Skeptics

I believe that we are too harsh on ourselves sometimes. If we merely second guess something that is written in the Bible, even for an instant, we feel bad. Well, we should. That just shows that we care. We should believe and accept that everything in the Bible is fact. We have already talked a bit about the faith chapter in Hebrews. The bigger question though has to do with our right to wonder how or why something has or will occur as stated in the Bible. Do we have the right to question or even doubt Biblical doctrine?

I was reading the Gospel of John today, and came across this famous passage:

36 Simon Peter said to him, "Lord, where are you going?" Jesus answered, "Where I am going, you cannot follow me now; but you will follow afterward." 37 Peter said to him, "Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you." 38 Jesus answered, "Will you lay down your life for me? Very truly, I tell you, before the cock crows, you will have denied me three times.
John 13:36-38 (NRSV)

and then, this one!

5 Thomas said to him, "Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?" 6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him." 8 Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied." 9 Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me?
John 14:5-9 (NRSV)

Hm... here are our Lord's own disciples questioning who he is and in Peter's case turning his back to him. Yet, Jesus loved them just as much after these occasions, even with their failings and human frailties. In turn, his disciples died for him long after the Resurrection.

I have heard it said that Christianity encourages us to question, ponder, and scrutinize Christian doctrine. It is part of growing up as believers, and as Gods children. In the end, our faith grows even stronger when we ourselves come to the conclusion that our understanding of the scriptures is correct, even though we do know that the Bible has stood the test of time, the cynics and the critics! The case is made even more powerful, I believe, after we have added our own cynicism and scrutiny! I personally have had some questions, one of which has to do with the resurrection of the body.

It has been said by some that for a human to try and comprehend God, is like an ant trying to understand the human mind multiplied by a trillion. I do believe however that God is constantly trying to bring us closer to Him.

12 What do you think? If a shepherd has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray?
Matt 18:12 (NRSV)

To do so, He will reach out to us with His guiding hand and ...help us find our way! As long as we want to be helped, and wish to be saved! Our eyes will be opened, and our questions will be answered!

What happens to someone who perished at sea, and was devoured by fish and such? How about people that were annihilated in a nuclear bomb explosion. There was nothing left of their bodies. How can God reconstitute them in the afterlife? As a child, I could not understand how that might be possible. As my faith grew stronger, I found that I really did not need to know how, because I believe that anything is possible with God. Then, one evening a few years back, I heard Rev. Marvin Rosenthal speak about end times prophesies, and he touched upon the topic of the resurrection of the dead. I must confess that the old questions resurfaced, but recently they have been laid to rest.

The answer came with "Dolly!" If man can clone mammals and possibly even humans, the resurrection of the body in Heaven no longer seems that far fetched. All God would need would be our unique genetic code to recreate our bodily image. Now, even an... ant would conclude that God is capable of that!!!

....one breath away!

The phone rang:
"Yes?"
"This is M, want to join us for some stewed wild rabbit and wine?"
"I thought hunting season was in the winter!"
"It is, but this is a long story. I will explain when you get here. How about it, will you join us? John is coming too."
"We just ate supper, but I will certainly stop by, if only to keep you company!"

The setting was majestic. It was a cool summer night on the Island of Karpathos. We were at a country home on the eastern mountainside getaway, known as Katothio. This was an area where families with properties stayed in the summer and tended to their fruit trees, wheat fields and small livestock during the long hot summers of years past. Today, Katothio is a great place to spend the summer quietly with absolute privacy. M is probably my best friend on the Island. He is 75 years old and has been blessed with good health. He looks great for his years and joins me on most of my mountain trail excursions every summer. M's place at Katothio is a traditional Greek country home built with stones and mud. A cement coat was used to smooth the walls inside and out, which was then painted with the traditional white. It was a three room home as I recall, with a large family bedroom, a kitchen and a small bathroom. The patio was vast, the floor of which was finished with large flat stones, irregular in shape and size, cemented together. The interface between each stone was painted with a white stripe just like you see on postcards of the Greek Islands.

The smell of food was everywhere. You have to understand, the rabbit was just an excuse. M's wife, was busy cooking all sorts of other things as well. Turns out, what was to be a get together of three or four, was in fact an informal sit down dinner for ten people. In addition to me and John, there was M and his wife, his nephew with his wife and son, and three more guests including a retired teacher and his wife. Several tables were lined up in the center of the patio in such a way, so that it was possible to sit together and enjoy each other's company and conversation. I wasn't hungry, but I did nibble on the fresh salad, the homemade sausage, the fresh cooked greens and of course on the rabbit.

Turns out, that in the late afternoon of the day before, M was on his way to the beach to start his mountain climb, when he saw this very large bird, struggling to fly away with something big. All this was happening in the middle of the dirt road, maybe twenty yards from his car, right in front of him. After appraising the situation quickly, he realized that a hawk had killed a massive hare, which was so large, that the bird could not fly away with it. Having seen the oncoming car, the bird sank its talons into its prize, but could not ...get off of the ground with the bunny! Ever the opportunist, M jumped out of the car, ran toward the hawk which abandoning its prey, flew away. Hence, the fresh kill made for a rare summer delicacy, and a topic for some laughs on that memorable evening.

The wine was special. Homemade with Karpathian sun sweetened grapes, probably from two to three years before. After a couple of drinks, the discussion turned from the food, to the weather, to the tourists, to our children and to the present. Suddenly, the following statement was made:

"This is what life is all about. Good food, good wine, and great company in a beautiful setting. We must enjoy this while we are still alive because when we die, there is ...nothing!"

