Do we worship the same God?

October 27, 2014 / Minimalist Christian / 14 Comments

There is and can only be one God.

I am not going to defend that statement but to take it as read and see where it leads in the context of different religions. If you don’t want to accept the statement, this post is not for you so please don’t waste your time and energy reading further.

There is and can only be one God.

That one God is love. Without God there can be no love. And so each and every act of love is an act of God. If a Christian loves, that is God within them. If a Moslem loves then that is God within them. If an atheist loves that is God within them.

That one God created and sustained the universe. He sends the rain on the good and the bad. His laws of science knit us together in our mother’s womb, allow us to experience the world, and present us with the alternatives of love or hate, good or evil.

That one God has made each of us as an individual. Each of us is a ‘me’. He has given us freedom to choose to love or hate, to be good or evil. As individuals we choose. If we choose to love we choose God whether we know it or not, whether we are Christian, Moslem, Hindu, atheist, agnostic or Jedi.

If someone prays to the single God, creator and sustainer of the universe, to the God who is love, the God who is goodness and power, does it matter what religion they are in?

If someone chooses love and goodness, does it matter what religion they are in?

What is religion? According to the Oxford dictionary it is:

“The belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods”

and

“A particular system of faith and worship”

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/religion

A follower of one religion can challenge whether the “system of faith and worship” of another religion is accurate. A Christian can reasonably challenge whether what Islam teaches about what is right and wrong is right – but can a Christian challenge which God a Moslem is praying to? Or vice versa?

Can a Christian say that a Moslem worships a different God? Or can the Christian only say to the Moslem that “you don’t know God like I do”?

I don’t need to use Christians and Moslems for the example. I could have used Evangelical and Liberal Christians, Protestants and Catholics.

I believe that the teaching of Christ is the best description of what God intends for each of us, and that Jesus life and death are the greatest demonstration of how God loves each and every one of us. I can guide others to the same source of love and goodness that I have found, but am I to criticise and judge them if they do not understand the Bible in the same way that I do? Isn’t my job to love, and aren’t I supposed to leave the judgement up to God?

Isn’t religions job to help me do my job? Surely religion is not there to put obstacles in the way of me loving others?

What does God think of all the conflict that is caused by religious dogmatism about what he is like? Does he simply want us to get on with loving Him, and loving our neighbour as ourselves?

Grace and love to you all.

The End of Evolution

October 18, 2014 / Minimalist Christian / 2 Comments

Living things are amazingly complex and refined organisms. Contained within our skin are muscles, organs, a nervous system, a circulatory system, an immune system, a digestive system, a reproductive system, a repair system, a growth system, and perhaps the most complex of all, a brain.

We are amazed and baffled by the latest smartphones and tablets, yet they are incredibly primitive compared with the brain. Research has shown that there are more switches in a single brain than in the entire internet! (http://www.cnet.com/news/human-brain-has-more-switches-than-all-computers-on-earth/ )

Yet all the complexity of the human body grows from a single cell.

One cell divides into two, then four, then eight. On and on, dividing, specialising, growing and dying in a precise order to gradually construct the fully grown human being. And the developing body self-programs the control systems and brain in a robust and repeatable process.

How can such a robust process happen? Where are the instructions to tell the cells what to do? Is it in the DNA?

There are 3 billion base pairs in human DNA. Is it really possible that all the information necessary to grow and operate fifty trillion different cells over the entire lifespan of a human is fully encoded in the DNA of the original single cell? Even if we used one base pair to define the position of each cell we are 10,000 times too short of information carrying capacity in the DNA.

But it’s worse than that. In the DNA base pair system of numbering the letters CAGT are equivalent to numbers in base 4. In base 10, the number fifty trillion (50,000,000,000,000) uses eleven characters, but in base 4 we would need 23 characters. Our 3,000,000,000 DNA base pairs can only now specify 150,000,000 positions – 300,000 times less than we need just to define the position of each cell.

In addition to the position and type of cell, we are asking the DNA to carry the information to define the construction sequence and to program all of our behaviour patterns, our “operating system.”

What are the chances of that? Yet it happens. Humans grow from a single cell every day. Billions of us.

This sort of mathematics is often applied to the beginning of life, and show that the odds of forming even the simplest protein by chance are like looking for a single molecule in the whole mass of the earth. Yet it happened.

