Food, Inc and Omnivore's Dilemma

Those of you who have taken our Discovery Class, and particularly week 5, should not be surprised to discover that I strongly believe the gospel informs us and empowers us with a Creation and Cultural Mandate to be redemptive in how we see and do our vocations, how we enjoy and participate in the arts, how we use and treat the environment, how we raise and use our livestock and grow our produce; in short—how we image God in creation and culture as image bearers of the image of God in Christ. What does it mean to be human beings created in the image of God and entrusted with the call to image God for his glory and our reflection and enjoyment of his glory? The fact that I'm highly interested in exploring this question specifically as it relates to farming practices should not be new to you if you attended that class.

So along these lines, I’ve enjoyed reading Michael Pollan’s (not a Christian) book called “Omnivore’s Dilemma”—a book about how the growing industrialization of our food supply has increasingly brought destruction to the environment, a blatant mistreatment of animals, and an escalating harm to our health as consumers. And I believe this is an injustice that the gospel confronts.

I saw the film “Food, Inc.” at the Ragtag Monday night. And now I understand why it was voted by our staff team as the number-one favorite of this year’s True/False Film Festival. I had not seen it until this last Monday. But I discovered that it was a kind of film version of the book “Omnivore’s Dilemma.” In fact, it's author Michael Pollan is seen and heard quite a bit in the film, and I also saw in the credits that he served as a consultant to the film as well. While keeping in mind that this film (and book) is clearly just one side of the argument (and there are always two sides), I do recommend that you try to see it while it’s still playing at the Ragtag. You can have a meal first at Uprise Bakery (connected to Ragtag), which strives to serve mostly locally grown, organic meats, cheese, eggs, and produce. Personally, I found the Cuban Pulled Pork sandwich delicious Monday night. And you can take your glass of wine into the theater with you to watch the film. (All part of fulfilling the cultural mandate, of course.)

According to Ragtag’s website, theses are the remaining showtimes and dates:
* Wednesday, July 29: 4:45PM, 7:15PM
* Thursday, July 30: 4:45PM, 7:15PM
* Friday, July 31: 4:15PM, 6:30PM
* Saturday, August 1: 2:00PM, 4:15PM, 6:30PM
* Sunday, August 2: 1:00PM, 3:15PM, 5:30PM
* Monday, August 3: 4:15PM, 6:30PM
* Tuesday, August 4: 6:30PM, 8:45PM
* Wednesday, August 5: 5:00PM, 7:15PM
* Thursday, August 6: 6:45PM, 9:00PM

I particularly liked watching and listening to the interview with a Virginia farmer named Joel Salatin. Joel’s Polyface Farm is called a “sustainable” farm, and he is also heavily featured in Michael Pollan’s book, “Omnivore’s Dilemma.”

Here’s a description of what “sustainable” looks like in Omnivore’s Dilemma in regard to Joel’s Polyface Farm:

Polyface Farm raises chicken, beef, turkeys, eggs, rabbits, and pigs, plus tomatoes, sweet corn, and berries on one hundred acres of pasture patchworked into another 450 acres of forest, but if you ask Joel Salatin what he does for a living (Is he foremost a cattle rancher? A chicken farmer?) he’ll tell you in no uncertain terms, “I’m a grass farmer.” The first time I heard this designation I didn’t get it at all—hay seemed the least (and least edible) of his many crops, and he brought none of it to market. But undergirding the “farm of many faces,” as he calls it, is a single plant—or rather that whole community of plants for which the word “grass” is shorthand. “Grass,” so understood, is the foundation of the intricate food chain Salatin has assembled at Polyface, where a half dozen different animal species are raised together in an intensive rotational dance on the theme of symbiosis. Salatin is the choreographer and the grasses are his verdurous stage; the dance has made Polyface one of the most productive and influential alternative farms in America. Though it was only the third week of June, the pasture beneath me had already seen several rotational turns. Before being cut earlier in the week for the hay that would feed the farm’s animals through the winter, it had been grazed twice by beef cattle, which after each day-long stay had been succeeded by several hundred laying hens. They’d arrived by Eggmobile, a ramshackle portable henhouse designed and built by Salatin. Why chickens? “Because that’s how it works in nature,” Salatin explained. “Birds follow and clean up after herbivores.” And so during their turn in the pasture, the hens had performed several ecological services for the cattle as well as the grass: They’d picked the tasty grubs and fly larvae out of the cowpats, in the process spreading the manure and eliminating parasites. (This is what Joel has in mind when he says the animals do the work around here; the hens are his “sanitation crew,” the reason his cattle have no need of chemical parasiticides.) And while they were at it, nibbling on the short cattle-clipped grasses they like best, the chickens applied a few thousand pounds of nitrogen to the pasture—and produced several thousand uncommonly rich and tasty eggs. After a few weeks’ rest, the pasture will be grazed again, each steer turning these lush grasses into beef at the rate of two or three pounds a day. By the end of the season Salatin’s grasses will have been transformed by his animals into some 25,000 pounds of beef, 50,000 pounds of pork, 12,000 broilers, 800 turkeys, 500 rabbits, and 30,000 dozen eggs. This is an astounding cornucopia of food to draw from a hundred acres of pasture, yet what is perhaps still more astonishing is the fact that this pasture will be in no way diminished by the process—in fact, it will be the better for it, lusher, more fertile, even springier underfoot (this thanks to the increased earthworm traffic).

