Thoughts of a Dying Christian Part I

"Religion is the opiate of the masses."- Karl Marx. Ok, so what if all of this is just a trip or a dream? I'm Alice stumbling down a rabbit hole into a world of fantasy and wonder. Maybe all this Bible stuff is just a construct. I mean there are so many denominations, sub-denominations, and sects. Is just one of them "right"? Right and wrong seemed to be so simple once upon a time. Now, as I look out at the world, it is colored grey like a rainy morning in England. The Book of Mormon may have historical and linguistic inaccuracies, but Mormons are usually the nicest people one could meet. And why are some of the most socially conscious rappers Muslim? (Talib Kweli, Lupe Fiasco et al) Aren't they all terrorists? *sarcasm font*

Why do churches pass offering plates every Sunday? I thought that God didn't desire sacrifice and burnt offerings. Why are some Christians obsessed with owning guns? Aren't Christians supposed to go the extra, give away the outer garment?I wonder what these "God and Guns" people are going to do with their gats? Kill communists, I don't know.

A favorite Christian pastime is "bitching" about the government, especially President Obama. Excuse my language, but this activity annoys me that much. They tweet and post their complaints on Facebook continually but do nothing. First, the recession started in 2007 so if you want a government scapegoat, go after the former President Bush. But remember the rule of causality vs. correlation. Some of the wisest words I have heard in my lifetime were from a speech by columnist George Will at Roanoke College. He said, "The government can't save you. If you want salvation, get religion." These people who complain the government "have religion" so why can't they be happy in God and not get worked up about the government. Humans are too flawed to be messiahs.

Humans need to belong. That's why we have families, cities, and Liger Appreciation societies. We find pleasure in the the company of our fellow creatures. Individualism can feel good for a while, but we need someone to confide in. So is religion another community or club? Maybe. It brings people together who find truth and comfort in common beliefs. But if you don't believe in what I believe, does that make me right and you wrong? Every human believes in some form of objective truth, but it is subjective to that person's own personal philosophy.

"What if God was one of us? Just a slob like one of us. Just a stranger on the bus trying to make his way home."-Joan Osbourne

Five Positions on the Integration of Theology and Science (Pgs. 7-11)

At medieval universities, theology was often called "queen of the sciences." However, in recent times, these two disciplines have rubbed shoulders together often, usually in a negative way.

In their introduction to Three Views on Creation and Evolution, J.P. Moreland and John Mark Reynolds state that Christians should be interested in science because God created us with a mind that can be used to explore the world around it and see how and why it works. However, they have different views of how to fit science into a Christian life.

Some Christians use science to prove the theological ideas that the universe was designed and didn't evolve from chance or a process of natural selection. Others think that science and Christian theology can't mix because of the "evolution problem". A third school states that science has superseded Christianity because it relies on empirical faith whereas Christianity relies on blind faith. For example, the late American philosopher Wilfred Sellars stated, "In the dimension of describing and explaining the world, science is the measure of all things, of what is that it is, and of what is not that is not" (Science, Perception, and Reality 173). In summary, science is the only thing that can explain the existence and origin of the universe. It may even explain the meaning of life...

However, Christians must be prepared to defend their beliefs against modern science and see how their beliefs fit in with the beliefs of the zeitgeist. They can't be afraid to engage in dialogue with modern intellectuals. The purpose of Three Views is to show the beliefs of the three different schools of origins theories: Young Earth (YE), Old Earth (OE), and Theistic Evolution (TE). But before diving into this, Moreland and Reynolds briefly discuss five models for integrating theology and other academic disciplines, especially science.

The first view is Two Realms. This view states that theology is completely separate from every other discipline. For example, infant baptism doesn't matter in quantum physics.

The second is Complementarity View. Science and theology can work together, but they answer different questions. For example, science can deal with the particular (how an eye works?) whereas theology deals with the universal (who or what created an eye?). If one takes this view to its logical conclusion, it can mean that theology and science are both useful, but they must never interact. Some theistic evolutionists use this view to integrate evolution and creation

The third view is Direct Interaction. Science and theology can work together and can either support or go against the other. The theory of evolution can hurt a literal reading of Genesis 1, but the Big Bang theory can also support the Biblical view that the universe had a clear first cause. Many Old Earth and Young Earth creationists hold to this view.

