I know how you feel! ("Oh no, you don't!")

During my time as a full-time parish minister, there were occasions on which I had the unwelcome, but necessary, task of conducting the funeral service for a stillborn child, or one that had survived a very short time after birth.  These were, as most folk would understand, difficult situations.  It was my custom to visit with the bereaved family on one or two occasions prior to the funeral but, while I could be sympathetic, I was unable to say the words: "I know what you're going through."  My two healthy children were in the manse, growing like Jack's beanstalk and, as the saying goes, eating my wife and me out of house and home!

I thought of all of that as I heard, and read, today's reports on the Prime Minister's New Year "address to the nation".  He stated that: “Of course I know that there will be many people watching this who are worried about what else the year might bring. There are fears about jobs and paying the bills. The search for work has become difficult, particularly for young people. And rising prices have hit household budgets. I get that.

We are taking action on both fronts. I know how difficult it will be to get through this. But I also know that we will.”

 "I know how difficult it will be ..."  To continue the pantomime analogy of 'Jack and the Beanstalk', "Oh no, you don't!"   And how could he?  With his personal wealth, added to that of the lovely Samantha (Mrs C), bolstering a Prime Ministerial salary, on top of still-generous expenses, held together with the other financial perks that accrue to someone in his position, there's no way that he knows how difficult it is.  Let the PM spend a year with no income other than a state pension, or the "average" wage of a working man, or the benefits provided for a genuine claimant.  Then, he can tell us that he knows how difficult it is!

I am happy to give the PM the benefit of the doubt, and accept that he is genuine in his concern for others - just as I was genuinely concerned for the parents of those dead infants.  But please, Mr Cameron, don't insult the British people by telling those of us who have to get by over a year, on a fraction of what some footballers earn in a week, that you know what it's like for us!

That's the difference with Almighty God.  At the Incarnation that we have just celebrated, He entered our time-space continuum; took upon Himself human flesh; and lived the life of the humanity that He had created - yet without sin (Heb.4:15).  He experienced all of our emotions; He knew what is was to be hated, betrayed, unjustly condemned.  And He even experienced death - the cruel death of crucifixion.  

When He says, "I understand", we may be certain that He really does. 

From Time to Eternity - a spiritual journey!

The final chapter in the book on which I am currently working, is to be on the subject of eternity.  Now I have to agree that 'etenity' is not a word that is specific to the Christian faith (as are most of the words with which I am dealing), but it is certainly a word that applies to it.  I also have to confess that I have neither an academically scientific background, nor any relevant qualifications.  However, I have taken an interest in astronomy since a very early age and, over recent years, have taken an increasing interest in the world of quantum physics.

One to the concepts that fascinates me is the relationship between time and eternity.  This is something on which physicists have been working for years, but I have been looking at it from a Biblical perspective as well!
It is accepted by modern physicists that time, as we know it, has a beginning and an end.  It is, indeed, one of the four physical dimensions that make up the 'time-space continuum' in which we exist, and that is our common experience (the other three are, of course, length, breadth, and height/depth).

What I find to be fascinating is the contention of modern physicists that there are between ten and twelve dimensions in the known universe (and, as I have often pointed out, that adjective is of the utmost importance!), including another time dimension.  That other time dimension, according to Stephen Hawking, may be visualised as being at right angles to the linear time of our experience (past, present, and future), and touches it at all points!  When I first read that, I immediately thought to myself that, in theological terms, he was referring to eternity!

I touched on this a few posts ago (actually, Nov.30th!), with my analogy of a submarine in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.  And it's the closeness of the two dimensions that excites me.  It assures me that the One Who inhabits eternity is, indeed, able to touch my life in time; it encourages me that He hears every prayer (and every other word!) that I utter, and sees every action that I take; it reminds me that, as Paul informed the Athenians, "... He is not far from each one of us," (Acts 17:27; RSV).

Nowadays, as I sit at my personal devotions, I am increasingly conscious that I can reach out my hand, and almost 'touch' that which is, indeed, eternal; I am encouraged that, at the moment of my physical death (if the Rapture is delayed long enough!) it will be, quite literally, a case of "... absent from the body, and ... present with the Lord." (II Cor 5:8; KJV); I rejoice that, in the 'timelessnss' of eternity, I will 'arrive' simultaneously with the saints of every age!

These are mind-blowing thoughts - but I am convinced that, while there is much I do not, and may never, know, I am on the right track.  As I prepare for that chapter in the book, I may well return to the subject in the blog!  (and, don't forget, that the latest day's post(s) are now also on my trial website at http://thepreacherspage.moonfruit.com/).  Anyone who is more knowledgeable is welcome to correct me, or add to my own knowledge, via the comment facility!

Creator Man???

One of the major news items of the week has been the announcement that a 'maverick' scientist has 'created' a living cell!

The Scotsman newspaper reported as follows:

"To create the man-made cell, Dr Venter's team started by mapping the genome – an organism's entire genetic make-up – of a bacterium called Mycoplasma mycoides. Another team then used this code to recreate the genome in a synthetic form, using chemicals rather than biological material.

These chemical blocks were pasted together by Dr Venter and his colleagues to create a complete synthetic copy of the original genome. This artificial material was then placed into another type of bacterium, which had its own genetic material taken out, creating a synthetic cell – though only the genome was synthetic.

Dr Venter and his colleagues created a code, similar to Morse code, to "write" within the DNA itself. They used the sequence of four DNA chemicals – thymine, guanine, cytosine and adenine – as a code for any letter, number or punctuation mark.

Using the code, the team included the names of the study co-authors, an e-mail address and even philosophical quotes, as a distinctive "watermark" on the synthetic genome.

Dr Venter likened the synthetic chromosome – the collection of genetic material – to new "software" which then "booted up" the cell. Driven by the new genome, the bacteria took on the appearance and behaviour of the original cell, generating different proteins and multiplying. Describing the achievement in the journal Science, Dr Venter said: "This is the first synthetic cell that's been made, and we call it synthetic because the cell is totally derived from a synthetic chromosome."

Now I am no synthetic biologist, but I do notice a couple of anomalies in this report. It seems to me that this is not the creation of life, but the use of other life-forms to modify a chemical amalgam! Yeast, an even more erudite article in the same newspaper informs, was used to paste the chemical blocks together - and yeast, as any baker knows, is a living organism; the resulting material was then inserted to a living cell - which, if I understand it at all, it then took over, in a similar ('though not identical) fashion to the way in which a parasite takes over its host body.

Creation, in the strict sense of the first origination of being out of nothing, does not come within the scope of science. Therefore, I continue to be perfectly happy to accept that the universe - all that is contained in the space-time continuum that is our dimensional experience - "... was formed at God's command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen." (Heb 11:3).

Some may seek to 'play God' - but He is still on the throne!