Oh, the years I spent in spiritual anguish because I'd been taught that I had to earn then keep The Love.

Then the light went on by some Mysterious Hand and revealed to me that there was nothing to be earned. Nothing to be kept. I couldn't be loved any more than I already was.

Love is All.

(Ps: You can check out all my art and cartoons for sale HERE.)

nakedpastor is David Hayward. David is an artist, cartoonist and writer. Go to nakedpastor.com for more cartoons, blog posts, art and insight from a former pastor who's stark naked honest about church life.

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Nate Larkin is no stranger to sex addiction. He was a pastor, married and had three kids when he picked up his first prostitute on the way to lead a candlelight service on Christmas Eve. Join us as we talk with him about fathers, sons, porn and grace, and what it looks like to move from obsession toward freedom.

Nate is the author of Samson and the Pirate Monks and founder of the Samson Society.

Hear more of Nate's story on his previous appearance on Steve Brown Etc., "From Reputation to Freedom."

This question has become more poignant in the last few years as biochemists, molecular biologists, and origin-of-life researchers make significant strides in their quest to create life in the lab. Attempts to produce artificial life fall under the purview of a new discipline called synthetic biology, a fusion of engineering and the life sciences.

One of synthetic biology’s goals is the design and manufacture of nonnatural life-forms—man-made constructs—unlike anything found in nature. Typically, those interested in creating these artificial organisms focus on engineering novel microbes (bacteria, yeast, etc.) or producing protocells, chemical supersystems that assume many, if not all, of the properties of life.

Among other benefits, these man-made life-forms could potentially provide huge technological advantages. Researchers envision synthetic microbes and protocells as bioreactors that could use inexpensive raw materials and solar energy to generate extremely valuable materials, like biomedicines, vaccines, biofuels, bioplastics, etc. These novel life-forms could also be used to clean up contaminants from the environment and find use in agricultural applications.

Despite such exciting possibilities, the creation of artificial life raises questions, some of a practical nature and others of a more philosophical and theological orientation.

- Will the creation of synthetic life-forms eliminate the need for a Creator? Will synthetic biology make it all the more reasonable to think that life emerged via chemical evolution?

- Is this type of work safe? If artificial cells “leak” from the lab will they cause a disaster of “biblical” proportions?

- Is it ethical to create artificial life?

- Are researchers “playing God”?

I find that many Christians summarily condemn this type of research without thoughtful deliberation. Others simply ignore it, as if by not paying attention to the work, it will “go away.” They bank on the notion that scientists won’t really be able to accomplish their goals. But, as I discuss in my book Creating Life in the Lab, it is just a matter of time before scientists achieve success. In fact, I anticipate that in the next decade researchers will succeed in creating a variety of forms of artificial life, using a number of different approaches.

Whether we like it or not, scientists will create life in the lab. Christians need to wrestle with the questions posed by this endeavor and be a part of the process. Most importantly, we need to develop a framework to help us think through these issues—we need a theology for synthetic biology.

Before I propose such a theology, I would like to address several questions that people typically ask about synthetic biology. My responses serve as an introduction to this new discipline and provide a status report of progress to date.

Can scientists really create life in the lab?

This question comes up whenever I talk about advances in synthetic biology. Many Christians and non-Christians, alike, are skeptical about scientists’ ability to create even the simplest life. In part, this skepticism is fueled by the increasing recognition that even in its most minimal form, life displays astounding complexity.1 Many wonder how scientists could ever replicate such intricacy and elegance?

This is not an unreasonable question. But the fact remains that scientists understand enough about how life’s structure and basic level functions to parlay that insight into genuine advances in synthetic biology.

What have synthetic biologists actually accomplished?

When scientists try to create life in the lab, they employ one of two approaches: the top-down or bottom-up. The top-down strategy involves re-engineering existing microbes (sometimes in radical ways) to generate artificial life. The bottom-up approach focuses on combining relatively simple chemicals into increasingly complex super-chemical systems that assume the properties common to life on Earth.

To date, the greatest progress toward creating artificial life is due to the top-down approach. However, researchers working with the bottom-up method have also made significant advances.2 In the next decade, I believe researchers employing both approaches will have success in making artificial cells and life-like protocells, respectively.

Does the creation of life in the lab eliminate the need for a Creator?

