There has been a delay in my posting. My apologies. The last few weeks have been a bit crazy. First, my work as a physician is always a big impediment for my free time. I’m not complaining. Lack of free time is a big issue among physicians. Employment always takes priority over blogging.
Second, I went to Los Angeles to go to the first night of Rush’s last tour ever at the Kia Forum. Rush is a classic band. If you are familiar with their lyrics, then you might understand me a bit better as a human being — at least from an arts perspective.
Picture outside of the Kia Forum
The concert was indeed EPIC. I probably should write a post on the concert…maybe later.
Third, I am working on a new book. All chapters have been written. I still need to do the Introduction part. The feedback has been very good, so I am hoping to get it published in the next 9 months. I am in the tedious part of the book where I am making corrections. Very painful but necessary.
On Thursday this past week, I went to the new men’s group at my church. The typical men’s group at so many churches is set up for people who are quite a bit older than me. These older individuals at our church meet at a local pancake joint during a time when younger guys like me (uhhh…I am in my 50s) are still working at their jobs. This time constraint has been a problem, so we set up a new men’s group a few months ago that meets monthly in the evening after work. We have a meal, drink some beer or wine or whatever, discuss some Bible verses, and just talk about life. About a third of our members are LGBTQ+ which is beneficial for those of us existing in the cis/straight world. All viewpoints are needed.
By the way, the women’s group (for mainly working women such as my spouse) at our church has been going on for years. It is highly successful in maintaining a constant source of sharing lives. I hope our new men’s group will be equally beneficial. We shall see.
Anyway, the facilitator for this past men’s group went over some verses from Ecclesiastes in the Old Testament. In my 20s, I made the effort to start reading through the Bible in its entirety. I’ve read through the Bible a few times at this point. Currently, I’m taking a break from daily readings, but I do think Ecclesiastes may be in the top 3 of my favorite books in the Bible.
Ecclesiastes is not a happy book. Perhaps it has some stoicism aspects to it. I don’t know. I spent some time looking at the end of the book (Chapter 12). The book ends with this:
Fear God and keep his commandments,
for this is the duty of all mankind.
For God will bring every deed into judgment,
including every hidden thing,
whether it is good or evil.
These words are at the very end of Ecclesiastes. I will try to make these words a bit more positive.
Before, I make these words perhaps more positive, I want to share a sad link from the local paper in Salt Lake City.
Here is the article:
Here is the open access link to the article. This article is so sad. People forget that measles causes significant suffering and death. I am doing a talk for an upcoming theology conference, and I found interesting research about the number of United States Civil War soldiers killed by measles. Measles is preventable by vaccination.
Image from the Civil War Monitor
I have so many thoughts here. As a physician, I have seen children get very sick from preventable diseases. I have seen children die from preventable diseases. Although I have done some medical work in Africa in the past, it is weird / ironic / even more tragic to see such illness and death occurring in children in my country (the USA) that has huge amounts of income. And yet…so many Americans really seem to be unaware.
I mean, I know many people care, but I don’t think they understand what preventable death looks like. I don’t believe in totalitarianism. For example, I do not think one should force parents to have their children undergo preventive care, such as vaccination, except in the event of life-threatening situations. I will never understand why humans cannot be more caring for each other. Perhaps we are more uncaring, more violent, and more prone to misinformation than I recognize. Perhaps, this aspect is the human condition.
Battle scene, painted by Antonio Gherardi
In the moments of seeing children die from vaccine preventable disease, I often have feel absolute helplessness in my place in the universe. The universe doesn’t seem to care. Time marches on infinitely and doesn’t care. The dead child is buried and is forgotten in about 2 generations or so.
What am I doing? Where is God here?
I have no answer, but I want to propose a possibility.
If God is love and if God desires the good but does not force, I think there is an eternal urge for good to come out of tragedy. Such good may not come about right away. It could take centuries, millennia, or perhaps at the time of the heat death of the universe.
This God that I think I believe in is always there in real time and in all space. This God is urging all of nature to do better, to be more creative. Nature (including we, as humans) can ignore or go along with this lure for the good. In the eternity of space and time, I do think justice is eventually served. Our species, H. sapiens, is just too short-lived and too limited in brain structure to ever understand this possibility. I know I am limited.
As our men’s group discussed Ecclesiastes, I thought of a corollary from 1 John 4:8.
Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
If God exists in real time with us (and all of nature) yet is still eternal, then God’s love is all that remains when I have become dust, the sun has absorbed the Earth, and the universe slowly dies away. Love always remains.
For someone like me who is Christian but often aligns with agnosticism, I find comfort here.
Image made from Gemini Advanced
Phi-The-Sci: Equilateral Musings 