What I want most for my Birthday...

...is to see my wife. Lord willing, she'll be home tomorrow. I have missed her terribly these last three weeks.

Bringing Justice To the Streets of Nashville, TN

Yesterday, I got to go along as a "rider" with a friend of mine at church named Matt who is a police officer. I showed up with him before his shift began, and went along for everything he did until his shift ended late last night. If you've never done anything like this, it's way better than watching COPS.

I wasn't sure exactly how to go about this post, but I've decided to break it down into some bullet points. I want to mention some of the specific things we dealt with, as well as some things I learned about how the police work.

The evening began with him showing me how to use an extra shot gun that he keeps in the car. It is locked in place in a rack behind our heads, and there is a hidden release button if you need to use it. He has a brand new car with only 900 miles on it, and a lot of the sweetest new gear. I never realized how much time officers spend using these portable tablet PC's. They are logged on the entire time to several different services, keeping an eye on what needs to be taken care of, looking up people's information, and finding directions to places.

Here are some of the things we had to go and take care of:

• Attempted Burglary - Someone tried to break into a lady's condo between midnight and 6am. Her screen door was pulled loose from the frame, but there were no marks indicating that someone had really tried to enter the main door. So basically, there wasn't much that could be done. At her request, he dusted for fingerprints but got none. When nothing is actually stolen and there isn't a complete forced entry, all the police can really do is file a report.
  
  
• Loud Music Complaint - These kinds of calls are pretty annoying. In the end, I think we were more annoyed than the people who had been complaining about loud music. We had to drive all the way out to the edge of our zone, and of course, there was no loud music and the person who had been complained about was sound asleep, and definitely not bothering anyone.
  
  
• Thief Arrest - At Lowe's, a girl who worked there had been pocketing money from the cash register, and had taken a total of $4,200 over several weeks. They caught her on video. Their loss prevention specialist got her in a back room and got her to confess. He handcuffed her and she had to wait on us to come and get her. We went in with another officer. One thing that was really fun for me the whole night was watching people try and figure out what my role was. I wasn't in uniform or anything, so I didn't appear to be police, but since I was riding with the police and was going everywhere they were going, they assumed I wasn't an average joe citizen. I think a lot of them thought I was some kind of undercover detective.
  
  
• Security Alarm - At Save-A-Lot, the alarm went off. They called for the police to go and check it out. The doors at the front and back were all secure. In the end, I think Save-A-Lot may end up in a little trouble. Legally, if your business has an alarm system, you are required to get a sticker every year stating what kind of system it is and that it is current. Along with this, you are required to have a responder for your business who comes every time the alarm sounds. Save-A-Lot didn't have any stickers up, and there responder didn't want to come, so we had to leave them a note telling them to get their act together.
  
  
• Juvenile Delinquent - We went on a call to a situation where a lady's 13-year-old niece was causing lots of problems. It was one of those sad situations where the parents were no good, so the aunt was trying to help out, but didn't have stellar parenting skills herself. The aunt called because the girl constantly shows her attitude, makes messes, and screams at the top of her lungs (according to the aunt). The girl made the aunt sound pretty bad. We went in there and talked with each of them. The girl kept showing some attitude to Matt, so with the Aunt's decision, we cuffed her and took her downtown to the juvenile detention center. We felt pretty bad about the situation because everyone in this situation really needs help. The girl really needed to be in counseling and psychological evaluation a lot worse than she needed to be taken to juvenile hall. At the same time, hopefully now that she is in the juvenile court system they will get her to the people that she needs to be getting help from.
  
  
• Car In Wrong Lane With No Lights On - This was our last stop of the night. There was a car driving up the wrong way of a one-way mall exit with no lights on and a broken brake light. We turned on our lights and swerved around, going after them through the parking lot. You could tell they had seen us and kind of wanted to get away without us finding them. But when we got up on their bumper and he started giving them commands through the speaker, they pulled over. They were acting really nervous. The driver was fairly cooperative, but the passenger was being a punk. Matt ended up searching both of them and then went through every nook and cranny of their car. He was really hoping to find some drugs, because they looked and acted very suspicious. We're convinced the passenger may have had a small quantity on him, but since Matt didn't find any, we let them go with a warning.
  