Many Christians view the attempt to create life in the lab as a thoroughly atheistic endeavor. This is because many synthetic biologists and origin-of-life researchers assert that if we can make life in the lab, it will mean life is not special. According to this view, life is merely a physicochemical system. Therefore, we can, in principle, replicate this chemistry and physics in the lab. If this is the case, then a Creator is not needed to explain life’s genesis. Without the need for a Creator, it makes it all the more likely that life emerged on early Earth (or elsewhere) via chemical evolutionary processes.

However, as I demonstrate in Creating Life in the Lab, work in synthetic biology, whether from the bottom-up or top-down, actually leads to the opposite conclusion.

Whether it’s on early Earth or in the lab, life cannot come from non-life or be significantly transformed from one form into another without the direct involvement of intelligent agency. The generation of artificial cells and protocells requires the work of highly trained scientists who rely on several hundred years of scientific advance. In the process, these researchers develop sophisticated strategies and elaborate protocols. These steps are executed carefully in the laboratory, in many instances, with highly sophisticated laboratory instrumentation. In other words, artificial life is intelligently designed.3

The Christian faith has nothing to fear from advances in synthetic biology. God is more necessary than ever before in order to explain the origin of life. But should human beings engage in the creation of artificial life at all? Is it safe? If it is safe, is this an activity that Christians should support? Should we play God?

The scriptural basis for a theology of synthetic biology

I maintain that Genesis 1:26–31 is the most relevant biblical text for a theology of synthetic biology. This familiar passage teaches, first and foremost, that human beings were made in God’s image. The Bible never defines what the image of God entails, but it is clear from Genesis 1 (as well as Genesis 2:19–20 and Psalm 8) that this quality distinguishes humans from the animals.

Because we are image-bearers, God granted us authority (dominion) over the Earth. This gift comes with responsibility. God commanded humans to multiply and fill the Earth so His image covers the entire surface of the planet. He also instructs us to subdue the Earth and tame the wild creation (at the same time, we receive provision from the creation under our control). Finally, God commands us to care for the planet so that all life may benefit. All of these tasks bring glory to the Creator. Because God endowed us with His image, we are able to serve as His viceroys among creation.

Exerting dominion over creation—in the lab

In my view, the attempts to create artificial life can be seen as human beings exerting legitimate dominion over the creation. Conceptually, creating artificial cells and protocells is no different than domesticating plants and animals.

Throughout history, humans have used selective breeding practices to create new plant and animal species—nonnatural, “artificial” organisms with desirable properties that we have exploited for our benefit. Evidently, the Creator has no problem with farming and animal husbandry. Instead of condemning Cain and Abel for cultivating “fruit from the soil” and raising flocks, the Lord implicitly endorsed their activities and even expected a first-fruits offerings from both brothers (Genesis 4:2–5).

With synthetic biology, sophisticated methods of genetic and biochemical engineering replace the cumbersome and crude practices associated with domestication. Still, the outcome (or potential outcome) is the same: human-engineered life-forms with benefit for humanity.

Synthetic biology’s benefits

The creation of artificial life will be a boon for humanity in many ways. In the life sciences, it will help shed light onto life’s fundamental structures and processes and will also provide insight into the very nature of life itself. Synthetic biology will even help scientists define what life is. With this insight, life’s elegant design will become increasingly evident and highlight the Creator’s majesty and glory.

The ability to create novel, nonnatural life-forms from scratch and redesign and re-engineer existing microbes could also represent a revolution in technology. Artificial life-forms will have industrial applications and uses in agriculture and biomedicine that, at this juncture, seem limitless. From a Christian perspective, there is every reason to desire these types of technological advances. It is possible that artificial microbes could produce renewable sources of clean energy. Such advancements would help us to carry out the mandate to care for creation.

Furthermore, the possibility of biomedical advances via artificial life provides the means to “love our neighbors as ourselves” by continuing to strive for better treatments for disease and injuries. Artificial microbes will play a role in finding new treatments and possible cures for sicknesses that, as of now, can’t be effectively treated.

In other words, there are many good reasons for Christians to be excited about the advances that will result from synthetic biology. It would be wise to support efforts to create artificial life—yet there are still legitimate concerns over synthetic biology that need addressing.

Is synthetic biology safe?

When people think of scientists creating life in the lab, images of Frankenstein’s monster likely come to mind. Will scientists make organisms that “turn on their creators”? Will these artificial organisms run amok, causing a disaster of biblical proportions?

On the surface, these are not unreasonable concerns. However, at this point, work in synthetic biology is safe. Furthermore, there is no reason why advances in this field should ever pose a genuine threat to safety.

The protocells developed to date are fragile, metastable systems that cannot survive long even under the most optimal laboratory conditions. As they learn how to develop more robust systems, researchers could potentially design these systems in such a way that they can thrive under controlled conditions, but not outside the lab.