Here's a video about the Chipotle Founder visiting Joel and Polyface Farms (On Nightline). Well-worth watching.

And while we don’t get this info in the film “Food, Inc,” in “Omnivore’s Dilemma” we are told right away that Joel is a Christian who is farming according to his worldview. I'm not surprised at all by that. He strives to be redemptive and reflective of God's glory in all of his farming practices: the way he uses and treats his animals, the way he uses and treats the environment, the way he treats his family and workers, and the way he seeks to provide healthy and nutritious food for his costumers. His costumers are those who either buy from him directly at the farm, or at a farmers market, or the restaurants he’s built a reputation with as a high quality supplier.

As an aside, I particularly liked this quote from Joel in Omnivore’s Dilemma;

“You know what the best kind of organic certification would be? Make an unannounced visit to a farm and take a good long look at the farmer’s bookshelf. Because what you’re feeding your emotions and thoughts is what this is really all about. The way I produce a chicken is an extension of my worldview. You can learn more about that by seeing what’s sitting on my bookshelf than having me fill out a whole bunch of forms.”

I think that quote applies to so many things. Not just farmers, but to all of us. What we’re reading really IS who we are. Again, just an aside, but an important and challenging one.

I also enjoyed what Michael Pollan (who, I wrote in my previous blog entry, is probably an agnostic who leans toward atheist) writes in Omnivore’s Dilemma as his impression of Joel’s Christian faith when he had his first meal with him and his family at their farmhouse: “Joel began the meal by closing his eyes and saying a rambling and strikingly non-generic version of grace, offering a fairly detailed summary of the day’s doings to a Lord who, to judge by Joel’s tone of easy familiarity, was present and keenly interested.”

Anyway, from reading both Omnivore’s Dilemma as well as from Michael Pollans subsequent book, “In Defense of Food,” Jeannette and I are much more motivated now to support sustainable farming (to “vote with our fork”) and to eat organic, locally-grown meats (that were grass-fed on a pasture), cheeses, eggs, and produce when we can, and to eat primarily whole foods (i.e., not processed foods), and to eat more fruits and vegetables when in season.

So we’ve been enjoying buying some of our foods from the Columbia Farmers Market. It's actually kind of fun and there really is nothing that tastes better than truly fresh produce. But in all candor, to us, the grass-fed steaks take a little getting used to after we've been raised eating over-fattened, corn-fed beef. But it is much healthier for us and much better treatment of the cattle and better for the environment. (Tip: I've learned that you have to cook grass-fed beef on lower heat in a slower manner, and not to overcook it.) The grass-fed hamburger, however, is actually much better tasting than "normal" hamburger, in our opinion. The cage-free/free-range pasture-fed chickens and the eggs there are awesome! You can definitely taste a better difference.

And this Saturday night there’s a special Farmers Market food, drinks, and music event that we’re attending. Here’s the info about that. Hope to see you there.

Early to Bed and Early to Rise...

Ben Franklin may have had it right….except for one small thing. “Early to bed and early to rise makes a man and a woman healthy, wealthy, and wise.”

With two small kids, one of the hardest things for me is finding quiet time to read and reflect on God’s Word and pray each day. I’ve unfortunately gone through long stretches of time (especially when my children were infants or when I had morning sickness) without reading the Bible much. (As an aside, a wise older woman in our church once encouraged me by reminding me that God gives us special grace in those seasons of life. That’s of course not an excuse to give up, though!) So, I’ve found that the best way to make this God-time happen is to….yes, I hate to say it…get up early.

I can’t tell you what a difference having alone time with the Lord in the morning makes on my attitude and consequently our family life. Having His perspective first thing in the morning gives my day purpose and somehow enables me to be less selfish. I find myself complaining less, worrying less, working harder, and thinking first of my husband, my kids, and others a lot more than usual. That must be why Nathan doesn’t mind getting the kids up and changing the poopy diapers while I finish up each morning. He’s a smart man.

I’ve had to set my alarm and get up earlier and earlier to find this sacred time each day. Right now, my goal is 5:45 a.m. but honestly it usually ends up being after 6:00. For some of you whose kids get up before the crack of dawn, I fear this time may need to be even earlier. It’s certainly not easy rising at this time (even for a morning person like me), but I’ve found a few practical helps.

