Google's Autolink - a non-biblical bloviation

I take a look at Blogdex.com to see what news and blogs all the other blogs are linking to, and today I saw the link to Yoz's post on the Google toolbar autolink option. "Hmmm," I said to myself, "Google's browser toolbar lets you press a button that adds its own hyperlinks to the text of any website the toolbar user is looking at."
I immediately had visions of Google turning The Bloggy Pulpit into a version of Beliefnet.com. (You know, having a line of text about the evils of Satanism on the left of the screen and then right next to it on the right are comments from a Satanist to the effect that "this xtian idiot doesn't know what he's talking about. etc, etc." That kind of thing).

So I did the next logical thing and loaded the toolbar to see what it did to the Pulpit.

The first thing it did was administer a swift kick to my ego by showing a PageRank box with absolutely NO green in it at all. Talk about being condemned to insignificance!

And then I clicked the Autolink button, only to see ...
a very dumb and meaningless mistake.

The dim bulb had taken "22. The cross" out of

has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation.” Colossians 1:19-22.

The cross of Christ - both the one he took up and the one he bids us take up and follow him with - is for our “Yugo-ishness” It is so that

and turned it into a link to a goggle map address at "22 The cross,Buxton, Town Of,ME 04093." Which appears to be an address of no place in particular that I could complain about.

So at least the Pulpit is safe for now from impending beliefnetization. But what about in the future? The above dim bulb mistake is characteristic of the infancy of a new technology. What happens when other techniques like autolink begin to be implemented and refined by other vendors of information technology?

What if one day I posted a reference to Romans 1:24-27 and then find that various technologies have added to my post links to various dialogues of Plato on the subject of homosexuality, followed by links to Gay and Lesbian websites, followed a link to the North American Man Boy Love Association (NAMBLA).

I'm sure there are people who would consider some of that a good thing. But they should also consider that it cuts the other way as well. A Gay or Lesbian blogger could make a post to his or her site and later find out that besides links to Plato's dialogues, links had also been added to Bible quotations like Romans 1:24-27 as well as links to NAMBLA.

The technology of autolinking may indeed lead us one day to a beliefnetization of just about everything. It will truly be a complete and competitive "marketplace of ideas." Everything will be hawked from the all the concession booths. But it will be everything hawked from the same concession booths.

So we will have to ask ourselves, do we really want the marketplace to be that convenient?

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The Practical Value of Extreme Theology

I suppose my last post would be called an example of “extreme theology.” Certainly Christ’s statements, taken at human face value, could be considered extreme. And whether anything that might be called “theology” can be practical or not is certainly open to debate. But on reflection, I’ve come to see that it is in the extreme situations that Christ’s words, and what we make of them, become of the highest import to how we live our lives, and end them.

The fact of the matter is that all the tyrannies that now exist, and have ever existed, have all been based on the single simple idea of
holding hostage from us what ever it is that most of us hold dear in this world. Our own lives and well being. The lives and well being of those we love. The comforts of life that a good job or a good position give. The good opinion of our neighbors and friends. These are all earthly, temporal, and can have any tyrant’s hand laid on them, be that tyrant the ruler of a country, or a street gang on the corner. The hand of the tryant is the hand that can make us commit any sin under the sun if it is applied vigorously enough, and if we love anything else more than we love God (and take refuge in Him.)

It is in these extreme situations that the practical value of extreme theology becomes apparent. There is the story of the German headmaster who expelled his most brilliant Jewish student because he was afraid his Nazi bosses would take away his pension and throw him and his wife into poverty. There is the Sophie of Sophie’s Choice who let a Nazi soldier force her into deciding which of her two children would be allowed to live. More recently (in fact and not fiction) the Rwandan genocide showed us a bishop, some nuns, and a pastor of a church, who took part in the genocide for pretty much the same earthly reasons I’ve mentioned above, and because of an over-investment in their own ethnic identity that led them into a hatred for another ethnic group.

http://www.ebeneezer.net/main/special/christian/xtian.html

http://www.ictr.org/default.htm


And there was even more recently Saddam Hussein, Stalin’s most avid modern pupil. He was able to get his fingers on the throats of all those who loved their lives (and those they loved) more than they loved the God of Justice. Hussein threatened his enemies with the lost of all they loved, while bribing his friends with more of what they loved on earth than they could ever have used up. This is the true basis of tyranny and enslavement.

The German headmaster and his wife presumably ended up citizens of a penniless country destroyed by war and laden with ignominy. Sophie ended up committing suicide. Some of the members of the Rwandan clergy have been brought to trial. And Saddam Hussein and his friends are awaiting theirs. Those who have hoarded all their earthly loves to the exclusion of the heavenly, have ended by losing all.

Now here are the words of a contrary sort of love:

“Should I keep back my opinions at such a time, through fear of giving offense, I should consider myself as guilty of treason towards my country, and of an act of disloyalty toward the Majesty of Heaven, which I revere above all earthly kings. ...Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!”

