Pam Reynolds has a company in the music industry that records and promotes clients like Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam and REM. She's a dynamic person who, one summer day in 1991, hit a brick wall.
As recounted by Barbara Hagerty in her book Fingerprints of God and reported on National Public Radio's All Things Considered, Pam recalled "We were promoting a new record and I inexplicably forgot how to talk. I've got a big mouth. I never forget to talk."
She had a huge aneurysm with a huge risk of rupture that was in a location where what's called a "cardiac standstill" provided the best chance for success. It required "chilling her body, draining the blood out of her head like oil from a car engine, snipping the aneurysm and then bringing her back from the edge of death."
The procedure involved taping her eyes shut and enclosing her ears with molded speakers emitting loud sounds that enabled the surgeons to monitor her brain activity. With her senses impaired, Pam says "I was lying there on the gurney...seriously unconscious...when - I don't know how to explain this, other than to go ahead and say it - I popped out of the top of my head."
Looking down at herself surrounded by 20 others, she saw the bone saw and drill bits, observed a doctor working at her left groin, heard someone say "Her arteries are too small" and another voice reply, "Use the other side." As her body temperature dropped to 60 degrees, the blood was drained and she flatlined.
Her body "looked like a train wreck, and she didn't want to return." As her heart was revived, she recalled hearing the song "Hotel California" with the Eagles singing, "You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave."
Pam thought the whole episode was a hallucination until a year later, when she talked to the neurosurgeon about it. Despite being anesthetized, with closed eyes, noisy earphones and no heartbeat, she accurately described the equipment used, the people in the room and the procedure - including using the alternative arteries. Even the music was correct.
Gerald Woerlee is a "near death experience debunker" who has "easy" explanations. He claims that "when they cut into her head, she was jolted into consciousness" and that she "experienced anesthesia awareness, in which a person is conscious but can't move." He says she could hear either because the earpieces fit loosely or her aural memories were "due to sound transmission through the operating table itself."
We could disregard the facts that anesthesia awareness is a terrifying experience people remember, that even loose speakers would have impeded hearing because "they made clicking sounds as loud as a jet plane taking off," that it's tough to discern conversation or lyrics from vibrations transmitted through a stainless steel table, and that Pam's eyes were taped closed the entire time. If we can ignore these things, then I guess the explanation is easy.
On the other hand, cardiologist Dr. Michael Sabom and the operating neurosurgeon, Dr. Robert Spetzler, have a different view. "They believe the combination of anesthesia and the sluggish brain activity caused by hypothermia meant that Reynolds could not form or retain memories for a significant part of the operation. At the very least, the story raises the possibility that consciousness can function even if the brain is offline."
Sabom asks, "Is there some type of awareness that occurs from a nonfunctional, physical brain? And if there is, does that mean there's a soul or spirit?"
You think?
Christians believe there is an eternal soul that is separated from the body at death. Pam Reynolds flatlined and her soul took temporary flight, as it has for many others. Observers with a conviction that there is no God and no soul can invent scenarios that deny this. But they just don't make sense.
And all the while, God is demonstrating His presence. Believers see their faith confirmed, while skeptics are left trying convince themselves that their rationalizations hold water.
Reader's feedback is welcomed! Click on "comments" below to let us know your thoughts.
To add or remove an address from the Finding Faith mailing list, which provides a link to the weekly post, please send an email to cwgalaska@triadpress.us
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Enlightened Courtship
My ability to stay two steps behind current technology is legendary - just ask my kids. I also lag behind social change, probably because much of it doesn't make sense to me. The impact of communications technology and the sexual revolution on personal relationships is one of the issues I haven't quite caught up with.
Social mores that encourage "hooking up" and having "friends with benefits" put emotional commitment and sexuality in separate compartments. The new "morality" is facilitated by cell phones and texting that provide an ever-present, fast and impersonal way to arrange contacts. According to New York Times columnist David Brooks, people can "be on the verge of spending an evening with one partner, when a text arrives from another with a potentially better offer. The atmosphere is fluid, like an eBay auction."
This certainly isn't universal conduct, but that's not the point. The point is that it's acceptable behavior.
Brooks notes that "Once upon a time - in what we might think of as the "Happy Days" era - courtship was governed by a set of guardrails. Potential partners generally met within the context of larger social institutions: neighborhoods, schools, workplaces and families. There were certain accepted social scripts. The purpose of the scripts was to guide young people on the path from short-term desire to long-term commitment."
