The GOD Particle (or the religion of science)

How low can you go? That's limbos ultimate question. A human being can only mash himself so skinny and then wriggle under a bar on their toes. I guess if you lopped off your ears you might be able to decrease the width of the human head.

Or what happens when you divide an inch in half and then half the half. Then half that half. Then...well, you get the idea. How small can you get? Imagination would argue that you can descend into infinite regression. Men in Black gives us the universe on Orion's belt and Seuss gives us worlds on specks.

Really, then, it's no surprise that science would attempt to probe as deeply into inner space as they have into outer space. But how low can you go?

Science, the meticulous examination of the world around us, began because man believed through Scripture that a knowable God created a knowable world. They were not disappointed. Only in the last 100 years has God been banned from the study of his creation. Parade Magazine, the Sunday insert to many newspapers, made that point quite clear beginning with their title, "The Race for the Secret of the Universe" (full story here), the implication being that the purpose/secret/glue of the universe had not yet been revealed.

I took a deep breath, hoped for the best, and plowed into the article. The objective storyline is about the search for the Higgs boson, a sub-atomic particle monikered "the God particle" because "without (it)...atoms would have no integrity, so there would be no chemical bonding, no stable structures..." When you cut through the lingo, scientists want to know why things stick together at all. What holds them together?

Right now, inneratomic bonding remains mysterious. You can only get so small can't you? As scientists through massive accelerators split the parts of the atom into smaller and smaller parts, they hope to find the particle that will "contain the very essence--or at least the mechanism--of existence itself, a way to finally understand how matter becomes and remains matter."

Sounds pretty theological to me, but they won't admit it. They do understand the theological consequences, though. These scientists hope to find that for which only God has been the explanation hence the derogatory nickname of the Higgs boson. For many in the scientific community, "God" is a joke, the answer or solution of scientists who don't do science very well. The mother of one of the scientists in fact calls her son and asks, "Have you found God yet?" Should this theoretical particle be found, scientists will dismiss the Creator still further from their laboratories (if that were possible).

Some scientists do remain skeptical about such a particle. And the search has been fraught with setbacks. The 17 mile long sub-atomic accelerator in Switzerland blew out a ten-million dollar section searching for God. No one was killed. The 4 mile long Fermilab just oustide of Chicago continues smashing particles faster than a toddler smashing toys. The American lab would love to beat its more impressive but currently hobbled European cousin to the Higgs boson discovery.

What if they started with God and like scientists of old, attempted from that starting point to learn the atom's function, would they have greater success? The Bible gives a matter of fact answer, "All things were created through him (Jesus Christ) and for him...and in him all things hold together."

That sounds like the solution to their enigma. They just don't like the answer.

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(The article ends with a quote from the lab's "genius emeritus." He declares, "You know, we have a genetic disease here--called optimism." The Bible declares that man has a genetic disease, too. The Bible calls it sin.)

Downsizing the Chicken Heart

As our government continues to grow faster than the Chicken Heart*, I tried to imagine a leader with the courage to cut programs or even whole departments. I know. Pure fantasy.

But that got me thinking. Will our government ever get any smaller than it is now? The answer is without a doubt, "No." For government to shrink, programs and departments will have to come to an end. That means lost employment. What legislator or executive has the guts to say we're going to cut jobs in the government? Yeah, I laughed myself silly, too.

The Defense Department does ebb and flow some, but that's the exception.

Where's that leave us? The non-productive, non-wealth creating segment of our society (i.e. the government) will continue to grow at an alarming rate. Its consumption of private-sector wealth will continue to accelerate until such time that nothing remains to be consumed.

And then the Chicken Heart will swallow the Jersey Turnpike. It will be standing outside of your door! Time to start smearing the jello.

(*The Chicken Heart by Bill Cosby)

QotD: Harry Potter

Oooh. This should generate some love.

Full disclosure: Haven't seen movie one of the HP phenomenon. I've seen the books but haven't read them. Does that count?

Anyway, I came across this quote from a NY Post opinion piece on Harry Potter's creator, J.K. Rowling. Thought it insightful and against the flow.