- Put grounds in the coffeemaker and set the brew timer the night before. That way I wake up to the aroma of my sweet blessed coffee and don’t waste time making it in the a.m.
- Plan out the next day and to-do list the night before. That way I don’t get distracted by those thoughts during my morning time with God. This has made a huge difference!
- Get in bed earlier. I have a rule (which is hard to enforce sometimes) that I have to be in my bedroom getting ready for bed by 10 p.m. The longer I have been rising early, the easier this is because I’m so tired! Depending on how much sleep you need, your “rule” might be different.
- Keep my time with God simple right now. I have about 40-45 minutes, so I haven’t been doing an extensive Bible study. Instead, I have found a few online resources handy to help me set my mind on God and prepare for the day. Admittedly, I’m a computer (specifically a Mac) girl and like to spend this time with my laptop at hand. This does mean resisting the temptation to check Facebook or email, though! Here are a few resources I enjoy:

http://www.oldlandmarks.com/puritan.htm - These are Puritan prayers that soften my heart before reading the Bible. I haven’t found anything like them. You can purchase the book version of these in our bookstore.

ESV Study Bible online – Nathan bought me one of those huge, honkin’ ESV Study Bibles from the church’s bookstore. It’s pleather cover is attractive, but I think it weighs 20 lbs or something. The best part of this gift, though, is that it comes with free access to an online version of this study Bible. Now, I can read it from my computer (or you can from your iPhone if you’re one of those people). I use this almost exclusively and have learned a ton from it.

http://www.girltalkhome.com/ - One of my favorite blogs, as it deals with issues pertaining to my life stage—wifely stuff, motherhood, God, Jesus, you know all those things that are important. I find it very challenging and applicable. In fact, this is where I initially found motivation to rise early.

http://livingchrist360.com/ - Bryan Chapell is the president of Covenant Seminary in St. Louis, MO. This is where Dave, Nathan, Ryan, and Justin all went to seminary. Dr. Chapell is a man who constantly reminds me of God’s grace and so do his devotional blog posts.

If you decide to give this a try, you may want to start by rising 20 minutes earlier than usual and progressing to an earlier wake time. I think you’ll find that this sacrifice is so worth it and that you will become “healthier, wealthier, and wise” in so many ways!

Saturday Links

Here are some things I found interesting this week. The topics include: Television, gender neutrality, C.S Lewis, sports lessons, scenic beauty, Facebook, and Matt Holliday....enjoy.

John Piper on Television - Don't read this as my personal recommendation (or most definitely not The Crossing's recommendation) for how you should never watch television. But if you're like me at all, you need to be balanced every once in a while. I'm way more prone to watching, listening to, and participating in things I shouldn't than being legalistic and steering clear of things. So, I need to read things like this every once in a while.

Raising Your Kid Gender Neutral? - I don't know what to say. There's something to gender roles and forcing people into them (a small something, in my opinion). But this makes me want to cry.

C.S. Lewis...reading C.S. Lewis - Sort of. Actually listen to Lewis' old radio addresses. Warning: it may not match the voice you've heard in your head. So if you cherish your make-believe Lewis voice, you may want to skip this one.
HT: Justin Taylor

Sports, Sons, and Life Lessons - A short description of one father's thoughts regarding a son's baseball game and Tom Watson's near miss last weekend.

Newsworthy Facebook Item - I love Facebook. There I said it. But a new danger has emerged. Apparently, some people's default mode for who can see their photos/posts/messages will now be set so that the world can see all of that. The default used to be "friends only," but apparently that has changed. So, double check your settings to make sure they're how you want them to be.

Scenery - If you're near any of these places this summer or fall, you might think about stopping by. For me, there's not much better than natural beauty.

For Cards Fans Only - If you're Nathan Tiemeyer, you have no reason to read this, it's not good for your soul. And if you're Shay Roush, you're probably mad that the Cards gave Holliday number 15, erasing all hope that we'll resign Jim Edmonds.
Matt Holliday's a Cardinal...at least for a few months. A quick breakdown of what we can expect from Holliday long term.

Faith in the Midst of Trial

We all know “stressful seasons of life.” That’s how I would have described situation of my close friends, Robbie and Jane-Ellis, a few weeks ago. Jane-Ellis was nearing the due date of their third child, and they were scheduled to close on both the sale of their house and the purchase of a new one just a week later. That’s plenty of extra things to think about, to be sure.

However, shortly after the arrival of their newborn son George, they realized they were in for a much greater trial than they had anticipated. George was born with his aorta and pulmonary artery switched, meaning his blood was not properly oxygenating. Thus the need for their little, days-old son to undergo open heart surgery this past Wednesday.

Thankfully, the procedure went very well, and as I write, George is scheduled to have his chest closed today (it having been left open for a couple of days to relieve possible swelling on his newly repaired heart—wow). Still, I have only the barest idea of what it must be like to stand aside while your newborn son undergoes such a process.

