I got up and went to my polling place this morning on Oak Park, Illinois, and cast my votes in the Republican Primary. I used one of the newer “computer” voting machines. I was voter #1 on my machine, in my precinct. It felt good.
I urge you to go to your polling place and cast your vote today in either party. That’s how the system works, and it works best when all legal citizens participate.
Here is a final video from the candidate I supported for Illinois Governor – Dan Proft.
A group of friends have formed a Local Abolitionists group in Oak Park, Illinois, to fight slavery, human trafficking and the sex trade. More information can be found at LocalAbolitionists.org.
Their next event is the showing of a film called At the End of Slavery – the battle for justice in our time. It is scheduled for Monday evening, January 18 (Martin Luther King Day) at the Oak Park Public Library.
I encourage as many of you as possible to attend and find out more about International Justice Mission.
Debbie Birkey tutoring at Breakthrough Urban Ministries
Yesterday, our local Oak Park paper, The Wednesday Journal, contained an article about my family’s involvement at Breakthrough Urban Ministries, in Chicago’s west side Garfield Park neighborhood [Link to Pouring Love, Breaking Through article].
The article was very well written by Abigail Cramton, who reported the topic with balance, intelligence and clarity. It featured many quotes by my wife, Deb, as well as Josh Hawkins photos of her and our son Noel tutoring some kids from the neighborhood. Kathryn, myself and our other sons are mentioned, as well as other friends (Cindy and Mo Russo) who also serve and volunteer in this ministry.
This kind of service is not a big deal for us Christians to be doing! Most of our neighbors would never do something like this… and they don’t. Yet, Christians do these things regularly and often, and are still too often perceived as being uncaring, separate, uninvolved, hate-filled and politically conservative. The same paper that featured this article often portrays us that way.
“Modeling and teaching service to others is one of our responsibilities as parents. The same way we are servant leaders to our kids, we want them to be servant leaders in their own worlds.” – Debbie Birkey
What I am most proud of is that we can be a part of breaking down the stereotypes that many in Oak Park have toward evangelical Christians who attend our church – Calvary Memorial. I think that this article more accurately and clearly communicates the worldview that we hold to and practice. I am all for breaking down and challenging those myths and barriers that many of our Oak Park neighbors have. I am for clearly presenting and modeling the teachings and example of Jesus by serving others, caring for the poor and oppressed, freeing slaves and prisoners, and declaring the good news that we can be reconciled with God.
Yes indeed, I am very proud of my family!
Arloa Sutter also commented on this article yesterday in her blog [Link to Blog Post].
I just came across this great quote by the great English murder-mystery author, Dorothy Sayers:
“In the world it is called Tolerance, but in hell it is called Despair, the sin that believes in nothing, cares for nothing, seeks to know nothing, interferes with nothing, enjoys nothing, hates nothing, finds purpose in nothing, lives for nothing, and remains alive because there is nothing for which it will die.”
I find this to describe that brand of “Tolerance” that is espoused here in The People’s Republic of Oak Park, Illinois
It has been unusually warm here in Oxford… in the 90′s (degrees F). There is no air conditioning, so the lectures are difficult to stay awake through for an American who is not used to sitting and listening to serious lectures in the heat. I have however, managed to stay awake, even with the remaining effects of jet lag! I have the notes to prove it!
Monday’s sessions were good. I have been especially impressed with Professor Alister McGrath. What a mind he has been gifted with, and yet what a man after God. I imagine that C. S. Lewis was like this.
Today, I also learned of the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics (OCCA), a joint training and equipping ministry of The Zacharias Trust with Wycliffe House, in Oxford. You can get more info here.
OCCA offers 2 programs for additional apologetics training: an 8-week course, and a full-year course. I am interested in both and plan to find out more on them.
I also heard a bit from a man named Tom Tarrants, who apparently was on the FBI’s Top 10 Most Wanted List! I plan to attend a session to hear his story on July 4th! (See my post for Day 3)
Alister McGrath Notes – just my typical visual way of taking notes!
A CHANCE CONVERSATION?
At dinner today I met a young man who is here from an east coast American city. who I will call “John”. As we talked, I shared about where I was from and some of the reasons that I came to Oxford, and what I was hoping and praying this trip would be for me in my life. He did the same.
In that process, I talked about Oak Park, and our church’s current discussion and desire to reach out to our community in new ways. I talked about our long history in the community and our negative image with the local “gay” community. FYI – Oak Park is the second largest “Gay” community in Illinois, second only to Chicago. It has been named one of the most “Gay Friendly” cities in the USA.
It turns out that John is an “ex-gay” man himself. Through the work of the Lord in his life, and the help of his church (a Vineyard Christian Fellowship) and a healing and counseling ministry to the relationally and sexually broken, called Desert Stream, he has abandoned the “gay” lifestyle and identity. He seemed truly happy and even though it is very hard work, he shared that his desires have changed and he is experiencing life as he had hoped he could when he was “gay.”
We talked about the causes and sources of homosexuality in his life, and how the counseling he received and the support and prayers of a Christian community like Vineyard, had made a huge difference for him.
John is a creative writer and poet, and is in Oxford seeking how he might combine his gifts and abilities, passions and talents with Christian apologetics.
It was such a good conversation for me to have. It reminded me that there is real healing possible through the love, hope and hard work of a committed group of regular Christian people, and with the help of trained Christian counselors. John cautioned against a focus just on “gays & lesbians” in our outreach, but instead to focus on the community as a whole and reaching out to all, and allowing that to include some “gays,” lesbians and transsexuals, as God allows and directs. The conversation reinforced the idea that building relationships in our community (Oak Park) is the way that will allow God to work in and through us. Thank you, “John” for sharing your heart and for agreeing to pray for us believers in Oak Park!
