Prophetic Musings

And here is a little something to get the Wildcat fans fired up.

Here's a slideshow of some pictures taken at her party. Thanks to Ray for letting us use the office for everything!

EthicsDaily.com writer Robert Parham tosses out this little gem of an article about how those of us who don't feel that global warming is as big of a threat as it is being made out to be are "deniers" and should be called out for it. I've got problems with several parts of his article, but I'll start at the beginning.

"Newsweek" exposed this week the axis of corporations and conservative organizations that oppose the scientific evidence that human actions are causing global warming as the "denial machine."

So what about the alliance of corporations and liberal organizations that confirm the scientific "evidence" in the face of increasing inaccuracies? Are we to simply believe them out of hand? Just because there is a majority holding a certain belief doesn't mean that belief is correct.  

Just this week, a man named Steve McIntyre posted a rebuttal of the data and methods used by the NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies. Mr. McIntyre showed his findings to NASA, who acknowledged the error, gave credit to Mr. McIntyre for finding it and, to their credit, published the corrected data. But what did this data show?

The GISS has been tracking the deviation from the mean temperature calculated from temperature measurement stations throughout the USA. While this is US-only data, it is still significant. Why? Look at the two charts below.

Based on this new data, the four of the top ten warmest years in recorded history are from the 1930s. Only three are from the last ten years, and several years in the previous decade fell considerably. Again, why is this important? Because it shows that the "warming" trend of the last 10 years was arguably just the same as what happened during the 1930s.

Steve McIntyre was also partially responsible for debunking the "hockey stick graph" used in many global warming presentations. Listen to this guy. He's not a crackpot nor is he an armchair climatologist like Al Gore, Robert Parham, or even myself. He is an actual scientist who knows what he's doing.

OK, back to Mr. Parham's article. About the article in Newsweek, he said,

The magazine's insightful overview of chronology, participants and arguments missed only one thing—the role of religion as fuel in the campaign of doubt and deception.

How is religion fuel for this campaign? My faith has nothing to do with what I perceive as a fearmongering tactic being used by politicians and media. Parham goes on to state:

Corporations, like ExxonMobile, and lobbying groups, like Global Climate Coalition, Information Council on the Environment and American Petroleum Institute, were listed as entities in the campaign of disinformation.

The Southern Baptist Convention and other Christian Right groups were missing from the list, however. Yet they deserve as much shameful identification as Rush Limbaugh and Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), who were named in the article as being part of the community of denial.

So, is this just a smear against the more conservative leaning people who don't believe the same as you do, Mr. Parham? Don't you even hear what people are saying? We aren't denying that global climate change is occurring, what we are denying is the hubris of us to believe that we are the cause of it. Should we do something about it? By all means, yes, I've said that before. Let's burn cleaner fuel and let's get rid of the pollution in the air, but for heaven's sake, let's be realistic about it.

When does it stop? Global cooling was coming in the 70s, but that was wrong wasn't it? They had a consensus of scientists then, but I guess those who didn't feel the same way were all idiots, weren't they?

Let's not forget all those harbingers of doom who said that we were going to be in a world of trouble as global warming was going to cause bigger and more powerful hurricanes after 2005. Hmm. Let's look at the past two years and see how that track record is. Not very good is it? They followed that up with a statement that global warming would cause a decrease in the number of powerful hurricanes. Can't have it both ways people.

Fundamentalist leaders have surely played a destructive role in providing a flawed theological perspective to justify moral inaction and juicing up people of faith to reject the science of global warming.

EthicsDaily.com has repeatedly identified those who reject climate change with the same kind of language as Newsweek. We have used the phrase "global warming deniers."

Again, theology has nothing to do with this. We aren't rejecting the science of global warming (though it has proven to be increasingly faulty), we are rejecting the religion of Global Warming. Al Gore has done more "juicing up" of people than anyone on the other side of the issue, but he agrees with you, so I guess it's alright.

Climate change is too serious to leave unchallenged those in church conversations and public discussions who dismiss global warming as bad science or faulty theology. Silence is too often interpreted as agreement or acceptance. Silence in the square filled with no-nothing extremists or the uniformed rarely advances the common good.

At every point, thoughtful and responsible Christians need to speak up about our moral responsibility to address climate change. Refuting directly the global warming deniers will throw the sand of discourse into the gears of the denial machine.

Global warming is bad science, as was global cooling, as were the hurricane predictions. Paul over at Wizbang has a post today that details some of the bad science being thrown around. How do we claim "moral responsibility" of something that we can't be sure is happening?

I'm sorry Mr. Parham, but you are painting everyone that doesn't agree with you as idiots. You are using extremely strong words in order to show that those of us who are on the other side of the argument do not have a leg to stand on, that since we are against "consensus" then we don't know what we are talking about. I'm sure Copernicus might have felt outnumbered when he said that the Earth wasn't the center of the universe. Consensus does not mean something is true. Don't call me a "no-nothing extremist" (by the way, it's know-nothing). I and others like me simply have a different opinion. And there is nothing wrong with that. I stand by my beliefs about global warming. I feel that it's the "thoughtful and responsible" thing to do.