Likewise, the artificial microbes that Dr. Craig Venter and his collaborators are attempting to create from the top-down pose no safety hazard. These cells will be based on the bacterium Mycoplasma genitalium, an obligatory parasite incapable of surviving apart from its host. If the genes critical for mediating the host-parasite interaction are removed from M. Genitalium’s genome, then it will not survive outside the manufacturing facility.

The scientific community has a very good track record when it comes to regulating its activity, at least in these types of disciplines. Genetic engineering and recombinant DNA technology were synthetic biology’s forerunners. After some early success in recombinant DNA research, scientists voluntarily placed a moratorium on this work until safety protocols and other guiding principles could be established. (These guidelines and regulations were developed at the Asilomar Conference in 1975, organized by Paul Berg, a pioneer in recombinant DNA technology.) Scientists willingly adhere to these guidelines. To my knowledge, no significant incident involving recombinant DNA technology has occurred over the last 35 years or so.

There is no reason why something like the Asilomar Conference guidelines couldn’t be developed for artificial cells and protocells. With effective regulations in place, work in synthetic biology can be carried out in a safe manner.

Should scientists “play God”?

Christians’ concerns over synthetic biology extend far beyond ethical and safety considerations. They are worried that scientists are trying to usurp God’s role.

From my perspective, however, as human beings we have no choice but to play God—because we are made in His image. Whenever we create, design, invent, etc., we are manifesting the image of God. And we are also mimicking the Creator, albeit imperfectly.

If God is the Creator of life, then it is just a matter of time before we try to create life as well. Our ability to even attempt to create artificial life stems from the image of God. And if our desire is to use synthetic biology to take better care of the planet, to use resources more wisely, to help the sick, to improve the quality of life for people all over the world, then I maintain that there is nothing wrong with playing God.

The problem is not in playing God. The problem occurs when we try to usurp God’s authority. This was the sin committed at the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1–8). As I understand it, the construction of a tower reaching to the heavens, in and of itself, was not the problem. It was the motivation behind it. The builders desired to be like God, to take His place.

Unfortunately, this is the attitude of some—not all—of the scientists who work in synthetic biology. They see their work as pounding another nail in God’s coffin. This arrogance is the reason why Christians need to engage synthetic biology. This is why Christians in science need to become active in this field. If we don’t, we will have capitulated this very important technology into secular hands.

Endnotes:

1. See these articles for more details on life’s complexity: “Biochemists Ask, ‘How Low Can Life Go?’”, “More Complex than Imagined, Part 1 (of 2),” and “More Complex than Imagined, Part 2 (of 2).”

2. Here are two articles that give a good sense of the progress in the quest to make artificial cells: “The Celebrity of Artificial Life” and “Artificial Life: Ready or Not Here It Comes.”

3. See note 2 for articles in support of this conclusion.

Dr. Rana has a Ph.D. in biochemistry and he's the vice president of research and apologetics at Reasons To Believe. Click here to listen to his recent appearance on SBE.

Brennan Manning has touched countless lives with his message that God is a daddy who passionately loves us as we are, not as we should be. Now in the winter of his life, Brennan has given us the costly gift of a brutally (and beautifully) honest look at the man behind that message.

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Join us on this edition of Steve Brown Etc. as we talk with John Blase, co-author of Brennan Manning's latest, and likely last, book All Is Grace: A Ragamuffin Memoir. It's the story of a son, brother, soldier, priest, husband, author, speaker, alcoholic and beloved child of Abba who has come to embody the radical message of the gospel of grace.

John Blase is the developmental editor for David C. Cook Publishing. He's the author of Touching Wonder: Recapturing the Awe of Christmas and co-author, along with Brennan Manning, of the children's book Smack Dab in the Middle of God's Love.

It was a year of populist uprisings, economic downturns, political assassinations, and one scandal after another. But as I point out in this week’s vodcast, on the civil liberties front, things were particularly grim.

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Constitutional attorney John W. Whitehead is founder and president of The Rutherford Institute and author of The Change Manifesto. He can be contacted at johnw@rutherford.org. Information about The Rutherford Institute is available at www.rutherford.org.

John W. Whitehead's weekly commentaries are available for publication to newspapers and web publications at no charge. Please contact marketing@rutherford.org to obtain reprint permission.

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After a careful survey of all the important topics we could cover to set the tone for 2012 on Steve Brown Etc., we decided on Justin Bieber's new tattoo of Jesus (see pic).