Those weren't all of the calls we dealt with, but that is a good sampling. Having gone along and watched all this stuff, and having visited with my friend about it, I wanted to give a few insights that I took away from the experience.

1. If people would stop calling the police about so many stupid things, our streets would be a lot safer. Matt's goal is to serve at least one warrant every day that he works. Three times during the evening, we would finish a call, and he would start looking up someone who needed to be arrested. We'd have their address and information, and would be en route to go get them...then someone would call with something totally lame. Instead of chasing bad guys, police officers spend enormous amounts of time dealing with things like loud music complaints, people saying "this guy threatened me, then he hopped in his car and rode off, but I just wanted you guys to know about it", and other stuff that the police have no reason to be dealing with. We had to go to a house where some family sold the house, but wasn't finished moving out, and the new owner was being a punk about letting them in to get their stuff. It was a complete waste of time, and if people just practiced the golden rule, they could easily resolve this themselves. The reason we didn't arrest any true criminals last night had a lot to do with people not working out their own petty problems. Warrants do not work like calls. Warrants are done on more of a voluntary basis by the officers, but calls demand priority. Less calls = more warrants served.
   
   
2. Unless something happens to you involving real theft or violence, there isn't much the police can do. One of our longest calls last night involved driving to the middle of nowhere where someone saw a cat get hit by a car that wasn't quite dead. It was dead by the time we got there. In the end, this doesn't even concern the police. After we checked it out, we had to call some other service to come get the body. Along with this, if you get locked out of your car, don't call the police. They used to help break into cars by doing the coat hanger-lock routine, but there's too much liability involved. Your best bet is to call Pop-a-lock, or some company that does that full time. If you tell the police to get you into your car, the only way they will do it is by smashing your window. The police are there to deal with crime, not to handle our little inconveniences (though thankfully, most of them are willing to help out with the little stuff anyway).
   
   
3. I was amazed at the variety of things a policeman encounters. Matt had to go from chasing a speeder, to stopping to help someone broken down on the side of I-40, to counseling a juvenile, to mediating between a home buyer and seller.
   

Overall, it was really an eye-opening experience. I had a great time, and definitely hope to go and do it again some time. I have gained an entirely new appreciation for what our police forces are doing to keep us safe. They really do work well as a team, and really show an incredible amount of patience for the people they are protecting.

I know you're all wondering what to get me

Ok, so my birthday is coming up on Monday! I know you've all been wondering what you can buy for me, and you've probably been saving up for months to shower me with gifts. In case you needed some ideas, I wanted to make sure you're all quite aware of my Amazon.com wish list. :-)

And even if I don't get everything, I'll know it wasn't because you don't love me.

I'll be 27 by the way. YIKES!

Some skepticism about the value of archeology

I've been wrestling with the value of archeology. For the last couple of years, I subscribed to the Biblical Archeology Review. The magazine had occassionally interesting articles, but most of it read like a broken record.

Someone finds what appears to be an ancient artifact. Skeptics argue that it's counterfeit. Believers argue that it's the real deal. And then they attack each other verbally. Over and over and over with everything that is dug up.

On the one hand, I think it can be incredibly eye opening when you discover an ancient civilization 's remains under ground and can therefore expand your knowledge of their language and culture.

I think what I really wrestle with, though, is when archaeologists will state facts about ancient creatures/peoples/cultures with such certainty, when in fact they could be dead wrong.

For instance, they find a house with a lot of old jar fragments laying around with some weapons made from bone. They might conclude that these people frequently used jars for all sorts of purposes and that their standard weapons for hunting were made from bone. But what if this was completely wrong? What if the bone weapon was left behind at the house when a family moved because the people had much better weapons and "nobody uses bone weapons". What if they left a bunch of jars laying around because they had no use for them?

Not to mention, they typically only dig out a small portion of an area. Can you know everything about a neighborhood by looking in one house? Finding one unusual item can completely throw off a prior theory about what was "normal".

