Jeremy's World

Wouldn’t life be much simpler if we just accepted everything we have been taught and didn’t ask questions? Ah, but no. If you’ve read my blog you’ve seen that in addition to ramblings about music and sports, I have been periodically writing about my spiritual journey.

I met a cool guy last week who replied to my “Christian *In*clusivity” post with some interesting thoughts. One in particular was that my line of thinking reminded him of the faith in which he was raised: Baha’i.

I had read a bit about Baha’i once before and it seemed pretty compelling. But, having come out of Islam, well, my Christian background won over and I rejected it outright because of that. Silly, but true (and probably WAY more common than you would think). But, it’s continued to gnaw at me a bit and I’ve been reading some more. The basic principles & beliefs include:

• Unity in God (a monotheistic God)
• Unity of Religion
• Unity of humankind
• Gender equality
• Elimination of all forms of prejudice
• World peace (duh)
• Harmony of religion and science
• Independent investigation of truth
• Universal compulsory education
• Universal auxiliary language
• Obedience to government and non-involvement in partisan politics
• Elimination of extremes of wealth and poverty

Like anything, I suppose some items may resonate better than others, and this is no exception for me. I’m not big on having to learn some new universal language, for example, nor do I think that’s necessary for effective faith communication. But at the heart of things, I see 3 basic repeating themes, all of which I can get behind: Unity, Equality, and Universality (is that a word?). Who can argue with that?

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I read late last night that one of Steven Curtis Chapman’s daughters was killed yesterday. Little 5-year old Maria was hit by a family car driven by one of her older brothers.

Steven Curtis Chapman has probably been the single largest influence on me in the Christian music genre. An absolutely amazing songwriter, singer and guitar player, his lyrics and songs touch my heart more than those of any other. And now he and his wife, Mary Beth, are coping with one of the most difficult pains a parent can have.

The gut-wrenching coincidence in this is that his big hit right now is a song called Cinderella, a song about a daddy dancing with his princess daughter from childhood through her wedding. I even posted about this song in October as it brought out some pretty strong emotions for me in listening to it. And now the Chapman family has this tragedy.

Whether prayer is something divine or as Jennifer says, may be more for us than for God, right now would be a terrific time to pray for comfort and healing for the Chapmans.

Despite identifying as a Christian for most of my life, there are a few questions about faith, God and Christianity that I don’t have good answers for. As a kid and young adult, “God is bigger than us so we can’t always understand him” was an adequate response. For the skeptic in me, that is weak and insufficient.

I can manage with the argument of not being able to prove God exists. I’ve come to terms with the whole “Jesus-is-the-only-way” thing (I’ve written about that before here and here). But this is still troubling, and it isn’t a new question. Ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus (not David Hume, who I originally attributed this to) summed up the question very well with:

Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able?
Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing?
Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing?
Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing?
Then why call him God?

I can’t answer that well.  Ugh.

Ok, it’s been forever since I’ve written anything. And now, all I have is to share this kick-ass picture of Rob at a recent gig. Almost makes me have a man-crush on him…He does have a purdy mouth.