Friday, July 27, 2018

Definitive Proof of God…kind of.


A priest and an atheist were walking down the beach one morning. They came across a Rolex laying in the sand. The atheist looked at the priest and asked, “How do you think this got here.”

After a moment of deep thought the priest replied. “After hundreds of millions of years of the waves churning up the shore it just formed there for us to find.”

“Do you know how absurd that sounds?” asked the atheist.

The priest just smiled. “Yes, I do.”



I find atheism to be greatly absurd. Many atheists tend to be scientifically oriented and tell us we need to be open minded to possibility but absolutely shut down the possibility of a supreme being, an intelligent designer, a creator, let’s call him…God. Atheist scientists reject God because they cannot prove he exists yet most of what they do propose is considered theory because it also cannot be definitively proven either. The proof that Judeo-Christian religions give for the existence of God is just as sound as some of the evidence science gives for some of their theories. So let’s start at the beginning and see where this takes us.



In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. The earth was without form and darkness covered creation. Then God said, “Let there be light”, and there was light.



The universe emerged from an extremely dense singularity. There was an explosion of light and matter that has been expanding ever since. This is known as the “Big Bang Theory” and is widely accepted in scientific circles to be the most plausible cause for the beginning of life as we know it. Ironically, this theory was put forth by the Belgian Catholic priest, astronomer, and professor of physics Reverend Georges LemaĆ®tre. Notice that the two statements do not directly conflict with one another. It is more like two different witnesses explaining what they saw in their own way.



Then God separated the heaven from the earth and the earth was formed amid the ocean.



Science tells us that the Earth formed around 4.54 billion years ago, approximately one-third the age of the universe, by accretion from the solar nebula. Volcanic outgassing probably created the primordial atmosphere and then the ocean, but the early atmosphere contained almost no oxygen. Still no direct conflict…



Then God created the trees and the animals, birds of the air, and fish of the sea. Last God created man.



The Hadean eon represents the time before a reliable (fossil) record of life; it began with the formation of the planet and ended 4.0 billion years ago. The following Archean and Proterozoic eons produced the beginnings of life on Earth and its earliest evolution. The succeeding eon is the Phanerozoic, divided into three eras: the Palaeozoic, an era of arthropods, fishes, and the first life on land; the Mesozoic, which spanned the rise, reign, and climactic extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs; and the Cenozoic, which saw the rise of mammals. Recognizable humans emerged at most 2 million years ago, a vanishingly small period on the geological scale. Seems that science and the Bible tend to be in general agreement here.



So science tells us that everything just exploded into being from seemingly nothingness. Then gases gathered together and began to cool forming the stars and the planets and the other celestial objects. One of those planets, earth, was first a gas, then cooled to a molten solid. During that time all of the different atoms began to form and then those atoms gathered together to form molecules. Time, pressure, and heat all combined in just the right order and amount that one of these molecules began alive and was the first living single celled creature. That creature reproduced and reproduced and reproduced and eventually evolved to a new creature. This process continued until the earth was teaming with life and eventually, through evolution, man came into being.

But there is no supreme being, no intelligent designer, no God who put all of this into motion. Nature did all of this on its own. Here’s my rub with all of that…

If we were going to build anything, a house, a bridge, a giant sky scraper, the first thing we do is to create a blueprint. The blueprint tells the builder how to build the object. Life is no different. Life has a blueprint. The blueprint of life on earth is deoxyribonucleic acid, DNA. DNA is an acid, a protein structure that instructs a cell on what it is to do, replicate, live. All life on this planet contains DNA and DNA does not naturally exist outside of the cell structure. DNA itself is not alive. 

We have been able to map out the human DNA genome. It is complex and genius in its structure. Like our Rolex on the beach it could not have just formed on its own and then gone on to create the cell in which it lived. It would be more plausible to say that a fetus is capable of forming its mother around it and then move on with its development.

Scientists generally agree that the genome points to an intelligent designer but atheist scientists refuse to make the jump to calling that designer God.

I was once on a flight with a woman who asked me what I thought was between the particles of an atom. I did not have an answer as I have never seen a scientific one. She said that she thought that it was God’s love and that it was his love that keeps the atom together. At the time I thought the woman was a bit bananas but the further my formation goes the more I know that she was absolutely correct.

DNA is God’s fingerprint on every single living cell. For me, it is definitive proof of the existence of God. God is love and love can never be forced. For love to exist there has to be a choice. God has given us the choice to believe in him or not and has given us enough wiggle room to logically argue ourselves out of belief.

Angels definitely know of God’s existence. For them their only choice is to serve or to revolt. There is no middle ground. Man was offered love over choice. This was the true envy of the devil.


Monday, July 23, 2018

Tug of War

Often, when we think of virtue and vice we often think of them as being in a tug of war against one another. For every vice there is the opposite virtue. The opposite of cowardice is courage. The opposite of vanity is humility. In reality, a virtue is not the opposite of a vice and a virtue never competes against a vice. There is no competition when it comes to the good things of God.

Instead, what we truly have are vices competing against one another. Cowardice is not the opposite of courage, foolhardiness is. To rush in without thought or regard is just as deadly as being paralyzed with fear resulting in inaction. In this regard a virtue is actually the midway point between two competing vices.

