Jesus in a Bone Box?

*Disclaimer: I am not a trained apologist, nor a trained scientist, however my brain does work and my house is actually better than the average Holiday Inn Express.

Perhaps all blog posts should come with disclaimers, then again I think that might go against the grain and intent of the blogosphere. But I digress...

Right on cue with my last post the major media is beginning to pick up some new stories. They're still dealing with Anna, but have left Britney and the prince alone.

After the Oscars craze, which I'll leave alone, though even my wife had to change the channel when Al Gore won something (kind of killed the Academy's credibility for both of us), news came that James Cameron (Director of Titanic among other things) has discovered the grave of Jesus and His family.

Okay, more accurately, Cameron is doing a documentary about a 28 year-old archaeological find in a Jerusalem suburb that he says includes the remains of Jesus, Mary, Joseph, Mary Magdalene, and Jesus' son, Judah. Yes, you read that correctly, that's what he is claiming. Amos Kloner, who first examined the site, says it doesn't hold up to archaeological standards - but what does he know! Shimon Gibson, one of three to discover the tomb in 1980, says he is skeptical about it.

Another scientist makes a good point in a Fox News Article, the fact that this find has been ignored all these years by the experts ought to tell us something about how credible it is.

Bottom line, this feels a little like The DiVinci Code to me. Difference here is that while that book and movie were stated to be fiction, Cameron claims this to be fact. I'm so glad that a Hollywood director was able to figure this out when all the trained scientists concluded the find was relatively insignificant.

Scripture is clear that Jesus rose on the third day after his crucifixion - an event we celebrate each year on Easter Sunday. He was seen alive by some 500 witnesses before ascending into Heaven. While lots of matching accounts of his death, burial, and resurrection have survived twenty centuries, not one credible account of him having a wife or son has. And on top of that, not one dissident claim that holds up of his body being found or someone from that period in history telling a different story about what happened has survived.

I definitely won't be losing any sleep over Mr. Cameron's latest work. Frankly in two days it'll go on my list of old news. I'm thankful for people who challenged my theology years ago and helped me come to a point that things like this aren't a threat to my faith. My prayer is for those whose faith is not grounded and for whom this represents a real crisis of faith.

Trash on the News

*Disclaimer: This post might offend some and while that is not my intent, you have been warned.

While I am a big fan of 24-hour cable news (I of course have my preferred provider, which will remain nameless, but suffice it to say I'd rather be uninformed than watch CNN) I am quickly getting tired of endless coverage of inane, soap-opera drama purported to be news. There is actual news out there to be covered, but unfortunately the marketing and ratings people who help determine what is considered "news" (yes, I'm suggesting that news outlets cover what will get ratings at times even when it's really not newsworthy) have figured out that certain topics and stories need more coverage because people will stay tuned in longer (which drives ratings and consequently ad revenues) if those "stories" get the airtime.

I don't intend to be totally skeptical. I do think for the most part news outlets attempt to cover legitimate news. But you can't watch 3 hours of coverage on the Anna Nicole Smith saga and not think, "Is this really the only thing going on in the world?" So for your reading pleasure, my top 3 list of stories that need to go away permanently.

#3 Prince Harry and his trip to Baghdad. Here's the deal, kudos for serving, that's honorable. But you don't see national coverage every time a new squad leader is sent to Iraq. Personally, I can't stand stories about the British royal family. It's just a waste of time. They are the equivilent of combining a celebrity who is famous for being famous (Paris Hilton comes to mind) and a college professor whose tenure makes it impossible to ever fire him/her. See they don't do anything official (except take up time on the news when they do something stupid or on the off occasion they do something good), but they have the job for life as long as there is an heir to the "throne". I hope Harry does great and maybe he will prove to be a very capable leader. If I understand right his brother is first in line to the throne, so he may never "rule". What will really irk me is when 20 years from now they try to equate his time over there with real war heroes that were injured, captured, lost limbs, or at the very least actually came under fire (I suspect he will experience none of these). I have a feeling that whatever he does do over there will grow into legend over time (think John Kerry). Time will tell.