I bring all this up because I have admired and been encouraged by my friends’ honesty and faith in the midst of such a wrenching experience. Robbie is an associate pastor at our sister church, Central Presbyterian in St. Louis. He’s given his church good reason to “remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith” (Heb. 13:7). Perhaps a couple of excerpts from the blog he’s used to update friends and family during this process will illustrate, allowing you to be encouraged as well:

I go back and forth between being ok and realizing that George could die as a result of this defect. I prayed harder yesterday during the septostomy than I have in a long time. I do not believe that just because God is good that there are any guarantees in all of this--that is glib, pseudo-theology. The hard thing is coming to grips with the goodness and mercy of God even when death is a real possibility. I believe and know that God loves George more than we do. I believe and know that He will make a safe path for him in this life. But I don't want to lose him.

That leads me to prayer, I guess:

Pray that God would deliver George through this time and that he would grow to be a strong and wise man of God who leads others to love and follow Jesus.

………

I'm not supersitious, so I'll relay this little anecdote from yesterday. I was speaking with our insurance agent about insuring the new house (there had been a delay on confirming that they were going to insure the house which was troubling to our lender since we are to close on Friday). And she mentioned that the replacement cost of the house would be much higher than our purchase price and that she and underwriting were trying to get a good replacement cost. (This is mainly because of the cost of brick, I believe. The house is brick on all four sides). She wanted to know whether we were going to insure the house based on the purchase price or the replacement cost. I said to JE, "The way things are going for us, we'd better insure based on the replacement cost because the thing is sure to burn down within the next 6 months."

She laughed. I laughed. I don't really believe that. I said it just to indicate that, given all the stuff we've been through over the last several years (Peter's deafness and cochlear implant surgery, health issues of family, various other disappointments), nothing much would surprise me anymore. And I'm confident that whatever comes our way, God will be with us. That does not mean that any of this is easy. Again, I don't believe in the sort of pseudo-comfort that ignores the brokenness of this world (including my own brokenness and sin). I don't believe that everything is necessarily going to be ok. I do believe in the resurrection of Jesus and that, because of that, one day all things will be made new, including our broken bodies.

So, if you are the praying type, pray that we would be spared the loss of little George. But along with that, pray that Jesus' kingdom would come.

Please pray for George and the entire family in the coming days. And like Robbie says, pray also for the day that our Savior comes again “and night will be no more” (Rev. 22:5).

Hosea, Adultery, and God

Adultery is a horrific thing. My wife saw He's Just Not That Into You in the theaters some months back. One character (played by Bradley Cooper), has an affair in the film. My wife literally now can't look at his face in previews or other movies without becoming extremely angry (and for the record, she hated the movie and wouldn't recommend it...in case any one cares).

Much has been made of the culture of today's moral collapse in many areas. It has become quite the norm to have sex before marriage, to live together during engagement. The frequency of curse words on television has skyrocketed. The regulations on what words are allowed on network television during prime time hours have been relaxed. And if you object to commercials which sell jeans, or breath mints, or cheeseburgers with scandalously clad women and overt sexuality, a large part of the population would probably label you a prude.

Much of these moral areas today have changed over the years. What was once deemed unacceptable by 90% of the population, might today be deemed acceptable or even worthwhile by 60% or more. Things have flipped in many areas.

And yet, American attitudes towards adultery do not seem to be changing at such a drastic pace. Is it viewed as acceptable by more people today than 50 years ago? Probably. But not at the same level as other things on the above list.

Why?

Because adultery gets to the core of many things so vital to the human heart. It's so secret and damaging. It is the breaking of a promise. It is the breaking of trust. It destroys the lives of so many - wives, husbands, children, parents, friends. There may be no other act between one human and another that better epitomizes the word "betrayal."

But I don't write this to brow-beat or to stand on a moral high horse.

I write it because this is the image God uses so often in his word to describe what we, his people, do to him.

We hate adultery in our relationships and in the world, and yet we so often tolerate it in our own relationship with God.

The book of Hosea is a powerful image of this. In it, God calls Hosea, a prophet, to take a wife who is and will be an adulteress. A cycle ensues: faithfulness, adultery, repentance and redemption, faithfulness, adultery, etc. But God isn't just telling the story of one husband and wife. He's using their story to point his people to the fact that we do the exact same thing to Him.

God has given us salvation, hope, and freedom. And yet we often turn away from him and turn to other gods. Money, career, vanity, success, people's perceptions of us. God reminds us that we are idolaters and adulterers.

But just as importantly, God reminds us that he has paid the price for our sin, and there will come a day when all will be made right. And in that day, our relationship with him will be mended entirely and our redemption will be complete. Let us despise the adultery of our hearts and at the same time long to be redeemed to the one who truly loves us.

Controversial Collins Nominated to Head National Institutes of Health

President Obama recently nominated Dr. Francis Collins to head the National Institutes of Health, a position that directs an annual budget of almost $30 billion. Having directed the effort to map the human genome, Collins is one of the world’s preeminent scientists. And it appears likely he’ll be confirmed to the post in question with little difficulty.

Still, Collins is surrounded by a fair amount of controversy, much of which is tied in some way to his well-known allegiance to Christ. As Chuck Colson recently expressed:

[Collins] is a solid follower of Christ and an articulate defender of his views—both religious and scientific. Converted by reading C.S. Lewis, he became a fellow at the C.S. Lewis Institute and studied there. He and I have spent long hours together discussing Scripture and particularly the works of St. Augustine.

