So, Where Was God?

A story over on one of my favorite weblogs, "The Art of Manliness" told of a man named Don who died in the Joplin torndo while sheltering his wife's body with his own. People who knew Don described him as a brave, kind and selfless man from his high school days.

In response there were many who praised him for his selflessness and quoted scripture and simply said, "God bless him."  But, of course, there was the inevitable "Where was God?" post and the list of horrible things that happen in this world that God is supposed to prevent from happening if He really is God and the usual, "Have you actually seen God? No you haven't!"*

So, where was God during the Joplin tornado?  I believe He was right beside people like Don. Just because you may not understand why God does as He does, that doesn't mean God doesn't know what He's doing and isn't right there beside us when bad things are happening.

God simply doesn't view death like we do. We see death as the end of life. God, I suspect, sees death as merely a gateway to the life He had intended for us to have all along.

Christ told us that "Greater love hath no man than he lay down his life for another." I think that reaching the point where we actually believe that is the whole point of living our lives in a world like this. This world in which evil is not forbidden or even very much interfered with by God, eventually brings each of us to the point where we can make the ultimate choice one way or another.

What is that choice? In this world every man (and woman) is given the ability to determine for ourselves what we will do next. We are told we are made in God's image and this is one way that we are like Him. Without the ability to choose, we would not be able to create. We would simply do everything by preprogrammed instinct or as a reaction to outside environmental factors. All the abuses mentioned by the gentleman who posted his reaction on Art of Manliness - everything from Auschwitz to priestly pedophilia, go along with people having free choice. If you can choose to do great good, you can also choose to do great evil. Can't have one without the other.

I think the purpose of this world, then, is to bring us to the point where we know enough to make an informed choice as to who we will serve - ourselves or others (and, the fact is, choosing to serve God IS choosing to serve others - there's that whole Golden Rule business that comes with it).

Don chose to put his wife's safety ahead of his own. Our soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq choose to lay down their lives every day for the greater good. Firefighters, cops, teachers and billions of others choose to place the needs of others ahead of their own. These are the sort of folk who will be the inhabitants of heaven and the Earth made new. I don't think it would be safe to grant them eternal life without their having witnessed first-hand the consequences of choosing "vigilant selfishness" as a lifestyle. The horrors of this life make either heroes or villians out of us - same horrors but different kinds of people coming out the other side. Ironically, it seems that only when a man chooses to serve others, is he truly free himself. He is able, then to set sail and choose the direction of his own life's voyage without being blown about by circumstance. When he chooses himself above all, he becomes like a survivor on a life raft, blown about by every wind and wave that comes along.

The life of service is free. You choose based on principles you set for yourself and upon your own reasoning, despite the events that might otherwise shape your life. You shape your life, with God's help of course, but it is your ultimate choice to do justly and to love mercy. You are not forced to live that way. God never interferes with that choice. You can walk away at any time.

The life devoted to self on the other hand is, as B.F. Skinner described it, without free will at all, but simply the consequence of the random series of events that happen to you. Life shapes you. You spend life reacting, not acting whatever you might believe. You shake your fists in anger at every misfortune and trial and challenge because those trials and tribulations have no meaning or purpose. They are only miseries to be endured, not challenges to be overcome. The self-centered man is a boat without a tiller in a raging sea. Skinner believed free will was an illusion and for those who choose themselves above all, I believe that is entirely true.

Me, I'd rather choose for myself than have my choices dictated by random chance, accidental evolution or the often malicious actions of others. Ironically, it is in making the choice to serve God and my fellow man that true freedom is given back to me. My will, having passed through His hands, is given back to me scraped clean of the barnacles we tend to pick up in this old world.

It makes sense. I don't think you could make principled, free and loving people any other way than to let them see the consequences of doing it their own way. Perhaps there was no other way for God to create finite creatures like us and safely give us the ability to choose. Maybe this nasty old world is boot camp for those who would be immortal - kind of like BUDS training for Navy SEALs. BUDS training is miserable and painful, but without it, you'd never become a SEAL.