#2 Britney Spears' slide back to obscurity. Sadly, it turns out that K-fed is actually smarter than she is. When they broke up everyone thought she'd get the kids because he was worthless (which he is), but amazingly he's managed to keep himself out of the news (actually, the little bit of coverage he's gotten has been positive of late) while she's gone about proving herself to be completely trashy. Either her lawyer is an idiot or she isn't listening. I'd say K-fed is going to get the kids and probably a chunk of whatever is left of her fortune (I'm not sure there is much). Okay, that's all that needs to be said about this story. Everyone please quit following her around and covering her every drunken tirade. Her career is probably over (thankfully), so let her self-destruct in peace and don't make me watch "news" about whatever stupid thing she did last night.

#1 The Anna Nicole Smith saga. Sorry, this one is tired. The court proceedings are a circus, the judge is just out to get his own show - I was surprised to learn that was going on in Florida and not LA, I hadn't seen acting that bad in several nights of primetime. The whole thing is a tragedy, really it is. I hope and pray that somehow out of all this the 5-month-old can emerge to a quasi-normal life. I fear that the child may have developmental challenges due to her mother's selfish addictive behavior while she was pregnant, but perhaps by God's grace she won't. I couldn't care less about all the junk that is going on now. The fact that no one has ordered a paternity test to settle the dispute yet is ridiculous. And if I thought for a moment that any of these gold-digging men cared a bit about that child I'd probably care more about the story. But honestly, this is entirely about getting their hands on the $400 Million that the Smith estate may be entitled to (pending a whole separate courtroom drama). It's sad, the whole thing. Let's move on.

Truth of the matter is that there are important things going on in the world everyday. In case the only news you are getting is junk like the "stories" I've just talked about here's a short update:

Iran is developing nuclear weapons.
North Korea is still a threat.
Thousands die everyday of malnutrition and/or preventable disease around the world. What are we doing about it?
Children are being abducted and molested, killed, or both right around us. How can we stop this?
Billions stand to spend eternity in hell if no one bothers to share the love of Christ with them. What am I doing about this?

I don't mind the occasional blurb about something that is only news worthy because it involves someone who is already otherwise famous, I just can't stand continuous coverage of it all the time.

Nascar Brouhaha

Pet Peeve #37 - When the only thing the national news reports about NASCAR is a "scandal".

This post could go on and on, but I'll try to keep it to a minimum.

As many of you may have heard on national news there have been 5 NASCAR Nextel Cup crew chiefs suspended after last weekend's qualifying for this Sunday's Daytona 500 (the season opening race). The infractions resulting in the suspensions (as well as fines and loss of points) that these teams have been handed are varied in degree of severity.

I won't bother explaining all the details (this article on ESPN.com lays it out pretty well), but suffice it to say 4 of the 5 were fairly minor infractions (by historic NASCAR standards). Two related to having the wrong type of bolts holding the spoiler to the trunk - keep in mind these were the same bolts they used last year and were never questioned about, so to suspend the crew chief and dock points from a pre-qualifying inspection seems a little harsh. I'd equate this violation to being accused of stealing the opposing pitchers signs in a baseball game. We all know it goes on, no one admits it, but it doesn't really threaten the integrity of the game. In fact, it's part of the culture of the game. You can fairly assume every crew chief is looking for ways to give his driver even the slightest advantage (within the confines of the rules if possible) because the competition is so tight that a slight advantage may make all the difference.

NASCAR has come a long way from the days when "good-ole-boys" did all sorts of underhanded things to their cars to gain an advantage. I would argue that no major sport monitors the competitors and the equipment more closely than NASCAR. But they have to, that's what the sport is about - 43 "equal" cars competing, thus the difference is supposed to be about the driver and crew (if you've seen Days of Thunder some would argue it's not quite that simple). NASCAR isn't like IRL, Cart, or F1 where car technology separates the teams and only a few of the best funded teams can realistically compete at an elite level. NASCAR has created a rules system that results in incredibly competitive races. If you watch the race Sunday you'll see dozens of cars racing inches from one another at 190 mph for 200 laps and the winning margin will probably be less than a half second over second place.

