The Daily Detour

Speaking at Light and Life church

First of all, I hope you all had a good and restful weekend. The Crane clan took our annual overnight trip up to the Dunes here in Indiana, and had a great time. I had intended to do a better job of staying on top of the blog, but "the best laid plans of mice and men..." as they say.

Anyway, I mentioned last Friday that I'm starting into a busy season of speaking and teaching. Tomorrow evening (Wednesday, September 9 @ 6:30p.m.), I'm starting an 8-week teaching series entitled, "Back to the Basics" at the church were I was formerly on staff, Light and Life Free Methodist Church. The essence of the series (beyond sharing some of my experiences in Oxford last summer) is to explore what it means to live out a real, vibrant, and relevant Christian faith in today's world. This is not your typical "church class".

For those of you on the westside of Indianapolis, feel free to stop on by if you're in the neighborhood. I know it will be challenging, and I trust it will have you considering (or reconsidering) Christianity through a whole new lens. Hope to see you there.

Richard Dawkins debates John Lennox in Oxford

Even as I write this, tonight at 7:00 p.m. UK time (2:00 p.m. EST) at the Oxford Museum of Natural History, Richard Dawkins and Dr. John Lennox are debating on the question, "Has Science Buried God?"--the subtitle for Dr. Lennox's recent book on the subject. This debate is sponsored by the Fixed Point Foundation. It is the second encounter between these two, as they initially met in Alabama last October. (You can see that debate here.)

This follow-up discussion is taking place in a very historical setting, particularly as it relates to the entire Creation-Evolution debate. For it was in 1860 that Thomas Huxley (known as "Darwin's bulldog") and Bishop Samuel Wilberforce had their famous debate. That debate, combined with the Scopes Trial, and more recent exchanges on Intelligent Design, was one of the pivotal junctures in the journey of these two competing philosophies.

During my time in Oxford this past summer I had the privilege of taking the self-guided tour through the famous museum (which was on my "To-Do" list for my last day in Oxford :) and was even more privileged to study under Dr. Lennox. It was a very insightful experience. So, I'll be interested to hear how this exchange goes.

UPDATE: As I was reflecting on the discussion tonight, I couldn't help but remember a portion of one of Richard Dawkins' books that I read this past summer in Oxford entitled, A Devil's Chaplain. In chapter 5.5, he is relating correspondence that he shared with the late evolutionary biologist Dr. Stephen Jay Gould back in 2001. The portion that I copied from the book is much too long to include in this post, but I would strongly encourage you to take a look at it here. It is worth noting for two reasons: First of all, Dawkins' suggestion to Dr. Gould in that correspondence--that evolutionists should not even share the stage with anyone who may support a creationist viewpoint--shows the unique irony of his sharing the stage with Dr. Lennox right now. Secondly, the sheer arrogance that Richard Dawkins' attitude demonstrates toward those who hold different beliefs than his is palable in his correspondence. It seems somewhat unbelievable that someone would have the audacity to actually print such candid contempt if I hadn't experienced similar sentiments in my interactions with certain other atheists at times. And it is particularly revealing given that evolutionary atheists so often claim that we should be tolerant of others. (And, from their perspective, indeed we should, if we are to promote evolutionary development from this point forward.) But with someone as prominent as Dawkins publicly promoting a preemptive and blatant disrespect for people of opposing positions makes me wonder if this idea of tolerance is held as highly as we are made to believe? Take a few minutes and read this portion of the chapter and judge for yourself.

Walking through The Grapevine

It's hard to believe that I've actually been home from England for a week now (or more accurately, almost a week, since at this time last week I was finishing up my 10-hour flight from London to Denver and getting ready to catch the second leg from Denver to Indy). Getting reaclimated to American culture has been somewhat of an adjustment, as it is any time you spend multiple weeks in another country (even another Western country). I've readjusted to driving on the "right" side of the road, though I did almost get picked off one time by looking the wrong way as I stepped off the curb. :)

As I mentioned last week, I spent my last hours in Oxford attempting to maximize the waning time I had there. So, the Sunday night before, I sat down and wrote out my final To Do and See list. And I just about completed it.

Eat breakfast at the St. Giles Cafe? Check. Take a stroll along Addison's Walk (where C.S. Lewis walked late one evening with J.R.R. Tolkien and Hugo Dyson, which was very instrumental in his embracing the Christian faith)? Check. Visit the Oxford Museum of Natural History (where Darwin's bulldog, Thomas Huxley and Samuel Wilberforce had their famous debate in 1860, and where, by the way, Dr. John Lennox will be debating Richard Dawkins on October 21 of this year)? Check.

