The principles of God vs. the scientific method

Several of the books I have been reading recently have talked about our relationship with God and the Christian preoccupation with principles. John Eldredge talks about how we seek to derive principles so we can control God's wildness. This is not to say there is no virtue in trying to understand the principles in a passage. I do think there is some legitimacy in it, but it can be taken to an extreme and be made an end in itself. But something I read today sparked the realization that our search for principles can be quite closely entwined with the modern emphasis on the scientific method. One of the hallmarks of the scientific method is that a finding must be repeatable. If it is a true scientific fact, the results can be repeated if the same circumstances happen.

Do we try to apply this scientific method to God? If something is true about the way God works, then the result can be repeated in similar scenarios. If God never changes and God never makes a mistake, shouldn't we expect Him to respond in the same way? If the same result isn't repeated, then maybe that original result was imagined, or misunderstood or whatever. It certainly wasn't theological fact, because if it was, it would happen again. And I'm not just talking about miracles, I'm talking about the everyday workings of God. But isn't this approach an attempt to control God? If we can figure out "the way things work", then we can control things ourselves. Because when we're really honest with ourselves, there have been times when we wished God had done things differently. So if we can figure out all the principles by which God operates, we can manipulate situations to turn out the way we want them.

The problem with all this is that God is a person. He is a living being who is just as capable of free-will as we are. And He doesn't like being controlled any more than you do. Besides this, we can never fully understand God and the way He works. If I could completely understand God, especially at my limited knowledge of 25 years, He wouldn't be a very great God. Again, I'm not saying there isn't principles at work in the way God relates to us. I'm just saying there is a danger in putting our trust in those principles. Instead we should get to know this God as a person (not a fact), and trust in that relationship.

Transparency in business

I found a very interesting article on Wired about transparency and honesty in business and the positive effects it can have. It goes against some of the basic rules of corporate America, but in the Internet age, everything has changed. It's a long article, but really good. I have a huge drive for openness and honesty, and it was very encouraging to see how this can be proven true and beneficial even in business. I know how pessimistic and distrusting I can be towards big businesses because of all the polished press releases and publicity. No one believes it anyway. It's nice to see some people trying to change that and be honest, and the benefits that it brings.

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/15.04/wired40_ceo.html

Vacation

Is there anything better than being on vacation with the one you love? Especially when you don't get to see that person very often! I spent a week with Susan in Washington D.C., staying with my brother who lives just outside the city. We saw a lot of the museums and monuments that are there. We saw both Air and Space Museums (there's a new one at Dulles airport), the Natural History, the Hirshhorn and Sculpture Garden, the National Portrait Gallery, and the Holocaust museum. It was a busy few days with a lot of walking, but it was a lot of fun and very interesting. We set no itinerary, just tried to get up at a reasonable time (a challenge after walking all day), head to the Metro station to ride into downtown, and go through the museums at whatever pace we wanted. I was very happy to discover that we both had about the same pace of going through, and neither was pushing the other or dragging along. We didn't get to see everything (an impossible task for one vacation), but saw the stuff we really wanted to. We also spent some time with my family and just relaxing. It was a really nice balance of doing a lot of stuff, resting, and spending time with my family.

On Thursday we went hiking to Annapolis Rock, which is on the Appalachian Trail and is where my profile picture was taken. I had gone there with my brother last year and couldn't wait to go back with Susan. It was a beautiful day in the 70s (the rest of the week had been in the 50s or colder) and we had a great time. I had really wanted a picture of us on the rock, so we had brought a tripod along to do that. We got it all set up, I set the timer, and ran to stand next to Susan. As I got there, a gust of wind picked up the tripod and blew it over the edge of the cliff. We watched helplessly as my camera tumbled 60 feet over the rocks. I realized that all the pictures from that week were on the memory card in the camera, so I had to go get it. I was able to climb down and retrieve the camera and tripod. The camera was relatively in one piece except for a few cosmetic pieces. I did a little messing around with it and it does still work, although the focus is really bad and you can tell that the gears with the lens are messed up. I'm not hopeful that it will work, but I'm having fun playing around with it. I'm more disappointed that we couldn't get that picture than I am about losing the camera. It was a decent but cheap camera, and there were several things I didn't really like about it. And it wasn't anyone's fault it got broken.

The next day we drove to Florida for our Church Retreat. It is always a great weekend and it was really nice to see the rest of my friends again. The long week with lots of walking (concluded by 4 hours of hiking) was really starting to catch up with me, so I was really tired. But it was still a great time. I'm really looking forward to moving back there in about a month.

Update

So I know I haven't blogged in awhile. No great thoughts to share really. But I will be gone next week to DC and then to Orlando, so probably won't blog again for awhile. So I thought I could share an update as there have been some developments on my move.

I have been officially accepted to Asbury Seminary, so now I'm just trying to sort out what classes to take, financial aid, etc. I have also sent in my resume to the area hospices looking for a job as a chaplain, and will also be contacting the hospitals. I'm also keeping my eyes open for other jobs besides a chaplain as well. I won't know exactly when I'll move until I do get a job, but I do have it narrowed down. I have plans in Michigan for Easter weekend (April 6-8), so I won't move before then. And I have plans in Florida for the weekend of April 27-29, so I know I'll move before then. And I'm planning on rooming with my friend Shae, so housing is set. So overall, things are coming together. I'm just waiting on the job.