He neglected to include churches as one of the "larger social institutions" and the role they had in establishing social values. An inadvertent oversight, I'm sure.
Along the path to a long-term (think marriage) relationship, consummation was a big deal and it was ideally put off until the honeymoon. It involved sharing a personal and closely guarded part of your being and it expressed deep mutual commitment. This certainly wasn't universal conduct, either, but at least it established a framewok where sex was more consequential than riding a roller coaster or going to a concert.
Why was this? Fear of unwanted pregnancy - which was also a big deal - was part of it. But more fundamentally, humans are hardwired to know that sex is special. Look around: how often do we see infidelity lead to damaged marriages, divorce, children raised amid hatred between separated parents, violence and even murder. Unfaithfulness is a staple in "Dear Abby."
Brooks notes that "Over the past few decades, (the) social scripts became obsolete. So the search was on for more enlightened courtship rules." The definition of "enlightened" that applies here is "freed from ignorance, prejudice or superstition" as we discard traditional values and stridently march into a future free of restraint.
Mankind's makeup is on display in the Bible and his nature hasn't changed a bit since it was written, not even in the last few decades. God teaches us to embrace self control, treat others with love and respect, and avoid promiscuousness.
He doesn't suggest we romp around like stray dogs, callously using other people as objects free from commitment or responsibility. We can go down that road, but a price will be paid in bad relationships, distrust, hate, insecurity and insatiable selfishness.
There's another definition of "enlightened." It's "given spiritual or religious revelation." People would be truly enlightened if they'd shut out the cultural noise, think about what they're doing, and consider the impact of Christian teaching. Controlling fleeting desires because of loyalty, love and respect for another person helps build solid, mutually supportive relationships that last a lifetime. And it focuses people on something bigger than the next one night stand.
We're gorging ourselves like kids in a candy store. "Enlightenment" won't come by eating more or different candy, or ingesting it with a different style. It'll come (back) when we control ourselves sensibly. God enlightens us by showing us how to avoid the havoc our desires can create because he knows man's unchanging nature.
If we listen.
Reader's feedback is welcomed! Click on "comments" to let us know your thoughts.
To add or remove an address from the Finding Faith mailing list, which provides a link to the weekly post, please send an email to cwgalaska@triadpress.us
Social mores that encourage "hooking up" and having "friends with benefits" put emotional commitment and sexuality in separate compartments. The new "morality" is facilitated by cell phones and texting that provide an ever-present, fast and impersonal way to arrange contacts. According to New York Times columnist David Brooks, people can "be on the verge of spending an evening with one partner, when a text arrives from another with a potentially better offer. The atmosphere is fluid, like an eBay auction."
This certainly isn't universal conduct, but that's not the point. The point is that it's acceptable behavior.
Brooks notes that "Once upon a time - in what we might think of as the "Happy Days" era - courtship was governed by a set of guardrails. Potential partners generally met within the context of larger social institutions: neighborhoods, schools, workplaces and families. There were certain accepted social scripts. The purpose of the scripts was to guide young people on the path from short-term desire to long-term commitment."
He neglected to include churches as one of the "larger social institutions" and the role they had in establishing social values. An inadvertent oversight, I'm sure.
Along the path to a long-term (think marriage) relationship, consummation was a big deal and it was ideally put off until the honeymoon. It involved sharing a personal and closely guarded part of your being and it expressed deep mutual commitment. This certainly wasn't universal conduct, either, but at least it established a framewok where sex was more consequential than riding a roller coaster or going to a concert.
Why was this? Fear of unwanted pregnancy - which was also a big deal - was part of it. But more fundamentally, humans are hardwired to know that sex is special. Look around: how often do we see infidelity lead to damaged marriages, divorce, children raised amid hatred between separated parents, violence and even murder. Unfaithfulness is a staple in "Dear Abby."
Brooks notes that "Over the past few decades, (the) social scripts became obsolete. So the search was on for more enlightened courtship rules." The definition of "enlightened" that applies here is "freed from ignorance, prejudice or superstition" as we discard traditional values and stridently march into a future free of restraint.
Mankind's makeup is on display in the Bible and his nature hasn't changed a bit since it was written, not even in the last few decades. God teaches us to embrace self control, treat others with love and respect, and avoid promiscuousness.
He doesn't suggest we romp around like stray dogs, callously using other people as objects free from commitment or responsibility. We can go down that road, but a price will be paid in bad relationships, distrust, hate, insecurity and insatiable selfishness.