Then it was off to Blackwell's bookstore for one final writing session and self-restrained shopping spree. (Fortunately, Jean hasn't gotten that last credit card statement yet. :) Let's see, what's next? Grab some final gifts for the boys? Check. Stock up on enough English tea to last until my 40th birthday? Check. Walking into a movie set? Check.

That's right, friends, before I even realized it, I walked into the set of a movie that was filming on Broad Street. (I think it was named, "The Grapevine", or something like that.) And then later in the day, I saw them filming on Cornmarket Street. At first, I decided to watch the action from afar, not ever having actually been on a movie set before. But, then as I saw the three actors start making their way up a sidestreet for one of the movie shots, I thought, "Forget this, I'm not going to pass up my 15 minutes of fame." So I decided to strategically wander into the background of the scene. My 15 minutes of fame proved to be about .15 minutes of fame (the time it took to cover the span of the camera lens), but I'm well on my way to stardom. So, if years from now you find yourself watching a British film with a name that is some variation of "Grapevine" be looking for the scene with the wandering man in the background whose substantial girth is attributed to eating too many bangers and mash. I'm not that guy. Yours Truly is the one walking in his shadow trying to appear svelte by comparison. (And remember, Ben Affleck didn't win an Oscar on his first try...)

I rounded out the Oxford experience with one final meal at C.S. Lewis' old haunt, The Eagle and the Child, where I had become something of regular over the previous 2 months. It was a fitting end to an incredibly memorable experience.

And so now I find myself at home back here in the States basking in the boys and rekindling my deep love for Jean from our many weeks apart. You never know how much you love your wife and family until you've spent months away from them. Life is busy readjusting to the family dynamics (all while continuing to track down my next whistlestop on the journey of employment). But I'm a very happy man indeed!

Coming out of the cave...

"What is that blinding light shining across my face, piercing the darkness of my warm cocoon?", I thought, after three days in the cave of my room. Okay, my coma-like existence hasn't actually been that intense this week. But it was close. The poor boys...every night I was staggering to stay up a little later each night, but by about 8:00 p.m. (1:00 a.m. Oxford time) I'd hit a wall. By about the third night, Caleb asked me, "Dad, are you going to fade out on us again tonight?" Well, I can confidently say that I'm back among the land of the living...I think.

It's actually been a very busy, wonderful week getting to catch up with Jean and the boys. I arrived late Tuesday night (about 11:30 p.m.). The plan was for me to call Jean once I landed and then she could wake up the boys and bring them down to pick me up. She didn't have to wake them up, because they had never actually made it to bed, and apparently, Caleb didn't even take a nap on Tuesday because he was too excited to sleep. :) Needless to the say the reunion was sweet, like something right out of a movie. I got home to a big "Welcome Home Daddy!" sign, and we ended up staying awake until about 1:30 a.m. in the morning talking, laughing, hugging, and passing out little presents from Yours Truly.

And then I was up at the crack of dawn, with my body telling me it was time for lunch (in Oxford). We went down to the doctor's office for the latest check-up on little Emma Jean. Everything is normal, thankfully.

The remainder of the week has been spent catching up with the boys (with a lot of wrestling, football in the living room, and playing superheroes). Also, I've begun the long road toward securing new employment. This means trying to get my head around the handful of leads and opportunities that I secured over the last couple of months. We'll see how that all pans out.

Well, I just wanted to reassure you all that I haven't actually died. That said, I'm off to bed for more much-needed beauty sleep...Goodnight to all!

Home Sweet Home!

I MADE IT!!!!!!

(More later when I wake up from my coma and fight my way through the fog of jet-lag...)

The final mad dash through Oxford

Well, here we are at the end of this 8-week adventure. It's very hard to believe that the time has gone so quickly. Normally, I would have come home over the weekend, but being the penny-pinching Crane that I am, coming home tomorrow kept $600 in my pocket.

And so I find myself wrapping up this experience with one final day here in Oxford. My time is short and my "To Do/See" list is long. I'm scrambling to get it all done, realizing that there is no way to know if/when I may ever come this way again. It's been a mind-numbing experience (literally) as I begin to process the voluminously rich content. But I've loved it.

I'm off for one last jaunt down in the City Centre, so I presumably won't be back to the blog until sometime on Wednesday at the earliest (since I will be traveling all day tomorrow). Cheers to all!

