Jesus Christ, the testable.

"Come to me, all who are tired from carrying heavy loads, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28, italics mine).

"Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him." (Psalm 38:4).

"You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." (Jeremiah 29:13).

A friend of mine received one of the most painstaking pieces of news a scientist could get this week. "Did you hear?" he asked as he came running over. "We got scooped!"

Getting "scooped" by another laboratory is bad news. Simply meaning, another group published their study before you got the chance to. For my friend, it means his ability to get a professorship is mitigated. It will probably take another year or two for him now. For scientists, funding and viability are at risk when you get scooped. It's awful.

But there is a silver lining to getting scooped. It means another laboratory, in a completely independent set of experiments, have produced very similar data to yours and have thus made similar conclusions. For other scientists not involved in that work, this bodes very well for the fidelity of the data. In other words, the data is probably true if two labs independently of each other have come to the same conclusions.

The truth of God's word makes it clear Jesus offers the same corroboration. Man's history has been full of faithful saints, showing the evidence of Jesus Christ through their changed hearts and lives. Taste and see. Come to me. Pursue me. Trust me.

There is something about the character of God -- and the character of humans -- that provokes God to only bring those to eternal rest with Him that have sought Him. God restrains from writing "I AM" in the sky for all to see. God restrains from removing lies from the lips of men, poverty from the hands of children, evil from the existence of the world. Whatever the reasons are, God still allows man to find Him if they desire. The whole existential purpose of the universe rests on this fact. It is only those that seek Him that will find Him.

And thus, Jesus Christ is testable. When we call on the name of the Lord, when we seek Him with all our hearts, He shows Himself. Forget Mathematics. Newtonian Physics. Darwinian Evolution. This is the ultimate law of the Universe.

And here we stand, on a planet in a universe that offers most of us just enough days to have the chance to seek Him if we choose. Moses sought God, and found Jesus Christ. David sought God, and found Jesus Christ. Ancient people, emerging as bipedalists from our ancestors, had the chance to find Jesus Christ and test Him. People today, with the full revelation of Jesus Christ present in every Western Hemisphere Hilton Hotel nightstand drawer, have the same chance to seek Christ and test Him.

There are two laboratories in the world that now can link a particular enzyme with a signaling receptor in human cells. This hypothesis has been tested, and found to be true. This is considered corroboration in the scientific realm.

There are millions upon millions of people that have sought God and found Him in the person of Jesus Christ, over the past couple hundred thousand years. This is corroboration in the Spiritual realm. God is forever faithful and immutable. He offers us the same chance always to test Jesus Christ. Matthew records Jesus promising "Ask and you shall receive." "Seek, and you shall find."

This is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Creator of the Universe calls out to us and has provided us with the miracle of physical life, and the miracle of cause and effect. He is the first Cause, but He has given us all freedom to respond or to hide in selfishness and lust. To test Him, or to succumb to distraction and our survival of the fittest mind.

There is no more pathetic excuse than one we often hear as evangelists. Where is the proof? Why doesn't God just appear to me and then I will believe? How can i believe in a God who I cannot see, cannot communicate with, cannot test to see if He exists?

You, and I, can. Millions who will spend an eternity of joy with Jesus Christ have. Those who want to trade their selfishness with meaning and their aging and dying bodies with eternal vessels of hope and love, can do what man since the beginning could do. With an extension of the finger, we can touch the hole in Jesus' hand and be overwhelmed, speechless, seeing truth for once in our lives. And pull back and join St. Thomas, and the millions of humans that have re-discovered their identities, and discovered for the first time the purpose of life, in emphatic declaration of the truth of the Universe. "My Lord and My God"!

Will humans evolve further?

Like in every generation in the past 2000 years, we (including myself) have a fascination with echatological matters. Despite the numerous apocalyptical texts (with of course John's considered Biblical), and the numerous references Jesus Himself made, it is still Paul's understanding of the end times that is perhaps the most discussed. It is not uninteresting that Paul's letters include descriptions that have palpable tension within itself. Most theologians agree Paul drew on his understanding of end times from the Jewish texts he was familiar with as the outstanding Jew he was. However removed eschatology can seem to our everyday lives, Paul had to deal with early church communities who contained people who were literally quitting their jobs in anticipation of Jesus' imminent return.

Fast forward 2000 years later. A literal return of Jesus has still not occurred. If we try to ignore the path of self-destruction humans seem to be on, it is an interesting question whether so much time will pass that humans will literally evolve to a more sophisticated being, before the end of humanity.

I haven't fully grasped the theological implications that go along with this question, but this is a much less science-fiction question than what is often discussed now, that is, the theological implications if we find complex life on another planet.

My knee-jerk reaction is it doesn't really matter that much if we actually evolve further, but much more relevant is would evolution contain some sort of move to a higher love state than what humans are capable now? This would seem likely to me, since we would expect to evolve to be more Christ-like, more like God.

