Friday, December 25, 2015
Wednesday, December 16, 2015
CCP, Computers and Christianity
(Silence by Wang Keping)
Two articles that came out this morning and I read:
China Touts Its Great Firewall in Push for Internet Control
Christianity is Growing in China and What the Government is Doing About it
The Chinese Communist Party again seeks to control everything that it can to keep its power and influence. It uses it's power in different ways and at different levels. With information through the internet and through the State Church China has sought to provide a "religion" and "resource" that it controls like a river and that causes no destruction to it's interest or waves. While this news is always a cause for concern, the Chinese party still has not been able to control the hearts and thoughts of it's people and nor can it control the Holy Spirit. The Word absent the Spirit is not enough in itself. Similarly the resources absent a critical mind to analyze it is just words. The mind, our spirit, and the Holy Spirit intermingles together and this chaos and waves cannot be controlled even as the resources and institutions try to be controlled. This is not to downplay the importance of God's word because it is essential and this also doesn't downplay resources as more information to make informed decisions and discuss topics in the marketplace of ideas is important. Nevertheless, without the mind, the soul, and the Spirit it is then just words on a page, or screen, or data bit. It is the Holy Spirit and the heart of the people that make it come alive through action and creativity.
Pray for the people of China as your prayers can impact their hearts as the Holy Spirit works on the hearts of many in China and around the world.
Tuesday, December 15, 2015
Surprised by Hawking
Sitting down to watch A Theory of Everything I wasn't expecting much. I had actually decided to watch it because one of my favorite theologians/philosophers, William Lane Craig, posted a video analysis of the science and philosophy of the film. I wasn't surprised by Stephen Hawking's atheism or his theoretical analysis of the beginning of the universe using quantum mechanics. What I was surprised about is that his wife, Jane Hawking, was a Christian before marriage, during marriage and even more so today. I was surprised the divorced (spoiler alert, oh I guess too late). I was surprised that Stephens progressive atheism from agnosticism seemed to stem not only from his worldview, his research, but also from his relationship to his wife. I saw it based on his views between A Brief History of Time to The Grand Design. But I didn't know the underlying story. I enjoyed the film. I read that Jane thought there should be more emotion to the story to show their struggle together and Stephen thought there should have been more science, but both seemed to endorse it and show them both with warts and all.
Here is an interesting article on Jane Hawking and her book:
The Theory of Everything and the Faith of Jane Hawking
Finally here is the video and analysis from William Lane Craig:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)