Denver Christian Docs

I've run into some people from the secular side who have a curious idea that "progress is inevitable." Things are just going to progress (meaning get better.) Where does this strange idea come from?

One thought is from science. Science, practically alone among human activities, does in fact have a directional trend. The scientific method (if honestly followed, an increasingly strained assumption) has self correcting tendencies. Scientific descriptions of nature do tend to more and more closely approach reality. Science does progress and the backtracks tend to be temporary.

We are surrounded by science and its results. I'm sitting at a computer that would have been inconceivable forty years ago. My job as a pathologist requires use of antibodies that are basically manufactured at our will.

Does this atmosphere of scientific progress make us assume that other areas of our life just automatically progress along too?

Another source of the progress myth is Marxism and its spinoffs. I'm no expert, but it seems like Marx supposed that social progress is also inevitable and predicted its direction. Of course he was wrong in most of his predictions, but that hasn't stopped his idea of social progress from taking hold.

Religion, politics, human relationships, economic systems, and philosophy don't have the kinds of mechanisms that science has to measure progress. Most agree when a scientific theory needs to be replaced; there is new data. But who agrees on political progress? Is it progressive to increase taxes or to decrease them? Is it progressive to label some forms of free speech "hate speech" and prosecute? Is it progressive to reinterpret phrases in the Bible completely differently from previously to suit modern taste? Is it progressive to move away from traditional family structure (which we all recognize had its flaws) toward a completely free flowing individualistic whatever I want goes unstructure? If you assume that "progress is inevitable" you may be forced to answer yes to some of these.

As a Christian, I think I am obliged to NOT think that human progress is inevitable. Our culture has forgotten an important truth about humans, that we are not perfectable. Any human good contains within it a small potential seed of evil. Things will change, but it is not guaranteed that any human system will improve.

As a PhD scientist, I even have experimental evidence: 6 million Jews killed by Nazi's, 20-40 million Russians killed by Stalin, 30-70 million Chinese killed by Mao, Rwanda genocide of 800,000 in a few days, etc.

What do you think?

Joe Carter in Evangelical Outpost has written a thought-provoking article that I recommend to you. It's short. Christian Doctor's Digest had an interview about human trafficking in the past few months.

EO is a blog by an Evangelical former Marine, computer geek, who used to work at the Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity. I met Joe up there when I spent a week on a miniretreat to learn something about bioethics. Also about blogging; he is so much better at it than I but he was generous with his time and talent. He is always thoughtful, at times maddening, but comes up with interesting topics all the time. His "Yak shaving razor" series which lists little useful items is a must see. From that I learned that if you type "Starbucks 80113" into your text message on your cell phone and send it to GOOGL (46645) you will in seconds receive two texts listing the closest Starbucks. I've also used it to find bank branches, hardware stores, etc. All you need is the zip code. Here is a link to Google that explains all the features. Weather, sports, stock quotes, driving directions, we live in amazing time.

Ben Stein is a dry comedian and also a sharp lawyer. He wrote a commentary about Christmas, Atheism, and popular culture that I enjoyed. See what you think. (This may have already come to you on an email that is making the rounds. The internet version appears to be augmented.)

Thanksgiving Grace—2006

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,

that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

The Bible tells us to be thankful:

Enter His gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name. For the Lord is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations. Psalm 100:4-5, about 1000 BC

Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift. II Corinthians 9:15, about 50 AD

Why? Is this God’s ego trip? I don’t think so. I think it’s ultimately what’s best for me. Being thankful is the ultimate selfish act. I am happier and healthier when I’m grateful.

Cicero, 100 BC: “Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.”

Dale Carnegie, in How to Stop Worrying and Start Living:

Rule 4 in Seven Ways to Peace and Happiness: Count your blessings, not your troubles.

“The habit of looking on the best side of every event is worth more than a thousand pounds a year” –Dr. Samuel Johnson

“If you have all the fresh water you want to drink and all the food you want to eat, you ought never to complain about anything.” Captain Eddie Rickenbacker

“I had the blues because I had no shoes,

Until upon the street, I met a man who had no feet.”

