Mother Teresa

"My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?!" Psalm 22; Mark 15

"...So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weakness, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me..." 2 Corinthians 12

"But Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?" They replied, "We are able." Then Jesus said to them, "The cup that I drink you will drink..." Mark 10

"If this brings You glory — if souls are brought to you — with joy I accept all to the end of my life." Teresa to Jesus, undated

Have you read TIME Magazine's recent story on the doubts and darkness of Mother Teresa's spiritual life? If not, read that rather than this.

I just finished it and am simply floored by this woman's amazing life. To even think of living in the kind of sanctity that she knew frightens me. There is no doubt in my mind that she is among the greatest saints of our age. Some conservative Protestants may be skeptical of the genuiness of her faith for doctrinal reasons. Atheists, like the one quoted in the article, may sneer at her life as a great mistake (also for doctrinal reasons). But, then, they aren't bandaging the broken bodies of the sick and dying in the gutters of hell, for the love of Christ.

She did it. She lived out the commission of Matthew 25 literally (as so many self-described Biblical literalists do not). She has preached the gospel to the world in the most winsome way - she participated in the sufferings of Jesus (see Philippians 3:10-11), and has truly been a light to us all who will look. Her story is a corrective to our almost universal unspoken assumption that the point of attending to the worship of God is to "get something out of it" - to be elevated in those pleasant experiences of spiritual intimacy with God, when perhaps the highest elevation or nearest intimacy will not feel pleasant at all. It may feel more like being nailed to a cross.

I can't wait to read the new book that reveals this sid of her life - but to read it well, I probably should wait, and pray.

The Darwinism/Intelligent Design debate

I often think of The Christian Century as the theologically moderate and politically left-leaning magazine with the ridiculous name (the magazine was started in the early 20th century which was expected to be the Christian Century) that often has a negative opinion of conservative evangelicals.

SO, I must confess that (because of my own stereotyping) I was pleasantly surprised to find one of the most thoughtful articles that I have ever run across on the Intelligent Design controversy right in the pages of The Christian Century's June 12 issue.

J. Scott Turner, addresses insightfully in a few short pages, the philosophical underpinnings of science in general, the history of the Darwinianism debate and the various historical incarnations of what is now being called "Intelligent Design" (ID).

As a biologist himself, he addresses very well the reaction of scientists which has been too often dismissive, fallacious, irrational and occasionally even a bit histerical: "Rather than simply lament that so many people take ID seriously, scientists would do better to ask WHY so many take it seriously..."

Even more significant perhaps than his calls for intellectual honesty on the part of scientists whe are supposedly committed to impartial investigation and free exploration of ideas, near the end of the article, he addresses the potentially dangerous trend of defering the issue to the lawyers and the courts who will decide what is and is not good science and what constitutes proper education.

These issues are, in my opinion, highly significant to the larger question of how a society engages in reasoned and fair debate so as to make well-informed and wise decisions (or if it does so). So the article is very much worth the read: Click here.

America's Next Top Pastor

As someone who has spent some time in contemporary Evangelicalism and college ministry, I find this HIGHLY hilarious.