First Field Day!

Today was our first "class." We took a five hour walking tour of the old city. My group contains all the grad students, a few of the undergrads, and is lead by Paul Wright. We started on Mount Zion, went to the traditional site of the "Upper Room," looked at maps of the city through the ages, and examined how history is still affecting life today. As he quoted Faulkner, "The past isn't dead. It isn't even past." We saw where they are rebuilding a large synagog, we visited the Church of the Holy Sepulcher (or the Church of the Resurrection), and examined the topography of the land.

Favorite quotes of the day (both by Dr. Wright):
"Come to Jerusalem and get high!" (vertically, that is)
"The writers of the old testament had their feet in this dirt. In a sense, they had their minds in the dirt."

Here's my first impression "paper" on the day's walk.

Sunday, August 31, 2008
Old City Walking Tour

Today was a day that I have looked forward to for months – my first day of “class” here at JUC. There is just so much I want to learn -- I’m always anxious for school to start. This school started with a five hour walk in the Old City of Jerusalem. I had been to Jerusalem before and had heard and seen much of what we heard and saw today, but there were still new things to learn and think about. For that matter, there are old things from last time I was here that I haven’t finished thinking about.

One thing that struck me (or re-struck me) today was all the different belief systems represented on this tiny plot of land. There are, of course, the three main divisions: Jews, Muslims, and Christians, and each of them claims this land as a holy place. But then there are the divisions within each of those religions, some of them nearly as dramatic as the divisions between the main groups. Most of the “holy” sites we visited today are claimed to some extent by all three main groups. It’s odd…all three claim to have basically the same roots, and yet they are so different and there is so much strife between them. Even sadder are the riots that occur yearly during Easter in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher caused by conflicts between the six churches represented there. The Bible says that Christians will be known by their love for each other. I know many who would question whether or not most people in these orthodox churches are really saved; however, giving them the benefit of the doubt for the moment, they certainly don’t seem to act like Christians towards each other. How do they act towards Jews and Muslims? Are they displaying the fruits of the Spirit in other areas of their lives? One hopes so.

The Temple Mount is one area that is claimed as a holy site by all three main religions here. I was reading a book this summer that even conjectured that that area might have been a Jebusite religious site before the city was conquered by David. For that matter, some say that even before that, it was the Mount Moriah where Abraham sacrificed Isaac. Who knows exactly how long ago that area first started to be considered “holy.” I certainly don’t. Is this a normal human habit, to build a new holy site on top of an old, perhaps in hopes of absorbing the power of the previous god, or at least gaining his followers? Or, possibly, is there something about that sight that is inherently holy? I have had at least two people comment today about how they just “felt different” when they visited the Western Wall. Is that due to the holiness of the site? Or perhaps a site with so much history makes us feel more connected to others, including the founders of our faith? I can think of numerous possible explanations…perhaps it’s a combination of all of them.

One thing that has been in the back of my mind for quite sometime is the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Since I am now in the land that is the source (or one of the sources) of that conflict that issue has been poking itself into my consciousness a bit more often. I don’t really know enough about either side to make any sort of informed comment on it. I think I tend to be a bit of a “problem solver” though, so I keep thinking about how to find a solution. Of course I know the situation is too complex for any simple human solution. I really believe that the only way that the Israelis and Palestinians will ever live in peace is for them both to have peace with God through His Son, Jesus. For now, at least we can share the gospel and work on reconciling believers with different backgrounds.

I’ll finish with a thought from the end of Psalm 122. We looked at the first part of this Psalm in class today, and I’m sure we’ll get to this part, but I’m going to skip a head a bit.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
“May they prosper who love you.
Peace be within your walls,
Prosperity within your palaces.”
For the sake of my brethren and companions,
I will now say, “Peace be within you.”
Because of the house of the LORD our God
I will seek your good.

Lord, bring peace to Jerusalem. Amen.

First things...