Again, we can make good guesses, but at best, they're just guesses. It disturbs me so much when people will try and make shows to explain exactly what life would have been like around the dinosaurs. Or when people find a fraction of what might be a jaw bone, then recreate an entire skeleton around the jaw bone, as if that's even realistic.

Case in point, in Africa some people found the top half of a skull and part of a jawbone, and are therefore making huge conjectures about what man was like "1.5 million years ago", as if the dating system they're using is even that reliable. What can you know from just the top half of a skull and a jaw bone? I doubt we can know as much as these folks claim we can. I don't get how scientists can attack people of faith, then follow some of these theories. I think it takes less faith to believe the Bible than it does to follow some of these fairy tales they come up with.

One of the most interesting things I've ever read was a short essay from C.S. Lewis where he spoke about his experiences with people reading his own work, then trying to write analysis papers about what Lewis had been thinking about or trying to do when he wrote certain passages. (I retyped the whole thing here) Lewis had read hundreds of critiques of his own writing, and you know how often people were correct in their guesses about why he wrote what he did? NOT ONCE! Not a single time.

I'm ok with people trying to learn about other cultures/nature from archeology, but I have some real reserves about how reliable the hypotheses are.

Just because we find something about one aspect of a culture doesn't mean we know anything about other aspects. Our scientists and archaeologists could use a great deal more humility, in my opinion.

Rethinking the 5-Finger Exercise

Last week was intense for me. 5 days of solid class and a 6th day with a big nasty test. I learned a lot about the American Restoration Movement, but I think I learned a lot more about how American history helped to shape our thinking and approach to religion. Not just in the Restoration Movement, but most of the denominations that sprang up in America all have some similar philosophies at their roots. I may blog some on that later, but for now: the 5 Finger Exercise.

In churches of Christ, we are very adamant about having "No Creed But the Bible". In general, I think this is a good thing. No matter how well-written a creed might be, because it is written by men and is meant to summarize key concepts in the Bible, it's always going to be lacking something somewhere. It doesn't bother me that in churches of Christ we don't recite creeds.

At the same time, even if we resist the term "creed", at some point it becomes necessary for Christians to state what they believe in clear, presentable ways. When someone asks you who you think Jesus was, you can't just quote Scripture at them. At some point you have to say, "I believe..."

Even though we don't have a "Creed", the one thing that seems to be repeated more than anything is our "Plan of Salvation"; a.k.a. the Five-Finger Exercise:
1. Hear (Rom. 10:14-17)
2. Believe (Mark 16:16)
3. Repent (Acts 2:38)
4. Confess (Matt. 10:32-33)
5. Be Baptized (Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38; I Peter 3:21)
And some like to throw in...
6. Live faithfully until death (take THAT, Calvinism!)

Certainly, the plan has come under attack from time to time. Just like anything that is summarized by man, there will be things that are under emphasized. K.C. Moser caught a lot of flack when he pointed out that instead of focusing so much on the "plan" of salvation, we should focus more on the "Man" of salvation.

And it's true, Jesus' name is not mentioned in our 5 steps. I think we would probably contend that Jesus is meant to be at the center, because he is the one to whom we listen, in whom we believe, whom we confess, in whom we are baptized, and for whom we live. Even so, if this plan is the depth of our Christian knowledge, then Jesus is significant only as the one who got this plan of salvation in place. Unless we follow up with good Bible study, we miss out on the role that Christ should have in our lives, not to mention the Holy Spirit.

I have no problem with any of the "plan" that we typically use, but it is vital that we continue to teach our people after they have been baptized into Christ. These 5 Steps alone might work in getting us into Christ, but they alone do not provide the nourishment that our souls need to grow.

I learned some interesting stuff this week, though, about the 5 steps. For one, they originate with Walter Scott, someone who was Alexander Campbell's right-hand man. But what I find more interesting is that they were not originally the same 5 steps that we typically refer to.

