On The Search for Extra-Terrestial Life by Chris White

A book has recently been published by Cambridge University Press which chronicles the modern day search for life on other planets. Although there have been changes over the years in technology, the goal remains the same: scan outer space for radio signals that are being sent from another galaxy.  According to one of the authors, it is likely that within our generation we will hear from a distant civilization probably beaming a signal for much the same purpose.  I’ve always appreciated C.S. Lewis’s position that if there is life on other planets, sin is not an issue for them and God has placed the distances between us to ensure we will not corrupt them.  I can remember watching a vintage sci-fi film where America sent a team of scientists to the moon (this was long before the Apollo program) and when they encountered the alien life form he told the space team to leave or he would throw them out because his people have been watching the world for hundreds of years and don’t want all the crime, wars and greed of humans imported to their world.  But all this aside, there is a deeper motivation behind this search for extra-terrestrial life that goes beyond science.  Behind this quest is the question of every man: “are we really all alone in this huge universe?”  The Bible teaches us that outer space is there to tell us that we are not alone.  “The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.  Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night reveals knowledge (Ps.19:1).”  The only reason for feeling alone is if we look at space with the idea that humanity is the center of the universe.  If God is the center and source of all, then the vastness of outer space and the glories of its beautiful lights say God is great beyond all measure.  There is a message being sent to us, but its not a radio signal, it’s the voice of God!

A Preacher Joke and Points to Follow by Chris White

“..faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.” Romans 10:17

Then there’s the one about the minister who set out to preach a rousing sermon on the subject of temperance.  As the sermon came to its close he cried out with great emphasis, “If I had all the beer in the world right now I’d take it and pour it in the river!”  With even greater emphasis he added, “And if I had all the wine in the world, I’d take it and dump it into the river!”  Finally shaking his fist and pounding the pulpit he said, “And if I had all the whiskey and rum in the world, without the slightest hesitation I would pour it all into the river!”  As the minister wiped the sweat from his brow and took his seat, the church’s song leader immediately rose with his hymnal and said “As our closing song this morning turn to hymn #247 and let’s all sing We Shall Gather at the River….”  Have you ever noticed that preacher jokes have a common theme?  The preacher is always sanctimonious and then betrays himself with his own inconsistencies or he preaches fervently about something and the congregation or parishioner does just the opposite.  What’s funny about this is it is 100% true.  Personally I dread ever talking about any victories I have over sin because the minute I do, I always fall flat on my face the next day.  But what about a congregation who hears the Word preached every Sunday?  It seems to me that if we believe one way and then live another, our Christianity is also a joke.  Here’s three thoughts I’ve had about listening to the Word and being more active about personal application:

1. Come with a mind that what is preached is God’s teaching for you specifically today.  Though a sermon preached is a group learning experience, God has you there to listen for a specific reason.  I believe the Spirit of God uses whatever is preached to teach the individual.  In fact I have had people come up and tell me what I shared really was what they needed to hear and then they would repeat back to me a point I never even made.  I just smile.  The Lord is doing His work.
2. Resist the inner thought “wow, I wish so-and-so was hearing this right now, if they heard it maybe they would straighten up their life!”  More often than not the splinter we see in someone else’s eye is a log in our eye we don’t want to face or acknowledge.  That thought is a signal that the point being made in the sermon is cutting too close to home.  “So-and-so” isn’t there and you are.  God is speaking to you.
3. Make it a habit to be reading at home the passage being studied on Sunday and think about it during the week.  What we think about the most has a profound effect on what we do and that is why the Word teaches us to ruminate or meditate on it continually.

I hope these thoughts are helpful.  If you have some others to add, email them to me and I’ll pass them on in another article.

Even Superman Has His Kryptonite by Chris White

George Reeves: He was the Real Superman

  

Having grandsons in my life now (I was the father of two daughters) I had a conversation with them the other day that I haven't had since my own boyhood.  "Who is your favorite superhero pa?",  the boys asked.  "Well, that is a good question.  I always liked Spiderman and Batman, but my all- time favorite is Superman."  "Superman?  Who's he??".  Apparently Superman hasn't got quite the marketing machine he once had in the boy world, but things move fast today with the topic always changing, and it could be that Superman is out there just lost in the shuffle of so many other superheroes.