There's another definition of "enlightened." It's "given spiritual or religious revelation." People would be truly enlightened if they'd shut out the cultural noise, think about what they're doing, and consider the impact of Christian teaching. Controlling fleeting desires because of loyalty, love and respect for another person helps build solid, mutually supportive relationships that last a lifetime. And it focuses people on something bigger than the next one night stand.
We're gorging ourselves like kids in a candy store. "Enlightenment" won't come by eating more or different candy, or ingesting it with a different style. It'll come (back) when we control ourselves sensibly. God enlightens us by showing us how to avoid the havoc our desires can create because he knows man's unchanging nature.
If we listen.
Reader's feedback is welcomed! Click on "comments" to let us know your thoughts.
To add or remove an address from the Finding Faith mailing list, which provides a link to the weekly post, please send an email to cwgalaska@triadpress.us
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Time Compression
I remember how it started. A customer called and asked,
"Got a fax machine?"
"What's that?"
"It hooks up to a phone line and lets you send images right away."
"Sounds great."
"I'll mail this blueprint, but you've gotta get a fax."
Anything on paper could be in my hands within minutes. It was fast, but insistent. Once a fax was transmitted, there was no excuse for not dealing with it immediately. In a small way, technology started to control my day.
PC's and email came next. Letters and telephone conversations became less important as email took over. Along with speed came volume, and the number of communications exploded. Checking email several times a day became essential and so did quick responses, even if they interrupted the current workload.
Cell phones became universal and it seemed that when you traveled your office came along. Gone were the days of quiet time and reflection as you drove. Your privacy was gone, too, since the phones doubled as cameras that could capture your - and everyone else's - flaws and put them on the web. They could be posted worldwide, instantly and irretrievably.
We accessed information on the web, and lots of it. The concept of casually browsing a newspaper, magazine or book and unexpectly learning something of value disappeared. In the meantime, the specific information you sought was fast, voluminous and, in many cases, unreliable. Truth somehow became subjective.
Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, iPod, Smartphones, blogs, texting...and on...and on. Just keeping up with the technology is daunting. The world continues to accelerate and may reach a point where the human mind is overwhelmed by it. It might already be there.
Tom Hayes and Michael S. Malone, in an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal titled "The Ten-Year Century" note that 60-second TV commercials are compressed into 30-second spots "as we multitask our way through emails, text messages and tweets."
Time compression extends to the world at large: "Changes that used to take generations...now unfurl in a span of years. Since 2000 we've experienced three economic bubbles, three market crashes, a devastating terrorist attack, and a global influenza pandemic."
"Moore's Law" postulates that semi-conductor chips double their performance every 18-24 months. This means faster access to greater volumes of information crunched by chips that go "through as many computations in a second as there are heartbeats in ten lifetimes." Decisions are made with snippets of data snatched from a constantly enlarging stream of ever changing information. Decision-makers are hanging onto a tiger by the tail because they're inundated by data and pressured to act quickly.
In the past, things sometimes got out of control but at least we had an idea of what was going on. Now they're getting beyond comprehension.
Hayes and Malone believe that "trust will become a critical factor. Without the luxury of time, trust will be the new currency of our times, whether in news sources, economic systems, political figures, even spiritual leaders. As change accelerates, it will remain one true constant."
The track record of "news sources, economic systems, political figures and spiritual leaders" up until now isn't encouraging. Everyday people don't provide reasons for optimism, either. I know a person who tries to do the right thing, but can't be trusted in time compression. Me. I once had a customer who demanded pricing instantly as he snapped his fingers over the phone. With no time to update costs, I repeatedly jacked up the prices and added a percentage for aggravation each time. And they were accepted because this guy, in his focus on speed, never questioned them. This went on until the buyer - incredibly - moved on to a bigger job. As the world intensifies, "trust" suffers. It sure doesn't become more common.
The accelerating speed of change leaves us without a solid foundation. It seems that anything can be here today and gone tomorrow or true today and false tomorrow.
Anything except Christ.
Jesus provides peace, strength and hope that transcend the world's craziness. If you're looking for trust and the "one true constant," He's the answer.
Reader's feedback is welcomed! Click on "comments" to let us know your thoughts.
To add or remove an address from the Finding Faith mailing list, which provides a link to the weekly post, please send an email to cwgalaska@triadpress.us
"Got a fax machine?"
"What's that?"
"It hooks up to a phone line and lets you send images right away."