Take gluttony for example. Overindulgence of anything, be it food or some other pleasure, is always a bad thing. Total abstinence of food or pleasure is just as deadly. Sitting right there in the middle is the virtue of temperance.  Virtues lead to eternal happiness where vices always lead to unhappiness, destruction, and death.

The Catholic Church lists out seven deadly sins alongside the seven corresponding virtues. But, if a virtue is actually the midpoint between vices there are actually fourteen deadly vices. Our fallen world lives in excess so there isn’t much stress put upon the vices of deficiency. Ironically, the vices of deficiency are most commonly seen by religious trying to live their faith in excess. The seven virtues and competing vices are:

   

Vice of Excess
Virtue
Vice of Deficiency
Lust
Chastity
Prudishness
Gluttony
Temperance
Deficiency
Greed
Generosity
Wastefulness
Sloth
Diligence
Workaholism
Wrath
Meekness
Servility
Envy
Brotherly Love
Pusillanimity
Pride
Humility
Self Loathing



In the game of tug of war for our souls the devil is pulling on both ends of the same rope. It makes no difference to him which side wins. Trying to live out the virtues keeps you morally balanced and keeps the devil in check.


Sunday, July 22, 2018

Just For You

I have seen the majesty of a Pacific Ocean night
Four thousand miles from the nearest shore
Bathed in the beauty of the cosmos
The stars in the heavens more numerous
Than the grains of sand upon the beach
The brilliance of the spectacle above
Mirrored by the green glowing bioluminescence
That surrounded me adrift upon a tranquil sea 

I have stood in the shadow of the mighty mountains
As the last fleeting light of day colored the crags above
Marvelous shades of crimson, orange, and purple
As the day lost hold of the sky and slipping gently
Into the ink dark abyss of the night
Then bursting forth above the snow capped peaks
The king to rule the night – a full moon
Bathing all with its tender ashen blush 

I have walked among the giants of this earth
Mighty sequoias standing taller that most 
Of the buildings man has dared erect
Coming into their grandeur from a tiny seed
And not through the vain work of our hands 

I have awoke with the forest as the first tendrils of light
Announced the defeat of night and heralded the approaching morn
Welcoming the day with the woodland creatures , deer, raccoons, and squirrels
Busily going about their day with little regard to my presence in this place
Leaping joyfully from ground to bush to tree
Without the slightest care in the world 

I know how Adam must have felt as he opened his eyes
For the first time to behold the world God’s hand just created
I have felt the same awe and fear that must have filled him that morning
I have come to realize just how tiny I am when I stand 
In the splendor of God’s great creation

          On the ocean,
          In the brilliance of the cosmos,
          In the shadow of the mountain,
          Or among the creatures of the forest


Only there, in the silence of my heart, does God speak



“I made all of this just for you.”




Friday, July 20, 2018

On the Tongue or in the Hand? How about in your Heart instead.


While away recently at a silent retreat with my brothers in diaconate formation I had the privilege to sit across from this painting of Mother Mary by Kathy Lawrence during our meals in the dining hall. With each meal I found myself drawn even deeper into the painting. I am not one who likes images of our Lord. Not that there is anything wrong with them or because I think they are idolatry. I don’t like them because all of them are someone else’s idea of what Jesus must have looked like. When we train our minds to see Jesus in a particular image we will often fail to see him as he is in those who surround us.

Jesus cannot be in him, he is a dirty homeless bum. Jesus cannot be in him, he is a ruthless Muslim refugee only trying to do me harm. Jesus cannot be in her, she is an illegal Mexican who has come to steal my life away from me. Jesus cannot be in her, that is Mrs. Prisker for God sake!

I will say that this is now my favorite image of Jesus. Thank you Kathy Lawrence.




We live in an age where there is a debate on the proper way we should receive our Lord when we present ourselves before the Holy Eucharist. There are those who will tell you that we are not worthy to hold the Eucharist in our hands. They are dirty and not sanctified by Holy Orders. There are those who will tell you that it is more reverent to receive him on our tongues. And there are those who will tell you that there are particles of Jesus that fall to the ground when we transfer him hand to hand. These are all valid arguments, to a point, and I accept all of them. But, I am still a ‘receive in the hand’ guy. Why is that so stuck in me?

This painting cemented it all in my head. We have such a humble and loving God that when he decided to dwell among us as one of us he came, not as a great and rich king or a mighty military leader, but as a defenseless child, a child who was incapable of doing even the simplest of things. He had to held. He had to be cuddled. He had to be changed, fed, and cared for. He had to be taught how to feed himself, use the bathroom, and even speak. The Lord, the creator of existence itself, became like us in all things except sin.

I am not worthy to receive you Lord, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed. My unworthiness does not trump his willingness. When I receive in the hand I get to do something that our Mother Mary got to do every day of his (Jesus) life – hold the creator of all things. I have a God who is so incredibly great and loving that he will not only dwell within me but allow me to hold him in the palm of my hand. That is truly awesome. My heart cannot contain the love I have. It must flow out in service to others.
On the tongue or in the hand? Neither Lord. I receive you in my heart.