The honest atheist: Woody Allen

If nothing else, Woody Allen is candid.

In a recent interview with UPI (read it here), the director spoke about why his film's characters tend to have a meaningless view of life. It is because he has a meaningless view of life.

"I firmly believe -- and I don't say this as a criticism -- that life is meaningless.

"I'm not alone in thinking this. There have been many great minds far, far superior to mine that have come to that conclusion. Both early in life and after years of living and, unless somebody can come up with some proof or some example where it's not [meaningless,] I think it is. I think it is a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing. That's just the way I feel about it."

Many atheists who have plumbed the depths and implications of a universe with no God come to the same conclusion.

Atheist and biologist Stephen Jay Gould opined, "We may yearn for a ‘higher answer’– but none exists. This explanation, though superficially troubling, if not terrifying, is ultimately liberating and exhilarating.”

Atheist and author Aldous Huxley noted, "The philosophy of meaninglessness was essentially an instrument of liberation, sexual and political."

Atheist, philosopher, playwright, and author Jean-Paul Sartre reasoned, "Man simply is…Man is nothing else but that which he makes of himself."

Allen continues,

"I'm not saying one should opt to kill oneself, but the truth of the matter is when you think of it, every 100 years... there is a big flush and everybody in the world is gone, then there is a new group of people, then that gets flushed, then there is a new group of people and this goes on interminably for no particular end -- I don't want to upset you -- there's no end and no rhyme or reason."

Interesting that he mentions suicide because if there is no objective purpose, one must wonder, "Why bother?" The endless repetition of life and death and life and death must give pause. Few of us will accomplish anything like Shakespeare, anything that will be remembered four minutes after our deaths much less four hundred years. He notes, though, that even Shakespeare's works in a universe void of God have no meaning.

"So, all of this achievement -- all of these Shakespearean plays and these symphonies and the height of human achievement -- will be gone completely. There will be nothing. Absolutely nothing. No time. No space. Nothing at all. Just zero. So, what does it really mean?"

If there is no Creator who will reveal to me his plan and purpose for my life, then I am left to firgure out the cosmos and my place therein within a span of eighty years. Good luck with that.

So what's the point? How does one cope with such a belief about the cosmos?

"What I would recommend is the solution I've come up with -- distraction. That's all you can do. You get up. You can be distracted by your love life, by the baseball game, by the movies, by the nonsense: 'Can I get my kid in this private school?' 'Will this girl go out with me Saturday night?' 'Can I think of an ending for the third act of my play?' 'Am I going to get the promotion in my office?' All of this stuff, but, in the end, the universe burns out. So, I think it is completely meaningless. And, to be honest, my characters portray this feeling."

Is it any wonder men refuse to grow up, frittering away the hours playing video games or getting lost in pornography? Is it a surprise that superstar after superstar overdoses or pulls the trigger to numb or end the pain? Just distract yourself from your meaningless, pitiful existence.

But this is the very conclusion that Solomon came to when he penned Ecclesiastes. "Meaningless, meaningless," he screams into the cosmos, "All is meaningless" (Ecclesiastes 1:2). He, like Woody Allen tried to distract himself, but he found that, too, was meaningless. He tried great works (2:4). He accumulated possessions and wealth (2:7-8). "I kept from my heart no pleasure...then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun" (2:10-11)

Solomon anticipated Woody, "A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever...What has been will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun" (1:4). Solomon's conclusion? "Behold all is vanity and a striving after the wind" (1:14).

Note that comment "under the sun." When man tries to find his way without looking "above the sun" to the God who created him, he finds no meaning.

But God has not left his creatures so bereft. In little snippets throughout Ecclesiastes, Solomon gets his mooring. No place is this better seen than at the very end when he declares, "The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil." Man must seek after the God who is there. The God who revealed himself plainly in his word in time and space.

In the very creation, God gives man identity and purpose. He spoke space and time into being and reveals that in the first sentence of the Bible (Genesis 1:1). He created man unique compared to the rest of the creation in that man alone will bear God's image (Genesis 1:27). In that unique station, God commissioned man with the stewardship of the created realm (Genesis 1:28). This was only the beginning.