Seriously, Cathleen Falsani is an award-winning veteran journalist and syndicated religion columnist who is best known for her personal interview profiles of Barack Obama, Bono, Anne Rice, and many others. In her new book, Belieber!: Fame, Faith, and the Heart of Justin Bieber, Cathleen turns the spotlight on the insanely popular teen megastar for an in-depth look at his surprisingly humble faith. What kind of influence is he having on the hearts and minds of his global audience? Start clicking.

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Join Tullian Tchividjian on Steve Brown Etc. as we talk about the radical good news in his book, Jesus + Nothing = Everything. It just might set you free!

Tullian is Billy Graham's grandson and pastor of one of America's best-known churches, Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Having acknowledged this real problem towards being trendy I retain a deep and growing concern that churches (in general) have very little idea about how much the shifts in values and religious practices have impacted the mission field that we call the United States of America. There can be no serious doubt that the religious makeup of our population is shifting very rapidly. And there can be no serious doubt that most Christians understand very little about what these trends actually mean for the future of mission in America. One of the core values of a missional church is that the whole church will seek to incarnate the whole gospel in ways that serve the people who are their neighbors. The church does not so much do mission as the church IS mission. For this to happen we need to equip people to exegete culture. And this requires us to teach some basic principles of contextualization. I am not suggesting that we need to teach academic courses on mission to the congregation, as I studied such issues in doing a degree in mission in 1973. But I am suggesting that we need to teach people who their neighbors really are and how they really live and think. We do this when people go to a far away land as missionaries but we forget that the same is increasingly needed in America. I was reminded of this by two recent Barna Research Reports about changes in American religious views and practice.

In a November 3 report Barna noted that 15% of Americans say their experiences with religion have caused them to question God, a sentiment most common among 20-somethings, college grads, unmarried adults, non-Christians, and unchurched adults. Similarly, 16% of Americans have been hurt by experiences in churches. This perception is most common among women, Boomers, and divorced adults. This report does not surprise me since I've noticed this through my own ministry over the past five years.

In a November 19 Barna report we learn that 1 in 9 young people who grow up with a Christian background loses their faith in Christianity. 4 in 10 become nomads and wander away from the institutional church. They still call themselves Christians but are far less active in church than they were during high school. Another 2 in 10 young Christians feel lost between the "church culture" and the society they feel called to influence. "I want to be a Christian without separating myself from the world around me" typifies this group. Only about 3 in 10 young people who grow up with a Christian background stay faithful to church and to faith throughout their transitions from the teen years through their twenties. Read that again. Only 3 in 10 young people who grow up in Christian homes stay faithful to the church through the transition years between their teens and twenties, thus our failure to truly disciple our own young people is very evident. Will churches consider these extremely important facts in their plans for ministry to teens and young adults?

John H. Armstrong is founder and president of ACT 3, a ministry for the advancement of the Christian Tradition in the third millennium. He is a former pastor and church-planter, of more than twenty years, the author/editor of eight books, and the author of hundreds of magazine, journal, and Web based articles. John has served as the editor-in-chief of ACT 3 Review: A Journal for Faith, Church and Culture since its origin in 1992. But most importantly, he is our go-to professional religionist.

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Listen and experience the magic of dueling Christmas music, the out-scrooging of the Old White Guy, and even a touch from the Christmas Spirit.

This is the place for radical freedom and infectious joy to the world. Heck, Steve may even throw in some free sins!

And from everyone here at Steve Brown Etc., have a Merry Christmas!

At this seminar, I found that there were bright and gracious people from most of the major religions of our time. There was a strong representation of Muslims, Jews, and Christians. While other religions such as Buddhism and Hinduism had limited representation, there were enough present that their voices could be heard.

Those at the gathering represented the voices of moderation from these various religious traditions and that was the problem. By the end of the meeting, I had the sense that we could all stand together, holding hands in a circle, and sing “Kum Ba Yah.” There was a good feeling and sense that we were all committed to encouraging a better understanding across religious lines, and also committed to finding ways to work together to create a world marked by peace and harmony, on the one hand, and an end of oppression and poverty, on the other. The unacknowledged elephant in the room was that the problem was not with the various segments of religious communities that were there represented. The problem was (and we are reluctant to talk about it) that in each of these religious traditions there are fundamentalist extremists who will settle for nothing less than the annihilation of those whom they believe to be competitors in the marketplace of religious ideas and forms of worship.

