Chaos wide open

(Editor's note: Edward Lorenz, "the father of chaos theory", died this week at the age of 90. In contrast "Salar" the author of this blog does not know much about chaos theory beyond what can be googled in several minutes. If Edward Lorenz was the Father of chaos theory "Salar" would be the nosy neighbour of the roommate of the second cousin twice removed of chaos theory.)

"An eerie type of chaos can lurk just behind a facade of order and yet deep inside the chaos lurks an even eerier type of order" - Douglas Hofstader

The above image is a computer generated picture of what's called a "Mandlebrot set". It's a mathematical equation involving complex numbers and it visually describes the order that is found in chaos. Chaos appears random and unpredictable but if you look closely it's not, it's ordered. Order is calm, in control, unstoppable and in certain situations it can be even frightening.

Imagine, if you will... you are living alone. You come home after work and find your favourite vase smashed to pieces on the floor. Was someone in your house? Are they still there? You're going out, you don't have time to clean it up, you leave it in pieces on the floor. Later you come home and it's been put back together and sitting on your coffee table. Would that make you happy seeing it all put back together? Probably not. I know I would try to come up with an explanation for how it got put back together because I don't want to think someone or something was in my house and put my vase back together. There has to be a logical, natural explanation.

Or think about the question another way... does random steam on your bathroom mirror scare you? What if words were written in the steam? (and I don't mean an I love you note from your spouse).

The world around us is ordered and extremely complex; the balance of ecosystems, hunters, prey, symbiotic relationships, the eye, insect flight, the digital code written in DNA, how a giraffe can lower it's head and not have it explode from blood pressure, on and on. Is there a logical, natural explanation for all this or could it be Someone ordered it this way? It might be more frightening to believe Someone is in control because then we also have to think we might have to answer for our actions.


In the same hour the fingers of a man’s hand appeared and wrote opposite the lampstand on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace; and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote. Then the king’s countenance changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his hips were loosened and his knees knocked against each other. - Daniel 5:5-6

What was written is even more frightening...

PearlCast

I'm pretty frustrated today.

I made a decision at work and my boss put the brakes on it. When I spoke to him yesterday I couldn't convince him that my course of action was right so I decided that I would put some figures together and convince him by showing him the numbers... no good. I started explaining the numbers and he tossed it on his desk and said "you don't need to explain it any further I know it's less money"

Now you might say, "It sounds like he was convinced" If you said that you'd be wrong. He basically said it doesn't matter that it would save us 21k the answer's still no.

Add to that frustration that someone really close to me recently asked me for my opinion on something and basically ignored my advice.

So this got me to thinking, is this the reason for the maxim "do not cast your pearls before swine"? Then the very next words I thought were "Am I the swine?" Jesus' commandments are in the Word in black and white. Am I listening? Am I following His guidance? I wonder how He feels when we look into the light of His Word and forget what we read?

For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does. - James 1:23-25

Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. - Psalm 119:105

ĕn'ə-mē?

I recently watched the Will Smith movie "I am legend". If you're interested you can look it up at http://www.pluggedinonline.com/ before watching it. The main negative elements are the violence and frightening scenes.

(Don't read this if you don't want to have the plot twists ruined for you)

The writer of the review commented that the movie had a theme of "heroism, selfless sacrifice and final redemption". It's based on a book and I think the movie missed highlighting the material point that the author of the book was trying to make. In short, Will Smith's character Robert Neville is the last normal man alive in New York city, everyone else has either been killed or changed into a vampire by an airborne virus. Only 1% of the population were unaffected and virtually all of them were promptly killed by the vampires. As a result now finds he must lock himself in his apartment at night and during the day he roams the city killing the vampires as they sleep. Every so often he captures the odd one alive to take back to his apartment/bio-medical lab to experiment on in the hopes of discovering a cure.

He is attempting to save what's left of mankind. And this brings us to the central idea of the book, his actions are not in line with the current majority public opinion. To them he is the enemy. The one the vampires fear, the one they desperately try to stop, the bogey man "legend" the vampire parents tell stories about to their vampire babies.

The fact that the main character is the enemy just because he is in the minority is actually a very thought-provoking idea. It's too bad this latest version of the story didn't capitalize on it. You get hints in a one or two scenes but nothing more.

