Thanksgiving? Thank the Lord

'The Healing of Ten Lepers' by James Tissot On this Thanksgiving, I will forgo commentary on the wickedness of keeping nonessential retail stores open this day or on the craziness of Black Friday. Instead, let’s consider this:

On the way to Jerusalem [Jesus] was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” When he saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” And he said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.”
—Luke 17:11-19 ESV

All our healing, all our hope, is found in Jesus. Not some, but all.

How can we not be thankful? How can we not be weeping with gratefulness?

More than anything I want my weeping to be in gratefulness to God for what He has given me despite my frailty, cravenness, and thoughts of self-worth. There is none worthy of those riches, not one. Not you. Not me.

I think much good would come if we Americans wept today because we are not worthy to have received all that we now possess. And it may be that unless we weep we may very well lose all those wonderful gifts because we have been so ungrateful, so unwilling to say that our own cleverness or resourcefulness has NOT gotten us those things apart from God’s mercy.

Don’t waste your thankfulness giving thanks to an ideal or a philosophy or your own talents. Give your thanks to the Lord. Be that tenth leper who was smart enough to know his source of blessing and come back to the feet of Jesus with praise and tears.

Sins of the Fathers (and Mothers)

‘The LORD is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and the fourth generation.’
—Numbers 14:18 ESV

Despite the fact that the vast majority of scientific discoveries that undergird our modern life were made by Christians and that science in Europe outstripped science in the East and Middle East because Christian Europeans believed God is knowable and His Creation understandable, atheists continue to overlook facts and claim Christians are anti-science. They claim that believing the Bible is tantamount to disbelieving science, and they like to insist the Bible, when it talks about science, is “underinformed.”

Lately, I’ve been fascinated with the science of epigenetics, and I am because of the Bible verse that begins this post.

Epigenetics explains some of the presence of supposed “junk” in the human genome and why we can’t trace every genetic outcome to genes alone. While standard genetic theory could account for the sameness of identical twins, even down to shared behaviors, it could not account for the differences. Enter epigenetics.

Jean-Baptiste Lamarck

When Darwinism hit Victorian sensibilities like a sledgehammer, it also pounded the life out the widely accepted theories of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck. Lamarckism postulates that a generation could make choices and changes it could then pass on to progeny. While Lamarck did not originate the idea, he nonetheless championed it and expanded on its principles so well that it gained his name.

Like many Enlightenment scientists in France, Lamarck was not a supporter of Christianity. That said, he continued to believe that chance did not run the cosmos, adhering to the ordered, planned, and meaningful universe concept likewise expressed by Christians.

Today, the field of epigenetics is so hot, it borders on incendiary. It turns out there may be more to the idea of being “born that way,” no matter what type of deviance or godliness “that way” might be.

Epigenetics demonstrates that a good or bad genetic expression may not express unless turned on. Remarkably (or should I write Lamarckably), an organism may have the genetic predilection toward a bad outcome yet that bad outcome never arises. Conversely, it may if switched on by the environment, nurture, or personal choices. The genetic disease possessed by twins may be expressed solely by the twin who decides to eat certain types of food; the gene combo for the disease literally switches on due to epigenetics. And this can also be passed to progeny.

Which is where sins of the fathers kick in. Epigenetics is showing that repeated bad choices by a parent can lead to a tendency in the offspring to manifest the same bad behavior. Lamarck rears his head yet again.

So, the visitation of the iniquities of the fathers (and mothers) to the third and fourth generation has a possible epigenetic link. Some epigeneticists are able to break down certain sinful behaviors into father-spawned or mother-spawned. Contrariwise, a godly parent may pass on a positive epigenetic tendency toward his or her offspring’s faith in God.

We are fearfully and wonderfully made, yet we are also damaged by the Fall of Man. That damage goes deep, even to our genetics, which we are now learning may bend us toward wrongful behavior because of what our moms and dads did. Or in those cases when we overcome, toward faithful living.

Looks like a case of science proving the Bible.