My point? Well I've got a couple (as usual).

1. Of the 5 suspensions only 1 (Michael Waltrip's team) appears to be a major violation that represents a threat to the integrity of the sport. And Waltrip - the car owner and driver - is doing everything he can to apologize for it, he is telling anyone who will listen he had nothing to do with it. I'd like to believe him, he has been a respected driver for years and I'd hate to think he stooped to putting illegal substances in the fuel (I would compare this to a baseball player taking steroids).

2. The 2 suspensions I haven't mentioned were a little worse than the bolts on the trunk I talked about above, they probably did deserve a penalty of some kind. I'd liken this offense to scuffing the baseball. It'll get you thrown out of a game, but not banished for life. It was sneaky, but not outside the realm of what old school NASCAR crew guys have done to gain an advantage.

3. NASCAR is a great sport (hey, it's not their fault your attention span is short). Much like baseball or football there are several levels of complexity to it. You can watch the race and see what's happening as a novice and never realize the strategy and intricacies that are going on behind the scenes. I've been watching for years and learn something new almost each time I watch a race. If the sport itself doesn't interest you that is fine. But you have to respect the way it has gone from a regional way of life (in the southeast) to a national phenomenon. From a marketing perspective it's fairly amazing that this has happened in a national culture that isn't particularly interested in things from the old south. Someone figured out how to make it appealing to people around the country without destroying it in the process.

Homeland Security

File this under the "you've got to be kidding" tab.

Article

There are discussions about possibly deploying dolphins and sea lions to patrol the water off the coast of Washington (near Seattle) against terrorist attack. I'm not making this up. It gets better. Not only do they believe that the dolphins can use their acute sonar capabilities to detect attack swimmers (potentially carrying bombs or other devices and trying to gain access to a Naval facility housing submarines and other ships), but that the sea lions could put the cuffs on those swimmers. Yes, you read that correctly. sea lions will take clamps on long ropes out into the water and put them on the legs of the swimmer allowing the swimmer to be reeled in.

Some brief observations:

1. Kudos to the Navy for coming up with this idea, it certainly is outside the box and doesn't appear to involve spending billions.
2. Someone needs to do an animated short of this. I mean picture that - it's something you would expect to see on Saturday morning. Maybe call it "Dolphin Defenders". Okay, I stole that from the article about this.
3. Can you imagine being at the meeting where 2 or 3 generals sat around and decided to send in the dolphins and sea lions. "General, I believe my dolphins can handle this mission, they won't let you down."

"Colonel, I like it. Put your best dolphins on it, the safety of the Pacific fleet is at stake. After this succeeds we'll arrange a photo op with the sea lion who apprehends the first terrorist swimmer and the chairman of the joint chiefs."

4. I've got a feeling PETA is going to have something to say about this.
5. If the Navy is going to have to recruit for this mission like NASA did when it fielded the original Mercury astronauts I would like to officially recommend the sea lions at Sea World in San Diego. They are awesome. And I think I saw one on tv recently that was already doing some training - had a guy teaching him to do crunches. Not sure how important that will be.

Surviving the Grammys

Warning: This post has no redeeming value and is simply my rant.

From 7 to 8 last night (before the Apprentice started) I was forced to suffer through the Grammy's. The highlight for me was Mary J. Blige's two acceptance speeches. She thanked God (and even uttered the name of Jesus) multiple times and let on to changes in her life. I haven't done any research on her, previously her music didn't come across as terribly Christ honoring, but who knows.

My biggest complaint with the Grammys - as with most awards shows - is that the huge name artists they get to perform come on there and play slow songs I've never heard (I'm generally biased against slow songs anyway, particularly if they're not familiar). This is all about me after all, right? I mean Justin Timberlake, I can't stand you, but at least play the one song of yours that I can readily identify as being yours (it is after all the one they used to plug your performance at the show, why not just play it?). And by the way, I don't care how hot people tell you that you are, sticking that camera up your nose doesn't look good on anyone. I actually prefer it when they get one hit wonders to play awards shows, at least you know what you're going to get. John Mayer, cut your hair.