The fourth is the Presuppositional View. Theology can support the presuppositions of science and vice versa. For example, some presuppositions of science (an ordered world with laws) support Christian theology, and some presuppositions of Christian theology (an imperfect world) support presuppositions of science (thermodynamic property of entropy).

The final view is Practical Application.  Theology can help an understanding of other subjects and apply principles of that subject. For example, in psychology, the principle of not provoking children to anger (Eph. 6:4) can help aid psychological principles of family structures and the root causes of anger.

Which view do you hold to or it is a mixture of a few? Next post: It gets controversial... creation vs. evolution!

"For centuries, theologians have been explaining the unknowable in terms of the not-worth-knowing."- Henry L. Mencken

Random thoughts

I couldn't get any bleeding rest on the last day of Outreach Week, so here's a blog. Sorry, for the stream of consciousness style. So, life's all about identity right? We wear tons of different caps. I'm a Christian first and foremost, saved by grace through faith. Going through trials, like losing my Grandpa, my dad's affairs, and switching schools, have really solidified this faith.

Another identity I wear is geek or nerd or otaku. OK, scratch that last one. I'm not that much into anime. (Do have a couple shows like Blood+ and Gun X on my Netflix Instant Queue though and enjoyed the Wolverine Anime and the random, yet hilarious comedic stylings of Bobboobo or however you spell his name). For example, I would rather have a 12 hour LOTR marathon in my dorm room with a small, select group of people than go out to the beach with a BUNCH of people, like two whole dorms combined. Hobbits and pizza> sand, surf, loud Jesus pop . This is why a RiffTrax Thor/ Super Smash Bros. party appeals to me more than an all night kegger. Maybe, the kegger would be cool if Felicia Day, Joss Whedon, Brian Michael Bendis, and an undead  Steve Jobs were there...

Quick follow up: You know you're a geek if you say something completely random on the spot, and people take it as canon. Take Harry Potter for example. A dude at a post-Outreach Week dinner plucked out three of my dainty ginger hairs. After doing that, I said, "If you mix those hairs with eye of newt and toad broth, you can become invisible." The norms bought it hook line and sinker even though I basically ad-libbed my quip off Macbeth. (Good old Will Shakes)

But how do I mix my faith, geekdom, love for more highbrow culture (mythology, history, literature, dabblings in philosophy), and identity as a citizen of a polis (United States) into one cohesive brew? Right now, I have no idea. Faith, geekdom, and academia are easy. As long as glorify God through my passion for comics, film, gaming, TV, fandom etc. and thirst for knowledge, everything works out in the end. (I really think there were be scholars in Heaven...) However, being a citizen is different. I like to stay reasonably politically informed through BBC, Huffington Post etc, but I think I'm falling into the same partisan trap that I point out in other people.

Despite my heart to help the poor in society through homeless ministries in my college, I feel distracted by a need for identity. I know I'm a Christian, but at the Christian college I go to, my debates aren't about the big stuff (was Jesus God?, is the Bible inerrant, does the gospel really save?), but about the small stuff (Old Earth vs. Young Earth, can a Democrat be a Christian (shoot me) ). I haven't even mentioned that I think that Hell is an emotional state after death, not a literal hot pit. How can fire and complete darkness coexist, literally and logically speaking?

But, despite my struggles, I've decided to weather the small storms and carry on. I really love the diverse ethnic environment at my college, especially coming from WASP-y Roanoke, Virginia. Hopefully, I can build some strong relationships with the professors in my department. Extremely pumped to hang out with Dr. Horner next Friday, which could have been Wednesday if it wasn't for my general ed Math mandatory money lecture.

