A beautiful comment, that requires understanding of Relativity to appreciate. But stew on it, and you will come to appreciate it.

Light and the Nature of God

Theologians and Bible commentators have observed that among the four gospels, the Gospel of John is unique. Whereas Matthew, Mark and Luke emphasize what Jesus did and what he taught, John’s emphasis is on who Jesus was: the Son of God, the Word made flesh, the One who was with God from the beginning and who, in fact, was God. He is the One who introduced himself to Moses as, “I AM.” It is fitting that John’s account, highlighting the divinity of Christ, contains the great “I am” statements of Jesus.

To the religious establishment of the day, Jesus uttered the shocking claim, “Before Abraham was born, I am.” I imagine that was the first time those words had been uttered since the burning bush. Nothing could have been more offensive to the ears of a first-century Jew—little wonder that Jesus got nailed to a tree.

To his disciples, Jesus said that he was “the vine,” and “the way, the truth and the life.” And to the crowd, he announced “I am” the gate, the good shepherd, the bread of life, and the resurrection and the life. But prior to these proclamations, Jesus revealed to all: “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

As an educated and trained physicist, I have always been profoundly impressed by the metaphor of light for Jesus. In my opinion, nothing in the material universe reveals as much about the nature of God.

At the surface level of understanding, light is a source of illumination that opens our senses to the visible world. At a deeper level, “light” opens our minds to rational argument, understanding and truth. Light is also a source of life. Biological life, as we know it, would not exist without the carbon food cycle dependent on photosynthesis. However, it wasn’t until the advent of the 20^th century that some of the hidden mysteries of light would be made known.

In 1905 Albert Einstein rattled the cages of the scientific academy with the theory of Special Relativity. While most people associate Einstein’s theory with the relative nature of time, the foundation of relativity is the constancy of light: for all observers in all frames of reference, the speed of light will be measured as 186,000 miles per sec. As I have previously noted, this makes light an ideal measurement standard with several profound characteristics.

Because the speed of light will be measured the same by all observers, regardless of their speed, their measurement of time must vary. For the extreme case of an explorer blitzing through the cosmos at the speed of light, time will stop—he will not only become ageless, he will become omnipresent, for as he goes from point “A” to point “B”, he will experience both locations, and every place in-between, as they were when he set out on his journey…even if his departure point and destination are separated by ten billion light-years!

A source of illumination, revelation, life. An ideal Measure; constant, ageless, omnipresent. Astonishing! Thousands of years before Einstein, the apostle John used a metaphor for Jesus that could only be fully appreciated at the advent of modern physics. Like I said, as a former physicist I’m in awe over the inspired testimony: “In him was life, and that life was the light of men.”

Pray for those dads!

Dads Matter
Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters

June 18, 2007

Note: This commentary was delivered by Prison Fellowship President Mark Earley.

On Friday I discussed the sexual and spiritual wasteland where so many of our kids have ended up. And they don't even know how they got there or how to get out. Today I want to talk about how parents—and especially dads—can combat that culture.

The truth is, contrary to what the media tells you, dads do matter.

As Dr. Meg Meeker puts it in her new book, Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters, "Most of you out there are good men . . . but you are good men who have been derided by a culture that does not care for you, that . . . has ridiculed your authority, denied your importance, and tried to fill you with confusion about your role. But I can tell you that fathers change lives, as my father changed mine."

Well, Meeker is right.

Obviously dads are crucial to both their sons and their daughters, but Meeker focuses on daughters here. Like the journalist Laura Sessions Stepp, whom I mentioned on Friday, Meeker has seen a lot of girls stranded in the sexual wasteland. In her medical practice, Meeker has treated far too many of these young girls for sexually transmitted diseases, depression, eating disorders, and underage pregnancy.

And time and again, this doctor has found that the girls involved in damaging behaviors are the girls who don't feel loved and valued by their fathers.

