On Atheism and Intelligent Design.

This week I watched two view worthy documentaries on atheism and intelligent design.  (I also watched a documentary called The God Who Isn’t There but it well lacked the scholarly weight of the two I am recommending).

The first, Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed was written from intelligent design perspective of the always witty Ben Stein.

The second, Flock of Dodos: The Evolution-Intelligent Design Circus, was hosted by the likeable and friendly atheist Randy Olson (I mean that).

Both documentaries are available on netflix. They pair to make a nice viewing from two opposite perspectives. Both hosts are guys with whom you would generally love “to hang.” Watching these reminds me of the degree of faith that both sides must use in defense of their case. It also spurred me to further reading as I go back and revisit the subject of philosophical atheism. I am reading at the far ends of the spectrum. Click the book cover to view in Amazon. Save paper and shelf-space with a Kindle.

One book by a former evangelical pastor who turned atheist.

Another by one of the foremost former defenders of atheism now turned theist.

_________

One book by a respected astronomer on intelligent design.

One re-reading of a book by a vehement evangelist of atheism.

________

And finally one by a renowned scholar who argues for the veracity of the Gospels based upon the fact that they are eyewitness accounts and not merely the gathering of distant oral traditions. This because so many atheists and Jesus Seminar types still lean on the legacy of form criticism to doubt the historical reliability of the Gospels as redacted to serve only the faith communities’ interest regardless of truth.

Of course I am doing a lot of Bible reading alongside these with a bit of lighter-fun reading so I don’t lose my mind or my soul in the process..ha!

I will review some of these here after I complete them or point to other solid reviews. I will also recommend a couple of more works that I have already read or plan to read soon on this topic in the next few days.

On Fences

Good fences make good neighbors, says the neighbor in Robert Frost’s Mending Wall (read it I beg you). But Frost questions that and I am beginning to, as well. Frost says there are no cows they are trying to contain, so what are they walling in or walling out?

A chance for us to “mend walls” happened to us recently as we had fence failure from wind on two fronts.

We are all chipping in to get the fence repaired. But part of me is sad about that. Since it has been down we have had more impromptu conversations with our neighbors than before. My back neighbors two little girls now just hop the gap and soon they are jumping joyfully on the trampoline with Landry. My side neighbor has strolled over several times to sit on the back porch and just sho0t the bull. Our dogs all get along splendidly. Maybe Frost was right. Maybe good fences don’t make good neighbors.

Relief From Facebook (The Follow Up)

A number of people who have either emailed me or stopped to talk to me after reading Why I am Shutting Down Facebook for a While. Some have told me how they had anxious moments as they did a Facebook fast. One man shared how he thought he might be missing out on a conversation or an event his “friends” were having.  He stated, “I literally felt like he was withdrawing from a drug. I thought I would be an outcast.” Another person told me how much more organic her life felt when she ditched the digital connection to her friends and launched into a face-to-face intensive time of friendship. She intentionally hugged and connected through physical touch with her friends. We can become a slave to technology and the digital realm like the Borg, who only lived only for the consumption of technology. Paul Schneider, our communications pastor, told me a story about a Wednesday night in which he and two are three other staff members were standing the lobby and the famous you’ve got text ping on the iphone went off. All three plus others around them started scrambling for phones.

All in all, I am sensing many people are having “Facebook-fatigue,” which isn’t simply because of Facebook. Rather, this tiredness occurs from a never ending connection to the Borg in which we never feel fully released to engage in our true, incarnate stream of our life. If you don’t believe me, watch next time you have two teens in your backseat on a trip. They’ll text to others for hours on end but never engage in conversation with each other. I say we should all try unplugging or at least diminish the way the Borg-effect causes us to miss real tangible life all around us for a while and see what happens.

Working From Second Chair

Most people don’t get to be the CEO or President, the head honcho or boss man.

Most of us find ourselves somewhere in the middle, executing and bringing creativity to our piece of THE vision.

This can be a tough place to lead from if you ever feel constrained or worse, you find yourself becoming a doing-pawn, merely carrying out the tactical orders of higher ups with no creative input.

How do you work with a strong key leader without frustrating him or her yet have a voice in the process? You don’t want to find yourself in the position of always being the “no-that-isn’t-a good-idea” guy but also don’t want to be a mere “yes-man” lest you lose your soul.

Here is an approach to consider.

When working with a leader, break down your leader’s thoughts (or orders) into three areas, concern, intent and tactics.
1. CONCERN

Often a leader will issue a tactical order without explaining the concern or intent behind it. In moment of crisis situations, these often need to executed immediately with no questions asked. But later, after the crisis passes, dialogue can be had as to why the leader issued the tactics they did. Most decisions are not in the moment crises and this conversation can happen along the way.

When you hear a tactic given, seek to understand the leader’s concern. Obviously, something is moving them to issue a tactical order. Are you not moving enough product, is attendance down, is something happening that is causing a drift from his or her vision? See if you can get the leader to clearly voice the fundamental concern.

2. INTENT

Second, move up one level from the tactical order and see if you can re-voice the leader’s intent back to them. “So I hear you telling us to do X tactic because you want to see Y result.” Sometimes you might be spot on. Other times the leader might add clarity by expanding your understanding for his wanting you to use a specific tactic. This will allow you to implement the tactic with a greater passion than merely carrying it out “because the boss said so.”