I always loved the story of Superman, his special powers of x-ray vision (something the TSA and every adolescent male can only envy), running faster than a speeding locomotive, bullets bouncing off his chest, and of course the ability to fly!  But what was always puzzling to me as a boy was how someone so strong could be rendered utterly helpless by green kryptonite.   How could the "man of steel" collapse in total paralysis just by being in the presence of such an uncommon mineral (actually in official Superman lore, green kryptonite is a substance that was on Superman's home planet Krypton.  It wasn't a bad thing there, but Superman was just a normal person on Krypton too.  Apparently the brightness of our sun, different from Krypton's red sun, gives Superman his superhero mojo, but the kryptonite blocks this completely)?  Like I said, as a boy I was puzzled by this.  As an adult I understand kryptonite completely.

While every one of us possess many forms of strength we all seem to that "one weakness" that renders us helpless.  That is your kryptonite.  If I could tease this out a little further, I would put "human kryptonite" into two categories: phobias and lust.  Phobias are different from normal fears.  Many fears are quite rational and normal and I would actually not put in the category of weakness.  It is not a weakness to wear a seatbelt or a motorcycle helmet or a life-vest because you fear bodily injury or death.  Accidents can and do happen all the time even though the statistics are weighted in your favor prudence warrants their regular use.  Phobias however, are characterized by their irrationality or strong ability to cause such revulsion that you'll avoid that fear at all costs.

 The question a phobia poses in my mind is not its irrationality per se, but whether or not it’s worth the effort to challenge it or just let it peacefully coexist with the rest of your psyche.  For instance I know a woman who literally collapses in fear at the sight of a king python snake.  But said person never has or ever will live in a tropical climate (this snake’s natural habitat) and has only experienced this phobia while visiting a zoo.  Could she benefit from some form of exposure therapy to overcome this phobia?  Yes, but should she?  My guess is she would be just as happy to visit the zoo and just avoid the tropical snake exhibit altogether. On the other hand some phobias are worth challenging.

One of the most common phobias is blood and needles.  As I understand it, a certain part of the human population, myself included, actually experience a sudden drop in blood pressure at the very sight of blood or a syringe, which makes one feel lightheaded and faint.  So the phobia has a double-whammy in the sense that there is the fear of blood and the fear of your physical reaction combined and hardwired into your mind and body.  In my own journey of life, I have found challenging this phobia has had a pay-off because with a family history of heart-disease, I have an interest in having my blood lipids checked regularly.  This can't happen without a blood draw (at least at this time).  As a minister I am also frequently called to the hospital when a church member has had an operation.  I am there to pray for and encourage them and I can't do that from the hospital parking lot which means I have seen all sorts of needles and blood whether I want to or not.  In some ways my vocation has been its own form of exposure therapy but in my personal life I have found certain forms of self-talk before, during, and after a blood draw has greatly reduced my fears and anxiety.  It has had a very practical pay-off in my regular life which is what I would say is where the dividing line between challenging and leaving a fear alone truly lies.  If a phobia prevents you from enjoying what most would consider normal activities then it should be challenged under the guidance of a doctor or therapist or trained life coach.

But there is the other kind of kryptonite that most of us have that should be avoided at all costs.  In popular culture lust has become almost exclusively linked with strong sexual desire.  While lust  does include the passions of human libido, it is more rightly gauged as an inordinate desire in any one of our bodily appetites or our egos as well.  Hence, in some of us, the normal appetite for food becomes  the pursuit of gluttony while in others the normal appetite for marital relations has become the pursuit of extra partners or pornography.  For some, the need we all have for a pat on the back once in a while has turned into a consuming desire for constant recognition and acclaim or the desire to provide a comfortable living for your family has developed into the gnawing desire for the accumulation of wealth.  

One very natural approach to any outsized appetites is that of spiritual fasting.  In this approach, one forgoes a meal and devotes the time that would be used in meal preparation and eating to prayer and worship.  It may seem counterintuitive to combat lustful appetites with missing a meal, but the drive to eat food is so primal that greater discipline in this area tends to extend towards the other things in our lives that are out of control.  Of course if the prayer is only focused on "not doing something" that is going to backfire because you're indirectly putting your attention on the very thing you are trying to stop.  Effective prayers are filled with thanksgiving and worship of Christ which in turn leads to greater trust in Him, which in turn fuels greater satisfaction in Him.  Satisfaction tames all desires.