"Sounds great."
"I'll mail this blueprint, but you've gotta get a fax."
Anything on paper could be in my hands within minutes. It was fast, but insistent. Once a fax was transmitted, there was no excuse for not dealing with it immediately. In a small way, technology started to control my day.
PC's and email came next. Letters and telephone conversations became less important as email took over. Along with speed came volume, and the number of communications exploded. Checking email several times a day became essential and so did quick responses, even if they interrupted the current workload.
Cell phones became universal and it seemed that when you traveled your office came along. Gone were the days of quiet time and reflection as you drove. Your privacy was gone, too, since the phones doubled as cameras that could capture your - and everyone else's - flaws and put them on the web. They could be posted worldwide, instantly and irretrievably.
We accessed information on the web, and lots of it. The concept of casually browsing a newspaper, magazine or book and unexpectly learning something of value disappeared. In the meantime, the specific information you sought was fast, voluminous and, in many cases, unreliable. Truth somehow became subjective.
Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, iPod, Smartphones, blogs, texting...and on...and on. Just keeping up with the technology is daunting. The world continues to accelerate and may reach a point where the human mind is overwhelmed by it. It might already be there.
Tom Hayes and Michael S. Malone, in an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal titled "The Ten-Year Century" note that 60-second TV commercials are compressed into 30-second spots "as we multitask our way through emails, text messages and tweets."
Time compression extends to the world at large: "Changes that used to take generations...now unfurl in a span of years. Since 2000 we've experienced three economic bubbles, three market crashes, a devastating terrorist attack, and a global influenza pandemic."
"Moore's Law" postulates that semi-conductor chips double their performance every 18-24 months. This means faster access to greater volumes of information crunched by chips that go "through as many computations in a second as there are heartbeats in ten lifetimes." Decisions are made with snippets of data snatched from a constantly enlarging stream of ever changing information. Decision-makers are hanging onto a tiger by the tail because they're inundated by data and pressured to act quickly.
In the past, things sometimes got out of control but at least we had an idea of what was going on. Now they're getting beyond comprehension.
Hayes and Malone believe that "trust will become a critical factor. Without the luxury of time, trust will be the new currency of our times, whether in news sources, economic systems, political figures, even spiritual leaders. As change accelerates, it will remain one true constant."
The track record of "news sources, economic systems, political figures and spiritual leaders" up until now isn't encouraging. Everyday people don't provide reasons for optimism, either. I know a person who tries to do the right thing, but can't be trusted in time compression. Me. I once had a customer who demanded pricing instantly as he snapped his fingers over the phone. With no time to update costs, I repeatedly jacked up the prices and added a percentage for aggravation each time. And they were accepted because this guy, in his focus on speed, never questioned them. This went on until the buyer - incredibly - moved on to a bigger job. As the world intensifies, "trust" suffers. It sure doesn't become more common.
The accelerating speed of change leaves us without a solid foundation. It seems that anything can be here today and gone tomorrow or true today and false tomorrow.
Anything except Christ.
Jesus provides peace, strength and hope that transcend the world's craziness. If you're looking for trust and the "one true constant," He's the answer.
Reader's feedback is welcomed! Click on "comments" to let us know your thoughts.
To add or remove an address from the Finding Faith mailing list, which provides a link to the weekly post, please send an email to cwgalaska@triadpress.us
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Bigger Than Jesus
"Moses is bigger than Jesus," according to the lead article in USA Today. Written by Cathy Lynn Grossman, the story expresses the view of Bruce Feiler who wrote a book called America's Prophet.
The idea is that Moses played a bigger role than Jesus in "shaping the character of America's self-identity." Feiler tracks this back to the early days of independence, when the new nation realized it needed a moral authority higher than the despised King of England. Rejecting individuals as arbiters of right and wrong, they turned to the Bible and found Moses.
Moses is an extraordinary character. He led his people out of Egypt across the miraculously divided Red Sea, received the Ten Commandments from God, and brought the Hebrews to the promised land. But God forbid him to go into it himself because he disobeyed one of His commands. During a desperate time in the desert, God told Moses to "speak to that rock" to "pour out its water," but Moses struck it with his staff instead. The water poured out, but he paid a heavy price for his lack of trust in God.
He did all of this, and much more, despite having a speech impediment. He's an absolutely compelling character.