Patrick Henry, March 23, 1775.

“Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”

2 Corinthians 3:17

Our father's God to, Thee,
Author of liberty,
To Thee we sing.
Long may our land be bright
With freedom's holy light;
Protect us by Thy might,
Great God, our King!

My Country 'Tis of Thee

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The Lamborghini and the Yugo

We are in a universe with a seemingly infinite number of objects. I’m using the word “object” in its philosophical sense of “something intelligible or perceptible by the mind.” Let us suppose, for a moment, that there existed a universe that consisted of only two objects.

One is a Lamborghini.
http://www.lamborghini.co.uk/home/
The other is a Yugo.
http://balkansnet.org/yugocar.html

Question : Which is the most worthy and valuable object in that universe of two objects?

Answer: The Lamborghini of course.

Now lets suppose that by some means these two objects in this two object universe were suddenly given the ability to contemplate an object, feel something towards it, and compare and value one object in preference to another.

Question: Would it be wrong for the Yugo to contemplate itself instead of the Lamborghini?

Answer: Yes, it would be wrong. The Lamborghini is the most valuable and worthy object in that universe. The only way the Yugo could attempt in anyway to attain to “Lamborghini-hood” in this universe would be for it to contemplate and hold in its mind, and prefer the Lamborghini. That would be the only way it could attempt to relieve itself of some of its “Yugo-ness.” To contemplate its own “Yugo-ness” would be to prefer the lesser and less valuable object in its universe.

Question: Would it be wrong for the Lamborghini to contemplate itself instead of the Yugo?

Answer: No, it would not be wrong. Again, the Lamborghini is the most worthy and valuable object in its universe. For the Lamborghini to contemplate the Yugo would be for the Lamborghini to aspire to a less worthy and less valuable state. It would lessen its own nature that way. It would descend into
“Yugo-ness” that way.

So what does this consideration bring us to? Very simply, an understanding of one of the harder sayings of Christ:

“Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. “ Matthew 10:36-38

Those who know Christ by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit of God (by grace) know that, as scripture says,

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him,... “ Colossians 1:15-19

“Before all worlds” (before all created objects), there was the self-existent Godhead of three persons and one essence. 1.) The God the Father, the eternal, absolute, and invisible deity, who is invisible by being unexpressed. 2.) The co-eternal self-expression of the invisible God, God the Son, in whom God "was pleased to have all his fullness dwell." And 3.) the eternal subjective self-awareness of the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit of God. The Godhead existed before all created objects, and was the creator of all objects. Hence the Godhead is more worthy and valuable than all created objects. All created objects derive their existence from the Godhead, whereas the Godhead has eternal self-existence.

The self-existent God brought creation into existence and called it “good” six times and “very good” the seventh time (Genesis 1). He did that because “no one is good - except God alone” (Mark 10:18). Then he capped it by making man in his “own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” God brought creation into being so that it would be a kind of mirror that he could admire and contemplate himself in. This mirror includes the minds of human beings that he creates.

The ability to contemplate an object, feel something towards it, and compare and value one object in perference to another, is, practically speaking, what we call worship. By right of Creatorship, God has preeminence to all we value, hold worthy, and worship. The fact that the eternal Son had to become incarnate to tell us this (“Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” John 14:9) tells us that we have indeed been very “into” our own “Yugo-ishness.”

We have that “Yugo-ishness” by thought, by word, by deed, and by inheritance. It is, for the most part, all we perceive until the Holy Spirit of God reveals to us that:

“God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation.” Colossians 1:19-22.

The cross of Christ - both the one he took up and the one he bids us take up and follow him with - is for our “Yugo-ishness” It is so that we might attain to “Lamborghini-ship by adoption” (Romans 8:15,23). He took on our “Yugo-ishness” for our sake, so that he might give us the blessing of being able to contemplate him, feel towards him, and compare and prefer him to all other things. To love him with all our heart, all our soul, and all our mind, and thereby love our neighbor as ourselves. It is only by “Lamborghini-ship by adoption” that we are even a wit capable of doing any of that. And that was “the joy that was set before him.” (Hebrews 12:2).

“Praise ye the LORD. Praise, O ye servants of the LORD, praise the name of the LORD. Blessed be the name of the LORD from this time forth and for evermore.” Psalm 113:1,2

Have I an object, Lord, below
Which would divide my heart with Thee?
Which would divert its even flow
In answer to Thy constancy?
O teach me quickly to return,
And cause my heart afresh to burn.

Have I a hope, however dear,
Which would defer Thy coming, Lord-
Which would detain my spirit here
Where naught can lasting joy afford?
From it, my Savior, set me free
To look and long and wait for Thee.

Be Thou the object bright and fair
To fill and satisfy the heart,
My hope to meet Thee in the air,
And nevermore from Thee to part;
That I may undistracted be
To follow, serve and wait for Thee.

G. W. Frazer(1840-1896)
Little Flock Hymn book.

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