Happy Independence Day from our former motherland

Yes, here I sit in the computer lab at Oriel College in Oxford "celebrating" our independence from England. It is a very surreal experience. Fortunately, I haven't been put in stocks and chains as a traitor yet. As I mentioned to one of our TDD readers earlier this evening, maybe I should light up a sparkler to celebrate the occasion? :)

Tonight was the last official session of the RZIM Oxford Summer School, and therefore, the last official event of our 8-week experience in the OCCA program. We had a group picture, a wonderful dinner, and then goodbyes were exchanged as we each are parting ways. Most of the group are leaving town tomorrow morning, but I won't be leaving Oxford until Tuesday. So, it's a bittersweet moment. Even though tonight is not much different than previous Friday nights (minus the 4th of July celebration, of course), I'm feeling especially lonely. So, I decided to combat the loneliness by immersing myself in a little blogging. :)

Here are some excerpts from the latest update I sent to Jean yesterday evening:

Hey Babe,

I'm back. We had dinner (where somehow I managed to find a way to tell our story again--to a young gal who just starting working in the ZacTrust office in April. After I told it, she relayed her story to me, which has some very interesting overlaps). Then, it was off to St. Aldate's for the evening session with Gary Habermas. More good stuff on the resurrection and the identity of Christ. I actually chatted with Dr. Habermas for quite a little bit this afternoon on how to help people work through issues of doubt, particularly when God seems distant or absent...he gave me some good insights....

Things have been very good, but very busy, as you picked up. My room accommodations here at Oriel are top-notch. They even came in today and made up the room. I feel like I'm in a hotel, only a hotel that is what, like 500 years old? :) The difficulty with generating lengthy responses lately also has to do with the fact that the little computer lab here only has about 4 computers that work (for 115 people attending the conference), so sometimes I have to wait awhile to get on one...

...The content this week has been very rich. A lot of new stuff that we didn't actually go over much during the previous 7 weeks, so that's nice. My brain's getting full though. I'm actually looking forward to the possibility of going down to Mom and Dad's working out in the woods for a while. I think it will help me restore some balance....

I did meet with Michael Ramsden for breakfast on Tuesday (I think it was). We had a good chat. I tried to explain to him my sense of the need in local churches to help equip lay people with Christian worldview/apologetics training and application...

I'm also meeting with Tom Tarrants on Saturday to chat with him for a bit. As you may remember, he is the president of the C. S. Lewis Institute out in D.C. His role this week is simply to be available to chat with whomever needs it. The OCCA group has been given the special opportunity to set up one-on-one's with him, so I figured I'd take full advantage of that. He mentors a number of prominent politicians in D.C. and has facilitated opportunities for Michael Ramsden, Ravi, etc... to speak at the White House and other key meetings. So, it should be interesting to talk with him a bit...

...In the meantime, I'm going to try to suck the marrow out of these last few days. Chris Brooks actually already left this morning, so I was sad to see him go. Most of the rest of the group will be leaving on Saturday, bot the reality of this experience coming to end is beginning to set in. It's been a very good ride!

I hope you all are doing well. I will plan to call you sometime on Saturday evening, as I will be here in Oxford (and thus not available to a phone) until Saturday. I'm really starting to feel the pull toward home, and the days are flying by this week. Tuesday will be here before we know it. I was thinking that I'm glad you don't have to go to work the next day, so we can all just relax and hang out a little bit. I'm not sure how long it will take me to recalibrate my body clock, but I may turn into a morning person after all. Over here, I've had to be up by about 6:00 a.m. every morning (which is 1:00 a.m. back home). It's actually made for some very good days. Did I just say that? :)

Well, I probably better get ready to hit the sack. I love you all very much. Please give the boys a BIG hug from me, and remind that it's only about 5 days until I see those little busters! :)

Sleep tight, darling.

John

And there you have it. As things are winding down I will be trying to maintain some communication with you all over the next few days. Have a good weekend. Cheers!

More from Ravi Zacharias on the transformed Christian life

I was contacted today by one of the folks at RZIM's Atlanta office with a quote from today's "Slice of Infinity" commentary from Ravi Zacharias. It goes right along with the what we've been talking about this week concerning the need for Christians to live tranformed lives.

I would encourage you to take a few minutes and read through this commentary, and particularly if you are a Christian, to thoughtfully reflect on its application in your own personal life. I know for me this past two months here in Oxford has been a bit of a litmus test when it comes to various aspects of my life. The revelations have manifested themselves on a variety of levels, and the conclusions have not always been pretty or easy for me to own up to. But the reality of my life is what it is. And that has challenged me to do some serious self-reflection.