Why the pain, problems, and personality conflicts? That's one page over in Genesis 3, but even there, God has not left man without hope. Why is man so wonderful but can be at the same time so villainous? God's word alone explains this extraordinary schizophrenia. Man's rebellion against God has marred man, but God had a plan to restore what man had so absolutely devastated. In Jesus Christ, God gives man hope.

I appreciate Woody Allen's unashamed honesty. In rejecting God's testimony about what he has done, man has no hope of determining who he is or why he is. I hope and literally pray that God will give him eyes to see the God who is there and to see the true hope for this world and the next found at the foot of the cross of Jesus Christ.

Beware the "false teacher?" Is it me?

A few days ago, Tim Challies concluded a series he had done on false teachers and took the opportunity to sum up some of the seven key lessons he learned from that exercise (here). We must we know about such hucksters so we do not become duped or deluded about what God has said. After all, the cosmic collapse began when the charlatan of charlatans planted the catastrophic seed with, "Did God really say?"

As salient as Challies' article, it got me to wondering about those I declare false teachers saying the same thing about me. What better way to cause even greater confusion in the church than having the false teachers start shouting that folks who profess the things I profess are the false teachers.

Who's to say, right? Looking at Challies' warnings, might such be used against me?

As I noted, people who profess the same creed I do are common, right? Is that wrong? 

I don't announce myself to be a false teacher, either. As such, am I deceptive? 

Am I dangerous, too? Do I pick and choose my doctrines and ignore or subvert others? 

Am I a divisive force among the true church? Let us be clear in dividing light and darkness. Let us not divide light from light. 

Do I scratch the itch you have? Is that my desire?

Am I intentionally deceiving you?

Does the true message of Jesus Christ make me sick?

I ask none of this to subvert Challies' excellent points. Here's the deal: if we're trying to figure this out on our own, we're hosed. False teacher/good teacher cannot be discerned through argument. The only way to tell a counterfeit bill from a real bill is to compare the bill in hand to the real thing.

We compare to the word God has given us, the Bible.

God provided it to us. Where at one time nobody had their own Bible, today homes teem with copies of the Bible--pick your translation--and if they don't, every translation is available free online. Despite its ubiquity, the Bible is less read by Americans and by those in the Church than ever before. And lions prowl the streets seeking whom they may devour.

The only way for you or me to discern whether a teacher is rightly or wrongly preaching or teaching God's word is compare what they declare to the entirety of God's word, not just what they profess but what they deny or omit.

The Church in America and around the world will continue to be deceived to its destruction if they continue to whitewash or ignore the black and white of God's clear word (note the increased impotence of mainline denominations over the past fifty years).

That task is not to be shouldered by the pastor alone, though he shares the burden. Each member must be nourished by God's word every day. A believer who has no heart for the words of the Bible is like the athlete avoids the gym like a liberal avoids Limbaugh.

To discern the false teacher, I must know well the true Teacher. I must know well the words and voice of my God and King so when the song of the seductive siren begins, I'll recognize it in a moment and avoid the enticements found there (John 10:27).

If unrecognized, great will be my fall.

QotD: Eustace Clarence Scrubb

Really, I am very sorry if you are not a reader. Obviously, you read some things or you would not be here (I'm not as dense as granite, you know).

I have not always been a reader but the continued prodding of men I respected greatly to read much and read broadly has impelled me to read beyond my comfort zones. I wish I could read faster; many books remain untouched on my to-be-read shelf. The chuckles I've enjoyed and the insights into the soul that have come my way through reading are too numerous to cite.

I have always read to my children, and I have tried to press their comfort zones, too. Still, we will often return to favorites. I have lost track of how many times I have read aloud "The Chronicles of Narnia" in my family. In our current reading of "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader," I came across this description of the parents of Eustace Clarence Scrubb, the spoiled cousin of the Peavensie children whose name pretty much says it all. Lewis wrote:

"He didn't call his father and mother "Father" and "Mother," but Harold and Alberta. They were very up-to-date and advanced people. They were vegetarians, non-smokers and teetotallers and wore a special kind of underclothes."

