kc bob: BOOKS

Showing posts with label BOOKS. Show all posts

Fighting the Scrooge Within

One of my favorite stories at this time of year is Charles Dickens' classic, A Christmas Carol. When I think of the story I usually fast forward to the wonderful ending and sometimes forget the state of Scrooge when the story began. Consider this passage from it where Scrooge speaks with a few men who are asking him to help the poor with a donation:

First Collector: At this festive time of year, Mr. Scrooge, it is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for the poor and destitute.

Ebenezer: Are there no prisons?

First Collector: Plenty of prisons.

Ebenezer: And the union workhouses - are they still in operation?

First Collector: They are. I wish I could say they were not.

Ebenezer: Oh, from what you said at first I was afraid that something had happened to stop them in their useful course. Im very glad to hear it.

First Collector: I dont think you quite understand us, sir. A few of us are endeavoring to buy the poor some meat and drink, and means of warmth.

Ebenezer: Why?

First Collector: Because it is at Christmastime that want is most keenly felt, and abundance rejoices. Now what can I put you down for?

Ebenezer: Huh! Nothing!

Second Collector: You wish to be anonymous?

Ebenezer: [firmly, but calmly] I wish to be left alone. Since you ask me what I wish sir, that is my answer. I help to support the establishments I have named; those who are badly off must go there.

First Collector: Many cant go there.

Second Collector: And some would rather die.

Ebenezer: If they'd rather die, then they had better do it and decrease the surplus population.

Now before you say that you are glad that we do not live in times such as the one portrayed here I might remind you that some still believe that the poorest amongst us simply need to pull themselves up by the bootstraps - I am sure that you are not one of those people.

So perhaps we might consider howto fight the Scrooge in us during this season of Christmas. I suggest that we:

resist the urge to pass by Salvation Army kettles and intentionally keep sufficient bills in our wallets to be deposit in those kettles;
consider writing a check this month to a soup kitchen or homeless shelter.. or possibly find a way to volunteer at one of those establishments;
encourage our places of worship to support outreaches to the poor, homeless and less fortunate members of our communities;
elevate the amount of tipping for waiters, waitresses, porters, cabbies and others who depend on the generosity of the people who they serve;
embrace intentional generosity in our Christmas giving and determine to elevate our charitable donations for the coming year.

Just a few ideas. Perhaps you have a suggestion that you would like to share?

... first posted December 2, 2010

On being a Proactive Realist

“People who are too optimistic seem annoying. This is an unfortunate misinterpretation of what an optimist really is.

An optimist is neither naive, nor blind to the facts, nor in denial of grim reality. An optimist believes in the optimal usage of all options available, no matter how limited. As such, an optimist always sees the big picture. How else to keep track of all that’s out there? An optimist is simply a proactive realist.

An idealist focuses only on the best aspects of all things (sometimes in detriment to reality); an optimist strives to find an effective solution. A pessimist sees limited or no choices in dark times; an optimist makes choices.

When bobbing for apples, an idealist endlessly reaches for the best apple, a pessimist settles for the first one within reach, while an optimist drains the barrel, fishes out all the apples and makes pie. Annoying? Yes. But, oh-so tasty!”

― Vera Nazarian, The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration

Chasing Francis | ★★★★★★★

Ever wonder what a religious outsider thinks about Evangelicalism? This book, written by Episcopal priest Ian Cron, came across that way to me. The book is a fictionalized account of the pastor of an evangelical mega-church as he loses his way then finds it again with a group of Roman Catholic monks in Italy. The story presents a somewhat idolized account of St Francis of Assisi and an equally dumbed-down version of Evangelicalism. I like much of the ideas presented in it but felt a bit insulted by the narrative as it presented Evangelicals as mainly superficial and materialistic. And, in contrast, it showcased Francis, and his followers, as the real deal.

All that said, I did enjoy reading a bit about the namesake of the current Pope. It gave me a sense of his identity as a Christian and why he is such a winsome leader. Like the man of Assisi, Pope Francis tends to work within the constraints of Roman Catholicism choosing to lead more by example than by religious words and dogma.

Overall, I liked this "Pilgrim's Tale" and, on a scale of ten, give it ★★★★★★★.