Fathers can ensure that their daughters grow up with healthy ideas about sexuality, Meeker writes. "If you as a father saw what I see every week in my medical practice, you would know what to do and you would succeed."

You don't have to be an expert on STDs, or anything else, to guide your daughter away from this wasteland. You just have to do your job as a dad. Talk to her, even when she doesn't seem to be listening. Teach her about the God who loves her and made her. Set boundaries for her. Spend time with her. Listen to her. Maybe it doesn't seem like a big deal to us, but you wouldn't believe the difference it makes to them.

One 16-year-old girl told Meeker that, when on the verge of sleeping with her boyfriend, she saw a ring on her hand that her father had given her, and that alone caused her to stop.

And a father's influence has that kind of power, not just when it comes to sexual values, but in all areas of life. One young woman in the book started taking drugs and ran away at 16. It was only her father's patient, persistent reaching out to her that finally brought her back home and turned her life around.

Hang in there and keep doing your job, Meeker urges fathers, even when your lot seems thankless. And in this culture, where dads are ignored, mocked, and even told they're not needed, a dad's role is bound to seem thankless sometimes.

But for our families' sakes, we can't let that deter us. Plug your ears against the culture and remember this: You matter.

Your children may not tell you that now, but their lives will always be a reflection of your love and commitment. You can take that to the bank.

We need to know a lot: about what we believe, and what we should do about what we believe..

Christian Patriotism
When is Civil Disobedience Justified?

June 5, 2007

During a visit to the United States a few years ago, a pastor from Nepal told of being thrown into a Nepalese prison for spreading the Gospel. This pastor gave an excellent summary of Christian patriotism.

"Of course I must obey my Lord and spread His Word," he said. "But even though we are persecuted, we who are Christians in Nepal pride ourselves on being the best citizens our king has. We love our country—but we love our God more."

Here in the U.S., Christians are sometimes confused about where to draw the line between the demands of the state and the demands of God. Is civil disobedience ever justified? And if so, how do we know?

As I write in my new book, God & Government, Scripture makes clear that civil disobedience is justified when government attempts to usurp the role of the Church or our allegiance due only to God. Then the Christian has not just the right but the duty to resist.

The Bible gives a dramatic example of this in the account of three young Jewish exiles who were drafted into the Babylonian civil service.

All citizens of Babylon were required to worship the statue of Nebuchadnezzar, the king. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, the young Hebrews, refused. To worship an earthly king would be the ultimate offense against their holy God. So, the three young men were thrown into a blazing furnace—but God miraculously delivered them.

We also have the example of Peter and John, who, when they were ordered to stop preaching about Jesus, refused. "Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God's sight to obey you rather than God," they said.

Their first allegiance was to Christ's command to preach the gospel. They could not permit the authority of the government-backed Sanhedrin to usurp the authority of God Himself.

Civil disobedience may also be justified when the state ignores its divinely mandated responsibilities to preserve life and maintain order and justice. The resistance of the German church to Hitler was a clear modern example of this necessity. In the fifties and sixties, this necessary resistance was modeled in our own country by those active in the civil rights movement. It was later modeled by those who took part in Operation Rescue sit-ins at abortion clinics.

Christians need to have a thorough understanding of biblical teachings about civil disobedience. Today, perhaps more than any other time in American history, Christians face attacks on their freedom of conscience. For instance, colleges go to great lengths to silence Christians who speak out against the aggressive, gay agenda. Some states order pharmacists to fill prescriptions for morning after pills—even if the pharmacist has moral objections. Christian adoption agencies are told to allow same-sex couples to adopt—or else.

Christians are to be the best of citizens; Out of our love for God, we live in subjection to governing authorities and we pray for them and respect them. We also love our neighbors and promote justice. But good citizenship requires both discernment and courage—discernment to know when duty calls one to obey or disobey, and courage, as in the case of the latter, to take a stand. But this is never done lightly. Only when, in consultation with other Christians and leaders, we feel obligated to do so.

As that Nepali pastor put it, we love our country. But we love our God more.