Don't Try This at Home!

Subaru's 2008 Impreza WRX STI has been out for several months now. Equipped with AWD, VDC, DCCD, SI Drive, ABS, EBD, and EBA; not to mention 305 HP; it's quite a car! I've driven it at the track and around the street, but I haven't driven it like the guys in this new commercial. Enjoy!

Theology and the Theory of Relativity

A light is placed inside an empty train car on one side. Across the car on the opposite inside wall is a mirror which reflects the light back across from where it came. A man stands inside the car and records the time it takes for a flash from the light to reflect in the mirror and return to its original side.

The same experiment is repeated, only this time, a man also sits outside the train car as the car rolls slowly by him at the speed of one mile per hour. This man also records the time it takes for the light to cross the car and return.

The time recorded by the second man outside the car is longer by an infinitesimal amount than the time recorded by the first man who was inside the car even though they both time the same flash.

Why? Because the light for the second man, who views a moving car, must travel at an angle that is slightly longer than the distance the light must travel for the first man. Thus the second man records a longer interval though timing the same flash.

This experiment demonstrates Einstein’s theory of relativity; a theory that states that time can expand and contract resulting in variable measurements depending upon ones perspective. (For more on this concept, see the website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/einstein/relativity/ and http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/einstein/

Should this knowledge affect our understanding of time in theology? Men view time from within the time/space continuum ( as though we are in the train car), but God views time from outside of the time/space continuum (as though he is outside the train car). Is this concept the solution to the tensions we find in scripture between the sovereignty of God and the free will of man? For instance, when the scriptures say that “Pharoah hardened his heart” and then also say that “God hardened Pharoah’s heart”, must we reconcile these two statements or relate them to one another in a hierarchy? Perhaps we can learn from Einstein’s conclusions that the two statements differ and cannot be reconciled, yet both are true.

Andrew's Arrival

On Monday, March 3, at 2:17AM, our newest, Andrew, arrived. He was 8 lbs. 2 oz. and 21 inches long. Check out these photos of Andrew with his proud parents, grand-parents, and big brother!

Jonathan, Thy Name Is...

Since we are now within three weeks of the due date of our second child, I've been reminiscing about the day Jonathan, our first-born, came into the world.

Earlier in that pregnancy, when Pearl had an ultra-sound, we had requested that the tecnician NOT tell us the sex of the child. But, of course, I really wanted to know. So I paid close attention as the tecnician measured the babies' legs to see what I could see. I concluded that the coming baby was to be a girl. I wrote down the coming "girl's" name and sealed it in an envelope telling Pearl that I thought I knew the sex and, if she changed her mind, I would tell her.

Pearl's labor was long. I brought the envelope to the delivery so that when the baby was born I could show everyone that I was right. After quite a while in labor, Pearl asked me to unseal the envelope and tell her what the baby was going to be. I unsealed it and read the female name to her. Later, after some 40 hours in labor, the Drs advised us that we should procede with a ceasarean delivery. I was seated beside Pearl during the operation with the view of the surgery hidden from us behind a hanging sheet. When the Dr. got ready to remove the baby she told me that I could stand up to see the delivery. I did and when the Dr. pulled the baby up, she announced "It's a boy!" So much for my ultra-sound reading skill!

For this second child, I have no idea what the sex will be, but we have at the ready, if it is needed, the name that I thought Jonathan was going to get.

Am I Morally Obligated to Vote For One of These?

Consider the choices of 1972. On the one hand we had George McGovern. He was a socialist who promised national healthcare for all Americans and an immediate withdrawal from Vietnam. On the other hand, we had Richard Nixon who, during the election months, oversaw the Watergate crimes that eventually brought him down. Would it have been morally reprehensible to refuse to vote for either candidate?

In this election of 2008 we seem to be headed for another choice between bad and worse. Either Clinton or Obama will be a choice for bigger government, higher taxes, and international defeat. McCain is, in my opinion, temperamentally unfit to be president; much as Nixon was. I expect the press to begin hammering him on this once he gets the nomination.

I plan to vote in the Pennsylvania primary in April and I hope we can avoid these bad choices. But if not, I feel no moral obligation to vote for any of the current front-running candidates.

History's Greatest Political Speech

O king, the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar your father kingship and greatness and glory and majesty. And because of the greatness that he gave him, all peoples, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him. Whom he would, he killed, and whom he would, he kept alive; whom he would, he raised up, and whom he would, he humbled. But when his heart was lifted up and his spirit was hardened so that he dealt proudly, he was brought down from his kingly throne, and his glory was taken from him. He was driven from among the children of mankind, and his mind was made like that of a beast, and his dwelling was with the wild donkeys. He was fed grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, until he knew that the Most High God rules the kingdom of mankind and sets over it whom he will.
And you his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all this, but you have lifted up yourself against the Lord of heaven. And the vessels of his house have been brought in before you, and you and your lords, your wives, and your concubines have drunk wine from them. And you have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which do not see or hear or know, but the God in whose hand is your breath, and whose are all your ways, you have not honored.
“Then from his presence the hand was sent, and this writing was inscribed. And this is the writing that was inscribed: Mene, Mene, Tekel, and Parsin. This is the interpretation of the matter: Mene, God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end; Tekel, you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting; Peres, your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”

This speech, and it’s actually a sermon; an explanation of God’s words that were written on the wall, was delivered by Daniel to King Belshazzar of Babylon. Belshazzar had thrown a huge feast which had devolved into a drunken party with Belshazzar the drunkest of the drunk. The wine being drunk was consumed from the sanctified cups from the temple of Yahweh in Jerusalem that had been pilfered by the Baylonians. Interrupting the party was the hand of God writing a message upon the wall of the palace. Belshazzar’s knees buckled and he became pale at the sight. Daniel, now in his 80s, was called to interpret the message based upon his reputation for wisdom. This, history's greatest political speech, points up man's attempt to take God's place and God's refusal to cede his control.

As we approach our elections in the US, we should remember Daniel’s bold words: The Most High God rules the kingdom of mankind and sets over it whom he will.

THEY HIT!!! PEARSON IS INTO THE WALL!!! PETTY SLIDING, SLIDING....

The 1976 Daytona 500 finish has to be the greatest NASCAR finish ever. Here it is.

Someday, someone will enlarge this video and you'll be able to see Pearson intentionally turn left into Petty to spin him out. At least, that's my theory... ;)