Via Michelle Malkin, by way of Weasel Zippers and with commentary from the Asia Times, this article from the National Catholic Reporter makes a profound statement about the size of China's growing Christian population.

Perhaps the most remarkable burst of religious energy is in China's Pentecostal Christian population. At the time of the Communist takeover in 1949, there were roughly 900,000 Protestants. Today, the Center for the Study of Global Christianity, which puts out the much-consulted World Christian Database, says there are 111 million Christians in China, roughly 90 percent Protestant and mostly Pentecostal. That would make China the third-largest Christian country on earth, following only the United States and Brazil.

The Center projects that by 2050, there will be 218 million Christians in China, 16 percent of the population, enough to make China the world's second-largest Christian nation. According to the Center, there are 10,000 conversions in China every day.

Read that again. 10,000 conversions in China every day. That is more people discovering Jesus than live in my town. Every day. The revival is coming, but it's not coming here in the US it would appear.

The Asia Times article about this has some stunning facts of its own:

Four hundred million Chinese on the prosperous coast have moved from poverty to affluence in a single generation, and 10 million to 15 million new migrants come from the countryside each year, the greatest movement of people in history.

We talk in the United States about our move from a rural to an urban society, but we've got nothing on China. More people move from farms to cities in one year than there are in the entire state of Kansas.

In a few years the Christian segment of the Chinese population will have considerable political and social power in that country. They have something that we don't have. Guts. Desire. Willingness to sacrifice their own personal comfort for the gospel. This quote comes from the NCR report.

Pentecostal talk about mission, on the other hand, is very much phrased in the simple present. Most Pentecostals would obviously welcome being arrested less frequently, but in general they are not waiting for legal or political reform before carrying out aggressive evangelization programs.

They aren't just talking about it, they are doing it. And in China, it's illegal. Not so here in the US, where we have the freedom to talk about our faith, but don't because then people may not like us. We need to take a page from the Chinese Christian playbook and strive to show the kind of love and need for God that they have.

China is somewhat of a soft spot for me right now, for reasons that aren't going to be made public just yet, but we have to keep an eye out for what is happening over there. Asia is rapidly becoming a center of global power politically, economically, and spiritually. We would do well to not confine our vision to our own country.

Dan Edelen wrote a post a couple days ago titled Need? What Need? that will probably provoke one of two reactions from people. You will either be completely offended by it or else it will stir part of your soul to action. Read the whole article and come back.

Dan wonders why needs that are felt in the local community are not answered by the church. I think that there are a couple of answers to this question, though I'm sure there are many other reasons.

First, I know for many people pride is a big factor in asking for help. It is for me. In our culture right now we are so caught up in appearances that we don't want to admit failure in any area of our lives. By asking someone for help, we run the risk of them finding out we aren't perfect. So, do we run people over in order to meet their needs? If someone doesn't request help and doesn't want help, we should follow God's lead and give them the ability to choose.

Also, in many areas, the church cannot meet the entire need of a certain community. Maybe the church that the old woman goes to can't meet her need. Maybe they don't have the money to be able to hand out to people. And at what point do handouts start becoming a problem. Sure, this month there may be a short term financial need, but what happens when people start to lean on the church for money each month? Since there appear to be no strings attached, then some people could start using the church benevolence fund as an ATM.

I'm all for meeting needs of people, but in situations like this, they should be one-time things. If there is someone who needs a car fixed, then the church can help them with that. If they need glasses or gas or whatever, then we can meet that need. In our church we support a ministry called Clothe A Child which gives needy kids $100 worth of new clothes. They have a shopping day once a year where the people go into a store and pick out what they want. It's a great ministry and really has grown in the past few years as our area has grown. Our church set a goal to sponsor 50 kids this year, and I think we're almost there. $5000 is a lot of money for our small church, but people are generous and give what they can.

God's plan was for Doris Buffett's organization to supply the hearing aids for this woman. I don't know that it matter so much how needs are met, but that needs are met. God will provide in His own way, in His own time. I experienced that myself a couple of weeks ago. God provided for my need through my employer, not through the church. The church won't always be the vessel that God chooses to work through. However, we must be ready and available to meet those needs that God places on us. Like Isaiah, we have to say "here I am, send me."

(Sorry about the long hiatus. I'll catch up this week with two installments of Worship Exodus and get back on track next week.)

"Make a lampstand of pure gold and hammer it out, base and shaft; its flowerlike cups, buds and blossoms shall be of one piece with it. Six branches are to extend from the sides of the lampstand—three on one side and three on the other. Three cups shaped like almond flowers with buds and blossoms are to be on one branch, three on the next branch, and the same for all six branches extending from the lampstand. And on the lampstand there are to be four cups shaped like almond flowers with buds and blossoms. One bud shall be under the first pair of branches extending from the lampstand, a second bud under the second pair, and a third bud under the third pair—six branches in all. The buds and branches shall all be of one piece with the lampstand, hammered out of pure gold. "Then make its seven lamps and set them up on it so that they light the space in front of it. Its wick trimmers and trays are to be of pure gold. A talent of pure gold is to be used for the lampstand and all these accessories. See that you make them according to the pattern shown you on the mountain. Exodus 25:31-40

So, what could a simple lamp have to do with worship? All it does is provide light for us, right? The Israelites could have used light from a simple candle or a torch. Why did they need the lampstand?

