wrong. Justice Black adopted an un-useful idea, a true idea. His court opinions were then laced with this new idea, that all really are equal.

How many of my beliefs should I reconsider, beliefs I might hold because they help me bolster my position, but might not be true?

Requerimiento

I've been reading the book that I mentioned earlier called, "A Journey Long and Strange," by Tony Horowitz, and he mentions a Spanish document called the Requerimiento. This document was created by the Spanish and supported by the Pope. It's purpose? Well, it was a kind of rules of engagement with unmet people groups, especially los indios of the new world. It was to be formally read before any new people with whom the Spanish encountered.

The document gave two options. A. Accept the fact that we are Spain and God has ordained that we have full authority by the Pope to take control of your people and your land. Heed to this proclamation and you will be treated with certain privileges. B. Ignore it and we will conquer you and spare nothing. We will take your homes and decimate them, your women and children and make them into slaves, and your land to make our own homes. No respect will be paid to you or your traditions, your way of living, or your land.

My favorite part about this document? It was often read in the middle of the night, outside the walls of a newly discovered pueblo, with no audience.

Other favorite part? When it was read in front of an audience, the majority of the time there was no translator.

To point out the obvious, either of these scenarios equals zero understanding.

Danny Devito

I read a blog by this guy named Seth Godin. My friend Jeremiah pointed me there, and it never fails to be interesting. That's why i keep reading. He posted this the other day, and I thought I'd put it here.....cause its interesting:

George Clooney is a movie star. He looks like one. He makes tens of millions of dollars a year, hangs out at Cannes and has starlets falling at his feet.

Danny Devito is exactly five feet tall. He was perfectly cast as the Penguin.

Can you imagine the career advice Danny got? The well-meaning people who explained to him (as if he didn't know) that he didn't really look like George Clooney? That perhaps, maybe, he should consider a job as a personal trainer or short order cook...

The math, however, tells us something different.

(number of people resembling George Clooney)/(jobs for people resembling George Clooney) is a much bigger number than the ratio available to Danny. For the math challenged: Because everyone in Hollywood is trying to be George, there are a lot more opportunities for the few Dannys willing to show up.

Invest in Danny. The edges usually pay off.

Time

Ever since I started my job, it has been difficult to find time to post. I don't really understand how working people find time to breathe, much less time to spend blogging, reading the newspaper, or reading anything period. At school I could find time to complete my schoolwork, time to spend with my lovely friends, time to read interesting books, time to read the newspaper and keep up with the world. Now that I'm home, I find time for work, sleep, and ellen. Bout it. Suffice it to say, I need to do some readjusting of schedules.

Sidenote: I discovered something interesting yesterday. In Alabama there exists DeSoto Caverns and DeSoto State Park. I've always known that the name refers to Hernando DeSoto, one of the "discoverers" of many parts of Alabama. Yesterday, I discover that he was basically a mad man, a modern day Ahab looking for treasure, for caverns filled with gold, like had been found in Mexico and Peru. And God forbid you should be in his way, because he would whip out his sword and strike you down. He was responsible for the bloodiest battle that has ever taken place on American soil, more bloody than Antietam. He was a "Conquistador." So why is this man's name on a state park?

Where do you look?

What do you need for significance? Just ponder it for a moment. You want it. You want to be significant.

Maybe you just want the few people who surround you to find you interesting. Could it be that "all you need" is a family to pour yourself into? Might it be that "all you need" is to do something great that people will remember? Write something of great literary merit. Post more points than Kobe. Create foreign policies on the level with Henry Kissinger.

What are you really looking for in sex? Is it not that you will achieve some level of physical intimacy with the end in mind of achieving some emotional intimacy? Is it not that you want to be naked in front of someone who will look back into your eyes, know your deepest fears, and then tell you they love you...forever?

Why do you need that? What difference does it make? No one will remember your name in a few generations time. So why this pining for significance? Why the clamor for applause? Why the backflips for shock value? Why market yourself like some cheap product in the hopes that you'll grace the upper echelon of your given market?

The top of the old market is the bottom of a new one.

If we are just a pile of atoms, of what use is significance? What use are morals? If we are just atoms, then Nietzsche was right. Nihilism wins the day. The strong man conquers.

If what i see is a world of people doing jumping jacks for just a crumb of attention, I can't conclude that this is simply a product of randomly firing neural synapses. I don't think that anyone really believes that the rational and emotional entered via that route. The whole thing begs for a better explanation.

I believe we are to find that significance somewhere else. Somewhere other. We were made to participate in the laughter of the Trinity.

12 Reasons to say Holy Cow!

So my friend cara sent me this email with "12 reasons to say holy cow!" as the subject line. I opened it up, and this is what i found...

Let's talk about Hell

I've been reading Tim Keller's new book called, "The Reason for God," and so far, the most intriguing chapter that I've read has been his chapter entitled, "How can a loving God send people to Hell?" I think this is a very necessary question for those of us who espouse a loving God to answer. Within this question are many "sub-questions," questions that we would do well to think through and grapple with in order to better understand who God is.

I might blog about this issue off and on, because I have had many thoughts as I have sifted through Keller's chapter. This week is exam week, so the writing might be sparse. But I shall continue again next week.

First, I think I want to talk about the idea of what hell actually is. I would agree with Keller and others who propose that most people think of hell as a hissing cauldron of fiery lava, a place you go at the end of your life when God says, "Whelp, you didn't make the right choices...so...uh...see ya later stupid." I think this misses the point by a long shot. In thinking about hell, we would do well to think less about what is present in the place called hell and more about what is not present..... God. I think my college pastor Joel Brooks put it best when he said, "There is a word for the place where you get literally everything in the world that you could possibly want....minus God. That word is hell." Read Romans 1. The phrase, "And God gave them up.." is repeated over and over. Why? Because God gives you what you want. If you don't want Him, and you want other things, He doesn't get out his whip and taunt you with images of fiery furnaces. He says, "Fine. You can have what you desire." And I can attest to this personally, when I choose something over Jesus, something that I think is more fun than Jesus, more beautiful than Jesus, more interesting. I always turn out to be wrong, but it has taken many progressive trips to the land of misery for me to see how wrong my worldy wisdom always turns out to be. And I'll probably try again tomorrow. Jesus always turns out to be more beautiful.

So what is hell? I think C.S. Lewis describes is best, as Keller quotes him:

"Hell begins with a grumbling mood, always complaining, always blaming others...but you are still distinct from it. You may even criticize it in yourself and wish you could stop it. But there may come a day when you can no longer. Then there will be no you left to criticize the mood or even enjoy it, but just the grumble itself, going on forever like a machine. It is not a question of God "sending us" to hell. In each of us there is something growing, which will BE HELL unless it is nipped in the bud."

Keller adds:

"The people in hell are miserable, but Lewis shows us why. We see raging like unchecked flames their pride, their paranoia, their self-pity, their certainty that everyone else is wrong, that everyone else is an idiot! All their humility is gone, and thus so is their sanity. They are utterly, finally locked in a prison of their own self-centerdness, and their pride progressively expands into a bigger and bigger mushroom cloud. They continue to go to pieces forever, blaming everyone but themselves."

Lewis:

"There are only two kinds of people- those who say "Thy will be done" to God or those whom God in the end says, "Thy will be done." All that are in Hell choose it. Without that self- choice it wouldn't be Hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it."

So in the end, there is no pit with tons of sad people wishing they could see Jesus saying, "Please let me out of here! It's awful!" There are only people who couldn't and wouldn't want anything but Hell. So what's hell? The place where Jesus isn't. There's just you. You finally got your way. And you're simply miserable. Forever.