Atheism 2.0

Noah,

Watch this 19min. video by Alain de Botton. Atheist who proposes an Atheism 2.0.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this TED talk presentation.

https://www.ted.com/talks/alain_de_botton_atheism_2_0#t-510483

Here are my questions to you in response to the Talk:

What do you agree most about what he says?

What are your points of disagreement?

In light of what he is saying--learning from aspects of religion that give us greater meaning, consolation, and community--what aspects of Christianity would you adopt into your life to better help you live a life of meaning and purpose?

Excited to talk about this!

Wade

Why I exist: Wade's Manifesto.

Noah wrote a very honest post about his own personal convictions in life. He gave 7 answers to the question--"Why are you here." Thanks for your response Noah!

Here is my personal manifesto:

I exist because of and for Jesus Christ. 
I exist to depict and declare the good news of Jesus Christ. I am here on earth to show the greatness of God by knowing, enjoying, and being loved by Jesus Christ. I am a member of the community of world-wide Christians who are seeking to present to the world a Hi-Definition picture of who and what Jesus is like. This picture of Jesus is best seen through a life of self-giving love lived in Christian community for the sake of the whole world. 

 As a human being, I have dignity and honor because I am made in the image of God. I am loved by God and valued by God because He designed me for His purposes. At the same time, as a human being I am broken at the deepest part of who I am. I am in revolt against the God who created me and loves me. Instead of following His good authority I have chosen to rule myself. My greatest value as a human being is the fact that Jesus Christ loves me and has given me a new identity as a Christian. Instead of punishing me forever in hell because of my revolt against God he has chosen to welcome me into God's family as a beloved child. I will live forever with Jesus.

I know Jesus Christ through the story of the Bible, which I believe to be fully trustworthy, historical, dependable and reliable. The Bible is God's Word where He tells the world the true story of why the world exists and what human beings are to be and do in the world He has made. It is not private truth for some, but public truth that calls all people to listen and respond. I believe that the Bible is the only true Story that truthfully and honestly portrays WHY we are here. WHAT went wrong with the world and humanity. HOW and WHAT God did to put right what went wrong. And WHERE this world is heading in the future.

Moreover, the Bible tells me that I exist in order to demonstrate to the world that Jesus Christ is the one true God, that His death and resurrection are true and real historical events with present significance, and that He is worthy of worship as God. Additionally, I believe that I must live life according to His definition and authority, not my own. (For example, if a football player decided to rebel against his coaches playbook and the rule of football, everything would get messed up and he would get injured or sidelined, unable to play the rest of the game. Similarly, Jesus gives me the best way to play the game--life-- in a way that makes sense to who I am as a player--person-- and how the game--life--was meant to be played.) I further believe his death and resurrection have actual power to turn humans from revolt against God into children who love and obey Him. This transformation does not happen through human effort, but by God's generous mercy.

 Jesus' design for existence is summarized in this way: "Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find true life." "I did not come to be served but to serve and give my life up as a sacrifice for many."

Furthermore, I believe that the life of Jesus is best lived in the community of Jesus followers called the church. I do not exist as a single cell all by myself. I exist within a complex system of cells (Bible-believing Christians) that make up the body of Christ. Sadly, many people have been harmed and harassed by the church. Or they have seen hypocrisy and insanity in the church. Yet it is still God's chosen community to demonstrate to the world His holiness, truth, beauty, and love. It is as a member of this church, for whom Christ died, that I am called to partner with others to follow Jesus' call to exist for others and not for ourselves. When we live according to Jesus' way of life, this gives the world an HD picture of how life was created to be lived with God at the center of our existence.

Therefore, My fundamental conviction about life is that the way to be human is by being part of a community of people who are turning away from the self-centered revolt against God and choosing to love Jesus and love others. Instead of deciding what we get to however and whenever we want, we are choosing to follow Jesus and His way of life. As many can observe, the church struggles to be holy, act lovingly to its neighbors, and live how Jesus wants it to live. Yet that is why we are saved by grace, and not by our good works. So we depend on Jesus to give us the strength to love people better and present to the world a better picture of what Jesus is all about.

