Calvin on Work

Again, in all our cares, toils, annoyances, and other burdens, it will be no small alleviation to know that all these things are under the superintendence of God. The magistrate will more willingly perform his office, and the father of a family confine himself to his proper sphere. Every one in his particular mode of life will, without repining, suffer its inconveniences, cares, uneasiness, and anxiety, persuaded that God has laid on the burden. This too, will afford admirable consolation, that in following your proper calling, no work, will be so mean and sordid as not to have a splendour and value in the eye of God.

John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book III, Chapter 10, Paragraph 6.

Calvin on physics and the natural sciences.

Book II. Chapter II Section 16. (p. 236) of the Calvin's Institutes.

But if the Lord has been pleased to assist us by the work and ministry of the ungody in physics, dialectics, mathematics, and other similar sciences, let us avail ourselves of it, lest, by neglecting the gifts of God spontaneously offered to us, we be justly punished for our sloth. Lest any one, however, should imagine a man to be very happy merely because, with reference to the elements of this world, he has been endued with great talents for the investigation of truth, we ought to add, that the whole power of intellect thus bestowed is, in the sight of God, fleeting and vain whenever it is not based on a solid foundation of truth.

Calvin on the Theater of God

Meanwhile, being placed in this most beautiful theatre, let us not decline to take a pious delight in the clear and manifest works of God. For, as we have elsewhere observed, though not the chief, it is, the first evidence of faith, to remember to which side soever we turn, that all which meets the eye is the work of God, and at the same time to meditate with pious care on the end which God had in view in creating it.

...when we consider how great the Architect must be who framed and ordered the multitude of the starry host so admirably, that it is impossible to imagine a more glorious sight, so stationing some, and fixing them to particular spots that they cannot move; giving a fitter course to others, yet setting limits to their wanderings; so tempering the movement of the whole as to measure out day and night, months, years, and seasons, and at the same time so regulating the inequality of days as to prevent everything like confusion. The former course is, moreover, exemplified when we attend to his power in sustaining the vast mass, and guiding the swift revolutions of the heavenly bodies, &c. These few examples sufficiently explain what is meant by recognising the divine perfections in the creation of the world. Were we to attempt to go over the whole subject we should never come to a conclusion, there being as many miracles of divine poser, as many striking evidences of wisdom and goodness, as there are classes of objects, nay, as there are individual objects, great or small, thoughout the universe.
Institutes of the Christian Religion Book I, Chap. XIV, Paragrahs 20 and 21.

9/11 Cross

I watched Huckaby on September 12, 2010. He had a big segment on the 9/11 cross. Steel beams were discovered in the 9/11 wreckage that were somehow transformed into the shape of the cross. He invited the construction worker who discovered the cross onto the show. The construction worker talked about how the beams gave him hope. He said it wasn't religious. It was for all mankind. Huckaby, then interviewed a Jewish rabbi. The rabbi thought it was great. He wasn't a Christian, but he supported this cross. It wasn't religious. It gave and continued to give hope to all mankind. The program then showed a photograph of a large group of people gathered with hands raised in worship.

"Oh my God!", I thought, "they separated the symbol of the cross from the person and work of Jesus Christ. They made a piece of wreckage an idol". They are worshiping a thing made by human hands as God. Man's foolishness knows no bounds.

Calvin on man being God's workmanship

For how can the idea of God enter your mind without instantly giving rise to the thought, that since you are his workmanship, you are bound, by the very law of creation, to submit to his authority?—that your life is due to him?—that whatever you do ought to have reference to him: If so, it undoubtedly follows that your life is sadly corrupted, if it is not framed in obedience to him, since his will ought to be the law of our lives.

(Institutes p. 41 Book 1. Chapter II, Section 3)

The Early Church and Missions

I am reading Justo Gonzalez's The Story of Christianity

He writes,

Another surprising fact about the early expansion of Christianity is that, after the new Testament, very little is said of any missionaries going from place to place, like Paul and Barnabas had done. It is clear that the enormous spread of the Gospel in those first few centuries was not due to full-time missionaries, but rather to the many Christians who traveled for other reasons—slaves, merchants, exiles condemned to work in the mines, and the like.

The real work of missions has always been the lay people.