Just my observation - a different view of a wicked old world. Accept it, Reject it. Embrace it or ridicule.

It really is your choice after all.

Tom

* And yes I've seen plenty of evidence of God's existence with my own eyes. That was the deal I made with Him when I joined up - show me!
 
He did so - rather convincingly.

What's a Friend - A Man's View

 I saw this post the other day on Facebook asking what was the definition of a true friend.  It was, of course, posted by a woman.  Lots of women answered.

• A true friend is one who sticks by you (or has your back) through thick and thin.
• A friend is someone who will listen to you talk about your feelings and relationships without being judgmental
• A friend will listen to your life story and share hers with you.
• A friend anticipates your needs, knows when you need a cup of tea or a piece of chocolate cake without your asking

Well, all of those only apply to "girl" friends. Guy friends are nothing like that. A guy friend will pitch you out of the bass boat if you start talking about relationships and the closest he'll get to anticipating your needs is if he offers you a cold one while he's fishing in the cooler anyway. He might offer you some of his chips, but for him, chocolate is merely a snack food that you keep handy in case your girl friend starts getting cranky and not a religious experience. Guy friends are different.

• They are people you fish with and eat fatty foods while watching football with.  
• They play softball on your church league team and wear the stupid shirt, even though they might not have the wind to get around the bases, if they did miraculously hit a home run.
• They give you a lift to the auto parts place and then stick around to help you fix your truck. 
• They listen to you tell improbable stories and tell some whoppers right back at you.  
• They lend you tools, then stand around and watch you do all the work. 
• They sympathize with you when you're in trouble with your "Girl" friend for not listening to her go on and on about relationships, feelings and people who have done her wrong. 
• Guy friends are uncomfortable shopping together, but will go with your if you're going to a sporting goods place, bait shop or hardware store.  They hit the store like the Marines taking a beachhead - all business!  
• A Guy friend won't make you talk about your feelings, but will help you barbecue enough food to feed a small army. 
• A Guy friend will sit on the back porch in silence with you for two hours with nothing but a cold drink and a bug zapper for entertainment and call it "good times" when he thinks back on it.

Women will never EVER understand that, though some have learned to appreciate the beauty of the thing.

Just one man's opinion.

Tom King

The Game of Life - What's Really Going On (Part 3)

C.S. Lewis in the final book in his brilliant book series, The Chronicles of Narnia, describes the Narnian heaven as "The Real Narnia".  Lewis called Earth as it is (what we think of as the 'Real World'), the Shadowlands.  Lewis, from his Christian perspective, believed that Earth is a kind of crucible in which we are all tested, tried and perfected for eternity.  Rather like a video game.

And like a video game, the ending for Christians is assured.  No matter whether we succeed or fail in our efforts to accomplish the goals set before us as we traverse the Shadowlands, we are assured eternal life in the Real Earth or what the Bible calls the New Earth.  Like a video game, we try to follow the rules of the game and figure out how things work.  But we must not forget we are playing in the shadows. God has promised to take us to the real thing when the game of life is over.  Whatever happens, that is assured if you want it.

If you choose to stay with the game, to challenge the rules, give yourself over to the dark side, you get to do that too. The only difference is when the game is over, the game is over.  Scripture is pretty clear on that point. We aren't by nature immortal. An eternal ever-burning hell (borrowed from the Greeks by the way) is one of those add-on ideas like reincarnation; interesting, but not really a good way to organize a universe if you are a merciful God.  Ultimately the eternal wiener roast is a lie about the character of God. The idea that He would condone that makes him a torturer, not a father.  Just my opinion from my own study.