Dennis Prager, in Happiness is a Serious Problem:

“Yes, there is a ‘secret to happiness’—and it is gratitude. All happy people are grateful, and ungrateful people cannot be happy. We tend to think that it is being unhappy that leads people to complain, but it is truer to say that it is complaining that leads to people becoming unhappy. Become grateful and you will become a much happier person.”

“Thus, it is in our self-interest to feel grateful because it helps enrich our own experience of life. Thanksgiving, in this view, should be every day of the year.” --Gregg Easterbrook

Thank you, Lord, for our many blessings. Thank you for the gift of love, that at times we don’t deserve. Thank you for our family, that we did not choose. Thank you that we happened to be born in the United States with its freedoms, opportunities, and second chances. We know that we did nothing to earn that blessing. Thank you for the wisdom of George Washington, who established Thanksgiving as a national holiday. He recognized the vital importance of gratitude. Thank you for the gift of life that makes all other gifts possible. And thank you for creation, and for your love, and for your help and guidance in making us better and happier people. Amen.

May you all have a joyous Thanksgiving, as we begin to prepare to celebrate the coming of the Lord into our world...

First Things, which as you all know now is one of my favorite reads, had an interesting article on a Polish philosopher named Kolakowsky. He survived the Warsaw Ghetto and Polish communism. This article in October's issue described his life and times, as well as many of his conclusions. For me the best line was:

“I can understand people who do not believe in God, but the fact that there are people who do not believe in the devil is beyond my comprehension.”

I have met some church attending Christians with the opposite point of view, that there is no Hell, just Heaven. This of course does not square with a lot of scripture but perhaps it is a comforting thought. I do recall a line by Richard Neuhaus from one of his books, that goes something like "We Christians know there must be a hell, but hope that it is empty..."

And here is another great line, scary, but great:

No one who has experienced the ideological indoctrination that took place under communism can fail to be horrified at the extent to which life in present-day America—intrusion of the state into the private realm, the use of language, the ideologization of education—is reminiscent of life under communism.

The author argues that Political Correctness is a form of totalitarianism.

Several people get together every month to discuss First Things. It's ecumenical (Catholic, evangelical, Lutheran, Baptist). The group is called ROFTERS, Readers Of First Things, and group #1 was actually started in Denver by an engineer. There are now ROFTERS groups meeting all over the world. I see that there is now a group in Colorado Springs as well as Denver. First Things is not that expensive, maybe $26/year for 10 issues, and it will definitely challenge you.

The Borrower is slave to the lender...Proverbs 22:7
In the house of the wise are stores of choice food and oil, but a foolish man devours all he has. Proverbs 21:20
Interesting information in the Bible about money. There is an evangelical Christian preaching about this every day. His name is Dave Ramsey. He got rich, went broke, got rich again but the second time he did it without borrowing any money. His message is biblical and countercultural, and definitely worth investigating. His radio show is on the Net every day, and (I think it also is on the AM band somewhere around noon. He has a couple of good books, Total Money Makeover and Financial Peace Revisited. He also runs a course called Financial Peace University, commonly found at churches around the country. Check out the website. If there's one area I find nervousness among my fellow docs, it's money.

DenverDocWife and I have had numerous discussions about an interesting American phenomenon. It seems that you just cannot criticize immorality unless you are perfect. So we have Dr. Laura Schlesinger, who criticizes immorality all the time, pilloried for a lapse in her college years. A representative who engaged in some pretty bad emails is drummed out of congress, and his entire party criticized for weeks for his transgression, while a member of the other party had a homosexual escort service run out of his Washington office with no consequences. He still serves. A president who lies under oath remains a political icon, just because he doesn't claim any moral position at all.

Recently while we were out of the country, a pastor came under attack. He has homosexual temptations which he has given in to. Is he a hypocrite?

First Things writers weigh in on this question with interesting conclusions. I must admit I like their conclusion. As best I can state it, if someone believes something is wrong, wishes they weren't doing it, but does it anyway, they are NOT being hypocritical. They are being sinful, human, perhaps weak.

If on the other hand someone professes to believe something is wrong, does it anyway, but really has no regrets about doing it, THEY are being hypocritical.

So a man who says he believes in fidelity but keeps a mistress, enjoys it, and has no guilt about it is a hypocrite. If he feels regret, but can't seem to help himself, he is weak but not a hypocrite. Makes sense to me.