My wife and I were invited to dinner with a Mennonite family. The father, Ron Hess, had read my book Finding Faith in a Skeptical World and invited us over to discuss it.
The family belongs to a religious community that produces fine furniture and custom kitchens. In the summer they grow produce to sell at a roadside stand. They also have a church and operate a school for their children.
The women dress in ankle length cotton dresses and wear finely woven white coverings over hair that's worn in a bun, while the men wear unassuming shirts and pants. They speak with a distinctive accent and are unfailingly polite and friendly.
After the meal Ron suggested we sing, and a wave of enthusiasm swept from one end of the table to the other. The kids dived for hymn books stored on a shelf under the table and shouted out numbers. "Let's do #399!" "How about #425?"
Ron picked one, and a pitch pipe appeared in his oldest son's hand. He played a note, everyone hummed, and they sang. Each had a part, each had a unique sound and they sang in practiced harmony.
They sounded great, and we were blown away by their musical talent, mutual love and Christian faith.
It stirs my heart and it makes my life glow;
Gives meaning to life as onward I go
#377, The Wonder of Love
Sitting alongside the pond watching his barefooted children play, I asked Ron if they had a TV.
"No."
"Radio?"
"No."
"How do you get the news?"
"What news would I want to hear?"
I'd welcome the call from on high;
There's nothing can hold me, no money nor home
#399, I'm Longing to Go
The three-room school has three teachers who provide instruction through tenth grade to around 20 pupils. Throughout their education, they place in the top 10% of the state comprehensive assessment exam and handily pass the General Equivalency Diploma test at the end. Christian values are central to this education and it results in focused students unadulterated by the distractions found in public schools.
As the life of a flower,
Be our lives pure and sweet
#386, As The Life of a Flower
Ron and I agreed on the issues we discussed except for one, and he warned me his was a radical view before explaining it. He believes in non-resistance, which means he responds to aggressiveness by praying for the well-being of the perpetrator and never, ever, reacts with force or retribution. It's characteristic of a sect that distances itself from secularists by refusing combatant military service - historically being jailed for it - and declining even to vote in elections.
This kind, gentle, smart man knows what he thinks and why. And I do believe he's got the strength to live up to his convictions. It's an extraordinary thing made possible by the closeness he's had with God his entire life.
Dinner was at 6:30 and we planned to leave at 8:30 so I could make a business appointment at 9:00. But we lost track of time and said quick goodbyes at 8:50.
My wife drove so I could put the light on, find a phone number, grab my cell phone, call to apologize for running late, and sit in not-so-quiet-exasperation at Lisa's not driving fast enough. I met the client, outlined the deal, got some papers signed and later worked on the computer.
It had taken less than 5 minutes to morph back to "normal" and become distracted enough to put the Hesses in the back of my mind.
Ron Hess and his family know God intimately because they see Him all the time. The rest of us are so wrapped up in incessant, ultimately meaningless activity that most of us see Him through a gauze filter.
And we don't even know it.
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Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Assailing a Christian Scientist
The National Institutes of Health conducts and supports medical research, funding over 325,000 researchers at more than 3,000 institutions. Its aim is to find ways to prevent and treat a wide range of diseases, improve public health and save lives. Its director must have managerial competence and a scientific background, which is why Francis Collins was nominated for the job.
Dr. Collins is an M.D., earned a Ph.D in physical chemistry from Yale where he was named a Fellow in Human Genetics, and was appointed to a professorship at the University of Michigan. As head of the Human Genome Project (HGP), he led over 2,000 scientists in creating a "DNA instruction book" that may provide the keys to curing myriad conditions and diseases. The HGP came in ahead of schedule, under budget and Dr. Collins received the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his work.
So far so good - he sounds thoroughly qualified. Except for one thing: he's (gasp!) a Christian.
According to the New York Times, the doctor is suspect because of his "very public embrace of religion. He wrote a book called "The Language of God" and he has given many talks and interviews in which he described his conversion as a 27-year-old medical student." Atheist Peter Atkins was quoted by Michael Gerson of the Washington Post as saying, "I don't think (he) can be a real scientist in the deepest sense of the word because (religion and science) are such alien categories of knowledge."
Apparently faith somehow disqualifies a person from participating in scientific inquiry and only someone without faith can do so objectively.
Really?
The more we learn, the more amazing the underlying organization of the universe, our world and our bodies is found to be. Mathematical probability rules out the random, accidental creation of all this and we're left with the question, "If it didn't "just happen" then how did it come to be?" The logical answer is "God made it," and this is what Dr. Collins believes. Despite popular opinion, it fits the facts and God's involvement becomes ever more evident as the body of scientific knowledge grows.
