About a week ago I got some very special letter in the mail. I was informed that I was a candidate for the Cambridge Who’s who of America’ something or other. I was so flattered! After years of hard work, I had achieved the vaguely defined standards of Cambridge Who’s who which is proudly (not) associated with Cambridge University. Turns out they’re a scam. It’s a good thing I figured that out when I “interviewed” for my position of prestige.
I was initially suspicious before I called and spoke to the Cambridge people. First, I don’t ever recall applying for this. I remember hearing about people signing up for the various “Who’s who” lists, but I never bothered to check it out. It is pretty harmless to give a company a call though, so I went ahead and did it anyway. After all, the chance to network is never something that I would reject.
I became increasingly wary when I was talking to some lady over the phone. She told me that I was being interviewed for inclusion in the 2009 Who’s who. The first question was one that clearly intended to get me excited about the program. After listing off all the benefits, she cheerfully asked me “how I might benefit” from the program. I pretended to not hear her clearly and asked her to repeat herself, and she did so word for word. The subsequent questions seemed almost too easy. “What is your proudest accomplishment? How long have you worked in your industry? What do you attribute your success too?” All of this was quite nauseating. If I was really “applying” for some prestigious association, they’d be asking me to send them an essay about my own biography, along with letters of recommendation, and proof that I accomplished what I said I did. Instead, this lady was just taking my word for it and massaging my ego in the process.
The final blow came when she tried the close. She gave me two options, a life time membership ($900) or a five year membership ($500). My first thought was, “I wonder if this is like when I offer customers the homemaker or the complete set before moving on to the smaller, less expensive, sets?” You don’t play a player, and when I offer someone something, it is something good. I almost called her out on it. Yet, I also knew that I would probably have to say “no” four more times before she’d hang up. Sure enough, she dropped down to some $200 offer before finally letting me go. Oh well! Looks like I’ll have to stick earning a reputation and finding employment the old fashioned way!
Let this blog be added to the hundreds of others letting people know of this scam. This organization will try to sell you on the feeling of prestige and the chance to network. But you don’t get prestige without working really hard for it first. If you need to network, use meetup, facebook, or any of the other free associations out there. When you get one of those stupid letters, go ahead and shred it.
Thanks for reading, and thanks Cutco for teaching me how to sell. Now I know when I’m getting scammed.
Midnight Mass Sermon
As I write, I am sucked in by the ad for tomorrow’s Eastenders - ‘Who is the daddy?’ Only a little while to go and we will know, perhaps!, the truth about the parentage of Roxy’s baby, Amy. I am not a fan of the soap I have to say, but it’s the sort of thing that Alex irons to and that I will half watch if I am in.
Nothing is ever simple in Walford. Families are never ordinary or normal. No 2.4 children. No happily married for 30+ years. It’s all fiction I know, and so do you, but I wonder, was Oscar WIlde right when he said, ‘All that I desire to point out is the general principle that life imitates art far more than art imitates life?’ Perhaps nearer the truth is American singer/songwriter Ani Difranco when she says, ‘...Yeah, art may imitate life. But life imitates tv...’
I am not trying to suggest that tv soaps lead the way that society lives, but I wonder whether to a degree, the media in general becomes a mirror that we can hold up and view ourselves, our famillies and our neighbourhoods in. Speaking personally, I don’t much like what I see in that mirror at the moment.
More than 70 teenagers have been violently killed this year alone. Some 3000 people have died from the Cholera epidemic in Zimbabwe. Unemployment in the UK has reached nearly 2 million - an 11 year high - a direct result of the Credit Crunch...
It is into these stories, that God, ‘the Word made flesh’ speaks. Into this world, God comes.
But St John does not tell of an arrogant Creator God, who slaps the corporate wrist and puts back everything the way that it was. John reminds us of what we celebrate tonight - God becomes flesh and blood like us, weak and needy like us, and lives among us. John literally says that God pitches His tent among us. In other words, he doesn’t move among us like some sort of ghost - in the world but not part of it. God comes into our world, living among us, as a vulnerable baby.