As I type I am sitting under a grape arbor looking out at the lights of Jerusalem. The sights, sounds, and smells (and HEAT!) are certainly a far cry from Montana, though I have found a few things to remind me of home. :) Its actually fairly cool right now, since the sun has set and the wind has come up a bit. I just hope it cools off my room sufficiently for me to sleep tonight. On the other hand, I could probably sleep through Armageddon at this point, having had nothing but "naps" for the last 3 days or so. But before I go visit sleepy-land, I'm going to post a few pictures and recount a few of my first thoughts here.

At the airport in Tel Aviv. Nice celing decorations.


Traffic lights -- my favorite part! This is the light before it turns green... :)
My new roommate (I'll have to get a better picture eventually).


My desk, ladder, and closet.


The Western Wall...

Ok, my mind is just about thunked out for tonight. I think I'll go hang at the "bon fire" for a while and then collapse into bed. :)

60th post and new beginnings

Well, its official. I've started my trip to Israel. I expect this year will be quite different from previous years, at least in some ways. :) I'm in the Minneapolis airport right now, so I'd appreciate it if you would keep me in my prayers as I continue my travels and eventually as I arrive in Israel. I'll let you know when I have something new to report. :)

The way of the world...

Tonight, while I was packing and sorting, my parents were watching the Olympics (at least on and off). The last time I passed through that room they told me that the Jamaican relay team had just set a new world record. This, of course, started me thinking...

I find it rather amazing that new records of that sort are being set. Have humans changed? Are we as a race (no pun intended) getting faster? Or are we just getting better at finding the fastest? Or perhaps improving training techniques to get the most out of our fastest?

I don't know that there's any evidence for any of those options. Perhaps there is, but barring that evidence, I think the way people would answer that dilemma is based on how they would answer the following question: "Is the world getting better or worse?"

Most evolutionists, of course, would probably say that the world is getting better. At least they hope it is, for their world-view to be true. If survival of the fittest is true, then one would expect humans to be becoming slowly more "fit" (on average) over time. Since speed is likely part of being "fit", it would makes sense that humans are also becoming faster with time, thus accounting for more world records.

I suppose, though that there might be some evolutionists who would disagree. Perhaps they would say that humans are destroying the world, becoming more unfit, and will eventually become extinct. Thus they would supply a different answer for the new world records.

Also in the area of "science" (if I am including theories of origin in science, which is iffy at best) there is the evidence of genetics. Mutations in humans seem to be happening at an increasing rate, and most (if not all) of these mutations are actually harmful. Which would seem to be evidence on the side of the world getting worse.

Then, of course, there are all the natural disasters: volcanoes, floods, storms, earthquakes, even global warming. Are these really getting worse, and if so, does that mean the world in general is getting worse?

To a Christian (whatever he or she might believe about the origin of the world) this question has some pretty big theological implications involving eschatology and the "end of the world."

Most of the Christians I know look around and shake their heads and say things like, "How the world has decayed in the last few years. When I was younger things were so much better. People were moral....etc." Since I wasn't alive that long ago, I can't really say if they are right or now. Perhaps things were better then. That doesn't necessarily mean that things have continually gotten worse. What about the world at the time of Noah? So wicked that God had to destroy it. Or the tower of Babel where God confused their languages. What about some of the world empires? Syria, Rome, etc. There are many times of great evil in the world. Are we staying the same (on average) or spiraling up or down? I think many would say we are spiraling down, and they use this downward spiral to predict that Christ will soon return.

Other Christians I know say that it is our job as followers of God to help the world become better (as a whole). They may not think that the world is improving, but that it should be if Christians were doing their job. They might say that there is a lot of work to be done before the world will be ready for Christ's return.

I find the different views very interesting, though I think there are things I would disagree with from all sides. At any rate, whether the spiral is upward, downward, or just staying the same, whether athletes are getting faster or not, I figure my job is about the same: glorify God and make disciples. Lord help me do that!

Another Summer

Well, camp is almost at its end. Another 12 hours and we should all be well on our way to Big Timber to say good-bye yet again. Tonight was our last steak night, and let me tell you, it was a doozie. We had about 114 family campers, 50 staff, and then 80 random guests. And now its time to do some wild and crazy things before we sleep...if we sleep... :) Overall, its been a good summer. Lots of fun people, which makes for a fun camp. I'll definitely miss them. And now I get to prepare for another adventure -- Israel, here I come!