Atheists, who are apparently preferred by Dr. Collins's critics, have a problem: they can't plausibly explain the origins of the universe or of life or many other issues. God fills in the unexplained spaces in scientific theory and provides a coherent explanation for how and why nature operates. Atheists can dismiss the idea of God but then they're left guessing to fill in the gaps.
Science and faith aren't mutually exclusive. They're complementary and it takes both to paint the whole picture. It's a telling sign of our times when a qualified, open-minded Christian scientist who understands this is knocked while others, whose minds are closed to the idea of God, are regarded as paragons of objectivity.
Copernicus, Galileo, Isaac Newton and Louis Pasteur - all of whom were Christians - would have found this new paradigm wryly amusing.
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Monday, August 10, 2009
Belfast Blood Feud
Illustrated by a large color photo of policemen clad in riot gear standing near a fire, the heading read "Riots break out in Northern Ireland." The cause was the celebration of the "Twelfth" holiday, which celebrates long-ago British victories over the Irish. Masked Irish Republicans took exception to it, throwing Molotov cocktails, rocks, bricks, bottles, wooden planks and golf balls (golf balls?) at the cops.
As usual, the two sides were described by their religious affiliation, which gave the impression that the difference in faith is central to the conflict. But is it?
This strife has been going on for over 800 years, ever since a nobleman named Strongbow invaded the island from England. Over the years, land was confiscated and given to British loyalists in a plantation system. The owners controlled the wealth while the Irish eked out subsistence livings and were relegated to second-class status in their own homeland. The fertile land and cheap labor enabled the loyalists to get rich by exporting food to Britain's burgeoning empire.
While cereal crops were being fed to cattle to be sold, the Irish became dependent on one main staple: potatoes. This intensified the effect of the potato blight in 1845 and caused a massive reduction in the Irish population through starvation and emigration. A resultant uprising was put down by the British.
The English had lots of experience in quelling Irish uprisings. In the worst, Oliver Cromwell eliminated over half the island's population through killing, death by starvation or disease, deportation into slavery, and emigration.
There's an ancestral, deep seated hatred between these factions that's only gotten worse as each generation wrote its own chapter. But it's economic and political, not religious. Even well-known atheist Richard Dawkins writes that "wars and feuds between religious groups or sects are seldom actually about theological disagreements." And that's the case here.
But the use of misleading terms persists. The two sides aren't having theological debates, so why do reporters opt to use "Protestant" and "Catholic" instead of the more appropriate terms "Loyalist" or "Unionist" and "Republican" or "Nationalist?"
Maybe it's because the media tries not to miss a chance to associate Christianity with conflict and violence, especially when the storyline's been cultivated for as long as this one.
As usual, the two sides were described by their religious affiliation, which gave the impression that the difference in faith is central to the conflict. But is it?
This strife has been going on for over 800 years, ever since a nobleman named Strongbow invaded the island from England. Over the years, land was confiscated and given to British loyalists in a plantation system. The owners controlled the wealth while the Irish eked out subsistence livings and were relegated to second-class status in their own homeland. The fertile land and cheap labor enabled the loyalists to get rich by exporting food to Britain's burgeoning empire.
While cereal crops were being fed to cattle to be sold, the Irish became dependent on one main staple: potatoes. This intensified the effect of the potato blight in 1845 and caused a massive reduction in the Irish population through starvation and emigration. A resultant uprising was put down by the British.
The English had lots of experience in quelling Irish uprisings. In the worst, Oliver Cromwell eliminated over half the island's population through killing, death by starvation or disease, deportation into slavery, and emigration.
There's an ancestral, deep seated hatred between these factions that's only gotten worse as each generation wrote its own chapter. But it's economic and political, not religious. Even well-known atheist Richard Dawkins writes that "wars and feuds between religious groups or sects are seldom actually about theological disagreements." And that's the case here.
But the use of misleading terms persists. The two sides aren't having theological debates, so why do reporters opt to use "Protestant" and "Catholic" instead of the more appropriate terms "Loyalist" or "Unionist" and "Republican" or "Nationalist?"
Maybe it's because the media tries not to miss a chance to associate Christianity with conflict and violence, especially when the storyline's been cultivated for as long as this one.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
An Avoidable Fatality
First, some background.
Type 1 Diabetes occurs when the pancreas stops producing insulin, which is a hormone that acts on sugar in the bloodstream to make it usable by the body. As it works, cells are fed and the sugar level in the blood is reduced.
Type 1 diabetics take insulin by injection (the more common Type 2 Diabetes is a different disease that generally doesn't require shots). As the insulin is absorbed into the bloodstream, sugars in the form of food must be eaten. This accomplishes two things: it provides nutrition and it gives the insulin something to work on.