I would be interested to here from others on this topic, because it is a point that I think should be discussed more than it is now.

Are Christians better lovers and patriots? You bet.

"The propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained." George Washington

"In the squares of the city - In the shadow of the steeple
Near the relief office - I see my people
And some are grumblin' and some are wonderin'
If this land's still made for you and me." Woody Guthrie

"Our culture is superior.Our culture is superior because our religion is Christianity and that is the truth that makes men free." Pat Buchanan

No doubt, as the United States elections start to heat up this Fall, the future of this country will once again be on the minds of men and women. The economy, the wars overseas, guns, same-sex marriage, (which by the way, should be legal in every state) will be the talk of the country. But, from the Christian perspective, is there any solution to the problems of this country, or have we gone too far away from the principles and beliefs that this country was founded on that today secular America has done such a good job of misrepresenting and sweeping under the mat?

The problems that have overtaken this country are central to the atheism movement that has, in parallel, taken over this country. As Christians, we should have little doubt about that.

The main problem for the remnant of Christians that are here today is this country will continue to deteriorate, as we have now cast aside our Creator in almost every way. Autonomy is the greatest and most historically persevered sin, since human beings emerged in this world with the imago dei. Now pluralism and humanism are the norm; Jesus Christ is part of a small and diminishing population of peoples in this country. Indeed, these are the end times the Bible so accurately predicted.

In my every day, I go to work with only a sparse number of Christians at my side (though I will say, the few that are there, are strong, robust and fruit-bearing Christians, which I am immeasurably blessed to be acquainted with here, and love from the bottom of my heart). When I go "home-home" (where I grew up), I am again surrounded by a very small minority of Christians (I only know of a handful of Christians in my family/friend-circle at home). When I turn on the TV, read the news online, or turn on talk radio, it is all the same. I think we would be optimistic if we thought more than 5% of Americans today were true Christians. (That should be frightening to those of us raising families).

While God has used this diversity surrounding me to strengthen my faith to a point of certainty that I thought to be unattainable, and to also improve my ability to relate and reach the dead for Christ, I cannot help but wonder, as we approach another presidential election season, when will God give up on our country that once so boldly proclaimed Christ, from even "the redwood forest to the gulf stream waters"?

I think the remaining Christians in this country need to do the two things only Christians, and not any other people, can do: love with genuine, God-given, humble love, and pray. Pray for the repentance of this country. We are the only ones that truly know what it means to be free -- when we pray for repentance we aren't simply praying for terrible disaster, but for eyes and hearts to be open to our God-given right to be free. From man, and from the supernatural chains that separate non-believers from their Creator.

I am convinced, this is our only hope for this country. Not Obama, Palin, Romney or a rebounding economy. Repentance towards Jesus Christ is this country's only hope. And, as the history of mankind will clearly reveal, prosperity leads away from God, while disaster, heartache-- and everything that goes along with the reminder that we are the helpless created -- bring people back to Christ. (A cursory survey of the current Christian population in this world is evidence of this as well).

And as Christians, we are the only ones that can ask the Creator, within the scope of His Will, to grant this repentance to this country. For those of us that are in very pedestrian positions and have limited ability to contribute to American patriotism, this may be our greatest opportunity to be patriots. And a pretty good opportunity to be Christians, as well.

When God created the universe (or multiverse), He created Wesley Timothy.

He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. (Micah 6:8).

If your heart is as my heart, if you love God and all mankind, I ask no more - "give me your hand." -John Wesley



10 days ago we welcomed our second child, Wesley Timothy. Watching a child birth, and watching the developed body adjust to its new environment, is nothing if not humbling.

We named our son Wesley because it is a strong Christian name, and one we liked. Our two (pretty simple, right?) criteria.

The Wesley brothers were evangelical pioneers, bringing God's story of humanity and redemption to a new world. As Episcopalian priests, they had one giant problem -- America was trying to get away from England.

Hence the Methodist movement in America. "Methodists" they were called, because of their precise methodology of studying God's Word.

One of the endearing qualities of Wesleyan theology was their humility in understanding. While they understood that man was eternally separated from God outside of a relationship with Jesus Christ, they understood there were many understandings of peripheral issues that sincere Christians held, and these should not separate the fellowship of the Church.

300 years later John Wesley's word are more important than ever for us, and me, to hear.

When God created the universe (or multiverse), He created Wesley Timothy. And he humbled his Dad, and helped him understand he doesn't need to, or can, understand the totality of His written revelation. And He has helped him understand John Wesley's words: If your heart is as my heart, if you love God and all mankind, I ask no more - "give me your hand." In this way, the Catholic and the Protestant, the Arminian and the Calvinist, and yes, even the Trinitarian and the Mormon/Jehovah's Witness, can continue their journey side-by-side to Jesus Christ. To paraphrase one man's words, if we have but everything in common, and not Jesus Christ, we have nothing in common... but if we have nothing in common, yet Jesus Christ, then we have everything in common. Amen!