While that last phrase seems to be indicting the LDS, Lewis has skewers enough for all, particularly for those of us in religious communities who like to declare certain conduct to be sin or at the very least inappropriate for those who call themselves Christian.

Many of us who are conservative believers bristle when we hear of the government wanting to restrict gun ownership. Yes, guns can be used as tools to inflict harm. Sometimes the harm comes about unintentionally. At the same time, a gun can be used for good and for pleasure when one is responsible. The Christian understands that.

Then the believer turns right around and condemns some manner of food (soft drinks? Meats? Anything non-organic?), any form of smoking, or any usage of alcohol for the very same reasons. None of these things is condemned in principle or in fact in the word of God. Their misuse, as with guns, is certainly condemned, but not their use. In fact, wine enjoyment often goes hand in hand with celebration and times of rejoicing. 

Really, it's amazing with all the ale and wien drinking and revelry in Lewis' children's books that they are even read within some circles. Perhaps they're not. Or perhaps they're edited. Either would be tragic.

Kermit Gosnell: This is nothing new

Have you heard the name Kermit Gosnell recently? If not, you're in good company. I mentioned his name a short time ago to two Christians, and they just shrugged in non-recognition. Why? The Mainstream Media has by and large ignored this story. Why? Because it's about the nightmare in an American abortion clinic.

It's been over two years since I first wrote of Gosnell (here), and it was six months before that that I heard of his barbarity. Now he's on trial for bringing about the death of one mother and seven children (here. The children had survived his attempt to abort them, so this man finished them off after they'd drawn breath.

And for the most part, the media has said nothing during that timeframe. Only now and in a few scant outlets can you hear about Kermit Gosnell.

Is what happened atrocious? Yes. Grotesque? Yes. Horrifying? Yes. But this is nothing new. This happens every day all across the country.

Randy Alcorn writes:

I must say that while I agree the revelations in the case are all horrific, in fact I am not shocked about them. Why? Because I already knew what was going on in abortion clinics. I already knew that innocent people are killed there by the hundreds ...every week. Twenty-four years ago I looked in the dumpster of an abortion clinic and saw pieces of human flesh. This is not news to me. I knew that the lives of women are ruined there, and I knew that the “doctors” who spend their lives killing babies in most cases know exactly what they are doing. (Yes, I have talked with them.)

The “shocking discovery” that an abortionist who made millions of dollars from child-killing had such a low regard and such a profound disrespect for the lives of babies and women is properly responded to with a “Huh?” As in, didn’t we know that already? And, if we didn’t, what is wrong with us? (And by the way, while Gosnell is on trial for the murder of seven babies, the fact is that he killed thousands and thousands of children. Anyone who only counts them as babies once they get big enough is an accomplice to this man’s evil deeds.)

Could we please stop pretending? Abortion is in fact the ruthless killing of an innocent human being. That’s what it always has been, and that’s what it always will be. When Planned Parenthood and NOW and politicians deny this, they are simply lying. There is nothing new about this. If you are surprised to discover, as in the case of this Pennsylvanian abortion clinic, that those who kill babies for a living are really not very good people, my question is…where have you been, and what have you been thinking goes on in these clinics? And if some abortionists are better at sanitizing the walls and disposing of baby body parts, do you really think that makes them any better in the sight of God Almighty, Creator of these children, and Judge of us all?

While the major networks are ignoring this story, it's interesting that former NARAL president Kate Michaelman recognizes the gravity of this case and has decided to try some slight of hand and verbal contortions. To get our eyes off the death that is caused by every abortion and the trauma caused to each and every mother, Ms. Michaelman thinks the key point in the Gosnell trial is that

"It is critically important that the women of Pennsylvania know that abortion is legal and is a safe medical procedure."

People, abortion has NEVER been a safe medical procedure. For one, it is nearly always deadly. Kermit Gosnell is not an aberration. He was just sloppy. The same thing he did is going on in clinics across our country and around the world. Legally.

That is what should disturb our souls. 

Perhaps this will wake us up like a cold slap in the face, much like Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" did with regard to slavery. Yes, Americans knew of the atrocities that were taking place in the South, but the fictional imagery in the book shook a nation to its core and proved to be the push the nation needed to abolish the notion of men as property.