Christianity isn’t the only group that has fundamentalists. We are well aware that in every one of the religious traditions there are extremists groups and little was said as to how to establish communications with these groups so as to facilitate non-destructive modes of behavior that would leave room for deep commitments to the core beliefs of the respective faith traditions, while finding common ground wherein a unified humanity could be established. There was a failure to see that in today’s world, the voices of moderation are becoming fewer and fewer, while extremist groups are growing in size and are flexing more and more political muscle. It should be obvious to those of us who are Christians that the reality is that attendance and membership for mainline churches is in rapid decline, whereas fundamentalist churches are growing in size and significance. It is also obvious that similar tendencies are evident in other religions. It is imperative in a world in which religion is increasingly the basis of militaristic conflict that communication be established with the growing sectors of fundamentalist communities so that a dialogue that creates understanding and respect for those who differ becomes an ongoing reality.

Among the issues that were not discussed, but should have been discussed, is the fact that in several Muslim countries, such as Malaysia, interfaith dialogue has become impossible. Muslims are allowed to share their faith with Christians, but Christians are not allowed to share their faith with Muslims. If Christians dare to do this, they risk their lives. There is even the possibility of capital punishment in sharing one’s beliefs with Muslims. Little was said about what each group of moderates in that room would be able to do to diminish the extremism in their respective religions.

What is especially important is addressing the question of how religion can be enforced through political means and what can be done to create a political environment that, on the one hand, acknowledges the role of religion in society, while on the other hand does not impose one religion on the populace at the expense of all others.

It has been said that people never do evil with more enthusiasm than when they do it in the name of God. Samuel Huntington, the Harvard political scientist, predicted that unless something is done about the problem which I have cited, the 21st century will be marked by religious wars and, because of the instruments of war that are now available, will be the most deadly and ferocious of all time.

I am looking for suggestions on what we can do about extremists within our own society? They cannot be ignored. Edmund Burke once said that all that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing. It is important that people with deep commitments to their own spiritual traditions figure out ways of connecting with the extremists within their faith orientations and get the discussion going as to what love and justice require for their religious brothers and sisters and those brothers and sisters in other traditions.

Tony Campolo joins us regularly on Steve Brown Etc. He's professor emeritus at Eastern University and the founder of the Evangelical Association for the Promotion of Education, an organization that develops schools and social programs in various third world countries and in cities across North America. He's the author of over 35 books, blogs regularly at his website, redletterchristians.org, and can also be found on both Facebook and Twitter

But most importantly, Tony is Our Favorite Lib. Click here for Tony's latest appearance on Steve Brown Etc.

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Tony Campolo joins us regularly on Steve Brown Etc. He's professor emeritus at Eastern University and the founder of the Evangelical Association for the Promotion of Education, an organization that develops schools and social programs in various third world countries and in cities across North America. He's the author of over 35 books, blogs regularly at his website, RedLetterChristians.org, and can also be found on both Facebook and Twitter

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Join Mark Galli on Steve Brown Etc. as we talk about his new book, Chaos and Grace: Discovering the Liberating Work of the Holy Spirit. It may not be the most comforting thought, but Galli shows how the way to a fresh experience of God's grace and unconditional love is often through crisis.

If you're going through a tough time, don't miss this one!

Mark Galli is senior managing editor of Christianity Today and the author, co-author and editor of several books. Visit Mark's blog at MarkGalli.com.

There is a lot of faking cheer this season; people looking to fit in, people wanting to “be good,” people unable to feel what is really inside of them, people intentionally distracted by the bells and lights and ribbons and bows.

For decades, I have felt like other people minimize my pain or experience. Every time someone says one of any number of cheery bible quotes, encourages me to “think on the bright side!”, or tells me to “just snap out of it!” I internally foam at the mouth.

My fear and disgust reached a point where even if someone who knew me well, someone who cared about me and knew my story, began to suggest any kind of positive thinking or ideas of gratefulness, I was offended. I felt hurt and minimized, as if they really didn't understand anything. I would spin into a whirlwind of feeling broken and angry and upset. “You just don't get it!” I would say.

Lately, a particular person in my life has been encouraging me to think more positively. I would have flipped him out at one point, but his genuine care and kindness toward me has slowly begun to wear down my rage. He acknowledges my pain and suffering, he does not minimize it, but at the same time encourages me to look for the positives, for the light.

I never realized how angry and defensive I was against positive thinking until this past week. After a conversation, all I could do was sit in my car and seethe. I wanted to run away, to escape the pressure. But somehow my ears finally heard “It does not take away from your experiences, but it enriches your life” sentiment from someone I trusted, and who I know wants what is best for me.