And how likely is the evolutionary process? In their book The Origins of Life the authors John Maynard Smith and Eörs Szathmáry identify a number of what they call “Major Transitions” without which we would not exist such as:

From replicating molecules to populations of molecules in compartments
From independent replicators to chromosomes
From RNA as gene and enzyme to DNA as gene and protein as enzyme
From bacterial cells (prokaryotes) to cells with nuclei and organelles (eukaryotes)
From asexual clones to sexual populations
From single-celled organisms to animals, plants and fungi

What are the chances of that? Yet it happened.

Here is a summary of the history of the earth and life on earth:

13.8 billion years ago: universe created

13.5 billion years ago: first stars form

5 billion years ago: the Sun forms, perhaps as a second or third generation star.

4.5 billion years ago: The earth formed as a molten mass. For the next 700 million years it was probably bombarded by large objects, and the energy of the collisions probably kept the earth molten up until…

3.8 billion years ago: earth crust solidified. Manufacture of pre-biotic chemicals needed for the life to exist

3.5 billion years ago: fossil evidence of cellular cyanobacteria. .

1.5 billion years ago: first eukaryotic cells (cells with a nucleus) evident

1 billion years ago: first metaphytes (multicellular algae and higher plants)

500 million years ago: first metazoans (invertebrate and vertebrate animals)

1/4 million years ago: first homo-sapiens

Let’s put the evolutionary timeline into perspective of number of generations:

Bacteria typically reproduce every hour, so in the 3.5 billion years since cyanobacteria first emerged there have been about 35 trillion generations, although there seems to have been little evolutionary change in the 2 billion years before the first cells with a nucleus appeared.

Animals first emerged around 500 million years ago, and with a typical generation of 2 years implying around 250 million generations to move from the first animals to one with all of the complexity that we see in a human.

Against this backdrop, the evolutionary process has been incredibly fast; remember the extremely complex product that it has developed. Yet it happened.

There are those who claim that all this happened as a result of sheer luck.

There are others for whom the following text seems to better describe things:

You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvellous—how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.

For me, the findings of science hint strongly at a God who is continuously engaged in sustaining and interacting with the universe and life that he brought into being. I find this fully consistent with the God that is revealed through a reasoned understanding of the Bible and demonstrated through the life of Christ. I accept that it is not indisputably demonstrated, but I find the evidence sufficiently convincing to give my life as a result.

These issues are explored more fully in The Big Picture

https://philhemsley.wordpress.com/2012/11/19/if-evolution-is-true/

https://philhemsley.wordpress.com/2013/03/03/information-dna-and-evolution/

War, religion, God, and why I write

June 27, 2014 / Minimalist Christian / 3 Comments

I remember a discussion soon after I became a Christian where I was asked “so what about all the other religions?” My reply was that they were simply mistaken. I think the remark was taken to be rather arrogant.

I read the news today. I see the conflict, anger and fear; fighting between Moslems of different sects. I see forced imposition of religious dogma; conversion to another religion punishable by death. We all know that this is not as it should be. And I am reminded of my reply.

Reason and evidence tells me there is a God, and my whole being tells me that love is our ultimate purpose. And when I find that love underpins and is at the heart of Jesus teaching I begin to see how it all fits together; how we are meant to be.

If I were God and someone from another religion was praying to me, I would not ignore them because they think I have a different name, I would not condemn them because they don’t understand my intentions for them. I would be saddened that they are misled, I would try to teach them, and I would restrain some of their actions, but I would still love them.

As a mere human trying to follow God’s purpose, I don’t hate the Muslims, or even the Westborough Baptists, but I believe they are misled and mistaken. I hate what they do, and I want them to stop. I want them to understand the truth, and find their real purpose. I want that for everyone.

If we all really understood Christ’s teaching, if we really loved God with all our heart, and loved our neighbour as ourselves, if we really were ready to forgive others and restore broken relationships we know that the world would be a better place.

That is why I write. That is why I follow Christ. That is my purpose.

What is yours?

Painful lessons on worship, thanks to Bach

April 21, 2014May 8, 2014 / Minimalist Christian / 1 Comment

It had been a busy period approaching Easter, but Good Friday had arrived with the promise of a short break. We decided to start the weekend with a treat – to listen to St Matthew’s Passion by Bach in Coventry Cathedral. An amazing piece of music that has formed an act of worship for many people over hundreds of years, we were looking forward to it. We shared a lift with friends, one of whom was performing in the choir.

I knew nothing of the piece, but was a little alarmed to hear that it lasted three hours – I know what cathedral chairs can be like, and I was feeling somewhat worn down by some stressful meetings at work. We had well placed seats, although the gentleman who sat next to me wore ‘fragrance of smoker’, and I noticed when the music began that his breathing was rather loud. I prepared myself to be ‘wowed’ by the wonderful music.