I'd better stop writing now before this gets even more disjointed. I need to catch up on sleep!

Miracles

,Miracles, I suppose, are really a rather controversial subject. Certainly numerous things have been written on them -- skeptics trying to explain away recorded Biblical miracles, spiritualist trying to prove the existence of various random miracles, and everything in between.

I was thinking about miracles today, mostly because of a vague memory of Israel. I remember riding past a village or something and our tour guide explaining that this particular people group believed that the messiah would be born suddenly of a man. Now that's an odd miracle. And I was thinking that such a miracle does not seem like something the God of the Bible would do. Which made me wonder: are there some miracles that really are in some sense impossible? I don't want to put limits on God's power, but on the other hand, His nature does limit what He can and cannot do (He can't sin, etc.) It rather seems to me that having the messiah born suddenly of a man would kind of go against God's nature. Let me explain my reasoning.

I am admittedly a geek, but because of my scientific background, I do think of God as the Great Scientist. Not only that, of course, but he did create the world and holds it together. There's nothing we've discovered in science that He did not first invent and create. He made rules and put limits on the world, which are good and save us from chaos. I think He follows His own rules. Even in miracles. I don't mean to make miracles sound less miraculous because they aren't. Even if we knew all the rules by which the universe operates (which we don't) there would be no way we could apply them to make these miracles happen ourselves.

Let's take the virgin birth, for example. Mary had all the parts necessary for life in her body. For God to tweak one of her eggs just a little to turn it into a sperm, for example, would be all that was required. I don't know that we could do that today, but we definitely could see how it theoretically could be done. From then on naturally processes would be followed. This is drastically different from what would be required in the messianic birth referred to before. To have a man give birth at all goes against nature. For it to be sudden would require basically an act of creation ex nihilo by God. I don't think that's how God works (in fact, I know that's not how He worked in the birth of the messiah). Thus, I would call it an "impossible" miracle.

I'd go on with a few other examples, but I need to go to bed. Let me know if y'all have any thoughts. :)

More Limericks

We recently had a second Limerick/Haiku night. Here are most of the offerings from that. :)

I think of them as freshly warmed poo,
A poem with nothing to do.
With no rhythm or rhyme
They just waste my time.
That's what I think of haiku.
~Greg

Limerick: a short
Poem with a A A B
B A rhyme scheme.
~Greg

There once was a crewboy named Mason
With the radio Wayne was a-chasin'
With a voice not enthused
Wayne was not amused.
With the lights Josiah should be racin'!
~Greg

There once was a director named Greg
He was shaped just like a peg.
On a rock did he hit his head
Michelle sent him straight to bed
So for his dignity he must beg.
~Larissa

Oh stupid Big Guy.
Stop biting my friends so hard!
You silly, stupid horse.
~Larissa

Blue Lake started oh so great
But then our fun began to deflate
With three flats
And mud that went splat,
It's no wonder we ate dinner so late!
~Laura

We ride to Blue Lake in a truck.
We slip and we slide in the muck.
We get really high
And try not to die
And say that mosquitoes all suck.
~Alana (puns intended!)

Die Mosquito, die!
Die, die, die, die, die, die, die!
Die, die, die, die, die.
~Greg

Ham: that bane of life
And the meat slicer -- horrid!
Still haunting my dreams
~Alana (I don't like ham, I don't like using the meat slicer, and yes, I dreamed about sliced meat once.)

There once was a mixer named Hobart.
I loved him far more than lime yogurt.
He's so hot and red!
"He's so buff!' I said.
I'd cry if he e're fell apart.
~Alana

The end of camp is coming near
But we really shouldn't have much to fear
We say our good-byes
But soon they'll be hi's --
Y'all come back again next year!
~Laura

You know you've been at Clydehurst too long...

when your dreams are a random amalgamation of crew boys and sliced meat.