Like all of the items related to the tabernacle, the lampstand is full of symbolism. It is the first item listed which is to be made purely of gold. There is no wooden core to this particular piece, it is gold through and through. This is the pure deity of Christ. The lampstand is also a particularly beautiful piece, with four cups elaborately hammered into shape.

Most importantly, the lampstand is the source of light, just as Christ is the Light of the World. John 8:12 states, "When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, 'I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.'" Christ is the only light we need to illuminate our path.

I frequently fight with wanting to see further down the path than Jesus shows me. I want to know what is going to happen next week, next month, next year. I think that God realizes that we can't handle knowing what will happen too far in advance. If it is something phenomenally good, then we will toss everything else by the wayside and cling to that knowledge, pining for the day it comes true. If it appears to be bad news, then we will fold into ourselves and become resentful of what hasn't even happened yet. Either situation makes us less effective and less trusting of God's grace and care. The lampstand provides only enough light for us to see the next few steps. We only have to worry about placing one foot in front of the other and following His light.

Walking in Jesus' light is a wonderful form of worship. When we know that we are in His plan and following what He has sent forth for our lives, we truly do feel like we can conquer the world. This kind of worship draws us closer to Him, and further puts our human, carnal ways to death.

Use the lampstand that Jesus provides and let it illuminate your next few steps. You never know where it might lead you to. Don't get caught up in the things that are going to happen, only concentrate on what you can see from His light.

I finished school last week for the summer, now I've got all of August to look forward to getting caught up on writing and chores around the house, not to mention reading some of the new books I've got. We went to Mardel this weekend and they had several bargain racks I perused through. I don't have all of these on my list over to the right, but here's a quick sample.

Christ and Culture by H. Richard Niebuhr - It's a great book, but man is it tough to get through. Here's an example:

The philosophical point of view allows us to make a distinction between the teleological and deontological types of Christian ethics, in accordance with the primacy in the system of thought and conduct of the conception of the good or of the right.

That's just part of the introduction, so yeah, it's a hard book to get through. I'm going to fight through it though. I had to look up teleological and deontological. No idea what those meant.

An Army of Davids by Glenn Reynolds - I've read the first three chapters, and I'm hooked. It's a really a good book about how technology has helped empower individuals and small groups to do things only the big boys used to do. Oh, and Glenn, I got the book for $5. Guess I'm part of the cheap division of the Army of Davids.

King Me by Steve Farrar - Haven't gotten to this one yet. I'm reviewing it for YMX, and from what I've skimmed through so far it looks pretty good. I finished Farrar's book How To Ruin Your Life by 40 (and am happy to report I'm well on my way) and was quite impressed with it. I'll have the review up here after YMX publishes it.

Cure for the Common Life by Max Lucado - This was recommended in Steve Farrar's book. I'm hoping it's good.

Today we went to see the Star Wars exhibit at the Fort Worth science and history museum. I'd heard mixed reviews about it, but I was pretty impressed with it. It was a fun thing for me to do with my son. I almost got into a argument with another patron too. No, it wasn't the equivalent of a nerd "my pocket protector is better than yours" contest either.

Before we went in, one of the museum staff was telling us the rules for the exhibit and she asked a trivia question. The question was what was the name of the creature who escorted R2-D2 and C-3PO into see Jabba the Hutt in "Return of the Jedi"? Everyone was quiet, so I answered the question. The lady said I was right and was the first one to get that question correct. Smart Guy behind me piped up and said "Guess buying that action figure really paid off, huh? (idiotic chuckle)!" I calmly turned, burned a hole through his eyes with mine and said, "No, I can read books. I don't have to wait for the movie." This was met with hesitant laughter from others and Smart Guy seemed a little peeved. Serves him right for trying to start some jock/nerd humor.

Anyway, Alex and I loved the exhibit. You really have no idea the scale of the creatures in the movies until you see them up close. The Wookiees and Darth Vader and really tall, much more so than I ever imagined. Same goes for the battle droids and destroyer droids. We've got a couple pictures we'll put up in the next couple of days from this as well.

Also, Ashlee turned 6 on Saturday. It's hard to imagine she's that old. Seems like yesterday we were just bringing her home. She's really turning into quite a young lady. Her brother gave her a watch for her birthday, so right now we are receiving constant time updates. And if any clocks around the house are wrong, she makes sure to let us know. Can't imagine where she gets that from.

Oh, and tomorrow is my beautiful wife's [she doesn't care if you know, but I'm still not saying]st birthday. I'm sitting here next to her in bed typing this and just looking at her. Life I've told her since we got married, I love her twice as much as I did yesterday and half as much as I will tomorrow.

Footnote 1: Don't screw that up. Saying you love someone half as much as yesterday and twice as much as tomorrow doesn't have the same effect.

Footnote 2: The answer to the question is Bib Fortuna. Doesn't everyone know that? Sheesh.