Will this macabre trial of what takes place in every abortion clinic across the country build such a groundswell as did Mrs. Stowe's novel? Certainly not if people do not hear about it. If then, what? Only time will tell.

Who knows? You might be the voice that changes the tone of the American conversation. Speak out. Harriet Beecher Stowe used your pen. What are your talents? Use those talents for the sake of mothers and their unborn children across the country. 

Please.

42: A tale of two men

Let us never diminish what Jackie Robinson did.

Branch Rickey

Becoming the first black man in the majors took a toll. His body received abuse upon abuse from purposely errant baseballs and cleats because he had a bit more melanin than the average Jackie. Not only did his body receive abuse, so too did his soul and mind. As a human being, he was treated like an animal, but throughout his ordeal, Jackie Robinson ever remained a man.

That's one reason I am excited about Warner Brothers upcoming movie "42." The other reason is other
man in this saga. Baseball junkies will know who the other man is. Most of America does not. You see, Jackie Robinson would never have gotten his shot without the courage of Branch Rickey.

Ford as Rickey

Branch Rickey was the owner of the Dodgers, the thorn in the backside of the remainder of the major league owners. Rickey saw the talent in the Negro Leagues and thought it a travesty that such men could not play in the Majors because of their skin color. What informed Rickey? His passionate and fervent relationship with Jesus Christ.

In "42," Harrison Ford has been transformed into an amazing likeness of Rickey. Watching the clip, he'd created the same gravelly, cigar-scarred voice. My only question: how will Hollywood treat Rickey's devotion to his God?

The story of Robinson cannot be untethered from Rickey and vice versa, despite the fact that Rickey did many more extraordinary things for baseball outside of bringing it into the then twentieth century regarding civil rights.

Said Robinson about Rickey, "I realized how much our relationship had deepened after I left baseball. It was that later relationship that made me feel almost as if I had lost my own father. Branch Rickey, especially after I was no longer in the sports spotlight, treated me like a son." He also said, "The thing about him was that he was always doing something for someone else. I know, because he did so much for me."

So this April, I'll be dropping some cash at the multiplex hoping to see a great story about two great men.

Homosexual marriage and moral relativism

Rob Bell's in favor of homosexual marriage. Surprised? You shouldn't be.

The former pastor has rejected a biblical view on most issues. His book, "Love Wins," denied a hell for those who have rejected the free gift of redemption from hell through the very expensive death of God the Son on the cross. So to chuck the plain reading of God's word regarding homosexuality should be no acrobatic stretch for him (here).

This is nothing new for those who profess to be leaders of God's people. Long, long ago, God hammered the prophets and religious leaders through the words of Ezekiel.

-- Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing...
-- ...They say, "Declares the LORD," when the Lord has not sent them, and yet they expect him to fulfill their word...
-- ...You have disheartened the righteous falsely, although I have not grieved him, and you have encouraged the wicked, that he should not turn from his evil way to save his life.

Ezekiel 13:3, 6, 22 

We live in a nation that no longer honors God's word as such. Few in the church adhere to its tenets. Few believe it is his special revelation to his creatures. In fact, if you stand upon God's word, if you truly believe what he has said, if you live your life to honor him and love him in your obedience, you will be mocked, ridiculed, and rejected. The tolerance in America for vocal Bible-believers is wearing thin, and this has caused many church leaders to try and adapt God's word to the culture.

Said Mr. Bell, "I am for marriage. I am for fidelity. I am for love, whether it's a man and woman, a woman and a woman, a man and a man. I think the ship has sailed and I think … we need to affirm people wherever they are." Affirm away, but I must ask, is it love to encourage and embrace the actions of another if you know such conduct is a direct affront to the God who loves them? As I pled with my dad and my mom as a lad, "Cigarettes will kill you," do I not have a moral responsibility to declare the truth to those careening toward an eternity of torment separated from the God who so loved his creatures that he provided them an off-ramp from that destination?

Every congressman in America may be in favor of homosexual marriage, but that does not make it good or right. Our nation will continue to reject the absolute nature of God's word. I must not. I cannot. If I untether myself from the only sure anchor-point in the universe, the word of God, all becomes relative. 