One of the realizations that I have fleetingly referenced here on the blog is the recognition of how I tend to not take God (or the Bible) nearly as seriously as I think I do. During my time here the Bible has been unpacked for me in ways that I have never seen it before, and it makes me realize how poorly we are teaching the Bible to people in our churches (myself included during my tenure at the church). Is it any wonder that the truths that are supposed to be transforming us have barely taken hold in many cases?

In the short term this has been a painful process, and I assume it will continue to be so. In the long term, however, my life and witness will be better off for it. If you take this self-evaluation seriously, I trust you will be better off for it as well. Cheers!

Few options with Christianity

Another jam-packed day. We had a very interesting lecture today from Dr. Gary Habermas on the historicity of the resurrection. (Some of you may be aware that it was Dr. Habermas whose relationship with Dr. Antony Flew, the "Richard Dawkins" of a previous generation, was instrumental in causing Dr. Flew to abandon his lifelong atheism in favor of theism.) He spent an hour explaining how we can validate the reliability of the resurrection. Interestingly, he chose to make his case while limiting his sources to only liberal and secular historical scholars. Very fascinating! It, like so many other presentations over the last two months, has left me recognizing how much I overlook in the Bible, despite my seeming knowledge of Scripture. There's a lot more study to do.

Anyway, I actually wanted to share a paraphrased quote that was given by Tom Tarrants in one of the afternoon sessions. While speaking on C.S. Lewis' views on pride and humility, he passed along this very insightful admonition from Lewis about the essence of the Christian faith. It relates to yesterday's post on the need for Christians to really get more seriously committed to their faith:

"Christianity, if false, is of no importance. But if true, is of infinite importance. What it cannot be is moderately important."

Lewis sums up all that is hanging in the balance right there. Whether you're a Christian, a skeptic, or whatever, we all must contend with the reality of Christianity. It could very well prove to be false in the end (since none of us will know with 100% certainty until we die), or it could prove to be true. If it is the latter, it changes everything. So it's incumbent upon each of us to thoughtfully consider the nature of Christianity for ourselves and our future.

(On a different and final note, we had the opportunity to attend an Evensong service in the famous Christ Church cathedral this evening. The acoustics were amazing and it was a very interesting cultural experience. Keith "Moxie" Doxie and I then were on our way to the Rhodes House for a dinner event. Somehow Dr. Habermas' son--name witheld to protect the innocent--got joined up with us, because he didn't know how to get there. We assured him we knew right where it was, which we did, and that we were going to cut through Christ Church meadow to get there. A half an hour later, all three of us stumbled into the garden after a rather lengthy adventure through previously-unseen streets in Oxford. I don't think Dr. Habermas will let his son hang out with us shady characters again. Incidently, it is at the Rhodes House where Rhodes scholars have been coming to study for many years, including former President Bill Clinton. They have a huge portrait of him hanging in the dining hall.) Cheers!

The hardest question Ravi Zacharias has ever encountered?

Well, we're in the thick of things with this week at the RZIM Oxford Summer School. There is more content than I am able to keep up with, and much more than I am able to pass along to you.

That said, I do want to pass along occasional morsels for your mental palate. Yesterday, in a morning session with one of our OCCA lecturers, Amy Orr-Ewing, she shared about the time that Ravi Zacharias was asked what the hardest objection to Christianity he has ever faced. He said it was this:

Why, if Christianity is true and claims to change lives, do we see so little evidence of that transformation in the lives of Christians?

What more is there than this? This a common question that I too have encountered from my skeptic friends. And it's one that we as Christians better think long and hard about, because there is a lot of truth to the observation. I've talked about this idea before, and will continue to bring it to us. Because at the end of the day, whatever robust defense of the Christian faith we can make will not hold up in the light of a tepid faith. If there is no evidence of life transformation, what's the point?

In fact, that's why I determined to travel down this road many years ago and begin to engage more intentionally on these ideas of the Christian worldview and apologetics. Because too often when I was looking at professing Christians (myself included), there was no real difference between they way we live our lives and the way our secular friends live theirs.

This is not to say that there are no examples of life transformation among Christians. I know a great many Christians who could attest to this. But the truth of the Gospel does not leave the Christian the option of merely settling for a status quo "Christianity". And I would venture to say that if there were more evidence of genuine life transformation, the need for other arguments in defense of the Christian faith would be lessened. Until tomorrow... Cheers!