Zealot :: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth

Our small group read and discussed this book together over the past few months. It was such a great experience to process the thoughts in the book with a group of committed believers. What follows here is not so much of a book review as a collection of random thoughts I had while I read it. Here is my list in no particular order:

The author's disillusionment with Christianity comes through a lot. He "accepted Christ" at a religious teen camp but then rejected the experience in college. I can relate a bit - college was not the best time for me spiritually.
Aslan's view of himself as a "scholar" bleeds through in the way that he writes and how he sometimes presents speculation as historical fact.
The book is confusing at times because it asserts that the gospel accounts are not historically accurate but then uses excerpts from these very same accounts when it is convenient to support it's thesis.
The bible is often quoted in a very literal way. It led me to believe that the author leans towards a narrow black and white view of scriptures. Yet my understanding is that his Muslim views are not fundamentalist in nature.
He reads the book of Acts and the Pauline epistles and sees a schism between the Jews who spoke/read Greek and the ones who did not.
He asserts that James, Jesus brother, thought the Apostle Paul to be a heretic. He seems to agree with that because he believes that Jesus never really wanted the good news to be spread to non-Jews.
He purports to love the "historical Jesus" more than the one pictured in the gospel accounts but then seems to deride him with innuendo that presents Jesus as somewhat of a manipulator and ignorant peasant that was not dissimilar to the magicians parading around in that era.
The belief presented is that John the Baptist was the leader and Jesus was one of his disciples. He discounts much of what is written about Jesus as embellishments and thinks that the Baptist is the real deal.
The book presents Jesus as just another messiah type who embraced a view prevalent in his day and as a zealot type who actually wanted to overthrow the Roman government.
Most of his views about Jesus being a zealot or bandit stem from the idea that crucifixion was reserved for people who committed crimes of sedition and treason.
The book asserts that, after the fall of Jerusalem, the disciples reinvented Jesus to be a different kind of messiah than the historical one. It says that a kinder and gentler messiah was needed to appease Rome.
The book contains some interesting historical background about the time of Christ and the following decades. But I had a hard time trusting what it said as it rarely footnoted with the source of the information. The book did include a notes section but I did not have the want or the energy to weed though it.

All that said, I must admit that I liked the book. It made me think and challenged me at different points in my reading. However I do not recommend the book to you if you do not have a good working knowledge of the bible. Aslan has a very definite slant that could convince a person who was not familiar with bible and the gospel accounts of the life of Jesus.

PT 109 | JFK in WWII

I remember reading this book when President Kennedy was still alive. As a young teen I so admired this story. On this 50th anniversary of President Kennedy's assassination I give you this description of the book:

Seventeen years before John F. Kennedy became the 35th president of the United States - in the early morning of August 2, 1943, to be exact - a PT or Motor Torpedo Boat under his command was rammed and sliced in half by a Japanese destroyer in the waters of Blackett Strait, in the Solomon Islands. Kennedy's wartime career had been unremarkable to that point. He had shown a talent for scrounging the occasional loaf of bread or haunch of New Zealand mutton for his crew, he had nearly destroyed a refuelling dock in his rush to be the first PT boat returning from overnight patrols, and he was a congenial and businesslike commander of his tiny boat with its crew of twelve. The PT boats were the terriers of the Pacific Fleet, yapping at the enemy's heels but rarely getting the chance for heroics, and PT109 was no exception.

Kennedy's first direct confrontation with an enemy ship was the one that sank his boat. There was no time to react; in the concealing darkness, with no radar, the destroyer was inside torpedo range before they saw it. In the aftermath of the ramming, as the destroyer swept away and fired two shots back at the broken and burning PT boat, and with an injured back, Kennedy gathered his surviving crew to the derelict forward section of the boat, which was still floating. Kennedy swam into the darkness and towed the injured back to the hulk. He would spend 30 of the next 36 hours in the water, during which time he and the crew swam three miles to a small island with Kennedy towing a badly burned survivor.

Over the next three days Kennedy placed his life at risk in the effort to secure the rescue of his crew, which was finally effected on day 4. Only two men were lost, and those at the time of the collision. In September 1943 Kennedy assumed command of PT59 and was promoted to Lieutenant. In October he plucked 50 marines from the water beneath enemy guns. In November, suffering from a ruptured disc and malaria, Kennedy was directed by a doctor to leave his command, and returned stateside in early 1944 weighing just 125 pounds.