We celebrate the birth of that baby tonight, but that in itself is not miraculous as many babies are born in UK hospitals and homes every day. The baby we celebrate born tonight is born in poverty, but that in itself is not miraculous as many babies are born and survive in similar situations all over the world today. Tonight we are reminded of the parentage of this baby - he is God’s Son. Even that is not the Christmas miracle that we celebrate tonight.
The Christmas miracle that we celebrate tonight is that this baby grew to be a man. Through this man, God spoke and demonstrated what it means, how it feels and what it costs to love and be loved by God and each other. Through the life, death and resurrection of this man, we can not only know about God and His
ways, but we are welcomed as members of the family. The Christmas miracle we celebrate tonight is not that God becomes a human being. The Christmas miracle we celebrate tonight is that through this baby human beings can come to God.
The message of Christmas challenges our complacency an our prejudices and our misconceptions about God and humanity. For this baby was not born amongst the wealthy, the intelligent, or the powerful, but rather was born in the poorest of situations, to parents who were not formally educated and who in the eyes of others had no influence or status. God values the humanity of the ordinary man or woman so much that he chose to come amongst them, trusting them for love and life. In return he offers us as ordinary men and women love and life, and he trusts us to share it with others.
The Christmas miracle that we see and hear tonight, celebrates a God who embraces our humanity completely and sees every single one of us as a potential stand in for him. As potential stand-ins for God therefore we each need to be treated with value, dignity and respect: the God who comes to us in humility tonight as a baby, later as a man speaks forcefully to our pride, our economic and social status, our sense of justice and the importance of our sheer human worth, and calls us to simply love each other. As such, in the killing, raping and
looting fields of Darfur; in the broken nation and a broken people of Zimbabwe who have been forcefed with injustice and can swallow no more; for the unreconciled children of Abraham in the Middle East - the Palestinians without a viable state they can call home and Israelis hungry for peace and security; for the refugees, the homeless and people caught up in human trafficking; in the walls of silence the abduction of Madeline McCann, the murder of Rhys Jones and the failure for any to take responsibility for the Omagh bombing – God is being daily violated and blasphemed.
Through the birth of Jesus, we are reminded that the tragic human plight that we see and read through the media, is God’s plight. Through the birth of Jesus, we are reminded of how much God loves that ordinary humanity, enough to make it his own. Through the birth of Jesus, we are reminded therefore that apathy to horrendous news stories is no longer an option. It is all to easy to change the channel to avoid them, but because of the birth of Jesus, those stories are not about ‘others’, but about men and women like us, amongst whom he was born, whom he trusted for love and life, and who he continues to trust to love.
Tonight we are reminded that through the birth of a baby, God clearly demonstrates the depth of his love for ordinary men an women by being born
vulnerable and helpless amongst us, trusting us for love and life. Tonight we are reminded that through the birth of a baby, God longs for each of us to be loved by
Him, to know that in the midst of complicated family life that he is our Father. Tonight we are reminded that through the birth of a baby, that we are worth loving and so should love each other in turn. Amen.
As I write, I am sucked in by the ad for tomorrow’s Eastenders - ‘Who is the daddy?’ Only a little while to go and we will know, perhaps!, the truth about the parentage of Roxy’s baby, Amy. I am not a fan of the soap I have to say, but it’s the sort of thing that Alex irons to and that I will half watch if I am in.
Nothing is ever simple in Walford. Families are never ordinary or normal. No 2.4 children. No happily married for 30+ years. It’s all fiction I know, and so do you, but I wonder, was Oscar WIlde right when he said, ‘All that I desire to point out is the general principle that life imitates art far more than art imitates life?’ Perhaps nearer the truth is American singer/songwriter Ani Difranco when she says, ‘...Yeah, art may imitate life. But life imitates tv...’
I am not trying to suggest that tv soaps lead the way that society lives, but I wonder whether to a degree, the media in general becomes a mirror that we can hold up and view ourselves, our famillies and our neighbourhoods in. Speaking personally, I don’t much like what I see in that mirror at the moment.
More than 70 teenagers have been violently killed this year alone. Some 3000 people have died from the Cholera epidemic in Zimbabwe. Unemployment in the UK has reached nearly 2 million - an 11 year high - a direct result of the Credit Crunch...