Moses certainly figures into American history. He was quoted by the Pilgrims during the voyage to Plymouth. His words, "Proclaim liberty throughout the land" are cast into the Liberty Bell. And his feat of freeing his people from oppression and leading them to the promised land is a powerful metaphor for a nation that broke its bondage to England and created its own land of milk and honey.
Feiler may have soft spot for Moses. It's hard not to. But to claim that Moses supercedes Jesus is a stretch, considering that the U.S. has always been overwhelmingly Christian. The Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament) provides the foundation for Christianity and makes up about two-thirds of the Christian Bible. Moses is a key player in it, and his influence found its way into the founding principles of the United States through the Puritans, who were Christian.
Moses's impact on America doesn't mean that "Moses is bigger than Jesus...in U.S. political and cultural history," any more than he's bigger than Jesus in the Bible. After all, Jesus is God and not simply a prophet acting at God's behest. Jesus shared the gospel first with the Jewish people, who largely rejected it, and then with everyone else. It's the people who accepted it, from the Pilgrims to the Puritans, to Jonathan Edwards sparking the Great Awakening, to churchmen pushing to abolish slavery and later driving the civil rights movement, who shaped this country.
The story of Moses is taught in Sunday Schools and has inspired Christians throughout history. It's in the context of Christianity that his role is significant for most Americans.
The USA Today article is just another example of the press taking a subtle swipe at Jesus. It gave one of the largest national daily newspapers a chance to write a front page headline asking, "Was Moses our true Founding Father" rather than simply writing a book review, and it gratuitously challenged the primacy of Christian influence in the United States.
We don't really need to argue about this. If you want to see whose ideals permeate America, all you need to do is walk through a national cemetery and count the crosses.
Reader's feedback is welcomed! Click on "comments" to let us know your thoughts.
To add or remove an address from the Finding Faith mailing list, which provides a link to the weekly post, please send an email to cwgalaska@triadpress.us
The idea is that Moses played a bigger role than Jesus in "shaping the character of America's self-identity." Feiler tracks this back to the early days of independence, when the new nation realized it needed a moral authority higher than the despised King of England. Rejecting individuals as arbiters of right and wrong, they turned to the Bible and found Moses.
Moses is an extraordinary character. He led his people out of Egypt across the miraculously divided Red Sea, received the Ten Commandments from God, and brought the Hebrews to the promised land. But God forbid him to go into it himself because he disobeyed one of His commands. During a desperate time in the desert, God told Moses to "speak to that rock" to "pour out its water," but Moses struck it with his staff instead. The water poured out, but he paid a heavy price for his lack of trust in God.
He did all of this, and much more, despite having a speech impediment. He's an absolutely compelling character.
Moses certainly figures into American history. He was quoted by the Pilgrims during the voyage to Plymouth. His words, "Proclaim liberty throughout the land" are cast into the Liberty Bell. And his feat of freeing his people from oppression and leading them to the promised land is a powerful metaphor for a nation that broke its bondage to England and created its own land of milk and honey.
Feiler may have soft spot for Moses. It's hard not to. But to claim that Moses supercedes Jesus is a stretch, considering that the U.S. has always been overwhelmingly Christian. The Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament) provides the foundation for Christianity and makes up about two-thirds of the Christian Bible. Moses is a key player in it, and his influence found its way into the founding principles of the United States through the Puritans, who were Christian.
Moses's impact on America doesn't mean that "Moses is bigger than Jesus...in U.S. political and cultural history," any more than he's bigger than Jesus in the Bible. After all, Jesus is God and not simply a prophet acting at God's behest. Jesus shared the gospel first with the Jewish people, who largely rejected it, and then with everyone else. It's the people who accepted it, from the Pilgrims to the Puritans, to Jonathan Edwards sparking the Great Awakening, to churchmen pushing to abolish slavery and later driving the civil rights movement, who shaped this country.
The story of Moses is taught in Sunday Schools and has inspired Christians throughout history. It's in the context of Christianity that his role is significant for most Americans.
The USA Today article is just another example of the press taking a subtle swipe at Jesus. It gave one of the largest national daily newspapers a chance to write a front page headline asking, "Was Moses our true Founding Father" rather than simply writing a book review, and it gratuitously challenged the primacy of Christian influence in the United States.
We don't really need to argue about this. If you want to see whose ideals permeate America, all you need to do is walk through a national cemetery and count the crosses.
Reader's feedback is welcomed! Click on "comments" to let us know your thoughts.
To add or remove an address from the Finding Faith mailing list, which provides a link to the weekly post, please send an email to cwgalaska@triadpress.us
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