Cancer and Hope

I just learned about a young boy who is dying of cancer named Dorian Murray.  You can google the name or go to his Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/PrayingForDorian/) to learn more. Dorian is only 8 years old and will not likely be here much longer. 

I read about the boy in a special China insert in the Washington Post.  Because of the snow storm from this past weekend, I received like 4 or 5 days of the paper at one time!  Anyway, the boy's parents posted a note about Dorians wish to be famous all over the world, in particular China, and guess what -he is now famous all over the world!

The story is painful, sad, yet encouraging.  You can see how people actually care.  People who have different value systems, who may not even believe in God, who are capitalist, communist, and citizens of kingdoms all care.  People who submit to warlords and live in prosperous as well as struggling empires actually care about another human being they don’t even know! Many people can indeed show signs of being a changed and reformed Ebeneezer Scrooge – and they don’t even have to be warned by the spirit of a dead colleague into doing it!

This is the stuff that makes us think utopia is possible and that people are inherently good.  But it's not true!  Utopia is not possible and people are actually inherently evil as evidenced by 10,000 years or so of human history.  It’s all in how you define evil – or might I add, who defines evil. My atheist friends think removing religion will fix the problem.  Certain extreme Muslim friends of mine may think building one world-wide caliphate will bring peace.  Certain extreme "Christian" friends of mine think that if we legislate Christian doctrine we can have peace.  Yet, they are all wrong.  We are really no different than our ancestors and 10,000 years of recorded human history does not lie. Analyze it any way you want to, the historical conclusion is the same: we are an inherently evil species.  This is reality, no matter what we feel or think about it, and clearly most people reject this fact on all kinds of levels!

Now, the only faith system I have found that affirms this reality, and yet gives real hope for the "here and now" as well as in some kind of afterlife is authentic Christianity.  Someone may say that this hope is encased in mythology - that God created the heavens and the earth, that He cares about individuals now, and that He will redeem creation at some point in our future; some may say that this is all a myth thought up in antiquity.  But what if it is not a fairy-tale? What if it is true? If the "fairy-tale" is true, how then should one conduct their life? As it is written about the destruction & redemption of the world and the return of Christ, "Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives". (2 Peter 3:11).

What do you think? What if it's true?  I am ecstatic that the world is responding to Dorian Murray's wish.  My prayers are with his family because no amount of the worlds out-pouring of love in prayers, pictures, or kind and supportive words can replace the love this family has for their little boy. Albeit, I’m sure it helps.  Yet, what does it mean if the Christian faith is, in every sense of the phrase, the "absolute truth"?

As a final thought....My niece Marie Young died of cancer in December - she was only 48 and eleven years ago my father died of cancer - he was 70.  Cancer, war, death, greed, human trafficking, arrogance, pain, loneliness, crime - especially violent crime, hatred of each other, racism, false belief systems that promote (consciously or unconsciously) evil, fits of unbridled rage, alcohol and drug addiction, ignorant children making terrible decisions - especially if they are my children, and a host of other ills make me long for the return of Christ.  Sure, I can enjoy life while I have it, but anyone who closes their eyes and hides from the realities that are in this world are deceiving themselves.

World View, Life Stance and God's Existance

I recently learned that a poll in Iceland revealed that no young person - NONE, ZERO - actually believed that God created the universe.  That is, every young that participated in this poll had a 100% naturalistic world view.  They do NOT believe in the supernatural, and thus they live life based on their own individualized life stance.
     What is a world view and what is a life stance?  They are related concepts that define reality for a person.
     A world view is more comprehensive - how do you see world - what makes life work?  Where did we come from?  Who makes the rules?  What is your fundamental view of reality; a framework for viewing reality that encompasses the entirety of space, time, knowledge and truth.
     A life stance is more about how the individual relates to others and the world around them in light of their view of reality.  It deals more with values, ethics, and ones commitment to aligning oneself with and holding on to what is important within their view of reality.  A life stance defines ones commitment to living and even dying for what they believe.
     As a Christian, I have a world view that accepts as fact that God created the heavens and the earth based on philosophical, historical, and theological evidence, (I could not accept this view without evidence).  My life stance, says that I am committed to the observable and existential functional ethics, morals and values that are derived from such a world view.  These ethics, morals, values and truths are revealed in the Christian sacred text, specifically the New Testament as the teachings of Jesus Christ and his hand-picked apostles,
     According to a recent Washington Post article, Iceland is moving toward a completely atheistic, 100% naturalistic world view - a view of reality that says there is absolutely no God.  The idea of a God, then would be mythology, in the same category as Zeus, Hera and Poseidon. In fact, on January 15, my friend Jerry Coyne (I don't know him personally, but I get his blog report and on rare occasion, I will comment on it.  Once, he actually referenced my comments and I think we exchanged email, but I don't remember), a Biology professor from the University of Chicago, stated that the research behind this article shows that Iceland "to be on its way to complete atheism".
     The research is solid and the transition in Iceland to becoming primarily an atheist country is clear.  The Icelandic Ethical Humanist Association (IEHA) is doing a phenomenal job of teaching an ethical and moral framework to the youth without the need for the supernatural historically or in the present.   IEHA provides training as coming of age programs that effectively teach young people how to be contributing members to society, appropriately adhering to laws, rules, and cultural values  and changing them when needed by practicing critical thinking and appropriate skepticism. They also provide officiates for weddings, funerals, and special family dedications!  It's a spirituality that celebrates the human spirit without acknowledging the existence of God!  It's brilliant, awesome and the approach is definitely working.  I am impressed and I mean it.
     Yet, when you strip away the scientific jargon, the data, the statistics, and the derived value system used to teach ethics without a transcendent and personal creator of the Universe, what do you really have?  I am certain that Coyne, Dawkins, Shermer and many others will tell you that ethics and morals are invented by mankind - a necessary derivative of evolution by natural selection, and thus, have no value in determining right from wrong or good from evil in any absolute or transcendent sense.  I'm sure this is oversimplified and men smarter than I am, including Coyne, can add clarity to this idea, but at the end of the day, if we evolved,then  moral relativistic cultures, values, laws and norms are the only way human beings can create a cooperative (i.e. civil) society.  Even so, from my specific world view, what IEHA has accomplished in Iceland falls in line with what is implied in 2 Corinthians 2:11 and Colossians 2:4,8.
     What is your world view?  What is your life stance?   I have followed the arguments and my current conclusion is solid.  Yet, I am a skeptic by nature and always trying to learn more.  I am convinced that the teachings of Jesus Christ and his hand-picked apostles are the best and, existentially, most logically livable framework on which to build ones life.  But more than that, I am convinced that it is true and what is recorded in the Christian sacred text reflect what actually happened in history and what is, in actually, the ultimate reality.