President Kennedy was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps medal and the Purple Heart. In August 1963, three months before his assassination, Kennedy wrote: "Any man who may be asked in this century what he did to make his life worthwhile, I think can respond with a good deal of pride and satisfaction, 'I served in the United States Navy'".

The Idol of Certainty

"If I am anxiously striving to make myself feel certain that all my beliefs are true, fearfully avoiding anything that might cause me to doubt them, and fearfully suppressing any doubts that I may already be experiencing, doesn’t this indicate that I am not getting my core need for love, worth, and security from the God who is revealed on the cross? " -Greg Boyd, Benefit of the Doubt: Breaking the Idol of Certainty

I can so relate to having a quest for certainty and trying to eliminate every doubt. Then I read about how Mother Teresa had, and lived with, doubts in her later years. I agree with Cal Thomas when he says:

"It is by looking beyond our circumstances in a fallen world and beyond doubt that we find hope and faith. Perhaps Mother Teresa's doubt lasted longer than most, but doubt is not the same as disbelief and in her actions as well as her words, she exhibited more faith than any doubter -- or non-doubter -- I have known."

CS Lewis on Vision Casting

American culture (even churches) are rife with talk about vision casting ...

"While we believe that good is something to be invented, we demand of our rulers such qualities as 'vision', 'dynamism', 'creativity', and the like. If we returned to the objective view we should demand qualities much rarer, and much more beneficial - virtue, knowledge, diligence and skill. 'Vision' is for sale, or claims to be for sale, everywhere. But give me a man who will do a day's work for a day's pay, who will refuse bribes, who will not make up his facts, and who has learned his job."

-C. S. Lewis, Christian Reflections: The Poison of Subjectivism ... with thanks to Mad Mike

Marriage and Disability

I can relate to these clips from Joni and Ken Tada's interview in Christianity Today:

In the book, you write that "marriage only magnifies suffering." What do you mean by that?

Any marriage is going to have problems, but when you throw in a disability, it's like enlarging the problems tenfold. Disability forces problems to the surface. Suffering squeezes you like a lemon, and what comes out might be pretty bitter. ... Christians often imagine they have a solid marriage, but when our love is put to the test, our commitment becomes real. We're faced with the question, Am I going to love this man or woman for better or for worse? I don't know that our challenges are greater than they are for another couple. The sacrifices might be greater. But with sacrifice comes a great reward of a deepened faith and trust in each other.

How did you, as someone with a physical disability, relate to your husband's struggles with depression?

At first, I was resentful. I think he just wanted me to understand what he was going through. And boy, that little bit of empathy really bound us together even more strongly.

You can catch the rest of the interview here.

I've Learned ...

I've learned that ...

the best classroom in the world is at the feet of an elderly person;
being kind is more important than being right;
money doesn't buy class;
we should be glad God doesn't give us everything we ask for;
to ignore the facts does not change the facts;
love, not time, heals all wounds.

Standing in the Need of Prayer

Prayer was a wellspring of strength and inspiration during the Civil Rights Movement. Throughout the movement, we prayed for greater human understanding. We prayed for the safety of our compatriots in the freedom struggle. We prayed for victory in our nonviolent protests, for brotherhood and sisterhood among people of all races, for reconciliation and the fulfillment of the Beloved Community.

For my husband, Martin Luther King, Jr. prayer was a daily source of courage and strength that gave him the ability to carry on in even the darkest hours of our struggle.

I remember one very difficult day when he came home bone-weary from the stress that came with his leadership of the Montgomery Bus Boycott. In the middle of that night, he was awakened by a threatening and abusive phone call, one of many we received throughout the movement. On this particular occasion, however, Martin had had enough.

After the call, he got up from bed and made himself some coffee. He began to worry about his family, and all of the burdens that came with our movement weighed heavily on his soul. With his head in his hands, Martin bowed over the kitchen table and prayed aloud to God: "Lord, I am taking a stand for what I believe is right. The people are looking to me for leadership, and if I stand before them without strength and courage, they will falter. I am at the end of my powers. I have nothing left. I have nothing left. I have come to the point where I can't face it alone.