Collins’ commitment to Christ is obviously problematic for many in the scientific community who advocate a strictly naturalistic worldview. On the other hand, many in the religious (particularly the evangelical Christian) community are troubled by questions regarding the compatibility of Collins’ faith with his views on issues like evolution, stem cell research, and abortion. While he expressed enthusiasm for his friend’s appointment, Colson himself noted

He and I have some profound disagreements. He is an evolutionary theist who believes in the common descent of all life. His book, The Language of God, tries to harmonize evolution and Christianity in a way that I simply cannot agree with (and so I couldn’t endorse the book).* He also is in favor of certain kinds of embryonic stem cell research. Again, I could not disagree with him more.

*I should note that The Crossing bookstore carries The Language of God, along with other titles containing differing perspectives on the complex biblical and scientific issues involved with the origin of life.

For those who are interested in where Collins’ views fall regarding evolution, particularly in relation to other positions on the spectrum, Jeremy Pierce helpfully attempts to sort out the distinctions here. I’d echo the sentiment of Marvin Olasky:

I’d love to see a discussion between Collins and an [intelligent design] expert like Steve Meyer, a Cambridge University graduate and the author of a new, highly praised book, Signature in the Cell (HarperCollins). A discussion between two intelligent, influential guys would help all of us to sort out truth from falsehood.

In regard to stem cell research and related issues, Justin D. Barnard has recently leveled some significant criticism at Collins views.

Lastly, if you’re interested in finding our more about Collins, I’ll point you in the direction of two direct interviews: one in the latest issue of Books and Culture which deals primarily with Collins’ views on evolution, and an earlier piece on Beliefnet that is somewhat more wide-ranging in content.

Famine Relief In Kenya

Racefield School is one of The Crossing's ministry partners in Kenya. Recently they sent us a note explaining that their part of the country was experiencing a severe famine and therefore they were unable to provide food for the orphans and students involved in the school. In response The Crossing sent some money that would allow them to buy food that would last for the rest of the summer. Today we received a thank you via email that I wanted to share with you.

A couple of notes...
As you read it understand that English is not their first language. Also, the "Cami" that the email is addressed to is Cami Wheeler, a member of our church who travels to Kenya as a representative from The Crossing. Finally, the picture below was taken on the day that the food arrived. The girl is holding a sign that says thank you to the church.

Hi Cami,
We are have been and are praying for your health for quick recovery.
How we trust God to bring your health back to normal, may our gracious God
hear our prayers Amen.
The entire ministry of racefield is so humbled to be associated with wonderful
people of God like you! our situation is now shinning and people calls us blessed! yes we are!
Attached find some pictures of some of the pupils who were present as we brought in the food and the much food we managed to buy, this could take us until august, thats so special! amazingy the pupils who had quit school have come back and we are soo happy. Once again pass our special appreciation to your pastors and the entire church.
Cami, we hope you remember the very one well we were fetching water down the river, its the only well remaining with just little water now serving about 20 communities about 15kms radius but now its also drying up! we trust God for our own borehole which could solve our problems permanently, keep praying for us. pupils have sent lots of love.
We love you Cami.
Sammy & Felistus

Click here to read more about Racefield School and our other Kenyan ministry partners.

Money and Evil

"Money is the root of all evil."

This isn't an unheard of statement. People use it all the time. Type it in Google, you'll find plenty of people using the phrase. One big misconception, however, is that it is found in the Bible.

Well, it's not. The ESV renders this verse (which is 1 Timothy 6:10) like this: "For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs."

This is an important distinction to realize. Money is not a root of the evil, it is the love of money. And it is not "all evil," but "all kinds of evils."

We must not read this passage as a condemnation of money, material things, or wealth. Have you ever read the accounts in the Old Testament of how God commanded the Israelites to build the temple? It wasn't a pole barn. Gold, silver, and bronze was used in the construction. The priests' garments involved fine linen, purple fabric, and gold (as an aside, I say we make Dave wear a purple robe from now on, complete with a lot of gold bling).

But we can't simply ignore the warning. Jesus talked about money and hell an awful lot. Hell is clearly a serious topic, but so is money. In Luke 18 he warns us: "How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God."

So neither money itself, nor the things money can buy, are inherently evil. But the love of money is. Do you love money? Do you love your material possessions? Are they what get you up in the morning? Are they what get your heart racing or do they dictate how you make decisions?

I'll leave you with an excerpt from the ESV Study Bible.

What is condemned here is the desire to be rich, not material things per se when rightly used for the glory of God. The desire to be rich leads one to fall into temptation. This in turn results in the love of money, which Paul identifies as a root of all kinds of evils (v. 10)...wandered away from the faith. The warning is not simply that “love of money” is harmful but that this has led some to deny the faith, showing themselves to be unbelievers (cf. 1:19).