Fall Friday Frippery

A few thoughts on a variety of topics:

Been updating Cerulean Sanctum over the last couple weeks, though most of it is behind the scenes. Do have a request, though: If you have a smartphone, how does this site look? I supposedly have a mobile version of the site running, but while it appeared to load correctly on my wife’s phone, it doesn’t load right on all those “Check to see if your site loads correctly in mobile” site checkers.

The site should look different and will load some “bubbles with text” that can be expanded to read the content. If the site looks like the normal PC blog, something’s biffing.

Thanks for letting me know.

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Talk about meta! Is it me or have retailers lost their minds? This appears to be the year of the run-up to Black Friday, with some retailers running advance sales to celebrate the sales they plan to have on Black Friday. Never mind that some (wicked) retailers plan to stay open Thanksgiving Day or open their stores at 3 a.m. the following day, they’re running Black Friday specials a week to two weeks ahead of time. I don’t remember it being this egregious last year, so is this some desperation move?

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Trying to avoid Facebook, and it is not easy. I’m amazed how many people don’t use email now. It’s all social media site connections. Everything plays out publicly rather than in private emails. I’ve also noticed that you really do fall off the grid when you stay away from social media. It feels like you no longer exist.

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Don’t know about you, but sometimes it feels to me as if Christianity in the United States is on a hipness bender. At the same time, for all that talk of authenticity, everything seems forced, as if someone with a bullhorn is yelling, “Now, everyone be authentic.” Why is it that everything seems more fake the less fake one tries to become?

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Stumbled onto the Phil Vischer (of Veggie Tales fame) podcast, and I’m wondering if it’s the best pop culture analysis by Christians. Skye Jethani is a great foil for Phil. The conversation as to whether Christianity has enabled Miley Cyrus to swing naked on a wrecking ball was thought provoking (really).

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I turned 51 recently. Boy, does that sound old. I’m finding that the 50s are sort of a no man’s land that parks itself between life direction and retirement. Given that retirement seems more and more unlikely for me and my peers, the future is hazier than it was for those who came into their 50s in the previous century.

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Is it me or does it seem harder to get real facts about whether young people are leaving our churches or not? Just when you hear that this is an unassailable reality, someone comes along and disputes it totally. Lies, damned lies, and statistics. I’ll be reading Sticky Faith as soon as my library gets it.

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Recently finished The Triumph of Christianity by Rodney Stark. No matter what you ultimately think of the book, I think every Western Christian should read it.

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Most of the adult heroes in books, television, and movies today aren’t likable. Maybe this is why adults are fleeing to Young Adult fiction and kids shows.

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You want to buy a small appliance or electronic gadget? Reading Amazon reviews will convince you that every microwave oven bursts into spontaneous flames, your purchase will arrive DOA or broken, and China has ruined every consumer product once worth owning.

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I used to sleep like a baby. Not so in the last month or two. Even my son is not sleeping well. Anyone else sleep deprived of late?

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Maybe it’s because I’m on a fast from Facebook, but I’m not hearing as many political conversations of late. Have we given up on politics? Is this a good or bad trend?

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My son won dual silver medals at the National Championships of Shotokan Karate held in Cincinnati Nov. 16, 2013. Proud of him.

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In the wake of the Strange Fire Conference, I’m seeing a snowball effect within the Young, Restless, and Reformed of questioning traditional positions (and their proponents) within that sector of Christianity. Thoughts?

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Slippery Slope may be a logical fallacy, but is anyone surprised now that same-sex marriage and homosexuality are mainstream the conversation is quickly shifting to acceptance of polyamory and plural marriage? (After a while, I get bored with saying, “I told you so.”)

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I also write board game reviews at GamingTrend.com and have been contributing articles on writing and creativity at The J Letters. Check them out, if you like.

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If you have a blog or website and have been reading this blog for some time, I’d be grateful if you could blogroll Cerulean Sanctum or link back to it some way. Thank you.

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And in conclusion, if you have a topic or thought to share or that you want to discuss, please add it in the comments.

Thanks for reading!