Mike Huckabee on Doubt

Mick Huckabee was on The View the other day talking about commuting the sentence of a former inmate who was shot and killed by police recently. The man was sentenced to 108 years in prison when he was 16 years old for burglary and robbery.

The story behind the sentence and commutation is newsworthy, and you can watch the video for the whole interview and some information on the case. What I want to talk about is a comment Huckabee made.

During the interview, Huckabbe said, “you don’t act on your doubts, you try to process them.”

That is a great quote, especially in lieu of our recent conversation on doubt.

Everyone lives with doubts. We doubt ourselves everyday, questioning if we are good enough, made the right decisions, believe the right things, etc. etc. etc.

One of the most damaging things we can do to ourselves is to act on these doubts. We must self-evaluate, but when doubt becomes the catalyst to action, we are in for trouble. I’m with Huck, doubts are meat to be processed, not acted upon.

I Believe in You

Giving someone a gift of charity says, “I feel bad for you.”

Giving someone a loan says, “I believe in you.”

Micro-finance loans seem to answer a very complex social question, and I am excited to get involved in a micro-finance loan system this coming year.

Kiva.org is a great organization that is giving a hand to help lift people out of poverty. Like they say, their loans are changing lives. At this year’s Catalyst conference, the founder of Kiva gave a brief interview about the difference micro-loans make in developing countries, and how over the last couple years, Kiva absolutely blew up.

Are you involved in any organizations that are making a difference across the globe? Who’s doing it well that you know of? If you aren’t already committed to a social justice cause, you should jump over to Kiva’s website a see what a difference a few bucks can make.

Doubt and Questioning in the Church

Do you have doubts about faith and religion?

Do you have questions that have either been seemingly ignored or dismissed by the Church?

Would you please share?

I have no intention of answering the questions (unless requested) but I would like to know the questions that are being wrestled with.

Creation, sovereign God, concept of the trinity, miracles, God allowing evil – you know, the big ones. Feel comfortable to remain anonymous if you would like, but please let us know if your question causes you to doubt God, Christianity, religious systems, etc.

Garbage Art

Creating an interaction among art, surroundings and audience. Shared experiences are the key to creating movements.

I wonder what we can learn from this style of artistic expression, and people’s response?

Dream Year

I applied to Ben Arment’s Dream Year.

I have a lot of ideas – mostly around writing and building community. I tend to think my best ideas deal with both.

Enter my dream for 2010, and why I applied to join creative forces with 20 other dreamers to be coached by Ben.

Moment of brutal honesty –> Here are my initial thoughts on why I won’t get accepted. These are more insecure doubts than they are thoughts, because that’s how I roll:

• I am too young
• No one knows who I am
• I haven’t done anything to “prove” myself
• I have VERY little resources
• I don’t have much influence attached to my name

To be honest, though, there is a part of me that is holding out with great anticipation and hope. Not necessarily because I think Dream Year is the only way my dream will come to life, but because…I did it. I took the step and put myself out there. If Dream Year doesn’t happen, something else will now that I have taken the first step. It’s always the hardest to take.

I hope to get into Dream Year, but if not, this dream is going to happen one way or another. I believe in it.

Are you still waiting to take the first step to fulfilling a dream? Have you conquered the fear of the first step already?

Share with us.

30 Day Holiday Health Challenge with @loswhit

Over on the incredible blog, Ragamuffin Soul, Carlos Whittaker is proposing a 30 day health challenge to fight the holiday bulge, and to increase our relational and spiritual capacities.

I. Am. In.

If you want in as well (trust me, you should) go over to Ragamuffin Soul and watch the video and read his post.

Here’s to health and happiness, and 2010 being the best year of your life yet!

Lennon on Living

There have been many before me who have proudly stood tall on their soapbox and drug John Lennon through the theological mud. That’s not what this is about. I just want to take a look at a lyric from “Imagine” sandwiched between his desire for no countries and no religions, and every red-blooded, right-wing American cringed…

“Nothing to kill or die for”

I am with him about the killing part, because I think we need to discover what it means to live as peacemakers.

However, the nothing to die for lyric brings up a question for me. Is “nothing to die for” a cute way of saying nothing to live for?

Let’s be honest, there aren’t many scenarios in which a 21st century American has to make the decision to die for something – outside of going to war.

To live for something, though, that is a big issue for our society.

I hope that daily, I am living for something bigger than myself, and living a life that benefits those around me and brings glory to the God of the heavens and earth.

What are you living for?

Happy Turkey Day!

We all have something to be grateful for.

Happy Turkey Day all!

Ever Feel Like This?

Do you ever feel like this? I think in order to be successful, we must have several moments like this.

They define us.

Even if we soil ourselves.

Care to share a moment where you felt like this? I’ll start.

I felt like this when my wife and I decided to move to NC to help start a church. Then again when we got to NC and started building the church.

The Conversation: Faith vs. Science or Faith & Science?

In the previous Conversation, a point was brought up that religion and science is not an either/or but a both/and. While I find this kind of thinking optimistic. I can’t help but disagree. Religion asks us to believe in several things that don’t meld with the natural world and directly contradict what science has proven is possible. Seven day creation, spontaneous human/animal creation, whole world flood, parting sea, walking on water, just to name a few.

Religion, like philosophy, is a good way for people to explain certain things to themselves, why you feel bad, why you feel love, but science can ask these questions too. With science though we are able to test, replicate and delve deeper into reasons of why. To me as an atheist, this line of evidence is more convincing than “god did it.” Many Christians I find are firm believers in the non-overlapping magisteria, saying that science can’t say anything about religion and vice-versa. But when religion make claims on the physical world, like those of the bible, or that intercessory prayer works as a healer, science should be able to test that.

This isn’t my saying but one I’ve adopted, I try to believe as many true things and as little false things as possible. Science is the most reliable way to find truth, and believing false things can be dangerous. Like when parents refuse medical attention for their children, replacing it with prayer, or costing valuable time in stem-cell research. It’s like the discussion of love we had (see comments on The Conversation: In The Beginning). There may be more to love than science can explain, but there is no evidence of something more, and I’m not sure what the reasons are to need anything more.

-Jesse Oates

RESPONSE

I would like to address the initial comment that religion, (I will use faith) asks us to believe things that contradict what science has proven possible. To be clear, the claim is that faith asks us to believe things that science has proven as impossible. I would argue that this is not the case. Although many people feel many ways about the creation story in Genesis, or the parting of the Red Sea in Exodus, and miraculous healing found throughout the New Testament, none of these ask us to disregard what science has proven.

Science has been able to explain an extraordinary amount to us about the state of our species, world and universe. The premise of scientific research is an attempt to find a natural answers and explanations to various occurrences. I tend to argue for the sake of a supernatural explanation, and science does not accept, in most cases, the existence of the supernatural. While science has proven and provided insight into many natural cause/effect relationships, science has not disproved the existence of the supernatural. So to say that science has disproved seven day creation, spontaneous human/animal creation, whole world flood, parting sea, walking on water, is to assume the existence of only natural forces.

Science shows us what we can understand naturally. Faith shows us what we can understand about the supernatural, a Creator God, a spirit that reveals the power of divinity, etc. The life of Jesus was all about God becoming flesh and blood, walking around in our world, to reveal the nature of our Creator. Perhaps this is why so many miracles were recorded in the Gospels; because there was no natural explanation for what was going on with this guy named Jesus from Nazareth.

I love science, and I love what science can explain about our natural world. I also believe we must turn to the one who created the natural world in order to understand our existence.

-Sam

Alright Creating Culture friends, there you have it. Continue the conversation – we would love your thoughts.