So many people have been reading and talking about The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins, so I finally decided to pick up a copy and read it (twice). While Dawkins is an engaging and entertaining writer, his arguments are surprisingly weak. It is clear that he is completely unaware of the revolution in philosophy of religion that has taken place over the past few decades. It’s amazing to me that he could write a book against God and not deal with philosophers such as Alvin Plantinga, William Lane Craig, or J.P. Moreland. Maybe he knows of them and simply ignores them (just as he refuses to debate someone of the likes of Craig). Or maybe he really is unaware. I lean toward the former.

While this is not the place to respond to all of Dawkins book—after all, it’s over 400 pages!—I do want to respond to Dawkins key claim that the design argument fails because it can’t explain who designed the designer. He says, “A designer God cannot be used to explain organized complexity because any God capable of designing anything would have to be complex enough to demand the same kind of explanation in its own right” (136).

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We are leaving for a UB tomorrow to see our friend Rachel off as her PC service is over and she's on her way to Cambodia for six months before going home.  I'd hoped I'd have my follow up to the Bono, Bell, and Obama post done by now but I had to teach two Bible studies at the church this week so I've been swamped studying and writing for those.  In the mean time I read this Tozer excerpt last night and thought I'd shared it with you. 

"Seekers after God. Thanks be to God on high that these too are among us. They are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Their number is not large when counted against the millions who have forgotten their Maker, but taken together they are a goodly company and dear to the heart of God. Ah, those God-hungry souls! By nature they are no better than the rest of men, and by practice they have sometimes been worse. The one sign of their divine election is their insatiable thirst after the Source of their being. Deep calls unto deep and they hear and respond. These are almost always a disappointment to themselves, and sometimes they have for a while been a stumbling block to the world, as were Jacob and David and Peter. But many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it, and their questing hearts find what they seek at last. The grace of God meets them as they return and changes them from what they are sorry they have been, into what they have so fervently longed to become. We know what the wise Greek could not know, that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses. Seekers after God there surely were even in those old Grecian times and their destiny lies in the hand of the One who gave His only-begotten Son to die for the life of the world. One word needs to be added. It will go better in the of reckoning for the seeker of pre-Christian days who stretched out pagan hands toward God in hope that he might find Him, than for the careless sinner of who is sated with hearing and who refuses to repent and believe."

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MySpace. Facebook. Classmates. MyYearBook. Bebo. LiveJournal. BlackPlanet. Hi5. LinkedIn. Tagged. Reunion. 360.Yahoo. Imeem. Friendster. Orkut. Flixster. Fubar. Tickle. CafeMom. Xanga. Yuku. Twitter. Ning. UrbanChat. AsianTown.

As of February 2008*, these are the top 25 social networking sites - and 84% of online consumers belong to at least one online social network. Needless to say, there is a whole lot of social networking going on.

Since I'm relatively new to the ConversantLife community, I would like to take a moment and learn more about your social networking habits, specifically:

• Which social network(s) do you belong to?
• Why did you join the social network(s)?
• Which one(s) do you keep up with and which one(s) are gathering web dust? And why?
• How valuable is social networking to you? If it all went away tomorrow, would you care? 

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Currently Listening to:
Amos Lee: Last Days at the Lodge
J. Ray: Dreams and Visions

I have a new email account. It’s cj.casciotta@me.com.
I have an iPhone, iMac, listen to my music on iTunes, etc.
With cheaper costs and innovative technology, the folks over at Apple have brought us all into the “I generation.” Never before have we been able to entertain ourselves with such ease and convenience. Never before have we been able to organize our lives, goals, and preferences with such efficiency.

Apple has touched a nerve with culture today…the desire to create one’s own unique brand. Apple has created a brand that allows others to brand themselves. Whether it’s posting playlists, mobile uploads, or status updates, one now has the profound ability to share with the world just who “me” is.

I could easily geek out here and talk about the incredible ramifications this means for musicians, filmmakers, and artists (did you know there’s an application on iPhone that lets you record original music and share it with others instantly?)…..but I’ll save that for the Undiscovered page.

So what does this mean for us, as a culture, as individuals, as believers? Has Apple and other revolutionaries created a generation of self-centered, ego-centric individuals?
I would argue the answer to that question is entirely up to us. While Apple technology may have expanded opportunities to elevate “me,” it has also created new ways to interact with others, completely reconstructing the once fragmented walls of community. Never before have we had the ability to interact with others, reconnect with long lost friends, and build new relationships with the speed and ease we do now.