3. TACTICS

Another opportunity comes here. Often visionary leaders are great an intuitively having the right concern and intent but not necessarily applying the right tactic.

Understanding their concern and intent allows you to come to them and say, “Here is another option (tactic) to consider that might address your concern and intention in a more effective way.”

You’ll often find leaders who at first sound glued to a specific tactic are not as nearly glued to the tactic as they are to fixing the concern. When you identify with their concern and intent, they will be open to more effective tactics and not see  you as rebelling against authority. You are still a team player and on-board with the vision.  You are merely suggesting a different tactic to arrive at their desired outcome.

If these conversations are seasoned with grace and patience, I have seen remarkable openness by leaders to yield to more effective tactics different than they originally ordered because their concern and intent is being addressed.

Why I am Shutting Down Facebook for a While

Recently, I had an incident where I should have been 100% engaged with my family and caught myself posting a Facebook status update instead of being headlong in the experience itself. Soon afterwards a friend, Brian Hook,  preached a great message on the “Facebook us”–the outward ‘brand’ we manage–versus the “inner man”  of Ephesians 3.  And so, I decided I should suspend my Facebook account for an undetermined amount of time.

Why? I am in a place in life right now where I need the incredibly real and nothing superficial. I had 1044 “friends” on facebook. That isn’t a brag, it just shows my proclivity to check accept along with my frequent usage of friend finder. Like most of us,  I had to check who some of the requester’s mutual friends were to figure out how I knew them. And like a few of you, I took pride as a watched my friend number grow as it fed my ego. It is interesting that Facebook chose the term “friends.”  In a deep life crisis, the people I need do not number 1044, but more like 10 or possibly 20. Those same people would undoubtedly call me in their crisis. These are my lay-down-your-life-for-one-another friends.

Facebook can be used for good, but I found myself using it mostly for narcissistic purposes. A place to air out my “charming wit” and promote “brand me” ever so subtly. In a great article called What’s [Actually] on Your Mind? in Relevant magazine (scroll to page 82 of the digital edition for full article), Shane Hipps writes

There is a lot of exhibitionism on Facebook. Such exhibitionism has an unusual effect on us. We not only want others to see us, we like to see us. We are able to inspect and tweak what others are seeing about us. We become fascinated by the image we project. It’s like having a mirror on your desk or in your pocket.  . . .This kind of regular self-inspection eventually gives rise to a subtle narcissism.

Narcissism is a rather exquisite vice. It is very difficult to detect in oneself. And when something is hard to identify it makes it hard to dissolve. The real buzzkill, though, is how it affects relationships. (He argues how the more narcissistic we get the more we struggle in relationships). Facebook is the perfect cocktail; a medium that focuses much of the attention on ourselves, while appearing to focus our attention on our relationship with others. It is a mirror masquerading as a window.

A final word from his article solidified my need to take a hiatus.

We must step out of the stream of an experience to record it. The result is that we are no longer present in the experience in that moment. We are living as unpaid journalists who chronicle life as it passes by. This may seem insignificant. But our presence matters. Our brief but increasingly frequent moments of absence add up. Imagine a father who flickers in and out of his child’s life  every time he checks his iPhone (ouch-emphasis mine). He might be there physically but, but he may as well be at the office or on a business trip.  People can feel our absence and it is usually a loss. We become digital nomads, glancing around the globe, never fully present. It is a ghost-like condition. It diminishes one of God’s greatest gifts to us–a body. There is a reason God became a body in Jesus. (read this article!!!)

I do not think Facebook is evil. I think it can be used for good. But for me, in a season where God is doing some deep breaking in my life, I realize how much of the time I spend on Facebook is about the “outer me” and not the “inner me.” I need a season for God to work on the inner me. To separate myself from my self-created “brand” by which I try to orchestrate how others perceive me. To connect to people who will love me when they know the real Jordan, warts and all. To surround myself with people  I can call who can hear the joy or waiver in my voice, or even better, look into my eyes and really read me.  So, a hiatus is in order. I will keep posting on this blog as seems a place for me to more deeply process all that God is doing in me. I know most of my acquaintances won’t even realize I am gone. If you are a friend, you know how to reach me. Let’s talk over coffee where I can pat you on the back or give you a hug as we leave (I ain’t scared of a man hug, either). So for a while, Facebook, adieu.

The Fanny Pack Comment, What Was I Thinking?

I posted a status on Facebook about needing a fanny pack for our upcoming Disney trip. It was like I was a skeet, someone yelled pull, and the firing commenced. Who knew fanny packs were so controversial? You can read me getting blasted here. Now to find one for a pic and the $150 bounty thus far.

God Works All Things for Good (Video)

Produced this story a while back. A story of how Melinda came to realize God could take what was not good and work it for good by allowing her to minister through her past pain.

Tech stuff: Chris Johns shot it. We used one camera and I had her retell sections so Chris could get different angled shots to cut away to. I had Melinda tell a long paragraph version and a short paragraph version so we had the ability to compress sections that contributed less power to the story. My theory is compress the non-power points of the story and allow more detail into the “power sections” of the story. Melinda did a great job complying to my producer/director requests. We used an SLR camera in video mode (if you want the nerd-speak, read here).

A Story of Faith from Northwood Church on Vimeo.