The great search

I've been reading the 'Gospel according to the Beatles' and it has made me wonder a number of  things especially about John Lennon.

This man had a desire for the supernatural. In any ways he was a seeker, he knew he couldn't overcome his or the worlds problems by himself.  He was in many way an ardent critic of Christianity, but I think it was through the eyes of critiquing it through the excesses of western Christianities 'Religiosity'.
I've always thought that we would be surprised at who ended up next to the King and who wouldn't when we die.

Matthew 7:7-8 (NLT)

⁷ “Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. ⁸ For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.

In may ways I think if you are 'knocking', you are for filling the first commandment. Matthew 22:37-40: (Amplified)

^37-40Jesus said, "'Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.

In many ways those that are knocking are loving of God, without really understanding the nature or who God is. (I think we are all in catagory more than we would like to admit! I feel like I have to continually come back to the door and knock.)

John Piper in his book 'Desiring God' uses an interesting term 'Hedonistic Christianity'. Instead of the common use of the word, desiring pleasure for the individuals own good. Piper twists it so that pleasure is only found through the desire and doing God's will. I think he is right, yet I also think it is a lot broader than a Christian perspective. A 'Spiritual Hedonism' is probably what I would like to call it. Spiritual Hedonism that sees that earthly pleasures as no good, and that pleasure can only be found in the divine, which must be searched to the alpha and omega.

Interestingly I think John Lennon probably got to this point. He was a person who had to much money, so much he didn't really know what to do with it. (Why not paint your Roll's pink!) He had fame. Also there was a desire to make the world a better place.... Why not have a 'Bed in'

Tim Keller on Evolution

Interestingly some big names are starting to speak up on the Genisis/Evolution disscussion. Tim Kellor who makes a lot of sence to me writes that it does not necessarily mean a yes or no answer.
This comes from the white paper written by Tim Keller for the November workshop "In Search of a Theology of Celebration" is posted on the BioLogos web site: Creation, Evolution, and Christian Laypeople.
He gives three question and brief then followed by more detailed examples...

Question #1: If God used evolution to create, then we can’t take Genesis 1 literally, and if we can’t do
that, why take any other part of the Bible literally?

Answer: The way to respect the authority of the Biblical writers is to take them as they want to be
taken. Sometimes they want to be taken literally, sometimes they don’t. We must listen to them, not
impose our thinking and agenda on them.

Question#2: If biological evolution is true—does that mean that we are just animals driven by our
genes, and everything about us can be explained by natural selection?

Answer: No. Belief in evolution as a biological process is not the same as belief in evolution as a world-
view.

Question #3: If biological evolution is true and there was no historical Adam and Eve how can we know
where sin and suffering came from?

Answer: Belief in evolution can be compatible with a belief in an historical fall and a literal Adam and Eve. There are many unanswered questions around this issue and so Christians who believe God used evolution must be open to one another’s views.

I found it fascinating that he used C.S.Lewis as part of his detailed answer.

One of my favorite Christian writers (that’s putting it mildly), C.S.Lewis, did not believe in a literal Adam and Eve, and I do not question the reality or soundness of his personal faith.

(It also interests me that people like John Piper love to quote C.S.Lewis, yet I'd say for Piper a non-belief in a literal Adam and Eve would be heretical!)

I do like Keller's approach. It gives the reader some outs, as well as options. A freedom to think though things and not be boxed in. It does mean that a certain undoing or diminished importance of aspects of Scriptures which certainly if reading from Genesis has implied effects through out Scripture. This for some people will feel like shaky ground.