Praise God for money and all the opportunities and blessings it provides. But may we honor God with it. May we not love it nor seek refuge in it.

The Power and Limitation of Lewis' Trilemma

Teaching the Mere Christianity class this summer has given me the opportunity to work back through a classic. I’ve appreciated revisiting several parts of the book that had a profound effect on me when I first read it several years ago. And virtually every time I read Lewis, I’m reminded of his ability to say meaningful things in vibrant, memorable ways.

One example of this is what may be the most famous passage of Mere Christianity. Often dubbed the “Trilemma,” it reads as follows:

I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronising nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us.

Now quite aside from the fact that Lewis’ analogy of a man who thinks he’s a poached egg is likely forever burned in my memory, I think this paragraph represents an important plank in a persuasive defense of the Christian faith. It is not, however, the last word, particularly in the current cultural climate.

The problem lies along these lines: Lewis’ argument is formidable insofar as we consider the canonical gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) as constituting the authoritative and reliable account of his words and actions. So long as that is a given, then Lewis’ point is powerful. I would readily argue that a close reading of the gospels demonstrates Jesus in fact claimed deity in any number of ways. And if he did, then it indeed follows that he is either right or wrong, leading to possibilities and, I would certainly argue, the conclusion that Lewis mentions in the passage above.

But suppose Jesus really didn’t say the things we read in the Bible. Suppose he didn’t really do the amazing things detailed in the gospel accounts. Often driven by a considerable array of ideological and methodological presuppositions, modern skepticism offers that the biblical accounts have accrued a good many legendary elements as the actual events have receded into the past. Well meaning, if overly zealous followers of Jesus sought to make him into much more than he ever claimed for himself. Or perhaps a cabal of manipulative men, in what might have been a thinly veiled grab for power and influence, invented a compelling fiction (at least to ancient ears) of their teacher after he’d been unceremoniously executed by the authorities. And by the way, why should we limit ourselves to these four accounts of Jesus life? Then there is also the question of simple human error—a reality we are all intimately familiar with—in regard to the transmission of the gospel texts. In light of these problematic variables, the truth about Jesus must now be extracted from various layers of myth and error. Consequently, we need not be confined by Lewis’ stark options. The comfortable view of Jesus as inspiring moral teacher is back on the table.*

*I should also mention that this Jesus inevitably possesses a particularly modern notion of tolerance, i.e., not “I’m convinced you’re wrong but will treat you with respect anyway” but rather “all positions are equally viable.” Of course, many have observed that adherents of the latter perspective are often surprisingly intolerant of at least one group: those who don’t believe all positions are equally viable. Ah, the hobgoblin of consistency.

Rest assured, I believe all of these (often legitimate) objections to the reliability of the gospel accounts have good answers. But for Lewis’ argument to enjoy its full force, they must be addressed. I’ve mentioned it a few times in this space before, but Lee Stroebel’s The Case for Christ, containing interviews with several accomplished Christian scholars from various disciplines, is an excellent and readable introduction to many of the relevant issues.

I’ll close by saying this: in a backhand way, the objections to the gospel accounts underscore the persuasiveness of Lewis’ argument. As I said before, if you do acknowledge the gospels' reliability, taking their message seriously and reading them in light of their own historical and cultural context, then it is difficult to escape the reality that Jesus is as Lewis and the rest of historic, orthodox Christianity has conceived him: God incarnate. But if that’s true, then Jesus is not merely a well-respected but easily ignored teacher. He’s our Sovereign Lord, laying claim to all of who we are. And though doing so constitutes the central human tragedy, you can see why we just might be tempted to explain that away.

What I Learned In Washington D.C.

Last fall, my wife and I decided that this summer we'd take a family vacation to Washington D.C. So we recently loaded the 4 kids into the minivan and began our trek that included a stop in Canton, OH to see the NFL Hall of Fame. Arriving in D.C. on July 1, we packed in as much as possible in the five days we were there.

I was really surprised by how much my kids enjoyed the trip. While some of them predictably said that their favorite attraction was the Spy Museum, they less predictably enjoyed the tours through the White House and Capitol, loved going up in the Washington Monument, and even liked seeing the original copies of Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights, and Constitution. While I probably was most affected by the Holocaust Museum (I think that's due in part to having just finished Hunting Eichmann--a book that I definitely recommend), my wife most enjoyed Mount Vernon, George and Martha Washington's home in Virgina.

I can see why. Waking around Mount Vernon, I couldn't help but be impressed with George Washington the man. First there was his hospitality: He and Martha entertained countless guests at their home including strangers. Second was his humility: Against the wishes of many of his contemporaries who wanted to make him king, he resigned his commission as general of the continental armies. Third was his commitment to his roots: A crypt was prepared in the basement of the capitol for Washington's body but he refused the offer making it clear in his will that he wanted to be buried at Mount Vernon next to Martha.

And then just this week, David Brooks wrote about Washington and dignity in the New York Times (I believe it was the most widely read story in the history of the Times website). Here is how it starts...