As Christians we think we are the protagonists. We assume that most everyone else will agree. We love our enemies, we follow the golden rule, we pay our taxes. The reality is we are strangers in a foreign land. Our enemy is the god of this world and he holds sway over the hearts and minds of many people, possibly the majority. Jesus Christ said the world will hate us because He was hated. If the world system accepts us then there is probably something wrong and we should probably be worried.

-

In the movie when Robert Neville captures his last vampire his antidote is successful and she is "converted" into to a non-vampiric being. However, her "dark-seeker" boyfriend is not impressed and he visits Robert at his apartment one night. Robert locks himself in his lab, a Plexiglas wall is all that separates them. "look!", he shouts desperately as he points to the cured woman laying on the gurney "I can help you, I can cure you!" The enraged vampire continues to throw himself violently against the wall. As the Plexiglas cracks and threatens to give way Robert is dejected, he can't believe it, the look in his eyes begs the question, "don't you want to be saved?..."

If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. - John 15:18-19

The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. - John 1:5

Pushing the immortal envelope

I would love to go BASE jumping but only if I could be sure that I wouldn’t be dashed to pieces on the side of a mountain. I think best case scenario I would spend the entire jump screaming in terror and the rest of my life with post traumatic stress disorder. Worst case scenario I would pass out part way down the mountain and billy goats would be picking little bits of me out of their teeth… on second thought I’m not sure which is the worst case scenario.
Anyways, it’s pretty cool to experience... vicariously.


Learning to fly - Pink Floyd
Into the distance, a ribbon of black Stretched to the point of no turning back A flight of fancy on a windswept field Standing alone my senses reeled A fatal attraction is holding me fast, How can I escape this irresistible grasp?
Gotta keep my eyes from the circling sky
Tongue-tied and twisted just an earthbound misfit, I...

Is there some deep desire in us to fly? I think so and it looks like some day we will, metaphorically and literally.

but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. - Isaiah 40:31

For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. - Thessalonians 4:16-17

I’ll save up my flight angst for the afterlife when I’m an immortal. Unless you are a trained BASE jumper I suggest you do the same. However, you can check it out now through the relative safety of your computer by clicking the links below.

As a Lamb to the slaughter

He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth.- Isaiah 53:7

I found this video from the Passion of the Christ put to the song “Hero", I think it's well done.

I looked up the definition for Meekness and I found; “humbly patient or docile, as under provocation from others” I once heard a better definition; “power in perfect control”.

Jesus the Son of God allowed men to shame Him, torture Him and became a curse for us. He could’ve called down legions of angels to utterly destroy the men who did this to Him. He could’ve stopped the mouths of His accusers, the hands of his tormentors, ended the pain and suffering at any moment… but He didn’t. In fact, not only did He not take revenge, He forgave them. I’m in awe.

I hope that I am counted worthy to suffer shame for His name and I hope He gives me the strength to accept it. He was meek but He wasn’t weak, great men and women endure torture and death for their beliefs, only the Son of God could endure and hold His power and authority in perfect control throughout.

Post scriptum
I watched the Passion of the Christ again this Good Friday with my oldest son and his cousin. Of course it’s a difficult film to watch, it’s not something you watch for enjoyment but to remember. At the part where Pilate presents Barabbas and Jesus and asks who the crowd wants to have released I saw a picture of an Old Testament scapegoat that I had never seen before.

He is to cast lots for the two goats—one lot for the LORD and the other for the scapegoat. Aaron shall bring the goat whose lot falls to the LORD and sacrifice it for a sin offering. But the goat chosen by lot as the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the LORD to be used for making atonement by sending it into the desert as a scapegoat. – Leviticus 16:6-10

The man who releases the goat as a scapegoat must wash his clothes and bathe himself with water; afterward he may come into the camp. – Leviticus 16:26
When the crowd had gathered, Pilate asked them, "Which one do you want me to release to you: Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?" For he knew it was out of envy that they had handed Jesus over to him. – Matthew 27:17-18

When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. "I am innocent of this man's blood," he said. "It is your responsibility!"
All the people answered, "Let his blood be on us and on our children!"
Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified. – Matthew 27:24-26

My dog Molly

I love my dog but sometimes she makes me so angry that I barely restrain myself from SNAPPING. I feel like Bruce Banner “Don’t make me angry Molly, you wouldn’t like me when I’m angry”. Only difference is I don’t get all green and buff.