Some believers have already caught on to the possibilities. As bizarre as it sounds, LifeChurch.tv is a virtual church that meets on SecondLife.com. No building, no walls, but rather real people logging into a virtual world (SecondLife), They come to hear God’s Word preached, sing songs, and even tithe….real money! That’s right, people actually contribute financially to this church, a church that recently acquired the finances to build and support an iPhone app version of the Holy Bible, complete with commentary and search engine. Whether you agree with the notion that this can actually be called a church or not, consider the many troops over in Iraq that log into LifeChurch every Sunday to worship with a community of believers while stationed in a country where going to church isn’t an option.

When I think about the emerging “mobile me” culture, I am both excited and cautious.  I’m currently  touring around California with my worship project, Parachute Passing, playing at camps, churches, and youth events, and what we encounter most in the hearts of  junior high and high school students is this epic battle against a culture that has stolen their identity. Whether it’s a magazine rack that distorts real beauty or advertisements and real life pressures that convince them to buy, look, or compromise their way to acceptance, their identity is constantly at war (I use the word “they” but if I’m honest, I often struggle with the same things). I think that’s why Apple, SecondLife, and other new mediums are so appealing to our generation. They allows us to shape our identity digitally so we can build our way to acceptance and community.

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The quest for the knowledge of good and evil (the original curse and the one from which so many others are born) rubs up against the virtue of having an open mind and this is the battle that often renders me unproductive.  William Young, in his novel The Shack, frames these often opposing forces as such: expectation versus expectancy. 

 

Here’s an example: we recently moved into a new home.  The garage, up until last weekend, was an absolute disaster.  Standard stuff really – boxes, gear, bags, equipment and so on  – general mayhem.  For some reason I have a goal to park cars in garages.  So the gauntlet was laid down.  And here’s what my “attack” looked like.  I got out there in clothes I predicted would get dirty and torn and shoes that would be sturdy yet comfortable for the many trips up a ladder.  Then I got right to it!  I started staring.  Just looking at it all.  Not doing much.  Just looking.  But from all sorts of angles mind you.  Just to be sure.  Sure of what I’m not sure but sure enough I was doing it.  Staring.  Unproductively. 

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Like I said in my previous post, this week I find myself out of the normal California sun and into the humidity of the great state of  Texas.  My internal temperature is not used to being this high, nor is my body used to producing this much sweat.  Along with these few adjustments:

fire ants

accents

 cowboy church camps

people being able to distinguish between north and south texas accents

calling Texas "the south"

BBQ everywhere. all the time. the smoke-smell on your clothes and the taste forever in your mouth.

 

I consider myself very healthy.  I exercise four times a week, I run and life weights, I do pilates, and I walk.  I love to read health books (The Ultimate Tea Diet, got me off coffee and into the world of tea..that I LOVE), and I love to cook delicious things with healthy recipes.   In fact, my husband and I recently decided to wean off milk (what are we, toddlers?) and into the world of soy or rice milk.  So far we have consumed one gallon of rice milk for smoothies and cereals, as well as a small pint of chocolate soy milk ice cream.  Today I was happily notified by a hungry husband that he was going to Trader Joes to buy the Rice milk himself.  Pretty darn good I must say.

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I'll start by introducing myself; my name is Rob and I look forward to conversing back and fourth with everyone through this blog. I will gladly answer any questions you might have about myself or the film, but I'll warn you that most of the time you probably wont like the bluntness of my answers. Bottom line, I am offensive and I'm way past the point of dancing around the issues and people's feelings when we could be cutting through the crap and getting somewhere.

If you have seen the trailer then you most likely have a basic understanding of who I am, or at least who you might think I am. To the average viewer, I most likely come off as the atheist asshole who doesn't give a shit about anyone but himself. While I don't believe this to be the case, I certainly wont be so bold as to try and demand you think otherwise. I would also argue that my viewpoints are not a product of apathy and/or selfishness, I more so believe that I am the product of years of having propaganda-guilt-trip bullshit crammed down my throat. I think deep down a lot of people can relate to where I'm at, but most people just don't want to admit it and be the douche. Basically, I have no idea what my responsibility is to people half way across the world, but I'm willing to look into the issue and find out if we can make a difference.

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Last week I stepped out of my door for my morning run and I heard a familiar small voice say, "today you are going to run up the hill".  I immediately discarded the words I just heard, thinking it is impossible.  I realized as I threw that thought away that I totally believed that there was no way I could ever run up this hill. 

This hill to me looked so big from the bottom up.  It was like trying to run up a huge mountain in my mind.  I know to the next person that would look at this hill and say, "That hill?  Oh, I can fly up that no problem". 

So I started off on my run as I rounded the corner I was flying down the hill.  It was amazing and exhilarating.  The wind blowing across my face as I bolted down the hill.  I got to the spot where I turn around to go back and I heard again, "you will run up the hill today.