"Is there any children's writer more dismissive of morals? A Rowling kid starts learning at an early age that principles are adjustable depending on convenience."

The writer then goes on to describe how Harry cheats out of his textbook in the most recent movie to solve the film's ultimate mystery.

Others have claimed that HP paints a very clear and distinct moral picture. So which is it? Is Rowling's universe adaptable to the situation or is there white and black, good and evil?

The entire article is an intriguing read. You'll find it here.

DVD rentals

Trolling the cybernews today, I noticed the top five DVD rentals in England. What would you expect? What I saw was not what I expected. Get this. They are:

1. Taken
2. Wall*E
3. Changeling
4. Slumdog Millionaire
5. The Boy in Striped Pyjamas

Taken. A pro-father movie like none other. Evil is really evil (not a movie suited for children). Dad takes no prisoners (in fact, he kills most of them) to get his daughter back.

Wall*E. An animated, American made love story about sacrifice.

Changeling. An ugly movie about a serial killer (haven't seen it). What's interesting is that the minister in the movie isn't some demonic accomplice but a man trying to clean up his town. How odd.

Slumdog Millionaire. The one Oscar-nominated picture that deserved to be nominated. Perhaps that's why it won (haven't seen it (yet)).

The Boy in Striped Pyjamas. Phenomenal movie about the Holocaust and about friendships. It's a movie that does not hide or equivocate evil.

What struck me about these flicks holding the top five slots in England is that they are decidedly American movies (I know Slumdog is a Bollywood flick). The themes are conservative. The values are decidedly middle-American. Right's right and filmed that way. Wrong is really wrong and is also filmed that way.

As Hollywood continues to crank out more and more amoral movies, it's refreshing to see that America's cousin across the waves has taken to a heartier, healthier fare.

The beauty of an Islamic nation

Want to get a tiny flavor of the freedom and temperance flowing within Iran?

"Every aspect of a non-Muslim is unclean," proclaimed Iran's late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini. He explained that non-Muslims rank between "feces" and "the sweat of a camel that has consumed impure food.""

Personally I'm hoping I run a little closer to camel sweat. In any case, such statements from the head of Islam in Iran help those of us who've not had the pleasure of touring their lovely country understand the broad tolerance they have for those outside the boundaries of Islam.

For these folks, they believe two worlds exist. They believe that those who have embraced Islam are part of Dar al Salaam, "The world of peace." The rest of us between dung and camel sweat reside in Dar al Harb, "The world of war."

Read what what a couple brainiacs are saying about life inside Ahmadinejahd's Iran here.

Maybe I'm just getting uppity, but I'm still waiting for the Islamic moderates and liberals of the world to rise up to shut up their virulent cousins.

Minnesota

Cut me, do I not bleed 10,000 lakes? The Minnesota of my youth, a wondrous mystical place, is now a place of distant nostalgia.

The last couple days, the Twins played the Texas Rangers in Arlington. Living in Texas, I get to see all the Rangers games and have adopted them as a pseudofavorite since a I rarely get to see the Twins play. Watching them both slug it out for three days was a real treat.

Watching the Twins vaults me to the time of Killebrew, Carew, Allison, Blyleven, and Kaat. While the Twins have remained as scrappy as ever and the lakes haven't lost their luster, Minnesota is not the place I left.

When Al Franken earns a senate seat, something has tipped in the cosmos. Has Minnesota has lost its political mind? First Jessie Ventura. An aberration, I thought. But Al Franken?!? Outright insanity. You don't elect a cartoon to political office.

But it's not just in politics where Minnesota has changed. A recent news article highlighted Minneapolis' problems with Somali gangs (here). What's mostly from absent from the article is any reference to Islam. The predominant religion in Somalia is Sunni Muslim. For a comparison, that's Saudi Arabia's freedom-focused, laissez faire brand of religion. [Saudi Arabia is the source of funding for what have become a drove of Islamic charter schools, the Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy one of their shiny pennies going so far as to refuse to fly the American flag (here).]