 Jesus is the perfect picture of what a human being should be like. He was and is the only perfect human being who loved God perfectly and loved others without any selfishness. And Jesus took upon himself the penalty for MY choosing to live life by my rules and loving myself more than others. Jesus loved me and gave His own life to rescue me from ME.
 And I believe true life for every human is only found in turning away from our revolt against God and surrendering our lives to Jesus Christ. Because I believe Jesus Christ rose from the dead, I can now have the power and ability to live the human life it was intended to be lived.

This does not mean that we become better people or that God wants us to live good lives of morality and niceness. No. Jesus wants to make us NEW people, not nice people (C.S. Lewis). Jesus did not rise from the dead to make Wade a nice, good little boy. Jesus rose from the dead to make Wade a new type of person. And only He has the power to do so.


Therefore, my greatest need, and God's most loving provision for that need, is to be transformed from my self-centered attempts to live life--whether that is though working harder, getting more money, appearing sexy, performing perfectly at my job, or living a 'good life' of morality. And I need to be transformed into a way of living a human life according to WHO Jesus is.

In summary: I believe in and live according to the gospel ("good news") of Jesus Christ that is revealed to us in the Bible. (Jerram Barrs, my professor of Christianity, summarizes the Gospel this way. I added brackets to my own additions:

To every human person the message that must be communicated is that there is good news from God for us. The good news of the Gospel is, indeed, that Jesus is the Messiah promised by God in the writings of the Old Testament. [The good news is that Jesus is God's Son who died for our sins and who rose again from the dead so that I can be put right with God and forgiven of my sin. The good news is that I am saved not because I am a good person, but because God delights in rescuing people who are sinful. The good news is that my whole life is a gift of love from God. The good news is that Jesus loves saving undeserving rebels]. The Good news is that there is a personal and infinite God who made heaven and earth and everything in them. The good news is that there is a God who is holy and just and whose character provides a moral order to this universe so that there is a distinction between good and evil. The good news is that human persons are special, for we are made in the image of the Trinitarian God who loves, who is good and kind, who thinks wise thoughts, who rules His creation, who creatively designed the universe to display his beauty, and who has a marvelous imagination. The good news is that there will be a resolution to the problem of suffering, that ever tear will be wiped away, that death will someday itself die and be no more for those who know Jesus, and that perfect justice and peace will fill the earth. ... The Gospel fulfills every right longing of the human heart. It answers every honest question of the searching mind. It delights and surpasses every good impulse of the creative imagination. It meets and transcends the ache in every soul to come to know the living God. [Jesus offers every person the joy] that comes when the hopes and desires of their inner being are completely satisfied as they are humbled before God and put their trust in God's Son, Jesus Christ.


That is why I exist.

Wade

Michael--Why are you Here?

Michael,

Over a year ago, Noah answered the question: "Why are you here?". So far Noah's response has been the best blog on this site. By far it created the most questions and dialogue between us.

So now the question turns to you, amigo: "Why are you here?"
Noah answered that question with 7 Steps to Enlightenment.
I started but still have not completed my answer.

We await your answer!

Glad tidings,

Wade and Noah.

the Western Story

Noah (and Michael--welcome!),

I am currently reading a book entitled Living at the Crossroads (Michael Goheen and Craig Bartholomew). These authors discuss the difference between the Christian view of life and a Western/modern-postmodern understanding of life and existence. It is a great whole book summary of some of the conversations in our blog! Super interesting. The book is from a Christian faith point of view. I wonder how a non-Christian or a person with other religious commitments would respond.