My therapist couldn't say it so that I could hear it. I would sit in the chair across from him and stick my tongue out every time he tried. But he has been wearing down my resistance, also. Slowly, over time, I am learning that it can be okay to be okay. My story is not minimized by my choosing to see some light in the world. Even though many people decide to give this kind of unsolicited advice, I have people invested in my life who give it, as well. With a consistent gentleness that I am finally beginning to hear.

My spiritual exercise this advent has been to seek out the smallest goodness, to revel in it as if it were the only thing in existence, to acknowledge that there are wisps of moments where something may even bring joy. I choose to count my blessings, to imagine joy, to find the good.

As I start to name things, I realize that my internal self rebels. Everyone will think you're all better, it whispers. You won't be able to still be broken, it promises.

I try to name things anyway. I try to choose the positive. I choose to hope, even though the world inside (and outside) of me feels bereft.

Renée Altson is the author of Stumbling Toward Faith, a photographer, and a web developer. She lives with her husband, daughter, and 2 cats in Southern California. Click here to listen to Renée on Steve Brown Etc.

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Join Chuck Colson on Steve Brown Etc. as we talk about ethics and his new DVD series, Doing the Right Thing.

As a new Christian, Colson founded Prison Fellowship in 1976 after doing time for Watergate-related charges. (He was President Nixon's "hatchet man.") He's also the founder of the Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview, the author of over 30 books and the host of Breakpoint.

Find out more about the six-part exploration of ethics Colson put together with Brit Hume, Ben Stein, Dr. Robert George and others at DoingTheRightThing.com.

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Join Tullian Tchividjian on Steve Brown Etc. as we talk about the radical good news in his book, Jesus + Nothing = Everything. It just might set you free!

Tullian is Billy Graham's grandson and pastor of one of America's best-known churches, Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

"It's the closest that a man will ever come to experiencing the pain of childbirth," the attending nurse proclaimed with a noticeable glee in her eyes. Her comment only added to my misery as I writhed in pain on a stretcher in the emergency room, waiting to pass a kidney stone.

Mineral deposits such as those that formed in my kidneys develop in one out of ten people during their lifetime and account for nearly ten out of every 1,000 hospital admissions.¹ Stones can result whenever a chemical imbalance occurs in the kidney. The type of stone that forms depends upon the exact nature of the chemical imbalance and reflects different etiologies (causes). Calcium oxalate stones, the most common type, result from dehydration or excess levels of oxalate in the diet. (Oxalate is found in certain vegetables, nuts, berries, chocolate, and tea. ²) Sodium urate stones, a second type, are caused by an inborn error in metabolism that leads to excessive production of uric acid.³

Uric acid is the breakdown product of adenine and guanine (key components of DNA and RNA). As a normal metabolic activity, the cell turns over biomolecules-continually replacing "older" molecules with newly synthesized ones, thereby maintaining structural and functional integrity. The cell recycles most of the adenine and guanine generated from the breakdown of nucleotides (the building blocks of DNA and RNA) through what biochemists call the salvage pathways. Still, the cell targets a significant portion of adenine and guanine for breakdown and secretion in the form of uric acid.⁴

Uric acid possesses low solubility in blood serum, causing it to readily precipitate into the urinary tract if the body dehydrates or generates an excessive amount of the product (which can occur if the enzymes of the salvage pathway are defective).⁵

Except for primates, including human beings, all mammals further metabolize uric acid to a more soluble derivative. Evolutionary biologists suggest that the enzymes responsible for this transformation were lost in the evolutionary process that gave rise to primates (and humans).⁶ For these scientists, the elimination of adenine and guanine in the form of uric acid argues potently for evolution, since it appears to reflect poor design.⁷ Why would an all-powerful and all-knowing Creator put into place an imperfect biochemical process that leaves human beings so susceptible to kidney stones (and other disorders, like gout)? Evolutionists would maintain that the adenine and guanine elimination pathways represent nothing more than an evolutionary "kluge" job, an imperfection that barely gets the job done-not a Creator's perfect handiwork.

This perspective fails to consider, however, uric acid's full range of metabolic properties, some of which are beneficial. This compound is a potent antioxidant that scavenges the chemically corrosive hydroxyl free radical, singlet oxygen, and superoxide anion, all produced by the metabolic pathways that the cell uses to harvest chemical energy.⁸ The high levels of uric acid in the blood serum, though precariously poised to form stones in the urinary tract, also help prevent cancer and contribute to long human life spans. For other mammals, the conversion of uric acid to more soluble forms before elimination deprives them of a key antioxidant and limits their life spans.