God evidently decided the universe needed creatures with free will.  What this says about angels, I am not sure, but people are created in the image of God. That's clear. We are like God in that we may choose in all things. That ability to choose makes us creative and energetic and purpose driven. It also makes us dangerous. I think God made the Earth as a kind of game, if you will. We are born into it, we try out our choice-making ability and we die. We meet challenges, solve puzzles, build things and face enemies all leading up to what Ms. McGonagal calls the "Epic Event" in gaming and what I think of as the fork in the road.  It's at that moment I think we all experience the decision that led Joshua to say, "As for me and my house, we shall serve the Lord."  I think no matter what culture, religion or society we come from, we all meet that epic moment where we choose to serve ourselves or something greater than ourselves.  Like McGonagal's 4 elements you get from gaming, the Christian gets the same effect.

1.  Urgent optimism:  The Christian believes his choices can effect the world for good, no matter it appears while it's happening. He believes that what he is doing, he is doing with God and that God will make it turn out right - hence the optimism.

2. Ability to weave a tight social fabric:  Christians collectively believe the same things and gather together around that shared belief. A Christian, the real variety anyway, are trustworthy, reliable and they have your back.  You may have misunderstandings with your fellow travelers, but in the end, none of it matters but the great goal of reaching the New Earth.

3. Blissful productivity: A Christian on a mission experiences this bliss throughout his work.  He knows he is doing a good thing at the peak of his skills. He is content doing good in partnership with God. Christians are busy people because we are commanded by the rules of the game to do good where our hand finds good work to do.

4. Epic Meaning:  A Christian has purpose and meaning to his life. He is connected to the eternal. Everything he does is part of God's plan.  The moment he leaves the Shadowlands, it is an epic event.

It is little wonder that the practice of Christianity has such a powerful ability to change our lives.  My own experience is that you change from the old self-centered person to a Christ-like person inevitably.  It is not by your own efforts.  We are built to respond to the Christian life as we do.  After all, it was God who designed both us and the game of life that we play.

It explains also why gaming is such a powerful experience.  Gaming is a shadow of living in the Real World as living in the "Real World" is a shadow of living in the eternal "super real" world.

The thing to watch for is that there is someone else out there using the shadows for his own purposes. He is not God. He has claimed the Shadowlands as his own kingdom and sets himself up as the prince. All games are not benign as all things in our so-called Real World are not.  There are lies in lies and layers of deception. Games have traps built into them that lead you astray and kill you.  So does the Real World.  Be careful what games you choose to play and be very careful that you know who designed them.

The Game of Life - What's Really Going On (Part 2)

Jane McGonagal has announced that she is devoting her life to creating games that build upon the skills gamers develop in on-line games such as World of Warcraft to solve real world problems.  She's taken a run at it with such games as "World Without Oil" in which gamers try to figure out how to survive in a worldwide oil crisis and another games designed to enlist gamers to help solve problems in Africa. Her goal is to translate the energy, brains, social organizing power and productivity of computer games into real world solutions.

But who says the "real" world is the ultimate level in McGonagal's game system.  McGonagal sees gaming as 10,000 hours of time we spend, just as we spend 10,000 hours of time in school learning skills that can translate to the "real world".  She sees gaming as a parallel to formal education, both contributing skills that we can use at the next level - the three-dimensional world we all inhabit.

Real Life!

It's an interesting model, but what if it doesn't end there?  What if "Real Life" isn't the ultimate reality either?

Okay before you decide I've watched the "Matrix" one too many times, hear me out.  What is it about games that make for such an effective teaching tool?  There are a couple of things:

1.  If you die in the game or lose, you don't die or lose in the real world.  You've learned your lesson and next time you can get it right.  This characteristic of games led to the idea of Eastern mystics (great game players themselves) that life is an endless cycle of do-overs till you get it right and achieve something called nirvana. Nice idea, but I think they missed the point.  This characteristic of games (that no matter how the game works out, you'll be okay in the real world) makes game players very brave and willing to take risks. Games then become a place where we can practice risk-taking.