Fifteen minutes into the performance I realised that the music and I spoke different languages of worship.

Thirty minutes in and I prepared myself for the ordeal as I do for the discomfort of a long flight in cramped uncomfortable airline seats; try not to wriggle too much so as not to disturb others, focus on trying to doze and calm oneself to patiently endure the flight, listen to some nice music through headphones – not something I could do here of course.

It was not an un-spiritual experience. It reminded me that Christ had suffered intently on the cross, that it had gone dark for three hours, that he’d willingly submitted himself to the pain, but that it would not have been an enjoyable experience. And finally, thank God, it was finished.

The friends that I went with loved it, talking excitedly about different parts of the performance and how moved they were by it. I was emotionally exhausted and felt excluded from the party – there was nothing positive I could think of to say, and I didn’t want to spoil their enjoyment of the evening so I was silent. It was working until over dinner one of them mentioned I’d been quiet and asked what I’d thought of it. After a few moments silence someone else spared me with ‘not your cup of tea then’, and the evening moved on.

Having had time to reflect a little, there are some lessons to learn from the experience.

Even the most brilliant worship music will not appeal to everyone, and will drive some people away. If you want to help everyone ‘worship’, then you need a variety of approaches (not all musical!)
It feels very lonely and friendless being in an environment where others are enthusing about a method of worship that leaves you cold. You can be left feeling ‘what’s wrong with me?’, and spiritually drained. Don’t ‘demand’ that everyone enthuses about what you find uplifting, and don’t judge them if they don’t ‘connect’.
If you are feeling low, then a worship event may not be the best remedy. You may end up worse that when you began.
Even if you are experiencing something painful, there are lessons to learn from it.

I don’t regret going, but I don’t suppose I will quickly repeat the experience. Nobody wants to be the spectre at the feast.

Direct from the San Francisco Book Review

April 2, 2014April 5, 2014 / Minimalist Christian / Leave a comment

The Big Picture – An Honest Examination of God, Science and Purpose
By P D Hemsley
eLectio Publishing, $4.99, 266 pages, Format: eBook

A former atheist/agnostic who gave God a chance offers open-minded readers this work which is both ambitious in scope and credible in approach: //The Big Picture: An Honest Examination of God, Science, and Purpose//. Polarizing subject matter such as God and science, evolution, and intelligent design are revisited with the goal of gently challenging entrenched thinking on both sides.

Hemsley, a Chartered Engineer, “has lived on both sides of the faith fence.” His book is comparable to a technical presentation designed for a general audience. It is highly organized with stated goals, evidence, and the author’s conclusions. Fluid, straightforward writing helps the reader progress through several chapters or conclusions dealing with faith, science, purpose and design, quantum physics, free will, reason, Jesus, and more. Even so, those with less of a scientific bent will need to exercise their concentration skills in the scientific sections.

The strength of this book lies in complexity and compatibility. The chapters “Science Describes an Incredible Universe” and “The Universe Exhibits Design and Purpose” make for fascinating reading, especially the subsection where “challenged by the complexity of the biological machinery” Hemsley explores how a modern-day designer would engineer a human being and how long it would take. Additionally, the author’s version of the Genesis creation account featuring the compatibility of scientific discoveries and God’s design is an interesting interpretation to consider.

No emotional appeals are made to the atheist, agnostic, hardcore creationist, or plain honest seeker for a change in his or her worldview. In the words of the author, a self-described Minimalist Christian: “Whether you agree with my conclusion or not, I hope that many of the myths that currently inhibit so many of us will have been weakened or dispelled. I hope that a step can be taken towards finding purpose and experiencing life in abundance.”

http://citybookreview.com/the-big-picture-an-honest-examination-of-god-science-and-purpose/

Click HERE to buy a copy.

Four steps of reason leading to a personal God

March 13, 2014December 2, 2020 / Minimalist Christian / 15 Comments

As I begin this post, I ask myself “Am I deciding what to write?” You might think that a strange question with an obvious answer, but if I were to have a materialist view of things then I would struggle to answer with a ‘yes’. At the heart of the problem is the question of whether I have free will or not. Am I able to exert any choice on any decision (such as what to write) or is my action simply a result of the state of the molecules in my brain at the particular time when I think I am making a choice?

If there is nothing but matter, and matter behaves according to strict laws then there is no scope for me, or you, to make a free choice about anything. Holders of the materialist view have argued that those who believe in free will need to demonstrate a mechanism before free will can be accepted to exist.

I do not subscribe to that view of things. A bumblebee flies even if I am unable to demonstrate the mechanism.