When George Washington was a young man, he copied out a list of 110 “Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation.” Some of the rules in his list dealt with the niceties of going to a dinner party or meeting somebody on the street.

“Lean not upon anyone,” was one of the rules. “Read no letter, books or papers in company,” was another. “If any one come to speak to you while you are sitting, stand up,” was a third.

But, as the biographer Richard Brookhiser has noted, these rules, which Washington derived from a 16th-century guidebook, were not just etiquette tips. They were designed to improve inner morals by shaping the outward man. Washington took them very seriously. He worked hard to follow them. Throughout his life, he remained acutely conscious of his own rectitude.

In so doing, he turned himself into a new kind of hero. He wasn’t primarily a military hero or a political hero. As the historian Gordon Wood has written, “Washington became a great man and was acclaimed as a classical hero because of the way he conducted himself during times of temptation. It was his moral character that set him off from other men.”

I was re-impressed and re-inspired by the people and ideals that founded our country. But by itself, I don't think that's an entirely appropriate Christian response. More on that next week.

Thanks for reading.

"Omnivore's Dilemma," by Michael Pollan

I really like my Kindle, and it was especially convenient and enjoyable on my recent vacation. All I needed to bring was my Kindle, and within it I had all the books I’m reading or about to read (including my ESV Study Bible), along with my daily subscription to The New York Times. And Amazon now enables me to access all my highlights and comments from books I read, right on their web site. That’s a big deal for someone like me who likes to quote and have access to quotes from books I read (like I will do here in this blog). I can also pick up my iPhone in the dark of night in bed, wife asleep, and Kindle lets me read my book on the iPhone, picking up right where I left off on my Kindle. Really cool stuff.

I say all this because a book I read on my Kindle during my vacation (well, I’m 75% of the way through it, so not technically “read” yet) is Michael Pollan’s “Omnivore’s Dilemma.” It was recommended to me by one of my favorite Bohexies (my name for bohemian-existentialist types) at The Crossing. I'm glad she recommended it.

This is a very interesting, convicting, informative, uncomfortable, enjoyable, important book to read. I really like Pollan’s writing style. Very witty, self-deprecating at times, intellectually honest, and he seems to reason through things like I do, even if we think about the world quite differently (from what I can tell, he seems to be an agnostic, leaning toward atheist).

I highly recommend you read this book (not that you should drink it all in, especially his hyper evolutionary-everything in explaining everything about everything). Its premise is that our industrial and governmental influence/control of the food and farming industry has negatively affected our diet, our food choices, our purchasing habits and expectations, and our humane care for animals, not to mention our support of the kinds of farmers who are trying to do things the right way. That may sound to you too much like a typical ultra-leftist tyrade against the industrial-military complex, but I am not a leftist, and I really like this book (although, now that I think about it, he does refer to the industrial-military complex once or twice in this book).

There is so much in Omnivore's Dilemma that challenged and is challenging me on many levels. But for today let me just introduce the premise of the book the way Pollan does in the first chapter. He introduces what he calls the omnivore’s dilemma (we humans are omnivores in the sense that we’re designed to eat a wide variety of food groups for our overall health, but pretty much all we’re eating today is corn disguised as different foods).

To quote Pollan in “Omnivore’s Dilemma” (from accessing my Kindle highlights from Amazon’s web site)—

Zea mays [is] the giant tropical grass most Americans know as corn. Corn is what feeds the steer that becomes the steak. Corn feeds the chicken and the pig, the turkey and the lamb, the catfish and the tilapia and, increasingly, even the salmon, a carnivore by nature that the fish farmers are reengineering to tolerate corn. The eggs are made of corn. The milk and cheese and yogurt, which once came from dairy cows that grazed on grass, now typically come from Holsteins that spend their working lives indoors tethered to machines, eating corn.

A chicken nugget, for example, piles corn upon corn: what chicken it contains consists of corn, of course, but so do most of a nugget’s other constituents, including the modified corn starch that glues the thing together, the corn flour in the batter that coats it, and the corn oil in which it gets fried. Much less obviously, the leavenings and lecithin, the mono-, di-, and triglycerides, the attractive golden coloring, and even the citric acid that keeps the nugget “fresh” can all be derived from corn. To wash down your chicken nuggets with virtually any soft drink in the supermarket is to have some corn with your corn—...after water, corn sweetener is their principal ingredient. Grab a beer for your beverage instead and you’d still be drinking corn, in the form of alcohol fermented from glucose refined from corn. Read the ingredients on the label of any processed food and, provided you know the chemical names it travels under, corn is what you will find. For modified or unmodified starch, for glucose syrup and maltodextrin, for crystalline fructose and ascorbic acid, for lecithin and dextrose, lactic acid and lysine, for maltose and HFCS, for MSG and polyols, for the caramel color and xanthan gum, read: corn.