2.  Multi-player games encourage building alliances and partnership to win the game. It's interesting how some people will choose a noble, trustworthy persona and others will choose to give their dark side free reign.  In Monopoly, for instance, I've seen people lose time and again because they were being "nice" to their fellow players instead of being the cutthroat the game calls for.  Games allow you to experiment with social interaction so you can see the consequences of what you do.  This is a powerful teaching tool.  Even single player games are not always about winning entirely. Players often go easy on less experienced players or throw games because they want their opponent to feel good about themselves.


In sports we learn teamwork and physical skills, planning and execution. These are all things that translate to the real world or they were supposed to until school sports programs gave themselves over to a winning at all costs philosophy.  Then, sports began to teach players that it was all about the money, that unless your shoes cost $200 a pair, you were less worthy than others and that personal fame and glory for your personal exploits was more important than the good of the team.  That's why you see so many teams with expensive marquee players that are perennial losers.

So what if real life is a teaching experience. What if real life is teaching us lessons that, like games and sports lessons, are for use at another level - something beyond "Real Life".

More tomorrow.

The Game of Life - What's Really Going On

I watched an interesting speech by game designer Jane McGonigal on the TED website this morning over breakfast.  McGonigal believes that games are more than just an amusement, but are actually a powerful tool for teaching.  Malcolm Gladwell in his book "Outliers-The Story of Success"  makes the case that anyone can become a superstar if he or she devotes 10,000 hours of intensive study to a single skill or subject.  Anyone!

A couple of interesting facts here.  From fifth grade to high school graduation you spend about 10,000 hours in class.  At the current rate, in countries with a well-developed technological infrastructure and above average standard of living, the average child will spends 10,000 hours playing on-line games by the time he or she reaches the age of 21.  According to Gladwell this will make them superstars.

The question is, at what are they learning to be superstars.

McGonagal cites 4 traits that on-line games develop. 

1. A sense of urgent optimism:  In games you are always on the verge of succeeding at something, perhaps of winning big. At the very least, the solution to whatever problem is presented to you in the game is right around the corner.  You know the problem can be solved, so the game encourages you to be optimistic.

2. The ability to weave a tight social fabric:  Gamers choose their companions in the gaming world who share their goals and values and who are trustworthy, reliable and who have a skill to contribute to the task at hand. The gamer learns to find friends who are a philosophical match and to provide them with positive reinforcement to remain part of the group.

3. A sense of "blissful productivity":  Psychologist  Mihály Csíkszentmihályi (me high, cheek sent muh high eee) called this experience flow.  It's the feeling you get when you are doing something that you know how to do well that you also enjoy doing.  Very often persons experiencing "flow" or "blissful productivity", as McGonagal calls it, lose track of time or awareness of what's going on around them.  Athletes get this when playing whatever sport they play. Runners experience it as a "high".  Practitioners of forms of meditation experience it as part of their rituals. Sportsmen and gamers get into the rhythm of the contest and lose all sense of the world around them. This is a very addictive experience and people go back to it looking to reproduce that transcendental experience with almost the fervor of an addict looking for the next drug hit or alcoholic for a booze binge.

4. Epic meaning:  In the game there is a sense of some connection to a wider world or a greater meaning.  Athletes get it by setting "world records". On-line gamers get it by completing a level, saving a planet or rescuing the princess. My son once set a district record in the 100 meter sprint. Yesterday he described that one race in vivid detail down to the reaction of his coach and teammates on the sidelines. He set a record that goes into the books forever.  However small such a thing might seems to a disinterested observer, it is a big thing to those participating in the game. As humans we have a powerful need to tell our story in such a way that we are the hero of our own story and that our actions have meaning beyond our immediate mundane lives.

I believe that McGonagal's observations about gaming point to an even larger truth about what Douglass Adams called "Life, the Universe and Everything Else".  There's more going on here than you might think. Turns out the reason games are so good at honing these particular skills, may explain why Christianity is so successful at improving the quality of human beings. 

More on that tomorrow.....