Later he told me, "At that moment, I experienced the presence of the Divine as I had never experienced Him before. It seemed as though I could hear a voice saying: 'Stand up for righteousness; stand up for truth; and God will be at our side forever.'" When Martin stood up from the table, he was imbued with a new sense of confidence, and he was ready to face anything.

--Coretta Scott King from "Standing in the Need of Prayer".

Bonded Memories

Sometimes your eye falls on an image and you are virtually transported back in time. It was in the early 1960s when President Kennedy told us that James Bond novelist Ian Fleming was one of his favorite authors. Somehow that got me interested and over the coming years I read all of the 007 novels. Knowing my love of all things Bond my older brother took me to Goldfinger - my first Bond flick. Over the years I came to love the classy spy persona of Flemming's 007. Sadly, a few years ago the folks who own the 007 brand introduced a thuggish version and replaced class with crass. Even so, when I think of Bond I will always flash back to the times when my nose was buried in a Bond book as I rode on the Staten Island Ferry. FYI - my favorite 007 was Brosnan not Connery.

The Radical Center

I just finished leading a six week discussion group on this great book written by our senior pastor. These excerpts from the last chapter of the book wraps up this idea of seeing gray and being a part of the radical center:

"Some characterize the Christian center as middle-of-the-road or wishy-washy. It is neither. A word that many in the center have often used to describe themselves is "moderate". But I don't believe that the Christian center is moderate either. What does it mean to take something is "moderation"? When we speak of eating or drinking in moderation, we mean that people consume in smaller portions. But I don't want to take my faith in moderation, or encourage others to do this. I am not interested in this kind of tepid faith."

"The radical center holds together a liberal spirit that is open-minded, searching for truth, generous, and always reforming, with a conserving spirit that is unwilling to discard historic truths simply because they are historic. It is willing to question anything but requires a high level of evidence before setting aside what has been treasured as truth by previous generations."

"The radical center holds that God gave us both an intellect and a heart and that both are essential to our faith."

I have never been comfortable with the moderate descriptor yet I so resonate with being a part of the radical center. In my thinking God and life are so much bigger that the narrow black or white imagery that folks in the extremes embrace.

A not so atheistic Liberal Decalogue

I came across the following excerpt from "The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell". This section is titled "A Liberal Decalogue". Russell, a lifelong atheist, seems to have (maybe unknowingly) lifted many of these ideas from the teachings, ministry and life of Jesus Christ. Here is the text replete with my commentary in italics.

Perhaps the essence of the Liberal outlook could be summed up in a new decalogue, not intended to replace the old one but only to supplement it. The Ten Commandments that, as a teacher, I should wish to promulgate, might be set forth as follows:

Do not feel absolutely certain of anything.
Jesus confronted (so-called) 'intellectual' religious leaders who were absolutely certain that they were right.
Do not think it worth while to proceed by concealing evidence, for the evidence is sure to come to light.
Jesus said "There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known."
Never try to discourage thinking for you are sure to succeed.
Unlike the religious leaders of his day Jesus was the most radical thinker of his day and maybe of history.
When you meet with opposition, even if it should be from your husband or your children, endeavor to overcome it by argument and not by authority, for a victory dependent upon authority is unreal and illusory.
Jesus seemed to challenge authority every time he ministered.
Have no respect for the authority of others, for there are always contrary authorities to be found.
Jesus understood this like no other. His confrontation with authority led to his death.
Do not use power to suppress opinions you think pernicious, for if you do the opinions will suppress you.
At every turn religious leaders unsuccessfully tried to suppress the teachings of Christ.
Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.
Jesus was considered to be crazy by some of his day but he himself changed the world.
Find more pleasure in intelligent dissent that in passive agreement, for, if you value intelligence as you should, the former implies a deeper agreement than the latter.
Jesus never ran away from a debate. Religious 'intellectuals' consistently tried to trap him.
Be scrupulously truthful, even if the truth is inconvenient, for it is more inconvenient when you try to conceal it.
The truth of Christ's resurrection is the most inconvenient truth of all of history.
Do not feel envious of the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise, for only a fool will think that it is happiness." || Jesus had much to say about the 'intellectual' religious and atheistic fools of his day.