Low-light of that hour. Having to suffer through the Dixie Chicks. Where did they go wrong? Their early stuff was good. Then the demon that is Natalie Maines decided she'd rather be a politician than a musician and it all went south from there. If there is one thing that celebrities need to learn, it is that they need to keep their mouths shut when it comes to politics and especially foreign affairs. I'm pretty sure they're about as qualified to run their mouths on TV about foreign policy as William Hung was to sing on TV. Seriously, shut up and play your instrument. Your uneducated opinions stink worse than most. The Dixie Chicks proved their idiocy by completely failing to understand their base market. Three words Natalie: southern, conservative, Republicans. You're entitled to your opinion, but seriously were you dumb enough to think it wasn't going to sandbag your popularity - even if only temporarily - given the audience who made you famous in the first place?

Maybe we need to pass a law in this country that all people applying for a famous permit must go through certain minimum coursework. Yes, I like this idea. "Keeping your mouth shut 101", "Not irritating your base audience by being stupid 102", and "Getting over yourself and giving the audience what they want (your one hit song) 103" would be absolutely essential.

Here's to people who just perform their music and don't throw their ridiculous worldviews in our faces.

Valentine's Day

I wasn't sure where this post would go at first. I thought I might decry the commercialization of Valentine's Day (the second most exploited holiday on the modern calendar in my opinion - Christmas being first). I thought about giving some history of Valentine's Day, but the History Channel has that covered.

Instead this is a PSA for guys. So ladies, please pardon me while I speak to the guys for a few minutes.

Consider this simply some friendly advice as you approach Valentine's Day next week.

1. While it is ridiculous and tragic that we have resorted to buying stuff for our significant others, because we're no longer capable of expressing our emotions in spoken or even personally written form, be smart and take care of your special lady next Wednesday. I don't care if you think it's dumb, suck it up and make dinner reservations, buy flowers and/or candy, or whatever else you need to do to communicate that you care about her. This is particularly important if you aren't good with words or have gotten involved with a female who is either prone to the gifts love language or is just materialistic.

2. Number 1 is not optional, nor is it a battle worth fighting. While I'd rather save the money, tell my wife I love her and be done with it, I don't want to sleep on the couch. Taking a philosophical stand is great, but be practical and measure the certain costs (of being on her bad side) against the potential gains (not sure what those would be in this case).

3. Find some meaningful way to express how you feel to your wife/fiance/girlfriend/girl-you-want-to-date. I don't care if you have to steal it from a book or other source (no penalty for plagarizing when it comes to expressing emotions to a lady), she will remember what you say from the heart longer than the flowers or candy will last. If you're uncomfortable too bad. This is easily the most meaningful of the first three suggestions I'm giving you here. Only number 4 (below) can compare.

4. Diamonds - Now this is serious business. If there is one thing that can neutralize a woman and give you the upper hand (if only for a moment) it's a diamond. Think about it. Let's see the hands of all the guys who showed their now wife or fiance a diamond ring right before asking her to marry him. It's a diversionary tactic. Show her some "ice" (that can be hers if she says yes) and then pop the question. She will be momentarily stunned and is likely to agree to anything. Did you really think you were so cool that she would have said yes under normal circumstances? Sorry to burst your bubble. This tactic can work at times other than the marriage proposal, but must be used wisely and you should start with a small diamond, because each time you do this you'll have to come up with a bigger rock (or collection of rocks) to succeed. It's kind of like a drug habit, each time it takes more to get the same high (or so the experts tell us). So if you have been wanting to get your wife to agree to something she normally wouldn't - such as letting you spend thousands on performance parts for your car - blind her with a diamond on Valentine's Day and slip that one in during the confusion. Of course you won't be able to afford the parts after the diamond, but at least you'll have her on the record agreeing to it. You might want to record the incident so she can't deny it later.

Guys, good luck. If you get in trouble on Wednesday I hate to say it, but you're on your own. We'll all be doing our best and won't have time to rescue you. It's kind of like when you're playing pickup basketball and get stuck guarding the other team's top scorer. You're doing all you can to keep the guy in front of you, helping double someone else is pretty much out of the question. It's not that we don't want to help a fellow man in distress, we've just go all we can handle with our own Valentine.