Here is how they describe the historic philosophic roots that have influenced today's Western beliefs/skepticism:
First, Western culture believes that the world is secular--This means that the world is "severed from God. Whether or not he exists, he has no continuing relationship with this world."
Second belief--naturalistic--"This world is all there is." Supernatural miracles are false and impossible. Just a figment of religious constructive imagination.
Third belief--rationalistic--"Committed to the belief that human reason will enable humankind to fulfill the daunting role of playing god. The rationalist believes that human reason (particularly when it is guided by the scientific method) is capable of understanding the laws of both the nonhuman creation and human society, giving humans the power to control creation for their own purposes.
Fourth belief--scientific--"Founded on the beliefs that (with the help of the natural sciences and technology) reason can conquer the nonhuman creation, and that (with the help of the social sciences) reason can manage and organize all of human culture, including economics, politics, education, and law."

They summarize their section in the following way:
 "The [typical Western person] believes that if we faithfully follow the path of trusting in our reason and in science, we may be assured of progress toward a world of happiness, freedom, material prosperity, truth, and justice" (69).


1) What do you guys think about how they understand/summarize Western society and its beliefs?

2) Do you guys resonate with their summary?

3) What would you add or subtract from their summary?

Getting Comfortable with Uncertainty

Wade, 

In a recent post, you asked me some questions relating to my "Why Are You Here?" post from last year. For reference, here are the questions you posed:

• Now that it is about a year after posting that blog, would you say that those 7 steps are still what motivate you in living your life?
• Or would you change anything you said in that blog post? If so, what would you change and why?
• Now that you are experiencing more of the global culture, how would you say you have changed? Are you closer to enlightenment?

Those 7 possible steps to enlightenment are still motivating me a year after I put them into writing. The two biggest ideas I would like to expand on are "Constantly Strive to Improve Yourself" and "Get Comfortable with Uncertainty".

Constantly Strive to Improve Yourself

I know the first possible step to enlightenment was "Love yourself exactly as you are." And I am not saying that we should not love ourselves exactly as we're made. However, we can and should strive, each and every day, to make ourselves better. We can read books, practice foreign languages, dabble in music, write a story, paint a picture, meet a new friend, visit a new part of our city, create a new computer program for our employer.

Now that I have some down time (I am living in rural Chile), this self-improvement focus has become a very important aspect of my life. I hope to improve my career skills so that I can continue to do work that I love and make a difference in the world. For example, I taught myself PHP and MySQL over the past couple months and wrote a custom program for Voz that tracks all of our orders currently being produced. It saves me so much time already, and I am convinced that if I continue to improve it, I can literally replace myself with a computer program. Or at least 90% of the work I've been doing. Technology is amazing, and I love being a creator.

Get Comfortable with Uncertainty

One of the main reasons I came down to South America in the first place was to 1) meet our southern neighbors and see another part of the world and 2) push my comfort zone further and further. It's no easy feat moving to a foreign country with a completely different language (Chilean Spanish is very different than Spain Spanish). But why do I want to push my comfort zone? In The Charisma Myth (the wonderful book I am currently reading on my iPhone), author Olivia Fox Cabane quotes one of her CEO colleagues with the following advice:

"The most effective thing you can do for your career is to get comfortable being uncomfortable."

It's brilliantly simple advice. But it's not something that we're instinctually programmed to do. With this South American adventure, I am pushing my comfort zone more than I ever have. And you know what? Each time, it gets easier and easier. The more I see of the world, the more I realize it's not such a scary place. People are people wherever you go. Whatever language they speak or culture they represent, they still love and eat and share ideas with their friends. 

And the more I push my comfort zone, the easier it becomes to do difficult things. This may sound small and likely easy for some people, but I used to have a very hard time telling friends and family that I love them. Now, it's nothing. The shame is gone. If I am talking to my father on the phone, I know that I could hang up, step out into the street, and get hit by a logging truck. So saying "I love you" is like drinking a glass of water for me now.