That comes to my final rant. Money. Money really ticks me off because you can't live with it or live without it. Money can help you satisfy your basic needs (food and water) and complex wants ($40 philosophy books, weekly comic book run), but it can also lead men and women to sell their souls to profit. It would be cool if the ideal of pure socialism could actually work, and people didn't care about how much private property they had and their salary size and concentrated on being creative and improving culture and civilization, but that will never happen until Heaven or the millennial kingdom, depending on your eschatological view which I don't have currently. Sorry, back up preacher guy at PCB who tried to sell me on pre-millenialism. I must study Revelation personally and try not to hold dogmatic views on that book like a guy named Calvin who didn't write a commentary on it and didn't let his preachers preach on it. Since I moved to CA, I literally have heard three sermons on the Book of Revelation, probably more than in my entire life time.

So, really sorry about this mostly incoherent post about money, identity, faith, school, being a geek, politics etc., and I'll leave you with this quote from Plato. (whose theory of Forms does really float my boat, but the boat is beginning to sink)

"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle."

Nota bene: Plato probably didn't say this, but he is a boss...

The Pilgrim's Matrix: Two Viewpoints Create One Hero

                (This is an early concept paper for my senior thesis on the military hero)

The military hero is one of the most enduring archetypes in fiction, stretching from the early

epics of Gilgamesh and Homer to modern films like Avatar and Iron Man. There are many kinds of heroes from the one-man army (e.g. Achilles, Wolverine) to the war leader (e.g. Aeneas, Maximus, Benjamin Martin from The Patriot). Another type of military hero that fights his or her personal “war” against crime or corruption is the masked vigilante, like Batman or Rorschach from Watchmen.

But not all military heroes do battle in the physical realm. Spiritual warriors are wracked by temptations and inner struggles. They may seem only like a pawn in the scheme of a greater narrative, but their journey to enlightenment and freedom transcend the whole conflict. Two examples of this kind of hero are Christian from John Bunyan’s religious allegory Pilgrim’s Progress and Neo from the Matrix trilogy, which was written, directed, and produced by the Wachowskis (one of them might be a woman now).

 Pilgrim’s Progress records the journey of Christian from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City, and how he grows spiritually despite many dangers. The Matrix films tell the story of Neo, a computer hacker, who learns the true nature of reality from mysterious crew of the Nebuchadnezzar and travels through the Matrix and the real world, learning about himself and the reality he lives in as the series progresses.

The Matrix films and Pilgrim’s Progress share a common hero archetype, but their author and directors, respectively, have very different influences and life experiences.

               John Bunyan was born to an Anglican tinker in 1628 but abandoned his faith while fighting for Oliver Cromwell in the English Civil War. His experiences during the war and the beauty of the Bedfordshire countryside were major influences on Pilgrim’s Progress, which Bunyan wrote in jail and published in 1678 (Jokinen 2). Bunyan’s conversion to Christianity (recorded in his autobiography Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners) inspired him to write Pilgrim’s Progress as a vivid allegory of the gospel, drawing from the Bible and his own personal experiences.

                On the other hand, Larry (sometimes Lana) and Andy Wachowski are sibling directors who are famous for directing, writing, and producing the Matrix trilogy. In addition to these films, they wrote and produced the film adaptation of Alan Moore’s legendary graphic novel V for Vendetta and are currently writing, producing, and directing Cloud Atlas, an adaptation of the award winning sci fi novel (IMDB). The Wachowskis are big fans of kung fu movies and reality-bending anime like Ghost in the Shell and Akira (Wachowskis 1). This is where much of the action scenes in The Matrix come from.

                According to a fan interview, the Wachowskis’ religion is “non-denominational”,  and the Matrix movies contains hints of many faiths, both Eastern and Western. For example, the war between humans and machines is like Gnosticism’s dualist body/soul conflict. Also, Trinity and Zion are Biblical references, and Neo’s status as the One parallels Gautama Siddharta’s status as the “Enlightened Buddha” in Buddhism (Henry 1).