I believe Mr. Bell is correct. The ship has sailed. America has left its biblical moorings far behind. Without that foundation, marriage becomes a meaningless merging of any number of persons, creatures, or objects. Why can I not marry my sofa?

In reality, though, Love has won. God the Son absorbed the full wrath and condemnation of God the Father on our behalf. Until man takes hold of that gift and lets God reorient him to reality, he still stands in rebellion and in hostility toward God. He stands condemned and his doom is sure, despite his personal enlightenment on issues cultural and political.

We must remain anchored upon the sure foundation. With tears in our eyes we must continue to cry out to our nation, "Please, don't go that way," and point them back to their God and their Savior.

Even if we are the only one left on the dock.

Amazing rehab. Amazing man.



Buster Posey / AP photo by Morry Gash from ESPN.com

 A few years ago I took a German friend of mine to an Arizona Diamondbacks baseball game. He left that experience stating without reservation, "Zat vas ze most boring sing I have ever done in my life."

Well, Theo, I love baseball. I could give you more reasons than there are days in a year and most defy logic. The man above is one of the reasons.

Buster Posey is the near-pubescent phenom catcher for the San Francisco Giants. By opening day, he will have turned twenty-six years old. He has amassed two World Series' rings, a batting title, and an MVP. Three of those came after what to most appeared to be a career-ending injury defending home plate.

For those of you who cannot wait until opening day, here are two great articles, one is about Posey's prodigious talent and the other was about what it took for him to get back on the field after the nightmarish injury. Enjoy.

"The quiet confidence of Buster Posey," by Jerry Crasnick, ESPN

"How the Giants put Posey back together", by Andrew Baggarly

The sanctity of work

If you are a Christian who attends a Bible-teaching, Christ-exalting church, have you ever heard a message that includes an annecdote about a young man or woman who is particularly gifted and studying to become a brain surgeon but then "God gets ahold of their life," they chuck all their studies, and soon they turn their full attention to pastoring or the mission field? When you hear such a tale told, the tone is usually giddy. What a great thing this person has done!

Should a believer be concerned about such a radical shift?

We would expect an eye-roll from the world for usually fiscal reasons. Dude, think of all the money you've wasted. Think of all the money you won't be making. To which the career-shifter will smile thinking about the treasures that they are storing up in heaven (Matthew 6:19-21). But even a Christian might raise a justifiably skeptical eyebrow at such a move?

Before I go any further, a few thoughts. Many need God to get ahold of their lives because they are careening down the causeway of self toward certain catastrophe. God often alters the direction someone is going in their life and even their vocation (Peter, Andrew, James, John, Matthew, and Paul to name a vivid few), but as much as God calls men to leave their nets to follow him, much, much more God calls men to stay at their nets and follow him.


Jarome Iginla, Captain - Calgary Flames
Christ follower



Here is my concern. The call of many well-intentioned biblical teachers to "chuck it all for kingdom work" draws a line that the Bible does not, a line of superiority between secular vocation (mechanic, parent, and plumber) and kingdom vocation (generally pastors and missionaries), between secular service (changing oil, changing diapers, and changing toilet rings) and kingdom service (praying, passing out tracts, and potlucks). Vocational work and church-building work are both work that God has given man to do.

Paul admonishes the Corinthians at the end of the section on Spiritual Gifts and love to "be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain" (1 Corinthians 15:58). Contextually, this speaks to their wide and varied ministries in the church. In his letter to the Colossians, Paul emphasizes the sanctity of all work when he says,

"Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ." (3:23-24)

Now, you cannot be a hooker unto the Lord. Drug dealing for the glory of God doesn't fly. Willful violation of what God has revealed as good and right will never earn his favor.

On the other hand, God is pleased by a well designed insurance building at the hand of a man who does so for the glory of God. God is pleased by the hockey player who hits the weights, skates lines, and shoots thousands of pucks to hone his skills to be the best possible team captain he can be if he does so as serving his true King. God delights in the mom who wipes noses, bandages knees, washes and folds laundry, prepares menus, and...and...and...with joy knowing that her labor that God has assigned her is never in vain.