With an expanded comfort zone, doing business internationally is no longer intimidating. I know that we have the technology to make business deals in languages we can't even speak. Need a knowledgeable fashion connection in France? Easy (I just ask my friends until I find one, or I Google and make introductions until one fits). And traveling abroad? Couchsurfing is amazing - the hosts are so generous, so smart, so worldly. And I'm not longer scared to visit a city where I know absolutely no one - because I know there are people there excited to meet me and show me around. 

I am exploring new ways to expand my comfort zone each day. If you have any advice in this realm, it will be warmly welcomed.

Live Abroad, Achieve Enlightenment

I have to say that living abroad has absolutely brought much enlightenment into my life. First, you can get a true 3rd person view of your homeland. I've learned so much about the United States simply by stepping out to live elsewhere. Second, you can get a completely different perspective of the world - both philosophically and physically (the night sky even looks different down here in Chile). And lastly, you are given a chance to completely reinvent yourself with your ideal characteristics (because no one in this foreign place hold preconceived perceptions of who you are and how you should act). 

And this is my second time doing it! I lived in Spain for 6 months while I was studying at Saint John's University. And this experience has been equally, if not more, enlightening than the last. It's such a different world down here that I feel like it has been a completely different experience. I've learned so much about business, pushed my Spanish skills to continually improving fluency, and found new ways to think about life. 

Wade, and other curious readers out there, if you haven't lived abroad, you must. Malcolm X's turning point from pro-violent, anti-white advocate to the progressive-minded revolutionary that we remember him as today occurred after a stint in abroad (in Africa and maybe Asia). The global perspective he found while traveling abroad brought the enlightenment that helped transform him into a world-changing leader.

So, push your comfort zones further than you dreamed you could. Go live on the other side of the world for a while. Your family will still love you. Your friends will (likely) be there when you get back. And you can FaceTime in the middle of the jungle, so don't worry about losing touch with those you love.

Well? Are you up for the challenge? I promise you will never once regret it. The elderly women for whom I used to do lawn work always loved recounting their stories of travels abroad. They had no regrets about it - rather, they regretted not doing it more! When you're ancient and sitting in your rocker by the window, you will be so happy you pushed yourself to explore the world. :)

Easter Sunday, Resurrection, and Encounters with Jesus

I am currently reading a book entitled Encounters with Jesus by Timothy Keller. It is a book that is written by a pastor for people who have questions about Jesus, the reliability of the New Testament, the evidence for resurrection of Jesus, etc. I definitely recommend it for you.

One chapter is on the Resurrection of Jesus. This is an appropriate topic for a Blog post considering the fact that Easter is coming up this Sunday. According to the Christian religion, the whole of my faith is based upon the resurrection. In other woods, If Jesus did not raise from the dead, I would be the biggest idiot in the world. So what we believe about the resurrection of Jesus Christ changes EVERYTHING about who we are and how we live. I am a Christian because Jesus died for me and rose again from the dead.

Here is a quote from the book. I wonder how you would respond:

"One ancient historian scholar tells us at great length that, while these ancient cultures did not hold, as modern people do, that miracles in general cannot happen, resurrection was equally implausible and unimaginable to them as it is for most people today. [It did not fit into their categories of belief or theology.] If you are a modern person, you have a worldview that insists that a bodily resurrection of a truly dead man, with his fatal wounds still visible, is simply impossible. Now imagine what kind of evidence you would need to knock down your doubts, to shatter your presumptions regarding this event. What kind of evidence would you need in order to believe that jesus Christ was the Son of God, resurrected from the dead? Nowadays we are taught to think of faith as something that relates inversely to logic and evidence--as you get more facts and certainty, your need for faith goes down. But that's not what Christians mean by faith. Faith doesn't mean hoping in what isn't true; it means certainty about what you can't see. And so compelling evidence, evidence that engages rationality, is one of the greatest boosts to Christian faith."

Noah, what is your personal belief about the resurrection of Jesus Christ?