What's to blame for the problem with the Somali gangs? The article suggests the standard socialist saws: poverty, bias of authorities. Hmmm...how about refusal to assimilate? Unwillingness to submit to US law? Poverty driving that? Nope. Minnesota, like Michigan, has an infestation of fundamentalist Muslims, the kind who don't want to play well with others, the kind remove the opposition not with the vote but with the scimitar or the C4 vest. The FBI is right to be watching the Twin Cities' Somali community (here).

What about the Somalis and the Muslims who do want to live in peace on Minnesota soil? They should be distancing themselves from their mutant cousins and decrying all such conduct. Say the pledge. Fly the flag. Or move out. Perhaps those are the Somalis who have lost their lives at the hands of the demons.

Al Franken is bad enough, but if this keeps up, brats will be banished from the ballpark and the National Anthem is sure to follow.

Episcopalian pablum

At their annual meeting, the Episcopal Church (in America. The African Episcopal Church wants nothing to do with the American variety) has moved toward full recognition of homosexual marriage and the ordination of homosexual bishops (here).

This isn't surprising really. The same thing is going down in the Lutheran Church as well (how Martin Luther would shudder to see what's become of the denomination that donned his name). Why are formerly mainline denominations, denominations that are losing membership in droves, embracing as normal conduct that for centuries they rightly labeled sin?

Here's your challenge du jour. First, set aside what you think. Second, go to the Bible and see what it has to say about homosexual conduct. If it gives such behavior a pass, the Episcopal Church is good to go. If it labels such conduct as sin (i.e. rebellion against what God has made plain), then we get to the third part of the challenge. Does the Bible indicate that ordination and a warm embrace are what the church should offer those who practice sin or should the church take a different tack?

Before you label me a homophobe, this indictment would hold for any church that endorses any sinful conduct (gossip, gluttony, and girl-watching are three that come to mind that the church has been mostly silent on, too). But then, the Episcopal Church, et al, is not encouraging a big, wet kiss for those who gorge at the local Luby's.

What must I do to be saved?

Current #1 New York Times best seller in fiction? "Swimsuit." Never heard of it. In non-fiction? "Catastrophe." Well, it's sort of the best seller. The runaway best seller year after year, blowing away all comers in fiction and non-fiction, has been dropped from the list because it's always #1 on the list.

It's the Bible.

I bet you have one in your house. Or two. Maybe eight. Or more. And yet, we Americans are dumb as posts about what the Bible says. We rationalize that we can't really know or that it depends upon interpretation. We don't do that with other works.

For example:

1. Is there any argument about for whom does the bell tolls?
2. Is it open for debate what predator lurks beneath the waves in "Jaws?"
3. Is Lady MacBeth just a misunderstood, desperate housewife?

Ridiculous questions, I know, but not any more silly than what you read regarding the Bible.

Take for instance a recent USA Today piece on the schism (how does one pronounce that word?) in the Episcopal church (here). It's not just the laity who don't know their Bible. The Episcopal church's presiding bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori, opined about salvation and made clear to everyone why the denomination is imploding. Regarding how man can stand aright before God, she upchucked that

"...the great Western heresy (is) that we can be saved as individuals, that any of us alone can be in a right relationship with God."

In genuflecting to Mizz Jefferts Schori, USA Today tosses the question to the masses like that will provide an authoritative solution. Columnist Cathy Lynn Grossman asks you, yes, you,

"All in all this is a revival of an ancient argument -- whether one is saved by works or saved by grace. Theologians have been duking it out forever. What do you say?" (Boldface in the original)

Ancient argument?!? Not much to argue about. Paul, that apostle guy, drove a stake in the heart of the argument almost before it began.

"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."

Paul, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, makes plain the order.

1. By grace you have been saved through faith.
2. In case you might want to get cocky, he emphasizes that the faith and the grace are "not of yourselves." They are "the gift of God."
3. Almost anticipating the argument, Paul caps it off, "Not of works." Why does he say that? He knows that man wants to have some manner of leverage against God. Man's propensity to deify himself, "lest anyone should boast."
4. Then--only then--does Paul mention works. God created us for good works in eternity past that we, those who have received the free gift of salvation, should walk in those works.