Oak Park is the community where I live and we have 2 local weekly newspapers. On October 26th, 2005 the Wednesday Journal ran an open letter from a local resident, which read:
An open letter to my religious brethren on intelligent design
To my evangelical friends:
Why not consider evolution to be God’s concept of intelligent design?
To deem such a thought as invalid is to restrict the magnificence of our Almighty Creator. And certainly it would be blasphemous to claim to know the mind of God.
Unless we believe that Jonah literally survived the juices of the belly of the whale, then we must recognize the allegorical beauty of the Bible.
Allegory teaches us theological and moral truth in a way that stimulates both the intellect and the imagination. We need not take things literally to know there truth.
So too, the Bible … an incredibly revelatory book when read with a biot of insight and imagination.
Your liberal friend,
Paul Moroney
Oak Park
I don’t know why Mr. Moroney decided to write this letter at this particular point in time. Maybe his concern has something to do with the ID vs. Evolution cases in other states that have been in the news recently? – I’m not sure.
Based upon his letter, apparently Mr. Moroney thinks that it is “evangelicals” who are leading the crazy questioning of evolution. Otherwise, why address this to evangelicals? And what’s with the “liberal friend” thing — Is this a political issue? Is he not aware that it is the scientific community itself that is leading the way in questioning Darwin’s theory of evolution?
Here are some facts for Mr. Moroney to deal with:
A Scientific Dissent From Darwinism
“We are skeptical of claims for the ability of random mutation and natural selection to account for the complexity of life. Careful examination of the evidence for Darwinian theory should be encouraged.”
“Darwinism is a trivial idea that has been elevated to the status of the scientific theory that governs modern biology,” says dissent list signer Dr. Michael Egnor. Egnor is a professor of neurosurgery and pediatrics at State University of New York, Stony Brook and an award-winning brain surgeon named one of New York’s best doctors by New York Magazine.
“We know intuitively that Darwinism can accomplish some things, but not others,” added Egnor. “The question is what is that boundary? Does the information content in living things exceed that boundary? Darwinists have never faced those questions. They’ve never asked scientifically if random mutation and natural selection can generate the information content in living things.”
“More scientists than ever before are now standing up and saying that it is time to rethink Darwin’s theory of evolution in light of new scientific evidence that shows the theory is inadequate,” said John West, associate director of the Center for Science & Culture. “Darwinists are busy making up holidays to turn Charles Darwin into a saint, even as the evidence supporting his theory crumbles and more and more scientific challenges to it emerge.”
The list of signatories includes member scientists from National Academies of Science in Russia, Czech Republic, Hungary, India (Hindustan), Nigeria, Poland, and the United States. Many of the signers are professors or researchers at major universities and international research institutions such as Cambridge University, Moscow State University, Chitose Institute of Science & Technology in Japan, Ben-Gurion University in Israel, MIT, The Smithsonian and Princeton.
Darwin’s Black Box
Has Mr. Moroney even read the pivotal book by Dr. Michael Behe called “Darwin’s Black Box,” in which he put forth his theory of irreducible complexity? This book and theory had nothing to do with evangelicals or religion. Dr. Behe was looking at the claims of Darwinian evolution, and noting how it did not fit with his scientific observance at the microbiological level.
As one of the “evangelicals” that Mr. Moroney is addressing in his open letter, I simply respond with… “Why should I consider (the theory of) evolution as God’s concept of intelligent design, when (the theory of) evolution itself does not hold up under rigorous scientific scrutiny?”
Pursuit of Truth is the Scientific Method
We evangelicals believe that all truth is God’s truth. We don’t claim to know everything, regardless of how the media portrays us. We actually like science, and believe Christians ought to be involved in science. In fact, as a group we have made many important contributions to science! We happen to think that evolution should be put to the test, just as intelligent design, global warming and any other scientific theory should. We are all about discovering the truth. The issue with evolution vs. intelligent design has nothing to do with religion or God. After all, even if Intelligent Design were to become a widely held theory, it would not answer the question of — WHO was the intelligent designer?
The manner in which some people get so defensive about their beloved Darwin and his theory, makes you wonder who is really interested in discovering truth. Why would someone want to blindly continue to defend a worn out, increasingly suspect theory from the Victorian era? What’s wrong with questioning evolution?
Darwinian Evolution as Religion
Mr. Moroney and others like him have based their worldview squarely upon Darwinian evolution. When something comes along that threatens that worldview, they get all shaky. This response is not very scientific. The scientific method keeps an open mind, and is willing to continually look for truth based upon the evidence. It is always challenging presuppositions, and seeking to break down the ways of thinking that are blinders. I don’t see much of that going on here.
Instead, Mr. Moroney’s letter reads an awful lot like the response you get from a person who holds blindly and firmly to a religious belief and you start asking some probing and challenging questions. The similarity in response is so striking that I would theorize that many people have made Darwinian Evolution their religion, and can’t face the possibility they might be wrong. Sadly, I’m afraid this is what the open letter is really all about.
Mr. Moroney… if you are out there, I welcome your response. Please let me know what is so solid about evolution that should stop me from questioning it’s scientific basis. And, let me know what my being an “evangelical” has to do with it.
Your “evangelical” neighbor,
Randy