Signs of Spring

While I hate winter in Joplin, at least we get the occasional nice day (fewer this winter than the last two). Some just enjoy days like today (high near 60, sunny, southwest wind), days like today are what get me through January and especially February. Why? Because I don't do well when days are short and sun is scarce. So one nice day goes a long way toward getting me through another Missouri winter.

Today was so nice that it felt like spring. Speaking of, here's my list of events each winter that give me hope for the coming spring:

1. The Daytona 500 - Scheduled for February 18th this year, the start of the NASCAR season is the first sign that warmer days are coming. Early season races are held in warmer locations (Daytona, SoCal, Texas, Las Vegas, etc.), so watching on Sunday afternoon usually means watching an event in a warm(er), sunny location. On my calendar, winter lasts from the checkered flag at Homestead (the last race of the season) to the green flag at Daytona. Thankfully there's lots of football in there to keep me going.

2. MLB opening day - The date on this one changes a little year to year, but usually falls in early April. Spring training starts in late February or early March. I figure if they call them the "boys of summer" the start to their season must mean warm weather is coming. Teams have perfected hybrid grasses that allow fields in cold climates to be lush and green even early in the season.

3. Daylight Savings Time - This one tracks pretty close to the NASCAR season and even more so with the extension that President Bush approved. If there is anything that drives me crazy about winter it's going to work in the dark each morning and coming home in near dark each evening. Once this blessed man-made creation kicks in at least it's still light out when I come home each day.

4. NCAA tournament - The pinnacle event of college basketball falls the last weeks of March, first of April and signals the end of winter sports. The NBA doesn't count.

5. Easter - Dates change, but nothing says warm weather like a free pass on white pants from the fashion police. Who really wears white pants anyway? Doesn't seem practical to me, no way you're keeping them white very long. On a more serious note, this family oriented celebration of the resurrection of Christ usually falls in the time period when the weather is starting to warm up. It is worth noting here, that my grandmother says there's always one cold snap after Easter. I don't have the data to confirm or deny her assertion, but I suspect this is more true when it falls in mid-March than in early April.

6. Spring Break - While it's often cold during spring break here in Missouri, Britt and I have developed a habit of going to warmer places for the week (okay, really we've only done it once, but we have a second trip scheduled for this year). Being on vacation in a warmer climate gives me a chance to wear shorts for a few days. And my motto is, "any day I get to wear shorts is automatically a better day than one I have to wear pants." Call me strange, I just like wearing shorts. Matt Foreman is my hero because he's the one guy at CIY that works in the garage enough to get to wear shorts pretty much all year.

7. Car washing - During the cold months I wash cars only when I absolutely have to. When spring comes I am a lot more likely to break out the bucket and hose. Sitting inside this evening with all 3 cars clean outside/in the garage makes me feel like spring is coming. Now tomorrow when it's back to the 20's and 30's I'll forget all about it, but for tonight spring is just around the corner.

Weekend in Tulsa

Superbowl weekend proved to be fairly interesting and the game had nothing to do with it. I was blessed to attend Believe in Tulsa this weekend. I am always the first to sign on for the trip to Tulsa. There are several reasons - not all of which will I detail here.

Tulsa is the first large believe of the tour, which gives it a great "feel". Having grown up around the Tulsa area I am priviliged to know several of the youth ministers in the area, so going to this event gives me a chance to reconnect with them. My own youth minister (Steve Johnson) has been doing youth ministry at Osage Hills CC almost as long as I've been alive. He is in the CIY Youth Ministry Hall of Fame and is in my opinion a living legend.

Spending the weekend in Tulsa also feels like a trip "home". I know the city and I like it. They have these things there called "expressways" that allow you to go across town in a matter of minutes. My wife hates Tulsa, but her reasons change frequently enough that I just shrug it off.

