Rescued, not Arrested.

On the last Kairos reunion at Sterling Prison, the inmate leader of the reunion had organized the session around the theme, "Thank God for prison!" The session was well-attended with many regulars and newbies. In one small group discussion of the subject, two of the inmates in my group expressed the same sentiment. As they put it, their arrest was a blessing. Without it, they might have been dead, pursuing a horrible set of choices, seemingly powerless to change their behaviors or their companions. Prison gave them an out, which they are now thankful for. In most cases, the men I see in prison are trying desparately to change their lives for the better. Some are serving very long sentences, and instead of surrendering to depression and anger, are accepting the fact that God, thru their choices, has put them in prison. This means, to them, that they are there as part of God's plan and that they must turn to him this time.

Feeling trapped by repeated bad behavior is part of everyone's life, isn't it? Fighting the same battles over and over. I'll just succumb to this behavior once, ooops I'm addicted. I'll express my anger loudly this one time, ooops, I've hurt someone I love again. I deserve this "luxury" now, oops I'm back in debt over my head. Pride, lust, greed, anger, gluttony, sloth, envy. Over and over and over. Due to God's grace, we are just fighting character flaws in small battles, not the huge gaping temptations that lead to deep sin, despair and death like these guys.

New Atheism is Old Hat. 

I recently started an Anthony Flew fan club on Facebook. Anthony's paper on Atheism is the most cited philosophical paper in academia. Flew, notably, changed his mind and has become a Deist, and if I'm not mistaken, is considering the claims of Christianity closely under the tutelage of Bishop of Durham N. T. Wright. There is a wonderful Appendix in Flew's book, There is a God. Your public library has it. The weakness of the New Atheists is that their arguments are not informed by the history of philosophy and the latest science. Hitchens most recent appearance, in Boulder, was just rhetorical shots and stylish interruptions of D'Souza, not substantial argument. Dinesh has called him on this. He has charged, and to his credit, Hitchens has admitted, that his stance is not so much atheist as it is anti-theist. But the reason for his anti-theism is not philosophical, it is personal devotion to his "right" to sin without condemnation. I see Hitchens intends to debate John Lennox at www.fixed-point.org. Lennox, a mathemetician and Oxford colleague of Dawkins, wiped the floor with Dawkins in their debate. Interesting times.