Ah, Pity da Fool

I believe that I may have finally listened to my last "Morning Edition from NPR." I surely don't agree with some of my right-wing friends that all NPR's programming is slanted left. And I don't agree with all my liberal friends that NPR and MSNBC are the only "fair and balanced" news programs out there. Yet here comes this bit of "news" - truly an opinion piece - this morning.

http://www.npr.org/2011/08/09/138957812/evangelicals-question-the-existence-of-adam-and-eve#commentBlock

I do chuckle at re-reading the text and the commentary following it. You have the defenders of a "literal interpretation" versus the intelligentsia who seem to shake their heads at the duped, simpletons who simply refuse to accept the theories that have been advanced concerning human evolution. The faith that so many put in the scientific theories is a religion in and of itself, it seems.

I myself don't have a problem with evolution vs creationism. I'm comfortable in my belief that God created man and woman. I'm good with that. And I see the point that science puts forth - that we have evolved over eons from primates to modern homo sapiens.

It's like when I tell my daughter, Elaina, that she is the most beautiful girl in the whole world. Then I tell another daughter, Isabella, that she is the most beautiful girl in the whole world. For me, both statements are absolute. They are true. They are law. And they are not contradictory.

My real problem with the story as written is the two camps involved. Barbara Bradley Hagerty states that according to a Pew research poll, 4 in 10 Americans believe that God created humankind. She states that this is a central tenet of much of conservative Christianity. But from that point forth, the pro-creationism camp are "evangelicals" (at one point a Baptist is consulted - not sure if they qualify). Come to that, I'm not sure if I qualify either.

I was raised in the Episcopal Church and many of the folks I knew believed that God created Adam and Eve. I went to Catholic school for four years. There I was taught that God created Adam and Eve. I attended a Methodist college. There I was taught that God created Adam and Eve. I had a Jewish roommate. He believed that God created Adam and Eve.

I have researched that Judaism accepts the Genesis story of creation with as much "literal" vs poetic interpretation as do Christians. Genesis was written by a Jew. Why are Jews not even mentioned in the article? I have researched that Islam accepts the Genesis story of creation with as much "literal" vs poetic interpretation as do Christians. The Qur'an seems to give some leeway and many Muslims accept evolutionary theory. But I'm curious to know, how many out of 10 Christians, Jews, and Muslims accept that God made humankind. Remember, the quote from the poll is Americans, not Christians.


So yet again, the mainstream media looks to make me, an educated person of sound mind and body (mostly), lose "intellectual currency and respectability" for believing a theory that to me, has even more grounding, than the theory of evolution. Evangelicals are the defendants in a new Scopes trial, in which the verdict has been pronounced before the opening arguments have begun.

Map all the genomes you want; for me "there are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."

So I shook my head, changed the channel, and put on some worship music.

the swim back

I know that psychologists, behavoirists, and the like can tell us the decision-making process that occurs in the brain. I'm sure there's a sequence of steps that can be clearly delineated; put into some clean flow chart with little squares and diamonds of if-then scenarios. We weigh how a decision will affect us, what are its relative merits, the negative consequences of an action, or even no action at all.

But what about the decisions that seem to make no sense? What if it's a spontaneous choice and the consequences are thrown to the wind? Or what if, dare i say, it is a decision or choice that is made purely on faith?

My faith, my relationship with God, is (unfortunately) cyclical. I go through periods of "BFF" with my homie Jesus - these are the crests. King of the world! Ten feet tall and bulletproof. And then come the times where I don't feel any kind of closeness - these are the troughs. Eliot's pair of ragged claws scuttling across the floors of silent seas. My faith is the good ship Lollipop thrown where the winds of chance would have me. Somehow I really don't think that's what He was looking for when He was nailed to a criminal's cross for me.

So, really what's my problem then? What's corrupt in my decision making process to make a determined and final choice to follow Christ, to live His commandments, and obey His Word?

There's a point in the futuristic movie Gattaca where two brothers are competing by seeing who can swim out on a lake the farthest. They did this many times as children and Anton (the gentically superior brother) always won. In their 20-somethings they repeat their childish test of manhood. This time, however, Vincent (the genetically inferior, sickly brother) is able to, not only keep up with his brother, but surpass him. When finally Anton asks how Vincent is "doing this?" Vincent replies, "You wanna know how I did it? This is how I did it, Anton... I never saved anything for the swim back."


(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZKZSiCmXLQ)

Vincent was able to acheive something his own brother could not even conceive, committing himself in a way that his brother never could. So, here's the question to consider, that I ask myself time and again... what do I hold back from God?

I'd like to say nothing. I hold nothing back from God. I'm Vincent. I'm in the water. I'm with you Jesus. Yo! We're doing freestyle, breaststroke, heck even butterfly, all continuing in the same direction, Lord. Look at me, everyone! I am so holy!

But in my heart, I am not Vincent. As much as I may want to be, and want the world to think I am. I am the "superior" brother... I am Anton. I hold something back from my committment, from my willingness to not only get in the water and swim, but to continue down a course I am wholly committed to, where there's no turning back. What do you hold back? Which are you... Anton or are you Vincent? In your heart, you know the answer.

Here's the kicker. So does He. He knows how far you're willing to go. And I've got to think it saddens the heart of God to see so many of us in the water, swimming right along, not ever living the life of Vincent, always storing just enough energy to turn from the path, to turn away from Him. And despite all that negativity, that lack of committment, He still loves.

in the quiet moments that i have with just myself and God...


i want to be Vincent.