It is entirely possible to draw too much of a connection between the United States of America as it presently exists, and the new creation to come promised in the Bible. Current events make it clear just how much healing our world presently needs. I want to be very clear that I only intend a very narrow and specific comparison. Having said that, as I was reflecting on Thanksgiving, it struck me that for those among the Plymouth settlers who were believers, the American continent may have seemed to be the closest analogue of the world yet-to-come as they would experience, particularly when it came to food. [Read more…] about Science in Review — The Thanksgiving Turkey gets the LEGO Worm
resurrection
DEATH be not proud, though . . .
Death and Resurrection
He was a young man, and I could see fear in his eyes as he gripped the railings of the bed and struggled to breathe, sucking in heavily through the plastic mask feeding him oxygen. His body was wasting away from cancer, and the infections that had crept into his lungs were now forcing every compensatory mechanism into extremis. He wanted to fight and live, but there was little left for the ICU to offer. I had been pleading with him for days to consider hospice and a more peaceable passing at home where he could be surrounded by family and friends, but to him that meant giving up.
So we had continued to do everything, and as predicted we eventually came to that point where every biomarker and technological parameter heralded physiologic disaster. “Your breathing cannot hold on its own. We will need to intubate you soon, but your body is so sick that we will probably never be able to take the breathing tube out.” I paused. We had had this conversation before. “Do you still want us to do it? I need to tell you the truth; you will almost certainly die either way. If we transition you to hospice, you can go home and pass away with your family and friends, and we will make sure that you are comfortable. But if you still want us to do everything – intubation, CPR, shocks – you will still die, but it will be here in this hospital, and it will be brutal. Do you want us to intubate you? Do you want CPR?” He nodded vigorously, still afraid, still adamant.
He was intubated. [Read more…] about Death and Resurrection
Becoming a Thoughtful Christian in the Secular Academy: Part II
Last week I wrote about my journey as a developing follower of Jesus in a secular university. I told you that I’d become a stronger Christian during my time in the academic world, and now I want to tell you a little bit about what happened in my mind and heart during that time. This post is, to an extent, a response to Andy Walsh’s question in the comment thread of last week’s post in this series:
You mentioned that your Christian faith is stronger as a result of the experience. Did you find that aspects of your theology changed during that time? To put it another way, were there any shifts in what you believed along with how strongly you believed them? […] Â I was just musing that we (Christians broadly) talk a lot about strengthening/deepening our faith, and I wondered if that was a general phenomenon, or if it correlated with particular beliefs. In other words, is it possible to have a strong/deep faith in anything, or are there certain beliefs which are more amenable to that kind of reinforcement.
I came into college a brand-new believer and left a pretty new believer — going on 6 years now, nearly all of which passed while attending the U of Montana. So you could probably guess that my thinking has been shaped a lot by the academic world. And you’d be right. The methodology I began to put to use in school sparked further personal research outside of the classroom. The critical, “outsider†lens, which is generally employed in the secular classroom, caught my attention. Secular scholars have come up with some really tough arguments that I needed to overcome or adapt if I could continue to believe in the creation of the world — however long that process took — and the physical resurrection of Jesus.
Those are two beliefs, creation and resurrection, that my academic research has greatly strengthened. [Read more…] about Becoming a Thoughtful Christian in the Secular Academy: Part II
Rituals of Annotation
I am not exactly sure of what prompted me to do it, but I began keepÂing a tally of all the proÂnounceÂments I have done. A pronouncement is that act in which a doctor officially declares a person to be dead. Some deaths are theatric specÂtacÂles involving beepÂing monÂiÂtors, electric shocks, and crackÂing chest carÂtiÂlage. These tend to be chaotic, gritty, and conclusive as in the TV shows, sometimes ending with a disÂtraught physician intoning, “Time of death. . . .â€
However, most proÂnounceÂments done in the hospital are remarkÂably simple and imperÂsonal. Because we attach so much meaning to death and have sequestered it far from the public eye, we are conditioned to believe that its act must be as spectacular and monumental as its significance. But what usuÂally hapÂpens is that the perÂson will merely expire, often with nothing more than a quiet, gaspÂing sigh. It is usually expected but spontaneous, with a somber but quiet family waiting aimlessly for the event to occur. SomeÂtimes hosÂpice arrangeÂments are made for the patient to go home to die, surÂrounded by famÂily and friends. SomeÂtimes a volunÂteer in the hosÂpiÂtal will keep a vigil of sorts, sitÂting in a chair while readÂing a book or watchÂing TV as he or she does the job of those who have no family, waiting to fulÂfill the simple courtesy of not letting anyÂone die alone. SomeÂtimes a nurse will make the rounds and disÂcover that the patient has passed in the few brief hours in between visits. Regardless, those final moments occur at any hour and in any floor of a large hosÂpiÂtal like mine. In every case, whenÂever the death is disÂcovÂered, a page is sent to whichever resÂiÂdent is on call to stop by and make the offiÂcial proÂnounceÂment. [Read more…] about Rituals of Annotation