I was stunned! I couldn't believe what I had just heard. I started to respond by saying, "...but, the Holy Scriptures tell us that we have Paradise to look forward to if we live ..." I wanted to say, "a Christian life", but I was interrupted:

"The Holy Scriptures, the Holy Scriptures..."

I immediately understood that this was not a good time to discuss the Bible. Any comments from me would not have been welcome on this topic. I was left to ponder, reflect and try to understand how these good men, who live good clean lives, who go to church on Sunday can be so oblivious to the fact that paradise does await us and could be just ....one breath away!

21 "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.
Matt 7:21 (NRSV)

Brain ...waves!

I absolutely love the Book of Hebrews. Hebrews 11:8-39 in particular, is one of my favorite sections. To have such faith would entail an unwavering conviction on what the Bible tells us. To accept the existence of things both seen and ...unseen whether it can or cannot be explained by the human condition. Let me explain!

I remember growing up on the island of Karpathos. Kids are so impressionable and inquisitive. I was no different. I remember nagging my grandmother with endless questions. Some of my inquiries were mundane, which we will not discuss here, but other questions were rather important!

"Where does God live?"
"Up there" she would say, pointing to the sky!
"Why can't we see God?
"God is invisible, but He can see you ...especially when you're bad!"
"Is God married?"
"No"
"Well, how can He have a son if He doesn't have a wife?"
"Because He can. That's why He's God!"


This would go back and forth for awhile. I would ask the question and she would provide me with the answer. I never questioned her response. What she told me was fact. I could never sense any doubt from her part and I believed her. I miss my grandmother so much. She was so patient with me, and taught me so many things!

"What happens when we die?"
"If you're good you will go to Heaven, but if you're bad you will go to hell!"

That of course brought on more questions and then, even more answers. The innocence of a child!



1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" 2 He called a child, whom he put among them, 3 and said, "Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
Matt 18:1-4 (NRSV)



"Are we all gonna die?"
"All except those who will be alive when Christ returns. All the people who have been good will go to Heaven with Jesus Christ, but if you were bad you will be cast into hell." "God can even read your thoughts, you know!"

The next time I remember hearing that, was many years later at the house of a friend, Eric Smith, in Williamsport. John Leo was there too. We were teenagers now and we were listening to George Carlin's infamous "Class Clown" album. You know, the "seven words" that you can't say, or rather couldn't say, on television. It seems that you can say anything on television these days!

Before George gets to the "bad words" part, on the album, he talks about growing up as an Irish Catholic, and goes on to poke some fun at confession.


George Carlin is troubled that he must confess his "impure thoughts", because he is "heavily into puberty" now, if he is to be forgiven for those sins. That seemed very odd. Here was George Carlin, a self professed "master of filth", who was saying something meaningful even in the midst of probably one of the most profane creations ever to be recorded. Even in his mind there was no question about it, thinking something bad was just as sinful as actually doing it. Either way ...God knows! So, why am I bringing all of this up? Well, because now we actually have scientific evidence that may help some understand how this might be possible even in human terms.

Recently, there was a study at a University Neurophysiology lab where human volunteers were subjected to a test. Each subject was asked to say or read a sentence out loud. During this time neuromagnetic recordings of their brain activity were made. The same subjects were then instructed to once again say or read that same sentence by "thinking"it. No sound was to be made the second time around. The neuromagnetic waves during this phase of the study were also recorded.


What they found was that whether we said something or just merely thought that very thing, the neuromagnetic tracing was identical. Imagine that!


27 "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' 28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
Matt 5:27-28 (NRSV)

A Beacon of Light!

In my recent travels via the Internet, I stumbled upon a true Beacon of Light of the Christian Faith. It is a web site Agio Oros which means Holy Mountain. Unfortunately, its pages are in the Greek language so most of you cannot read it. I have been visiting this web site off and on now, for almost one year and have found their posts to be enlightening and fulfilling. For those who are not familiar with Agio Oros, also know as Mount Athos, here is a brief history lesson. Mount Athos is a monastic community that was founded more than 1200 years ago. It is stated that the Virgin Mary herself visited there in 49 A.D.

Sadly, like everything else that is Christian and wonderful about our faith, this web site had come under attack recently by vandals and internet hackers. Anyone surprised? It was down for almost three weeks last November, before its functionality was restored. During this whole process, I was very angry at being denied my daily "spiritual fix"! I felt violated as a Christian. How dare those "heathens" do such a thing? I lashed out in my mind against muslim extremists, atheists, and all of the enemies of our faith. I learned a valuable lesson during this process that I now wish to share!

It was the monks themselves, that live and die by the Lord, that opened my eyes! Lets not forget that these are the spiritual leaders of our faith. The very fiber of what we should be as Christians. The front lines, if you will, against all of Satan's attempts to bring us down. These are people who have given their lives to our Lord. They pray and work day and night, longing for nothing more than to be forgiven for their sins. Their very existence is defined not only by what little they have in worldly goods, but also by the abundance in their spiritual fortitude. I initially missed their message.

During the down time, a word or two at the site mentioned something to the effect that "hackers have shut us down." When the web site finally came back up, it picked up right where it had left off. Their message went on unabated, and the posts continued to flow like a mountain stream toward inevitability....the big blue sea! There was no condemnation, no calls for reprisal. They did not cry foul, nor did their posts even mention what had just transpired! I kept on looking for the outcry that was certainly coming!!! It never came.

The Monks of Mount Athos just turned the other...cheek! They do get it!!! I am so inspired by their conduct, I am in awe! Their message bears the very essence of our faith. Actions do speak louder than words and they did exactly what our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ would've done. Why did I ...not see that coming?