Perhaps atheist Russell was influenced by the radical thinking of Jesus Christ a bit more than he ever imagined. :)

The Top Five Regrets

Ever heard of the book, "The Top Five Regrets of the Dying", subtitled "A Life Transformed by the Dearly Departing"? It was written by Bronnie Ware, an Australian nurse who spent several years caring for patients who were dying. She writes a popular blog called Inspiration and Chai. Here are the top five regrets listed from her blog (I suggest you read it all here) followed by my commentary on each:

I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me. | This might be one of the hardest lessons that anyone can learn in life. About ten years I started a journey of discovery that has helped me to live from my heart and be a bit more real. It has been a gut wrenching experience.
I wish I hadn't worked so hard. | I suspect this is about people prioritizing their jobs over their families. Hard to argue with that but I wonder if some don't work hard because they don't like what they do?
I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings. | I have never been one to repress feelings (I am from NYC) in an unhealthy way. I do wish that some folks would repress theirs. :)
I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends. | I sometimes wonder what my life would have been like if I stayed in the New York area instead of migrating to Kansas City. Not sure that I would have been happier but life would be different.
I wish that I had let myself be happier. | Interesting choice of words. I do think that happiness sometimes takes a lot of courage.

Bronnie ends with this wise admonition about life and regrets:

Life is a choice. It is YOUR life. Choose consciously, choose wisely, choose honestly. Choose happiness.

Do you resonate with Bronnie's summary, any of these regrets or my comments? Any regrets to add to the list?

The Problem of Pain

Since the beginning of time people have asked "Why" when they are confronted with pain and suffering in their lives. With that in mind I thought I might share an excerpt from The Problem of Pain, a book written by noted writer and theologian C.S. Lewis.

"Love, in its own nature, demands the perfecting of the beloved; that the mere 'kindness' which tolerates anything except suffering in its object is, in that respect, at the opposite pole from Love. When we fall in love with a woman, do we cease to care whether she is clean or dirty, fair or foul? Do we not rather then first begin to care? Does any woman regard it as a sign of love in a man that he neither knows nor cares how she is looking? Love may, indeed, love the beloved when her beauty is lost: but not because it is lost. Love may forgive all infirmities and love still in spite of them: but Love cannot cease to will their removal."

I love the idea that the love and the will of God involves making us perfect like Him. I wish that it was not so but I think that we would never change except for pain. Pain is designed to bring us all to a place of humility. The helplessness felt often causes us to pray. I believe that this is in part why the Apostle Paul said that he was strong when he was weak.

Invisible Injuries

This morning I heard a man associated with the Wounded Warrior Project using the term "Invisible Injury". It got me to thinking about how so many wounds are intensely felt but cannot be seen. In a world that fixates on visible wounds it is good to remember the following excerpt from the book, "Surviving and Other Essays."

"What cannot be talked about cannot be put to rest. And if it is not, the wounds will fester from generation to generation."

The book was written by Bruno Bettelheim, a concentration camp survivor who took his pain and became a child psychiatrist. Yet in the end, Mr Bettelheim suffered from depression as he battled the aftermath of his wife's death and the effects of a stroke which impaired his mental abilities and paralyzed part of his body. He was 86 when he committed suicide.

Mr Bettelheim's story is not all that rare - I wish it was. So often wounds that are invisible are ones that are the hardest to heal.. so often healing seems to come for a while and then new wounds surface - even when one knows all the right healing methodologies. For me, the takeaway is our need to develop a compassionate understanding of these kinds of wounds.

Time Quadrants

Have your ever seen this image before? I saw it first in Stephen Covey's class based on his book titled The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. The idea of this matrix is to live in Quadrant II doing things that are important but not urgent.

I regularly need to be reminded of this matrix. I spend way too much time in Quadrant IV. How about you? Can you relate to any quadrant in particular?

Living Below Your Means

Suze Orman has a new book that she was hawking on The Today Show. Heard her tell Matt Lauer this morning that it is critical to rethink many of the traditional strategies we've been using to achieve our financial goals. She said that the old fiscal mantra of "living within your means" is no longer a valid axiom to live by. She said that our new mantra should be "living below our means" and thinks that we should develop that same kind of joy when we save as when we spend. I resonate with this. My thinking is that it is about asking the "should" questions and not the "could" questions.