It is into these stories, that God, ‘the Word made flesh’ speaks. Into this world, God comes.
But St John does not tell of an arrogant Creator God, who slaps the corporate wrist and puts back everything the way that it was. John reminds us of what we celebrate tonight - God becomes flesh and blood like us, weak and needy like us, and lives among us. John literally says that God pitches His tent among us. In other words, he doesn’t move among us like some sort of ghost - in the world but not part of it. God comes into our world, living among us, as a vulnerable baby.
We celebrate the birth of that baby tonight, but that in itself is not miraculous as many babies are born in UK hospitals and homes every day. The baby we celebrate born tonight is born in poverty, but that in itself is not miraculous as many babies are born and survive in similar situations all over the world today. Tonight we are reminded of the parentage of this baby - he is God’s Son. Even that is not the Christmas miracle that we celebrate tonight.
The Christmas miracle that we celebrate tonight is that this baby grew to be a man. Through this man, God spoke and demonstrated what it means, how it feels and what it costs to love and be loved by God and each other. Through the life, death and resurrection of this man, we can not only know about God and His
ways, but we are welcomed as members of the family. The Christmas miracle we celebrate tonight is not that God becomes a human being. The Christmas miracle we celebrate tonight is that through this baby human beings can come to God.
The message of Christmas challenges our complacency an our prejudices and our misconceptions about God and humanity. For this baby was not born amongst the wealthy, the intelligent, or the powerful, but rather was born in the poorest of situations, to parents who were not formally educated and who in the eyes of others had no influence or status. God values the humanity of the ordinary man or woman so much that he chose to come amongst them, trusting them for love and life. In return he offers us as ordinary men and women love and life, and he trusts us to share it with others.
The Christmas miracle that we see and hear tonight, celebrates a God who embraces our humanity completely and sees every single one of us as a potential stand in for him. As potential stand-ins for God therefore we each need to be treated with value, dignity and respect: the God who comes to us in humility tonight as a baby, later as a man speaks forcefully to our pride, our economic and social status, our sense of justice and the importance of our sheer human worth, and calls us to simply love each other. As such, in the killing, raping and
looting fields of Darfur; in the broken nation and a broken people of Zimbabwe who have been forcefed with injustice and can swallow no more; for the unreconciled children of Abraham in the Middle East - the Palestinians without a viable state they can call home and Israelis hungry for peace and security; for the refugees, the homeless and people caught up in human trafficking; in the walls of silence the abduction of Madeline McCann, the murder of Rhys Jones and the failure for any to take responsibility for the Omagh bombing – God is being daily violated and blasphemed.
Through the birth of Jesus, we are reminded that the tragic human plight that we see and read through the media, is God’s plight. Through the birth of Jesus, we are reminded of how much God loves that ordinary humanity, enough to make it his own. Through the birth of Jesus, we are reminded therefore that apathy to horrendous news stories is no longer an option. It is all to easy to change the channel to avoid them, but because of the birth of Jesus, those stories are not about ‘others’, but about men and women like us, amongst whom he was born, whom he trusted for love and life, and who he continues to trust to love.
Tonight we are reminded that through the birth of a baby, God clearly demonstrates the depth of his love for ordinary men an women by being born
vulnerable and helpless amongst us, trusting us for love and life. Tonight we are reminded that through the birth of a baby, God longs for each of us to be loved by
Him, to know that in the midst of complicated family life that he is our Father. Tonight we are reminded that through the birth of a baby, that we are worth loving and so should love each other in turn. Amen.
A problem with the problem of evil
One of my favorite classes this first semester of grad school was “God and the Problem of Evil.” In short, philosophers ask how a God who is all-loving, all-powerful, and all-knowing can co-exist with all the evil that we see in the world. I came to the conclusion, and argued in a long paper, that much of the problem is how the term “God” is understood in this question. It often seems that non-theists and Christians have a different understanding of the term and both seem to miss this miscommunication. I will outline the problem and give a suggestion as to how the problem of evil changes given the specific definition of “God.”