Sounds easy, but guess again. If insufficient food is ingested,the insulin will break down too much sugar in the blood and create a low sugar reaction that can cause sweating, shivering, loss of mental acuity and coordination, and unconsciousness. With too much food or not enough insulin, high sugar levels result. This causes sluggishness and extreme thirst in the short run and complications like blindness, nerve damage, kidney disease, cardiovascular problems and even amputation in the long term.
It gets even more complicated, since factors like physical activity (or lack of it), a hot vs. a cold environment, sickness and stress affect how quickly the sugar gets burned off. Plus, the insulin usually peaks about 90 minutes after it's injected and then its effectiveness drops off, which means you need to compensate for insulin/food/activity several times a day.
You're on a tightrope, weighing all the variables to balance your blood sugar in a range between too high and too low. And it's with you relentlessly - every day, all day, 365 days a year. It's not easy, but at least you're alive.
Untreated Type 1 Diabetes is terminal 100% of the time. With no insulin to break down blood sugar for nourishment, the body turns on itself by metabolizing stored fats and producing an acid byproduct in the process. The acid builds up to toxic levels, poisons the body, causes a coma and then death.
This end game is what Dale Neumann, his wife and several others observed while they prayed for God to heal his daughter as she took her last breath on the floor of their home. He and his wife had refused to seek medical attention for her, even as 11 year-old Madeline lost weight and became too weak to walk, eat, drink or speak.
Neumann calls himself a "full gospel Christian" who regarded her illness as "a test of his faith." While Mr. Neumann is conversant with Bible verses, he's not affiliated with an organized church. And that may be the underlying cause of this tragedy.
If he had attended a church, even one that emphasizes divine healing, he would have found that they encourage medical treatment and that using modern medicine is entirely consistent with the Bible. While many churches believe God is responsible for all healing, seeking proper advice and treatment from a physician is no different from seeking help from an expert in any field. It's as prudent - and biblical - as hiring a plumber to fix a leaky pipe.
Dale Neumann should have sought medical help, and he also should have sought expert advice for an explanation of Bible passages. He may have modified his personal theology and chosen to enable his helpless daughter to survive.
Misinterpretation of the Bible can be dangerous. In this case it was fatal.
Type 1 Diabetes occurs when the pancreas stops producing insulin, which is a hormone that acts on sugar in the bloodstream to make it usable by the body. As it works, cells are fed and the sugar level in the blood is reduced.
Type 1 diabetics take insulin by injection (the more common Type 2 Diabetes is a different disease that generally doesn't require shots). As the insulin is absorbed into the bloodstream, sugars in the form of food must be eaten. This accomplishes two things: it provides nutrition and it gives the insulin something to work on.
Sounds easy, but guess again. If insufficient food is ingested,the insulin will break down too much sugar in the blood and create a low sugar reaction that can cause sweating, shivering, loss of mental acuity and coordination, and unconsciousness. With too much food or not enough insulin, high sugar levels result. This causes sluggishness and extreme thirst in the short run and complications like blindness, nerve damage, kidney disease, cardiovascular problems and even amputation in the long term.
It gets even more complicated, since factors like physical activity (or lack of it), a hot vs. a cold environment, sickness and stress affect how quickly the sugar gets burned off. Plus, the insulin usually peaks about 90 minutes after it's injected and then its effectiveness drops off, which means you need to compensate for insulin/food/activity several times a day.
You're on a tightrope, weighing all the variables to balance your blood sugar in a range between too high and too low. And it's with you relentlessly - every day, all day, 365 days a year. It's not easy, but at least you're alive.
Untreated Type 1 Diabetes is terminal 100% of the time. With no insulin to break down blood sugar for nourishment, the body turns on itself by metabolizing stored fats and producing an acid byproduct in the process. The acid builds up to toxic levels, poisons the body, causes a coma and then death.
This end game is what Dale Neumann, his wife and several others observed while they prayed for God to heal his daughter as she took her last breath on the floor of their home. He and his wife had refused to seek medical attention for her, even as 11 year-old Madeline lost weight and became too weak to walk, eat, drink or speak.
Neumann calls himself a "full gospel Christian" who regarded her illness as "a test of his faith." While Mr. Neumann is conversant with Bible verses, he's not affiliated with an organized church. And that may be the underlying cause of this tragedy.
If he had attended a church, even one that emphasizes divine healing, he would have found that they encourage medical treatment and that using modern medicine is entirely consistent with the Bible. While many churches believe God is responsible for all healing, seeking proper advice and treatment from a physician is no different from seeking help from an expert in any field. It's as prudent - and biblical - as hiring a plumber to fix a leaky pipe.
Dale Neumann should have sought medical help, and he also should have sought expert advice for an explanation of Bible passages. He may have modified his personal theology and chosen to enable his helpless daughter to survive.
Misinterpretation of the Bible can be dangerous. In this case it was fatal.
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