The Gospel of Wealth

No, this is not a post advocating for or condemning the prosperity gospel that some preachers preach. The Gospel of Wealth is a book (first titled "Wealth") that was written by philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. Here is what the wiki says about it:

In Wealth, Carnegie examines the modes of distributing accumulated wealth and capital to the communities it originates from. He preached that ostentatious living and amassing private treasures was wrong. He praised the high British taxes on the estates of dead millionaires, remarking that "By taxing estates heavily at death the State marks its condemnation of the selfish millionaire's unworthy life. It is desirable that nations should go much further in this direction." His "gospel of wealth" earned much praise, but did not win many converts. Carnegie made it clear that the rich were best suited for the recirculation of their money back into society where it could be used to support the greater good, given that they are presumed to have a penchant for management of capital. However, he shunned aristocratic chains of inheritance and argued that dependents should be supported in moderation, with the bulk of excess wealth to be spent on enriching the community. In cases where excess wealth was held until death, he advocated its apprehension by the state on a progressive scale: "Indeed, it is difficult to set bounds to the share of a rich man's estate which should go at his death to the public through the agency of the State, and by all means such taxes should be grated, beginning at nothing upon moderate sums to dependents, and increasing rapidly as the amounts swell, until of the millionaire's hoard, at least the other half comes to the privy coffer of the State. He claimed that, in bettering society and people here on earth, one would be rewarded at the gates of Paradise.

A few key points and my commentary about Carnegie's ideology:

Carnegie's idea did not win many converts: It is a sad reality that the wealthiest amongst us are not philanthropists. Percentage wise more is given to charity by the poor than the rich. Even religious people are not generous tippers.
Apprehension of estates by the state on a progressive scale: I suspect that most of us will balk at this idea because we want to pass on our estates to our families and not strangers. The next question raises the issue of how much should be passed on.
Dependents should be supported in moderation: Whether before or after death this seems to be a good idea. Inherited wealth rarely does anyone good when it is lavishly bestowed to ungrateful heirs. It is good for people to earn their keep.
Ostentatious living and amassing private treasures is wrong: Reminds me of the rich man that came to Jesus and was instructed to sell all he had. Also remind me of the man who kept building larger barns for his grain and was called a fool when he died.
Bettering society and people here on earth will be rewarded after death: Also reminds me of a passage in the bible where Jesus tells us to lay up treasure in heaven. Salvation comes by grace. Gracious giving should be evident in the life of a believer.

I am interested in what you think about Carnegie's thoughts about wealth and philanthropy. Please let me know what parts of his ideology you agree or disagree with.

Stephen Hawking's Spontaneous Creation

The Twitterverse is all abuzz these days with chatter about Stephen Hawking and his new book in which he purports that the universe came to be apart from divine creation. Here is a short clip from his book as presented in a Wall Street Journal article titled Why God Did Not Create the Universe:

Many people would like us to use these coincidences as evidence of the work of God. The idea that the universe was designed to accommodate mankind appears in theologies and mythologies dating from thousands of years ago. In Western culture the Old Testament contains the idea of providential design, but the traditional Christian viewpoint was also greatly influenced by Aristotle, who believed "in an intelligent natural world that functions according to some deliberate design."

That is not the answer of modern science. As recent advances in cosmology suggest, the laws of gravity and quantum theory allow universes to appear spontaneously from nothing. Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist. It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the universe going.

Now I am not, as they say, a "rocket scientist" and do not possess the brain power of Professor Hawking.. but I do think that when someone uses a term like "spontaneous creation" they are in effect saying that they do not know how the universe was created. Sad that such drivel gets passed off as science.

Really, does Mr Hawking actually believe that the invisible aspects of the universe like love, hope, and other human connectedness came without divine influence? Can the transcendent nature of man accompanied by self-identity be explained away by some silly "scientific" drivel? Are humans merely a higher evolved level of animal?

Give me a break!

Sad that such postulation gets passed off as science. And if one considers that everything that is came into being in an instant of time why not even consider.. I mean even for an instant ponder.. the notion that God, who exists outside of time, created all that is visible and invisible.. and He created humans unique and apart from everything else.

In a sense God is the only rational explanation for the universe. Now I know that saying God created all things might seem a bit narrow minded but I believe that for some it is not possible for such an idea to be considered because their thinking is too dogmatically narrow. And that narrowness is often passed of as science. Give me a break.

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