When considered more broadly, it turns out that the primate adenine and guanine elimination pathways reflect an elegant, rather than a poor, design that finds an important use for a waste product. Though inborn metabolic error in the salvage pathway enzymes accounts for the less-common type of kidney stone, the more-common type is largely preventable by a balanced diet-which seems a small price to pay for cancer prevention and long life spans.

When the pain-killers finally took effect and I'd had a chance to research and reflect on what happened to me, I was able to muster thanks to God for kidney stones. But I don't think anyone will want me to share my story at the Thanksgiving dinner table this year.

References

1. http://www.yourmedicalsource.com/library/kidneystones/KS_whatis.html
2. http://www.urologychannel.com/kidneystones/index.shtml
3. Lubert Stryer, Biochemistry, 3d ed. (New York: W. H. Freeman, 1988), 619-22.
4. Stryer, 619-22.
5. http://www.urologychannel.com/kidneystones/index/shtml, accessed March 11, 2003.
6. Stryer, 619-22.
7. Stephen Jay Gould, The Panda's Thumb: More Reflections in Natural History (New York: W. W. Norton, 1980), 19-26.
8. Stryer, 619-22.

Dr. Rana has a Ph.D. in biochemistry and he's the vice president of research and apologetics at Reasons To Believe. Click here to listen to his recent appearance on SBE.

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Join Skye Jethani on Steve Brown Etc. as he talks about the misguided ways people try to relate to God, and then invites us to a life with God in freedom!

Skye is senior editor of Leadership Journal. He's also a pastor, speaker and author of With: Reimagining the Way You Relate to God. Join Skye online at SkyeJethani.com.

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Time will tell whether the Occupy protests amount to anything more than an expression of discontent on the part of the 99%. However, as I point out in this week's vodcast, what has been made clear, is that the 1% is protected by its own security force—the police—funded ironically enough by the very 99% against whom they are waging war with pepper spray, rubber bullets, tear gas and other instruments of compliance.

Constitutional attorney John W. Whitehead is founder and president of The Rutherford Institute and author of The Change Manifesto. He can be contacted at johnw@rutherford.org. Information about The Rutherford Institute is available at www.rutherford.org.

John W. Whitehead's weekly commentaries are available for publication to newspapers and web publications at no charge. Please contact marketing@rutherford.org to obtain reprint permission.

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Join Beau Armistead on Steve Brown Etc. as we talk about why he traded in his cubicle for a converted school bus and became a nomad.

Beau is a co-founder of Nomad's Land, a place of rest, community and spiritual growth for nomads. Find out more at TheNomadsLand.org.

Also, be sure to go to NomadAuction.com this weekend to buy autographed books and CDs, vacation getaways, handmade items and more. All the proceeds will go to benefit Nomad's Land.

Join us on this edition of Steve Brown Etc. as John Eldredge uncovers the vandalized image of Jesus who he says is far more "playful, funny, earthy, human, irreverent–and unapologetically unreligious" than many think.

John Eldredge is a New York Times bestselling author and the founder of Ransomed Heart Ministries. His new book is titled Beautiful Outlaw: Experiencing the Playful, Disruptive, Extravagant Personality of Jesus. Go to BeautifulOutlaw.net to get info on the Outlawcast with John Eldredge coming up Novermber 14th, watch the trailer for the book and more!

An extremely important part of Christian faith is the hope of triumph over death. It is common to most people, even in other religions and systems, to believe that they will live again after this life is over. There is no evidence that any other creature has such a belief or practice as humans. But what must be continually kept in mind is that there is all the difference in the world between a hope that has reasonable grounds and a hope that is a simply wishful thought. J. B. Phillips said, “In plain sober fact, our hope of passing through death to share in God’s eternal life rests upon Christ’s own demonstration with the enemy, his rising from the dead. It is the crux of the Christian faith.” If Christ was not raised then all his claims are false or irrelevant.

Sooner or later you have to make up your mind. Do you accept as sober historical fact the resurrection of Jesus from the dead? If you think at all you will soon realize there is little basis for your own life after death, and certainly for your own resurrection and the new heavens and new earth (Revelation 21 – 22:4), unless Jesus was truly raised as claimed by the early disciples.

What launched the Christian Church into the ancient world? When I stood in an ancient second century church meeting place in Rome, back in March, I realized in a wholly different and powerful way that these believers gathered in this spot, over the remains of the cult of Mithraism, precisely because they believed Jesus was alive and still with them by the Spirit as he had promised.