...The frozen yogurt and TV dinner, the canned fruit and ketchup and candies, the soups and snacks and cake mixes, the frosting and gravy and frozen waffles, the syrups and hot sauces, the mayonnaise and mustard, the hot dogs and the bologna, the margarine and shortening, the salad dressings and the relishes and even the vitamins. (Yes, it’s in the Twinkie, too.)

It does take some imagination to recognize the ear of corn in the Coke bottle or the Big Mac. At the same time, the food industry has done a good job of persuading us that the forty-five thousand different items or SKUs (stock keeping units) in the supermarket—seventeen thousand new ones every year—represent genuine variety rather than so many clever rearrangements of molecules extracted from the same plant. You are what you eat, it’s often said, and if this is true, then what we mostly are is corn—or, more precisely, processed corn.

That will serve as my teaser for my next blog, or my motivator to get you to want to buy the book and read it for yourself. I’ll review and comment more on “Omnivore’s Dilemma” next week.

Christian Reasons for Reading Harry Potter

After I finished the Lord of the Rings series for the first time as a child I remember putting the final book down and being filled with such a poignant sadness because it was over, yet it was a sadness that was only poignant because it was filled with so much hope. Frodo and the fellowship had won the day and it seemed like everything bad might just "come un-true," but the pain they experienced on the journey left them all scarred in some way and in the end the only place they could turn for solace was in the Grey Havens, to the "far green country and to a swift sunrise."

It was a complicated emotion for a young child to feel. In some way or another I've been chasing that feeling ever since. All my favorite pieces of art capture that sad hope. I take it as a sign that I am not at home in this world and as a promise that this journey that seems like lost wandering is truly a homecoming. I take it as my truest religious sense, which art helps me to awaken. Awake, I am able to look out at the world and see the tragedy of its bondage and long for it too to experience it's promised awakening.

Finishing Harry Potter again recently I could not stop thinking about The Lord of the Rings. J. K. Rowling has created a story as powerful and original as Tolkien's, awakening the same longings in me for justice and truth, and promising their inevitable fulfillment. It may seem "childish" to react so deeply to a children's book, but, if so, it says more about the world of adults than it does of the world of children.

Each book in the Harry Potter series is a story in and of itself, but each of them contributes to the larger story going on in the whole series, which culminates in the seventh book. If you have not read it yet, let me say that the culmination does not disappoint. Rowling satisfactorily answers the questions she raises, and as you turn the last page of the book you find that you were being prepared for the moment from the very first page of the first book. It all holds together in the most wonderful way like few stories I have read.

Rowling has received much criticism for her books, much of it, I am sorry to say, coming from the Christian community. The stories concern magic and wizards and some have accused Rowling of writing the occult into her books. (Jerram Barrs addresses this concern and more in part one and two of his lectures: Harry Potter and the Triumph of Sacrifical Love. I recommend them.)

It is an important question, because it calls into question the moral value of reading these stories. The first answer one might give is to point out is that while these stories involve magic and wizardry the stories are also happening in a moral world. Evil is shown as being really evil, with disgusting consequences. Rowling makes you love the people you are supposed to love in a moral universe. Harry Potter and his friends are children any parent would want their kids to grow up and be like. They love each other dearly, and, while they are not perfect, the series is full of instances of the reconciliation, redemption, and forgiveness that true community draws out of us. The magic in the Harry Potter series is portrayed as being a tool like any other, neutral in itself. Its goodness or badness depends on the person who uses it.

There is so much to be said about the parallels the themes of the books have with the Christian worldview. They show that evil falls back on itself and bears its own judgment within it. Rowling has written a complex understanding of idolatry into her stories. In the seventh book, Harry comes across a verse of the Bible scrawled into a tombstone which puts voice to one of the books themes. The verse says, "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." The verse is like a key to understanding each characters motivations, just as it is in life. The series mirrors the Biblical worldview in that it plays out in a world that has gone terribly wrong, and the drama is the work of putting it to rights again. There is a climax and good wins, however, there are also echoes of a deeper hope beyond death, as another Bible verse on a tombstone suggests, "the last enemy to be destroyed is death."

Finally, you cannot talk about the parallels between Harry Potter and the Biblical worldview without talking about what the books say about the triumph of sacrificial love. In each book Harry sacrifices himself to stop evil from happening to his friends. In this he is a true hero, and, at the end of the series, we find that this is exactly why he is able to overcome. He has as deeper magic than all Voldemort's might, which Voldemort does not know about. It is the magic of love, and the series portrays the truth of Christ's words when he said, "greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends."

I am reminded of what another great english writer, C. S. Lewis, said to a young boy who was worried that he loved Aslan, Lewis's mythical lion in the Narnia series, more than he loved Jesus. Lewis told the boy that his love for Aslan was the same thing as his love for Jesus, that Aslan could help him love Jesus better. The Harry Potter series makes me love Jesus more and draws me to worship God because of his gifts to writers like Rowling and for seeing the Great Drama played out in miniature on the page.

I recommend the books to you and to your children. I will certainly read them to mine.