Matthew B. Crawford: The moral significance of work

Shop Class as Soul Craft
The moral significance of work that grapples with material things may lie in the simple fact that such things lie outside the self. A washing machine, for example, surely exists to serve our needs, but in contending with one that is broken, you have to ask what it needs. At such a moment, technology is no longer a means by which our mastery of the world is extended, but an affront to our usual self-absorption. Constantly seeking self-affirmation, the narcissist views everything as an extension of his will, and therefore has only a tenuous grasp on the world of objects as something independent. He is prone to magical thinking and delusions of omnipotence. A repairman, on the other hand, puts himself in the service of others, and fixes the things they depend on. His relationship to objects enacts a more solid sort of command, based on real understanding. For this very reason, his work also chastens the easy fantasy of mastery that permeates modern culture. The repairman has to begin each job by getting outside his own head and noticing things: he has to look carefully and listen to the ailing machine. p. 16 -17

Aristotle begins his Metaphysics with the observation that “all human beings by nature desire to know.” I have argued that real knowledge arises through confrontations with real things. Work, then, offers a broadly available premonition of philosophy. Its value, however, does not lie solely in pointing to some more rarefied experience. Rather, in the best cases, work may itself approach the good sought in philosophy, understood as a way of life: a community of those who desire to know. p. 199

Symmetry and the design of God

Dr. Stephen Barr on Symmetry in Creation

If symmetry is found in works of art of every sort, and is an important element in what it is to be beautiful, and if as well the laws of nature are based on symmetries that are so sophisticated and so deep that while we may study them with the tools of modern mathematics they lie far above our mental powers to appreciate on an intuitive level, does that not suggest the mind of an artist at work that if far above the level of our minds? When we contemplate this strange and beautiful universe, well may we ask, in the words of the poet Blake, “What immortal hand or eye could frame thy fearful symmetry?”

Modern Physics and Ancient Faith p. 104

Working hard and God working in us. (1 Cor. 15:10)

But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. (1 Cor. 15:10)

Paul Dirac quote on Beauty and Mathematics

I went to a lecture given by Stephen Barr. It was very good. He quoted Paul Dirac so I googled beauty on mathematics and got the following quote:

"God used beautiful mathematics in creating the world."

If you consider how God used Wisdom to create the universe, this statement makes a lot of sense.

Sabbath and denying ourselves -- Leviticus 16

Leviticus 16

"This is to be a lasting ordinance for you: On the tenth day of the seventh month you must deny yourselves [b] and not do any work—whether native-born or an alien living among you- 30 because on this day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you. Then, before the LORD, you will be clean from all your sins. 31 It is a sabbath of rest, and you must deny yourselves; it is a lasting ordinance.

I thought the connection between sabbath rest and denying ourselves was interesting. Christ is our atonement, but when have we deny ourselves on our day off?

Grandpa Thompson

Two events happened to me this week. First, I heard through the grapevine last week that an old friend of mine, Doug, is dying of cancer. His wife died of cancer a few years ago. Fortunately, he married again and his children are mostly grown, but I'm sure they were devastated when they heard the news. The doctors told him he has only a few years to go. It was sad. The second bit of news was my daughter-in-law told me she was pregnant last Saturday (01/16/2010).

These two events started me thinking. If I were to be diagnosed with cancer what would my legacy be to my grandchild or hopefully in the future, grandchildren. I am not writing so much about my physical life, but my spiritual life. My parents loved to travel and their stories of traveling around Europe and the United States were a fascinating legacy to me. My father is also into genealogy. This too is a legacy. I've traveled some for work, but I would like to think I would pass down a more spiritual legacy. I've study the bible for years. I've read C. S. Lewis, R. C. Sproul, John Piper, Jonathan Edwards, John Owens, Alistair McGrath, Francis Schaefer, and J. I. Packer, and so much more. I've taken quite a spiritual journey for someone who is not a seminarian or scholastically trained in theology. I am wondering is there a way to pass this journey, this passion, onto my grandchild.

Jonathan Edwards on the Ennobling the Soul

From a Jonathan Edwards Sermon,

This is the most excellent and divine wisdom that any creature is capable of. It is more excellent than any human learning; it is far more excellent than all the knowledge of the greatest philosophers or statesmen. Yea, the least glimpse of the glory of God in the face of Christ doth more exalt and ennoble the soul, than all the knowledge of those that have the greatest speculative understanding in divinity without grace. This knowledge has the most noble object that is or can be, viz., the divine glory or excellency of God and Christ. The knowledge of these objects is that wherein consists the most excellent knowledge of the angels, yea, of God himself.

http://www.ccel.org/e/edwards/sermons/supernatural_light.html