Please, saint, don't be guilted because you are not in the jungles of Africa (there are men there who ought not be). Don't rue being a school teacher or a home school teacher or a school janitor or a home contractor. Don't be coerced into giving up what has been your passion (very likely God-given) for something else about which you are not white hot...unless God is making this thing very plain to you. Then pursue with leonine veracity.

Whatever you do, whether trying to build a church on the arid coast of Chile or build a restaurant in downtown Chattanooga, labor as unto the Lord and that labor will not be in vain.

(I heard a great sermon on the sancity of work this past weekend by a local pastor.  If you have the time, you'll find it here. If you only have a few minutes, pick it up at about the 14:30 mark and listen for fifteen minutes. It's worth your time.)

Miserable cities

Forbes Magazine puts out a list upon which no city wants to find its name. How would you like to be living in one of "America's Most Miserable Cities?" You may have thought it was the color you painted your house. No, the problem goes deeper than that.

The things examined by Forbes to come up with this inglorious list include "the serious" and "the less weighty." Things like unemployment and inflation, violent crime, foreclosures, taxes, and home prices appear alongside quality of life downers like weather and commute times.

Below I have listed Forbes' top 20. As you examine the list, notice which states show up again and again. Consider what these places have in common.

1. Detroit, Michigan. Home prices tanking. Violent crime through the roof
2. Flint, Michigan. People are leaving the city faster than sponsors are leaving Lance Armstrong.
3. Rockford, Illinois. Illinois. Need I say more?
4. Chicago, Illinois. Another feather in the cap of Rahm Immanuel.
5. Modesto, California. Third highest unemployment in the U.S.
6. Vallejo, California. Hmmm...Michigan, Illinois, California...hmmm...
7. Warren, Michigan. We have Michigan by a nose.
8. Stockton, California. Largest city to file for bankruptcy in 2012. Top 5 in crime and unemployment.
9. Lake County, Illinois. Okay, this started out kind of funny. It's turning tragic.
10. New York, New York. You knew this had to break the top 10.

There's the top 10. Have you noticed the similarities? On with the show.

11. Toledo, Ohio. Another state heard from. Apologies to Cpl. Klinger.
12. St. Louis, Missouri. I'm not surprised. I've been to their bus depot. Sounds like mis-er-y.
13. Camden, New Jersey. 42% of residents living below the poverty line. How can that be?
14. Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Interesting choice. Forbes didn't like their winters nor their property tax.
15. Atlantic City, New Jersey. I guess casinos aren't the solution to the world's ills.
16. Atlanta, Georgia. Breaking out of the mold. Housing collapse and heinous traffic.
17. Cleveland, Ohio. Forbes said, "Only Flint and Detroit have a faster exodus rate."
18. Poughkeepsie, New York. Cutest name in the top 20. Lousy weather and commute.
19. Gary, Indiana. Sandwiched amidst Illinois, Ohio, and Michigan, what did you expect. Kentuckians are thankful for the Ohio River!
20. Youngstown, Ohio. Nothing left to say.

Three from Michigan. Three from Ohio. Three from Illinois. Three from California. Two each from New York and New Jersey. These are places steeped in government and social law. There are other common factors, too (union thuggery, broken families, and out-of-wedlock births), that I'll not address here.

So how's the state as savior working out for them?

If big government is crushing cities on the local level, what makes us think big government will cure all ills on the national level? Freedom constrained breeds blight and sucks the life from the organism.

The nanny state is unsustainable. We must jettison it soon by choice and pick up the heavy and productive yoke of personal responsibility. If we do not, it will come crashing down all around us, and great will be the fall.

Election!

One of the most craw-sticking ideas in the Bible among believers is the doctrine of election. Most, sadly, find it repugnant.

If you have wrestled with election and God choosing whom he will, let me encourage you to invest 40 minutes to listen to a Bible-infused, Bible-laced message on the topic. You may not like the speaker; set aside your preconceptions and hear what he says. You may not be a fan of the web-site; open your Bible and compare what is being said with what God's word says.

Pause. Chew. Meditate. Think. Pray. And let the God of all bless your soul.

You'll find the message here.