Other disagreements with such a view are subjective. Whilst I recognise that many of my actions might indeed be simply as a result of my brain state at a given time, I identify situations where I stop myself behaving according to ‘habit’ and consciously choose to behave differently.

From a practical viewpoint, our whole society is built on the basis that we have free will. If I have no free will to be able to choose how to behave, then what right has society to imprison me for murder? I would have had no choice but to kill my neighbour – it would have been an action that simply resulted from the chemical configuration in my brain at the time.

So for all practical and from all subjective points of view, I accept that we have free will.

That is step one; that we have free will.

The fact that I can call an opinion subjective inherently means that there is an “I” that is choosing to have an opinion. Similarly, I speak about personal experience which requires there to be a person. My personal subjective view is that there is indeed an “I” who is considering the facts and deciding what to write. Descartes’ famous statement “I think therefore I am” argues that the only thing I know is that there is an “I” who thinks, and therefore “I” must exist – even if everything else is just my imagination.

So step two is that there is an “I” who exists.

The next thing to consider is how I exist (with the proviso that my physical being might be a delusion – but I still exist). I exist because I have the ability to exist; something is causing me to exist. I am not causing myself to exist, it is something apart from me that is ensuring that I exist. Some might call that something ‘the laws of physics’, but I shall choose here to call that something God.

That is step three. There is something that sustains me (and everything else) that can be called God.

The final step is to ask whether it is reasonable to imagine that this something (God) could sustain an “I”, who has free-will (which must operate outside the laws of physics) without itself having an “I-ness” to it. Can the physical properties of a human being, which are sustained by God, ‘create’ an “I-ness” that God does not have itself? Can “I-ness” be dependent on the sustaining power of God and yet above and separate from God? And if not, then the power that sustains us must also have an “I-ness” about it.

Step four: the power that sustains us has itself the characteristics of “I-ness”: it is a person God.

A fresh understanding of Grace

December 21, 2013December 21, 2013 / Minimalist Christian / Leave a comment

St Paul asked the rhetorical question “Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace?” He then went on to answer with complicated and metaphorical language about being buried with Christ through baptism. But I read this just after reading a facebook post from someone I care about behaving in a way that frankly won’t bring them happiness, and is simply satisfying their lustful urges. Looking at how I felt puts a new and simpler perspective on the question.

Let’s take it as read that God is love, and that he loves each one of us deeply. We also need to understand that sin harms us deeply. It may satisfy an immediate urge, but it harms us. In the same way that it saddens me to see those I love harming themselves, it must sadden God so much more to see us harming ourselves. Yet God still loves us, and in the same way that I still care about the person above, he cares about us. I will not reject that person, and God will not reject us. But it saddens Him so much that he was prepared to see Jesus tortured and killed on the cross to try to get through to us.

So if St Paul’s language seems confusing, just put yourself in God’s place and imagine how you would feel seeing your beloved son or daughter self-harming. You would long for them to give up their life of sin, and return to your loving arms. If they wanted to make a fresh start, you would do whatever it takes to wipe their slate clean. And that is just what God has done for us.

That’s why we shouldn’t keep on sinning; it causes God more pain and sadness and it does us no good either.

Simple.

How to become a best-selling author

November 18, 2013 / Minimalist Christian / 2 Comments

Ever since I was offered a publishing contract for “The Big Picture” I have been undergoing a transformation from an analytic and thoughtful writer to a bold marketer and salesman.

The success in finding a publisher was followed by an honest look at the book that I had written, and the realisation that it was rubbish! Well, not rubbish, but lots of scope for improvement. So having taken some professional editorial advice from http://www.writersservices.com/editorial-services/editors-report I had an intense couple of months restructuring and redrafting.

After such surgery the book needed several re-reads to smooth out the knots. Rather like combing tangled hair, each re-read/re-write improved the flow of the text and arguments. And perhaps like combing hair, the job is never finished; you just have to stop sometime.

The title has changed a lot over the past three years. It began as The Human Project, was The Minimalist Christian for a while, took and excursion into bizarre title such as The Myth of Reality, Sacrificing the Sacred Cows, and even You Need to Read This Book. It settled on The Big Picture, basically because that’s what it is about!

The Big Picture includes a lot of references, and I learnt the hard way that you need to record the source of your information when you find it. Going back months later takes much longer, and sometime you just can’t remember where you found something.

Then the deadline is met, and it’s over to the publisher to put the text into the right format for both paperback and multiple e-book formats.