The things my wife likes about Tulsa are the following: Q-doba, Pei Wei, Carrabbas, Starbucks (of course we have one of those here now), and Israel Diamonds. Her affinity for Pei Wei and Isreal Diamonds is totally my fault, so I can't complain. Most generally if I feed her Pei Wei she's content to just get her rings cleaned at Isreal - which is free. Occasionally I have to send her in there on her own so that a salesman doesn't say something like, "Didn't we see you in here last week?" to me thus tipping her off that I might have been shopping for her when she wasn't with me and potentially ruining a surprise gift...I really hope she doesn't end her streak of not reading my blog today!

When I got off the expressway on Friday morning I was greeted by a huge OSU logo on the side of the OSU medical center, which sits next to the Convention Center. It was like a beacon helping me navigate my way in. Saturday morning when I came into our room on the 9th floor the curtains were parted just enough for me to see this same sign out the window. Just warmed my heart!

Believe was great, best program in several tours according to my wife and I both. Production was better than I've seen previously, having the right equipment makes a ton of difference and having the right personnel is a must (we've always had great people, I think we've done a better job of getting all of them we need and in the right places this time around). Merchandise is outstanding and sold like crazy. The Believe Team is doing a great job.

Paying Taxes

I recently received a rather humorous email forward from a co-worker on the structure of the current U.S. tax code. The gist is that the top 20% of wage earners (the rich) pay a huge (like 80%) portion of the income taxes paid each year. This is mostly true, though there are exceptions where wealthy people find ways to totally avoid paying taxes (which is generally illegal).

As someone who has existed in the middle income ranges all my life I can see both sides of the argument for and against this type of tax code (which is considered progressive, taking a higher percentage of your income as your income level goes up). In one respect those who make vast sums can afford to pay more in taxes and still enjoy a comfortable life. At the same time, why should those who have done well in their chosen field be forced to bear the bulk of the tax burden - essentially penalizing them for doing well. There's no easy answer. To pass the burden to lower income brackets would be fairly devastating to those people. To get the government to actually cut their budget (remember Congress generally defines a cut as any reduction in the normal yearly rate of increase, so if a particular department normally gets a 5% hike each year they'll call it a cut if they only get 3% in a given year) is probably out of the question. But if I were in the position of being entrusted with a very high level of income (from a stewardship standpoint that is a huge responsibility) I wouldn't particularly want to give up half or more in income taxes right off the top. I don't really think Washington or Jeff City know how to use the resources God has entrusted to me better than I do.

To avoid this becoming an overtly political post, I'll offer just some scriptural thoughts on the topic. The Gospels record Jesus on the subject of paying taxes in all three synoptics. The accounts in Mark and Luke are very similar, the one in Matthew differs slightly, but could well have been the same incident remembered a little differently by Matthew (he was a tax collector before he became a Disciple, so he was probably paying attention on this one).

At any rate, Jesus seems to have little to say about who should pay the most - though I think there are teachings on other things (see the incident at the temple where he talks about the rich and poor giving offerings) that could support certain concepts of how tax code should be written (but I'm going to leave those out of this post) - and focus on His comments on the appropriateness of His followers paying their taxes.

In Mark 12:13-17 and Luke 20:19-26 we read nearly identical accounts of Jesus being questioned about whether people should pay taxes - specifically to Caesar. Now there were cultural and contextual issues at play here because of the arrangement with the Romans ruling the area the Isrealites lived in, but I don't think those change the crux of what Jesus' response was. Jesus told those who questioned him that they should "render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's." In effect he is is saying, yes, if the government you live under requires you to pay taxes it is your responsibility to do so. There are other instances in scripture where believers are told to submit to the authorities in place over them, so this is not a stand alone concept.

I think the bottom line that Jesus is getting at here is that regardless of whether the current tax code is fair, it is our responsibility to pay what we owe. Now I don't believe that means we need to pay more than we owe or that we should not take advantage of legitimate deductions and credits the code allows for. I also don't think He is saying we shouldn't try to change the code through legitimate means (if we believe the code is unfair). What he is saying is that tax evasion is not only wrong in a civil sense, but also spiritually. While I find it painful to watch thousands taken from my checks each year, as a citizen of this country and in obedience to Christ I will pay my taxes. Now if the government decides to lower my tax burden for some reason I will certainly rejoice and praise God for that blessing.