                Therefore, in contrast with Bunyan’s fairly straightforward  Protestant allegory, the Matrix saga is a smorgasbord of world religions, kung fu, and dystopia á la Blade Runner or the 1982 arcade game Robotron 2084. But the Christian allegory and the cyberpunk flick share the common archetype of the spiritual warrior

.

                Both Christian and Neo come from desolate places. After Neo is unplugged from the Matrix, he sees the reality of planet Earth, which is the barren Desert of the Real, governed by insatiable machines. Christian’s life is no different, and his home is the “wilderness of the world”, the aptly named city of Destruction (Bunyan 10). However, Christian is told the truth about his condition about his condition by Evangelist, who commands him to “run far from his own door” (18). Likewise, Neo is given commands on a computer and telephone by the unseen Morpheus to learn about the reality of his condition.

                Christian trusts Evangelist, even when his neighbors Obstinate and Pliable try to dissuade. Also, Neo trusts Morpheus and follows the “white rabbit” even though it leads him to a loud night club and causes him to be late the next day for work.  Neo continues to be harried and tempted by Agent Smith, who offers him a normal life in the Matrix for information about Morpheus. Finally, Neo is told the truth of his condition as a slave to the machine and swallows the red pill “to see how far the rabbit trail leads” (The Matrix). This is similar to Pilgrim’s Progress when Evangelist tells Christian that Mr. Worldly Wise’s promise of easy burden removal and a normal life is a lie (Bunyan 57). Also, the Interpreter shows Christian a man in a cage, symbolizing a slave to Satan, which is like Morpheus revealing the human condition of slavery to the machines to Neo in the “real world.”

*SPOILER ALERT* (If you haven’t seen The Matrix, you might not want to read this)

                But the clearest parallel between Neo and Christian is their respective salvations. When he is supposedly “killed” by Agent Smith, Neo is revived by Trinity’s kiss and realizes his true potential as the One by moving faster than Smith and going directly into Smith’s programming. He can also fly and move freely between the Matrix and “real world.” Christian also experiences salvation when he “dies” as Graceless and becomes Christian. He is given clean white clothes (like Neo’s clean black trench coat and sunglasses) and his burden is removed, freeing him. For example, Christian climbs the Hill of Difficulty without a problem.

                Neo and Christian endure similar struggles in their respective movies and book, and both have salvation experiences. Therefore, in this case, the archetype of a spiritual warrior has not changed much at base level in 300 years, despite divergent worldviews of authors and modern technology and fighting techniques.

                “I know kung fu”- Neo (The Matrix)

The Cave (and a short rant with a happy Easter ending)

Darkness fills the room,
Like death in the tomb.
Ignorance and despair
Laying my soul bare
A prison for mind,
 Truth is a crime,
A dungeon for my reason,
Enlightenment is treason.

Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins was right when he said, "Despite all my rage, I'm still just a rat in a cage." People around me tell me what to do and think about so many things without asking why I do these things. Questions are more powerful than imperative statements. Just a thought, if I'm allowed...

Instead of working together to formulate opinions about the world around us, websites and news outlets that claim to be "fair and balanced" really just pick a side and stick to that part of a story. One must have some kind of foundation of  truth, but that should not stop them from reading about the "other side." I'm a Christian, but I also read books, watch films, and listen to music by Jews, agnostics, Marxists, and even worshipers of the Roman snake god Glycon.

Many Christians disparage postmodernism. True, postmodernism rejects objective truth and with it all religious dogma. However, postmodernism widened the rigid narrow canon that used to only consist of books written by dead white Anglo-Saxon Protestants. But with the advent of postmodernism and the "hermeneutics of suspicion", books by women, minorities, and persons who went against the grain of their culture can be included in the ranks of great writers. Also, postmodernism isn't snobbish and doesn't try to find an objective idea of a "great book", which a centuries old debate. It gets half the story right: the human race is desperately flawed and cannot be "cured" by cured by modern science and technology.

But it's missing one thing: a Savior.

"And as the women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, "Why do you seek the living One among the dead? He is not here, but he has risen. Remember how he spoke to you while he was still in Galilee, saying that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again." Luke 24:5-7 (NASB)