Perhaps I'm not as savvy the pugilistic theologians, but when the apostle who fleshed out Christian doctrine says it's by faith and NOT by works that man is saved, the argument seems settled. Unless to you (and the leader of the Episcopal church) the Bible holds no more authority than the Sunday sports page.

When the Philippian jailer asked Paul, "What must I do to be saved?," Paul's answer rings as true for us today. "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved."

A & W

Windsor Golf Course is a nice little 27-hole track nestled just north of Madison, Wisconsin along I-90/94. For a duffer and his son, there couldn't have been a finer venue for 18-holes. Temperature in the mid-70's and nary a breeze. Fairways looking sweet with the rough cut fairly, a few sand traps and water hazards, and the recipe was perfect.

At the close of our round earlier in the week at a course on the south side of town, Austin and I continued to savor the round over Cokes and candybars in the clubhouse. Today, I had a better plan. Situated on the northeast corner of the intersection of I-90/94 and State Rd 19 (Exit 131) is an A & W Rootbeer stand. As I pulled in, I giggled and got an odd look from my son.

As a kid, Dad & Mom would take Jeff and I to an A & W drive-in not far from our home in Minnesota. Nothing tasted so good as a Mama burger with cheese and diced onions tumbling out the side washed down by A & W Rootbeer on tap! A real glass mug chilled just enough to keep the rootbeer icy but not cold enough to ice it up.

The hamburgers were decent, the fries quite good, but--oh--the rootbeer was better than I remember it. It tasted nothing like the stuff that comes out of the bottle. It was thicker, creamier and, like no other carbonated beverage, able to quench an 18-hole thirst.

Most of my family bleeds Dr. Pepper, but you'll find my heart deep in a frosty mug.

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Trivial Pursuit: A & W gets its name from Roy Allen and Frank Wright the partners who started the rootbeer business in Lodi, California in 1919.

"The Silver Chair" & the promotion process

I suspect the eyes that grace this blog will be familiar with The Silver Chair. For those of you who've stumbled into this cave, TSC stands as Book 4 in C.S. Lewis' masterful Narnian allegory.

Like any good author, he takes the opportunity to plunge his pen deep into the heart of the sillinesses and absurdities of his day. As he gets to the end of his wonderful adventure, Lewis takes a final dig at "establishment schools" of mid-20th century England.

When the protaganists of the story, Eustace Scrubb and Jill Pole, return to England from Narnia, they return at the moment they left, a moment where they were about to be ridiculed and wedgied by the bullies of their school. But Scrubb and Pole were very different people upon their return, and to make matters worse for the bullies, they return with a Narnian prince and with a massive lion.

The principal, or Head, heard the to-do and arrived in time to see the enormous feline and regaled prince bringing justice to the unjust schoolyard. She flew into hysterics and called the police. The deific cat and prince returned to Narnia after everything was set to right, but the Head remained in hysterics. The police saw nothing but a blathering biddy. Lewis writes,

"And in the inquiry all sorts of things about Experiment House (the school) came out, and about ten people got expelled. After that, the Head's friends saw that the Head was no use as a Head, so they got her made an Inspector to interfere with other Heads. And when they found she wasn't much good even at that, they got her into Parliament where she lived happily ever after."

As I was reading this to my girls, I choked with laughter. All I could think about were community organizers.

History: The Mayflower Compact

When the pilgrims arrived on the east coast, they signed one of the first documents of American governance. On the heels of the birthday of our nation's independence, it's a good read.

In the name of God, Amen. We whose names are under-written, the loyal subjects of our dread sovereign, King James, by the grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland King, Defender of the Faith, etc

Having undertaken, for the glory of God, and advancement of the Christian faith, and honor of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia, do by these presents solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God, and one another, covenant and combine our selves together into a civil body politic, for our better ordering and preservation and furtherence of the ends aforesaid; and by the virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the Colony, unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In witness whereof we have hereunder subscribed our names at Cape Cod, the eleventh of November, in the year of the reign of our sovereign lord, King James, of England, France, and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth. Anno Dom. 1620.