Walter Scott's original 5 Finger Exercise went like this:
1. Faith
2. Repentance
3. Baptism
4. Remission of Sins
5. Holy Spirit & Eternal Life

(And yes, I see that he really put in 2 on step five. I guess we're trying to keep it all on one hand)

There are some things I really like about Scott's original plan. My teacher, Dr. Edward Robinson, pointed out that in the 5 Steps we use now, the emphasis is more on what WE do. I can see how some people would conclude that our view promotes a works-based salvation, if all they've seen of our teaching is the 5 Steps.

But look at these original ones. Faith is something we do. Repentance is something that we do. But three of the steps here are actions of God!

Baptism is an act of submission where in truth, God is acting. It is not a work that you do...you can't baptize yourself! Also, Scott emphasizes the remission of sins, which is what God does when we're baptized. And then there is his Holy Spirit & Eternal life step. Again, nothing that we do here.

I like the fact that Scott's 5 "Steps" doesn't even lend itself well to speaking in terms of "steps" because so much of it involves the actions of God. Rather than it being "Here's 5 things that you have to do to be saved", it is "Here are 5 things you should understand about how a person is saved."

At least, that's how I perceive it.

I'm not really advocating that we should revert to his original 5 Finger Exercise. I'm also not arguing that the present one is better than the former. To me, this is all a reminder that when we try to reduce the Word of God to formulas or creeds, there is always going to be room to improve what we've summarized because something will get left out. In churches today, I'm convinced we've got to strive for more Biblical literacy among our members. When people are only taught part of the Word of God, it only leads to more division; often with both of the disagreeing parties having huge gaps in their theological understanding.

Scary People On My Blog

Some time soon I need to put another list on here of ways that people link to and find my blog. There are some interesting things that they search for, but I had a real different one today:

Someone from Kuwait found my blog because they searched for "Show me some original pictures of Satan".

Yikes!

Body By...

I think this shirt is awesome. Of all T-shirts--though it's very crass and insensitive--my favorite was when I saw a really overweight guy in Rose Bud wearing a shirt that said "I conquered Anorexia."

2 Quotes

There are two quotations I wanted to share:

1. Mark Twain said of the Book of Mormon, it is "Chloroform in Print"

2. Lucy Smith, mother of Joseph Smith, founder of Mormonism was disturbed about which denomination to join. She said, "If I join no church, then all will say I am of the world. But if I join some one of the denominations, then the rest say I'm in error!" Eventually, she found a minister to baptize her as an individual Christian, not connected to any congregation.

I just wanted to record those two things so that I don't forget them.

Tarter Sauce To The Ear

One of my youth group kids, Cody, sent me a picture from camp. On Thursday of camp, we have "Messy Day" where I organize a few activities involving really disgusting stuff. Probably the grossest thing this year was "Condiment Twister". I got 4 Twister games, taped them together, then on the 4 colors I put Ketchup (red), Mustard (yellow), Green Beans (green), and Grape Jelly (blue/purple). It was pretty nasty.

The kids had complained to me about previous years involving peanut butter and Crisco in their hair. I found a cool website called RecFX that sells all kinds of stuff to use for group activities. (The finger rocket things are a blast). I bought all 4 kinds of Yuck, and it turned out wonderfully. Some of it looked like sludge that I dyed black so it looked like caviar. Some of it was more like applesauce, some like jello, and some like snot (which we dyed the appropriate neon-green color).

The good thing about this yucky stuff is that it is neither petroleum-based nor sugar-based. That means it washes off really easily...and it did. I was very pleased with it. We started off with more organized activities which progressed to pure chaos, involving shaving cream-filled tube socks for smacking each other.

Unknown to me, one of the staff people brought along a Sam's-sized container of old tartar sauce which he left sitting in the sun in the back of his truck all week. At the right moment during the festivities, I was pushed out to the middle of the tarp and they tartar-sauced my head. It smelled disgusting, though a lot of people told me they were starting to get a craving for fish.

Since I got this new, upgraded picture of myself with the tartar sauce on my head, I thought I would put it on here. Enjoy.

Happy Birthday, Carolina!

Today is Carolina's birthday. I'm sorry that I can't be with her, as she is in Mexico visiting her dad, but I hope she has a great day. Feel free to send her an e-mail or drop her a message on Facebook.