God Spelled Backward

Someone once quipped, God spelled backward is Dog.  I wonder if there is not a hint at a cosmic truth in that observation. Could it be that of all the animal kingdom, the humble dog is God's special messenger? I told a children's story at church on Sabbath, assisted by my faithful dog, Daisy.

Daisy, I have decided is a messenger and teacher sent by God for my edification.  Indirectly, she has taught me patience, the value of "stuff" (I'm more tolerant to teeth marks on my possessions these days) and the importance of getting up out of my chair and taking a turn round the block to get the old heart going.


But dogs teach us in other ways more direct. God, it is said, has two books.  The scriptures, of course, is one, but the other is the great book of nature - God's very handiwork into which he has woven lessons that answer the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything.

The answer is not, by the way, 42 whatever Douglass Addams may say about it..

When we adopted Daisy there was the element of divine intervention in how she came to us. I've told the story before, so I won't repeat it, but leave it to say, God decided we needed a dog and sent her to us. I had always rather looked down on those sad old couples with their pet dogs that they spoiled mercilessly and talked baby talk to until it made you want to hurl.

We have become one of those sad old couples. We really need some grandkids soon or our descent into terminal schmaltziness will soon be complete.

I called her "Daisy Pooh" the other day.  I swear to you - "Daisy Pooh".  It may already be too late for me.

In preparing for my story Sabbath, I wrote down ten things Daisy has taught me in the time she has been with us.  To wit... 

Everything I Need to Know to Be a Better Human Being as Learned from my Dog:

1.  Love without conditions.  When someone you love comes home, do not hold back when expressing your joy that they have returned to you safe and sound.  It is a practice I promise you will never regret.

2. When you are sad or cold or lonely - make a dogpile!  If you want comforting, find a pile of loved ones and make a pile. Nothing soothes the heart quite so well as the collective beating of all those dear hearts at once.

3. Chase squirrels with all your heart, mind and strength!  You should do everything you do with total enthusiasm and energy. It's good for you heart and builds strong muscles and bones. God meant for your to do things.  So, do them well and whatever you do, do it to the glory of your Creator.

4. Obey your master.  You master is taller than you and can see dangers you cannot.  Your life may, and indeed it likely does depend on your swift and certain obedience to the Master - if not now, then someday soon, you do not know when.


5.  Come when called.  You never know why you are called or where you will be called to, but if you are being called, your master wants you for something and, who knows?  There may be treats.


6. Expect the best of others.  Believe the best of the one who takes care of you. Assume they love you and do not ever mean to hurt you.  You will be a thousand times happier if you do.

7. Forgive easily.  This follows if you believe the best of others.  You're going to forgive anyway. God expects it and holding a grudge only makes you miserable.  How much better than to forgive freely and with all your heart now and get on with the feeling better.

8. Rest when it is time to rest.  God gives us lots of time to rest.  Catch a nap whenever you can. Take that whole day off once a week that He gives you. It's good for your soul, your body and your spirit.

9.  When you please others, it makes you happy too.We are made to be creators and givers. Use your imagination and do something wonderful for someone else. Doing so lights us up inside and makes us smile.

10. Never turn down a treat your Master gives you!  Our Master gives us only good gifts that are for our blessing and happiness. Never tell yourself, I do not deserve God's gift. He paid a great price for it and it makes Him happy to give you His gift. Do not rob God of His joy.

Hmmm.

These sound like New Year's Resolutions to me.

Happy New Year

Love,

Tom, Sheila and Daisy

PS:  I wanted to add this weblink I recently found to this post. It's a song, video and book called God and Dog by Wendy Francisco.  It's brilliant and exactly captures my idea about why dogs are God's gift to mankind. Go to the web-page, scroll down to the video and click on play.  Bring a box of tissues with you, however.  This thing will make a lumberjack cry if he owns a dog.

*Note:  Photo used without permission from Sheila (she's at work), so I used the one where she looked like Kilroy hiding behind Daisy. I'm not allowed to post unapproved photos of the her and this was the only one of the three of us that might slide by without prior approval.