A fellow by the name of William Rowe demonstrated the non-theist’s definition of God. He argued for “restricted theism.” This meant that there exists an all-loving, all-powerful, and all-knowing (otherwise known as the three omni’s) being, but with nothing beyond this simple definition. No sacred scriptures. No special revelations. No prophets. No Jesus. God, so defined by restricted theism, is a being with the three-omni’s and nothing else.
From here Rowe explained the problem as he sees it. He first gives vivid examples of the kind of evil we see, such as a little girl who is raped and murdered. He then argues that it is not reasonable to believe that God exists. Theists usually answer that God has reasons that are far beyond our comprehension (“noseeum” reasons) for allowing evil, but Rowe finds this inadequate for two reasons. First, by being beyond our comprehension these reasons are irrational. Secondly, God seems apathetic and distant from our suffering.
The problem with Rowe’s argument, and those non-theists like him, is they insist on working with a definition of “God” that is far to restricted. It is so restricted that very few theists actually believe in such a god. In a way, people like Rowe are batting at position that doesn’t exist, or that exists only their minds.
If Christians are going to respond to the problem of evil, we do so with our definition of God. The Christian God became man in the person of Jesus, otherwise known as the incarnation. What is properly said about Jesus, can also be said about God. This cannot be abstracted or removed without changing the definition of god as “restricted theism” wants us to. Christians do believe in the three omni’s, but not merely the three omnis.
This changes the problem of evil significantly. Rowe asks why humans suffer so much evil while God is sitting around doing nothing. Christians point to something else. According to Christianity, God himself was human and suffered evil at the hands of his enemies during the crucifixion. Now instead of the question being, “why do humans suffer so much evil?” we now have to ask, “why do humans, and God, suffer so much evil?”
The implications of this go beyond this blog, but I think it is important to sum up the correct starting point. Non-theists often define god as “a being with the three omi’s and nothing else.” Christians, in contrast, will say “God is a being who took on human flesh in the person of Jesus Christ and has the three omnis as well.” The problem of evil simply cannot be looked in the same way in light of this. The non-theists, as well as Christian apologists, need to keep this in mind when responding to the evil we see in the world.
Thanks for reading.
A fellow by the name of William Rowe demonstrated the non-theist’s definition of God. He argued for “restricted theism.” This meant that there exists an all-loving, all-powerful, and all-knowing (otherwise known as the three omni’s) being, but with nothing beyond this simple definition. No sacred scriptures. No special revelations. No prophets. No Jesus. God, so defined by restricted theism, is a being with the three-omni’s and nothing else.
From here Rowe explained the problem as he sees it. He first gives vivid examples of the kind of evil we see, such as a little girl who is raped and murdered. He then argues that it is not reasonable to believe that God exists. Theists usually answer that God has reasons that are far beyond our comprehension (“noseeum” reasons) for allowing evil, but Rowe finds this inadequate for two reasons. First, by being beyond our comprehension these reasons are irrational. Secondly, God seems apathetic and distant from our suffering.
The problem with Rowe’s argument, and those non-theists like him, is they insist on working with a definition of “God” that is far to restricted. It is so restricted that very few theists actually believe in such a god. In a way, people like Rowe are batting at position that doesn’t exist, or that exists only their minds.
If Christians are going to respond to the problem of evil, we do so with our definition of God. The Christian God became man in the person of Jesus, otherwise known as the incarnation. What is properly said about Jesus, can also be said about God. This cannot be abstracted or removed without changing the definition of god as “restricted theism” wants us to. Christians do believe in the three omni’s, but not merely the three omnis.
This changes the problem of evil significantly. Rowe asks why humans suffer so much evil while God is sitting around doing nothing. Christians point to something else. According to Christianity, God himself was human and suffered evil at the hands of his enemies during the crucifixion. Now instead of the question being, “why do humans suffer so much evil?” we now have to ask, “why do humans, and God, suffer so much evil?”
The implications of this go beyond this blog, but I think it is important to sum up the correct starting point. Non-theists often define god as “a being with the three omi’s and nothing else.” Christians, in contrast, will say “God is a being who took on human flesh in the person of Jesus Christ and has the three omnis as well.” The problem of evil simply cannot be looked in the same way in light of this. The non-theists, as well as Christian apologists, need to keep this in mind when responding to the evil we see in the world.
Thanks for reading.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