A couple of years ago she ate our Robbie Burns haggis right out of the grocery tote. THAT’S MY HAGGIS! Today she ate some ham that was on the counter. =: \ ARGHHHH!!!!

Okay… okay… deep breath in… exhale… ok… I’m calm now

All in all she is a good dog. She was abandoned and taken into the pound when some friends of ours adopted her. They gave her to us when they couldn’t look after her anymore. She sleeps beside me every night. If I sleep on the other side of the bed she moves over to my side, except when my wife was pregnant then she slept on her side and was very protective of her and our newborn baby girl. She didn’t get jealous when we no longer gave her attention and spent all our time with the baby. She never complains when we don’t take her for a walk and she appreciates every moment when we do. She paces back and forth under our dinner table and never lets a crumb that falls to the floor go to waste. Unlike my children who most days seem to not even care if they eat and what is served often receives a turned up nose instead of thank you. Usually the “eat your dinner or there’s no dessert” threat is invoked.

Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from demon-possession." Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, "Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us." He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel." The woman came and knelt before him. "Lord, help me!" she said. He replied, "It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs." - Matthew 15:21-26

This was my reading a few days ago and I’ve been thinking about it all week. This woman amazes me. She obviously loved her daughter. She was so persistent when Jesus was ignoring her! And when He calls her a dog she parries His proverb with her own. She risked and endured humiliation, insult and rejection for her little girl. Why is it that when we have something for free we tend to take it for granted? Guaranteed there is someone who would die for what we have. I wonder what God feels when His children ignore the gifts He gives them. When as Keith Green put it “you prefer the light of your TV”

I don’t know about you, but I identify with the Syrophoenician woman. Whenever I read this I’m hoping that she gets her request granted.

Jesus left that place and went to the vicinity of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it; yet he could not keep his presence secret. In fact, as soon as she heard about him, a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an evil spirit came and fell at his feet. The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter. "First let the children eat all they want," he told her, "for it is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs." "Yes, Lord," she replied, "but even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs." Then he told her, "For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter." She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone. - Mark 7:24-30

What will we be remembered for?

“If I could ask you to think a hundred years ahead, to imagine what we, and our times, will be remembered for, I would venture three things: the Internet, the war on terror and the fate of the continent of Africa.” - Bono

It’s overwhelming to think about the problem of hunger in the world, it’s easier to not think about it at all. During World War II the British army was saved from certain destruction at Dunkirk by the military and ordinary British civilians in whatever little boats they had available. Good thing they didn’t stick their heads in the sand or we’d likely be a ½ century into the “Thousand Year Reich”.

Of course we can’t end world hunger on our own but each of us could help one person. To anyone who says “I can’t afford the $35/month it costs” I would suggest try eating just rice for dinner one night a week and use the money you save, $8-10 / per meal x 4.5 weeks / month = $36 - $45. We call it sacrifice, much of the world is content to have rice to eat and clean water to drink.

“To satisfy the world's sanitation and food requirements would cost only US$13 billion, what the people of the United States and the European Union spend on perfume each year.” http://library.thinkquest.org/C002291/high/present/stats.htm

“Ten million people die every year of hunger and hunger-related diseases. Only eight percent are the victims of high-profile earthquakes, floods, droughts and wars. The rest are often forgotten.” http://www.solcomhouse.com/hunger.htm

I heard a story once about a little child who was walking along the beach and came across thousands of small, silver fish who were caught on the beach after the tide had gone out. He was picking them up one at a time and throwing them back in the water. A man came along and questioned him saying, “There’s thousands of fish here, maybe millions, you can’t possibly save them all”
“No” the little boy replied as he kept picking up the fish and dropping them back in the water. “But to the ones I do it’s the whole world”

"Is this not the fast which I choose, to loosen the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke and to let the oppressed go free and break every yoke? Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into the house;
When you see the naked, to cover him; and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?

Then your light will break out like the dawn, and your recovery will speedily spring forth; and your righteousness will go before you;The glory of the LORD will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry, and He will say, 'Here I am'
If you remove the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness, and if you give yourself to the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then your light will rise in darkness your gloom will become like midday.
And the LORD will continually guide you, and satisfy your desire in scorched places, and give strength to your bones; and you will be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters do not fail.” - Isaiah 58:6-11