That however is not always the best approach for certain kinds of lust.  Some things can have such a hold of our minds, hearts, and bodies, that the only prudent thing we can do is utterly avoid and forsake them forever.  St. Paul gave that advice to his younger protégé Timothy when he instructed him in how to be an effective Christian leader.  He didn't say "gradually cut back" or "look but don't touch", he said "flee youthful lust".  The best Biblical example of this is in Genesis 39 when Joseph, the steward of Potiphar's household (essentially the manager), was seduced by his bosses wife.  Joseph didn't hang around and try to talk her out of it or express his platonic affection for her, he ran for it.  As Proverbs 6:27 expresses "can a man take fire into his heart and not be burned?".  Answer: of course not.  Some passions in our lives are so hot, we must not even come close to them.  The only wise and prudent thing to do is run the opposite direction.  I can tell you this approach works for lust in all its forms.  This is not starving it out, it is giving it no opportunity to seize your mind and heart.  I have mentioned this in other articles, but there are some things I will not even pray about simply because I know to give an inch of my thinking about certain things will quickly dominate my entire mind.  There are some things in life we must all stand and face, but there are others where the safest course of action and the only path to freedom is to flee.  It's nothing to be ashamed of though, for even Superman has his own kryptonite to contend with.

Scriptures Mentioned

 Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.  2 Tim. 2:22

 One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside.  She caught him by his cloak and said, “Come to bed with me!” But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house.  Genesis 39: 11-12

 Can a man carry fire next to his chest
    and his clothes not be burned?
 Or can one walk on hot coals
    and his feet not be scorched?
So is he who goes in to his neighbor's wife;
    none who touches her will go unpunished.
People do not despise a thief if he steals
    to satisfy his appetite when he is hungry,
 but if he is caught, he will pay sevenfold;
    he will give all the goods of his house.
 He who commits adultery lacks sense;
    he who does it destroys himself.
 He will get wounds and dishonor,
    and his disgrace will not be wiped away.  Proverbs 6:27-33

Moving From "Why Me?" To Action by Chris White

Patrick Carr was the biographer of music legend Johnny Cash and knew him personally for more than 25 years.  In a recent book about Cash, he relates a story of one of his infamous drug binges.  Apparently after about 3 days of bing  Of course the flashlight dies in the blackness of the cave and feeling hopelessly lost, Johnny Cash decided to lie down in the cave and wait for death to overtake him.  This went on for a few hours and then Cash said he heard God speak very directly to his mind: “Get up and search your way out of the dark.  Dying is not your choice but mine and this is not the day!”.  Obviously Cash listened and found his way out, eventually kicking his drug problem of many years.  Having battled depression off and on for many years, I could really relate to this story.  Sometimes you do feel like you are lost in a dark cave and death would be a welcome event.  God didn’t rescue him.  God told him to get up and find his own way out of the darkness.  I have no doubt that God blessed him in his efforts, but the point is some things in our lives can’t get better unless we put forth some work.  A great piece of advice I learned a number of years ago: asking God why something has or is happening to you almost never brings you peace.  Asking God what you can do about it and doing it almost always does bring peace for it is action that absorbs anxiety not paralysis.  Are you stuck with a chronic issue or protracted trial?  Quit dwelling on the why and ask God to help you find the what, then go do it.

ing and feeling disgust for himself, Cash wandered into a cave with many tunnels and a small single flashlight.

Calling It Like It Is by Chris White

“And it came about as her soul was departing (for she died), that she named him Ben-oni; but his father called him Benjamin.”  (Genesis 35:18)

 Rachel was exhausted and in the process of dying after a particularly difficult child birth when she named her baby boy “son of sorrow (Benoni)”.  The name was certainly accurate given the circumstances of his birth but it was only accurate according to his mother’s perspective.  She was in anguish leaving her husband (to his three other wives) and her newborn without a mother.  But Jacob wisely never made his son bear that burden and instead renamed him “son of my right hand (Benjamin).”  This too was an accurate expression of the very same situation.  Not having a mother and being the youngest of 11 other siblings, Benjamin was to become very close to his father being a particular comfort to him in his old age.  I think there are two powerful life lessons here: first, our personal, existential pain is never an accurate gauge of reality.  In the moment of tragedy (and they always come in moments not lifetimes) we all see through a glass darkly.  But that doesn’t diminish the reality that God has come, has redeemed us, and is doing away with the curse once and for all.  All will be well in the unfolding of history even if in this moment life really hurts.  Secondly, we should be very cautious in how we name anything.  It’s fairly common knowledge that people tend to live up (or down) to the names and nicknames we give them.  But more than that, how do you describe your trials?  How about your aches and pains?  Are they “horrible”, “excruciating”, “unbearable” and “devastating”?  Our descriptions can also set a tone that is out of sync with reality and actually make life more miserable (for ourselves and others) than it has to be.  Like Rachel we can get caught in the trap of making something out to be much worse than the situation warrants. Try speaking to yourself and others in terms that speak the truth, yet not apart from the reality that God is for us and with us in every circumstance.