There is the excitement of what the cover should look like. I am amazed at how inventive graphic designers can be. I can be ‘tidy’ and make something look presentable, but there is a spark of inspiration that creates something I would never think of.

And finally, the mail arrives with “The Big Picture is live!”

Champagne moment.

But not for long. There’s no point in having produced a brilliant book if nobody knows about it, and so I have to grasp my confidence in both hands and start to advertise. But what works? Do I spend £1-2000 on a Kirkus review and marketing package? Do I put adverts in the major newspapers? These are the big questions that face every new author.

It seems to me that someone has to have a reason to buy a book, and until there are some reviews then the reason will probably be personal connection. So I let friends know, and work colleagues, and those who follow my blog, or twitter, or LinkedIn. Remember this, if you are writing a book it has to be worth building up some sort of following and making connections on social media for a long time before you publish.

I got a lot of good feedback from the engineers that I work with in UK and overseas, and so I decided to experiment with an advert in Professional Engineering – a magazine with a circulation of over 60,000. Being a Fellow of the IMechE I got a substantial discount on a quarter page advert which went live at the start of November. I have to say that the response based on daily statistics from Amazon sales was astonishing and suggests that a total of zero people have bought the book as a result. Remind me never to expect an advert to work again! But then I have to remind myself, would I have bought from an advert? No. So why should I expect anyone else to?

But the early sales are leading to some reviews, and so I can use those reviews to promote the book to others who don’t know me from Adam. And they are encouraging! See for instance:

http://amzn.to/1ioJHWw

http://amzn.to/1amyFOb

http://amzn.to/1bV5HDV

And I think it’s important not to skimp on sending review copies to people who influence others. What we need as unknown authors is as many people as possible telling other people that our book is worth reading. So reviews and word of mouth recommendation are indeed important, and I’ve found that politely asking someone to recommend the book has never caused offense. Usually people are happy to oblige.

The other nice thing about reviews is that a good review can lift the spirit when the sales figures seem disappointing. A good review tells me to keep going – it’s worth it!

So it seems to me that marketing takes a lot of perseverance and patience. There are so many books out there that people are not going to find yours by chance. They need a reason to buy, and unless your book is aimed at budding authors and is called “How to become a best-selling author”, the reason to buy won’t be the title.

Having said all this, I’m still at an early stage and am not yet a best-selling author. I’ll post again later when I’ve learnt more about what not to do!

Meanwhile, let me recommend an excellent book. It’s by someone I’ve known all my life. It’s called The Big Picture…..

Have a great day.

Lord Kelvin and God

November 8, 2013November 8, 2013 / Minimalist Christian / Leave a comment

From the BBC website:

Lord Kelvin believed science must be treated with reverence, as he explained:

“I have long felt that there was a general impression that the scientific world believes science has discovered ways of explaining all the facts of nature without adopting any definite belief in a Creator. I have never doubted that impression was utterly groundless.

“The more thoroughly I conduct scientific research, the more I believe science excludes atheism. If you think strongly enough you will be forced by science to the belief in God, which is the foundation of all religion.”

http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/0/24535331

If, like Kelvin, you are as willing to explore the facts and consider your own opinion, you might like my recently released book “The Big Picture – an honest examination of God, Science and Purpose”

http://www.electiopublishing.com/index.php/bookstore#!/~/product/category=4758362&id=28794920

“The Big Picture” – an honest examination of God, science and purpose – OUT NOW

October 16, 2013December 20, 2013 / Minimalist Christian / 3 Comments

“I recommend this book to all thinking people – we might just change the world.”

“This book will definitely make you think and then think again. Hemsley did his research for this book, and I received many answers to questions I’ve pondered over the years.”

“it is a welcome relief to come across a book that presents such a broad and balanced overview”

“This book covers an considerable amount of territory in its 253 pages.”

The Big Picture is a much-needed book that allows the reader to consider the big questions of life without feeling bludgeoned to adopt the author’s opinion. The book explains basics of science, philosophy and religion in a straightforward manner.

It will encourage all those who want to live a good and purposeful life and would like a sound basis for doing so. Such readers may find a resonance with the teaching of Jesus and this book will explore whether we can trust what has been recorded in the gospel accounts, and whether the findings of science and a reasoned understanding of the Bible are consistent or contradictory.

Many books in the arena of science and faith are hostile and adversarial. The authors set up straw men of their opponent’s arguments, dismantle them and then preach their own arguments to their disciples. The author of The Big Picture recognises that there are intelligent atheists and intelligent believers, and that a case can always be made for whatever someone wants to believe. The reader is therefore treated with respect

ebook

paperback

Amazon UK