Consider the chosen words.

• "In the name of God..."


• King James as sovereign lord "...by the grace of God"


• "Having undertaken for the glory of God..."


• "...and advancement of the Christian faith...


• They formed their government "in the presence of God"


• They formed it in "submission" to Him and to the government they were forming


• In establishing their government, they understood the need to enact "just and equal laws..."

As our nation dismisses the one true sovereign of the universe from its governance, the one for whom justice is an inherent quality, it will become more difficult with each ensuing day to maintain justice for all much less justice for any.

Triplets

Vacation should be a time for letting your mind relax, savoring the vistas as a thousand miles of changing vistas pass between Texas and Wisconsin, but as the statelines ticked past, I could not help thinking about three American icons slipping into eternity.

In the span of two days, Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson, and Billy Mays all came face-to-face with their Maker. Their lives continued to pop into my mind as mile followed mile.

Farrah Fawcett exploded into American libidos on Charlie's Angels and as a swim-suited pin-up that has never been rivaled. Her fame of the 70's translated into limited commercial success in succeeding decades. She remained steadfast with her live-in, Ryan O'Neal, and bore him a number of children. Farrah's final decade found her in a fight to the death with cancer. In the heat of the American spotlight, she died.

Michael Jackson hit the scene about the same time Farrah did, earning his fame as part of The Jackson 5. Many thought of The Jackson Five as a black answer to the Osmonds, but when both bands dissolved, Michael's talent remained. He completely changed the face of music, video and dance, but for some still unknown reasons he marred his own visage into the mask of some circus clown. Out of the spotlight but trying to get back in, Michael likely died trying to silence his demons with drugs.

Billy Mays. Ten years ago, I'd never seen the man. Five years ago, I couldn't tell you his name, but would have remarked, "Isn't he the Oxy-Clean guy?" From obscurity into the white-hot of American fame, the seemingly genial and 0ver-loud pitchman erupted into the American commercial. With speed just as sudden, he died. At fifty. The same age as Michael Jackson.

More mileposts race by. Such a sudden cluster of deaths can't help but make one consider their own mortality. Why did she die? Why did he die? What is God saying in all this?

Even the One who knew the answer to such questions would not reveal it to His followers. When asked about a governor who was murdering his charges, the King of kings responded by stating that it wasn't necessarily for more grievous sin that these had died. He then dipped into another current event of the day by stating that the eighteen crushed under the weight of a structurally deficient tower had no greater corruption than the next guy.

But--and this is pivotal--such events, said the Lord of all, should bring us to a point of self-examination and repentance before a holy, righteous, and just God. "Unless you repent you will all likewise perish." We all will face death, and repentance will not forestall death. Repentance before God and an accepting of the finished work of Christ will prevent the second death, a death of unmitigated and eternal horror.

As Solomon closed Ecclesiastes, he encouraged, "Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth before the difficult days come..." And then to drive the final nail in his treatise, he said,

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His
commandments, for this is man's all. For God will bring every work into
judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil.

Farrah, Michael and Billy have all slipped into eternity. In a few weeks you will have forgotten them, perhaps to think about them one more time this year when the end-of-year look backs on all who died take place. In this season with their deaths fresh in your mind, perhaps a bit of repentance is in order. Perhaps a lot.

Before you know it, another hundred miles slip into your review mirror.

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UPDATE: This morning, I read where Karl Malden died. He passed from this life at age 97! He was the large-nosed, chapeaued police lieutenant on "The Streets of San Francisco," the TV show where Michael Douglas, Kirk's son, got his start. He was superb as Omar Bradley next to George C. Scott's eponymous "Patton," and he earned an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in "A Streetcar Named Desire." Sadly, many will only know him for "don't leave home without it." He died in the quiet of his home after a long life and an outstanding and unsoiled acting career. What a difference.