What is Scientism?

I accidentally found this article on the Social Justice Wiki, and thought it was very clear and concise.  Hope you like it.

Scientism entry on SJ Wiki

Come Make a Place in Me

What will we pray this Christmas?

Sam Harris, my favorite neo-atheist says confidently, "minds cease to exist when bodies cease to function." He says this as if it were an irrefutable fact of science.  However, the scientific community really has no language to describe consciousness, or mind.  Harris' assertion, while giving comfort to college age rebels who are "losing their religion," must remain an assertion.

I believe, by faith, that our hearts are God's home. I believe that our souls are immortal, and that we are in danger of leaving ourselves under God's eternal judgment on sin if we "live and let live" in our relationship with God. There's a nice Christmas present.

Of course there are many responses to the notion that sin leads to judgment. In much of theistic Judaism, finding a way to keep Torah, a way to be faithful to God's law, is a key to overcoming the gulf between God's holiness and our weaknesses. In Islam, God is focused on our striving for obedience to the commandments revealed to the Prophet.  If one is obedient enough, then God may be merciful to a person on judgment day.  Doesn't that sound hopeful?  In other religions, heartfelt sacrifice and worship, along with proper offerings, will appease whatever deities there are in one's sphere of life.  One other answer is that sin isn't our immediate concern, but we ought to focus on the alleviation of suffering in the here and now.  

It is abundantly clear that scripture says we are much more than our material selves. While avoiding simple dualism, the Bible tells us that we our bodies are the temple of the holy spirit (I Cor. 6:19). We are told that we have early tents, in which we groan (2 Cor. 5).  We long to have a house in the heavens, made not with hands, but by God. God teaches us that there are two aspects of humankind, body and soul.  In fact, we are lights that have been lit by God Himself (Prov. 20:27)!  So we should realize that all of us, the whole person, belong to God (I Cor. 6:20).

Somehow or another, Augustine and Pascal (those often quoted) said that there was a place within ourselves made for God.  The ideal state of a person is that God dwells within, for the redemption of the person and for the glorification of God who gives us life.  One favorite phrase is, "Our souls are restless until they find rest in thee." 

I firmly believe the Christian answers to life better fit the evidence that human history provides for us.

So at Christmas time, may we all say to God, "come make a place in me."  One of our Christmas songs at church this year says, "as you did in the manger, come do it all again.  Show us your grace, come make a place in me."  Finally, the song declares, "there is room in my heart for you."

My hope is that you'll join with me in praying through Christmas with those words of faith in your soul.

The Faulty Default

Jesus cannot be properly known apart from the saving work of God in the Passion (suffering, crucifixion, death, resurrection).  Why is this important?  Does anyone actually assume to know Jesus while simultaneously ignoring the passion?  I believe this is much more common than you'd think; I believe it is not only the easy thing to do, it is the "default" view of Jesus.

In Matthew 16:13-23 the main point is that Jesus "began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day." This point is common to the synoptics.  We may read this and *yawn* because everyone knows this, silly. 

Yet Peter became Satan over this.  Some early versions of Christianity tried hard to explain this away.  The Epistle of Barnabas denies the whole scenario for Islam's sake.  People have claimed Jesus' goodness, virtue, and divinity while jettisoning the miraculous from the NT texts.  Many great & good call Jesus the good man who said great things we all should follow.  Even Sam Harris points to the Jesus "as revealed in the Sermon on the Mount" and urges all to follow him. 

But Jesus is clear in Matthew 16:21, and He understood this was God's agenda (23) that would not be popular for his disciples.  So we may agree with Peterson on the point, "Jesus is not a god of our own making and He is certainly not a god designed to win popularity contests."

Do we embrace Jesus' suffering, crucifixion, death, and resurrection as the saving work of God?  Or do we agree with Peter who said, "God forbid it"?  May we pause, consider, and believe that Jesus' life was as he said, that his sacrificial work was the work of God, and so realize that to truly know Jesus we must know his sufferings on behalf of the world.  And that is the beginning.