John H. Armstrong is founder and president of ACT 3, a ministry for the advancement of the Christian Tradition in the third millennium. He is a former pastor and church-planter, of more than twenty years, the author/editor of eight books, and the author of hundreds of magazine, journal, and Web based articles. John has served as the editor-in-chief of ACT 3 Review: A Journal for Faith, Church and Culture since its origin in 1992. But most importantly, he is our go-to professional religionist.

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Join Travis on Steve Brown Etc. as he talks about living the real-life horrors of learning his father is a serial killer and his "journey through hell that led to heaven."

Travis Vining is the author of Transforming Darkness to Light for Giving: Spiritual Lessons from My Life with a Serial Killer and he facilitates intensive healing retreats that focus on family of origin issues.

Get Travis' book and find out more at VictoryThroughPeace.com.

In Revelation 3, the Lord speaks and refers to those in the church at Laodicea as being neither cold nor hot, but instead so lukewarm that He says, “I will spew thee out of my mouth.” The prophecy preachers not only see the verses about Laodicea in Revelation 3 as referring to a church in the first century, but also see Laodicea as representing the last stage of history prior to the Second Coming.

They point to verse 17 and its reference to the growing materialism that causes people to turn away from God and feel that they are in need of nothing, when in reality, they are “wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.” In summation, there is a consensus among Evangelicals that the world is getting worse and worse and worse until it gets so bad that the trumpet will have to sound and Jesus will then, out of necessity, bring this perverse and disintegrating world to an end with His Second Coming.

The reality is that those prophecy preachers are half right. Evil has never been more evident in the world than it is today. The forces of darkness have never flexed their muscles and threatened the wellbeing of the people of God as they do in this present time. Wars are more devastating; sexual perversity has never been more evident; corruption in the political/economic systems of the world has become so pervasive that there are social scientists who ask whether the political/social systems of this world will be able to last for another generation.

In addition to the prophecy preachers who see only negative things ahead for us, there are also the secular alarmists who declare that we are facing an environmental crisis which will make life on the planet impossible. They tell us that global warming continues. We will be inundated by flooding and such extreme meteorological conditions that people will have to face the possibility of a coming ice age. Some of my friends who are very concerned about nuclear disarmament predict that it’s only a matter of time before the elements for making hydrogen bombs will be in the hands of terrorists with the inevitable results being massive destruction. In short, you don’t have to be religious to be a prophet of gloom and doom.

I believe that we ought to get our vision of the future from Jesus, especially from what He says as recorded in Matthew 13. From verses 24 through 30, Jesus gives His view of historical developments. He makes it clear that the Kingdom of God is like wheat planted in a field and, as it grows, the evil one (i.e., Satan) comes and plants tares (weeds). The wheat and the tares are growing up together and the servants of the Master come to him and say, “What shall we do? Shall we pull out the weeds?” The Master tells them, “You can’t do that without destroying most of the wheat.” The Master goes on to say, “Let the wheat and the tares grow up together until the end. Then shall come the separation of the wheat from the tares.”

Jesus makes it clear in this parable that the tares are representative of the kingdom of evil, and thus He would agree with those persons who see evil on the increase everywhere they look. Indeed, He would affirm those who would declare that the kingdom of evil has never been stronger or more evident than it is in today’s world. However, Jesus goes on to point out that the wheat is also growing, which is to say that the Kingdom of God is also on the increase and will continue to grow and manifest itself in history until the Second Coming of the Lord. That’s the good news—that in the midst of the threatening growth of the kingdom of evil, the glorious growth of the Kingdom of God occurs simultaneously.

To those who say they don’t see the Kingdom of God on the increase, I have to answer, “That’s because you are myopic. You only see what’s going on in North America.” Within the United States and Canada, the Church is in decline. Fewer and fewer people are into the things of God. The breakdown of the family is everywhere evident. Pornography pervades all forms of entertainment, from magazines to movies to television. Corruption in the business sphere seems to be on a greater scale than ever before. Everywhere there is evidence of people turning away from God. All of this is true, and we tend to think that North America represents what’s going on in the rest of the world. It doesn’t. The Church is growing in Africa at such a rate that there are over 50,000 baptisms every week. In Latin America, Evangelicalism is exploding so that this past Sunday there were more people in Evangelical churches than in all other kinds of churches combined. The largest congregation in the world is not Saddleback Church in California, but the church in Korea where there are over a million members and as many as 700,000 in attendance on Sunday morning. Outside of the North American continent, there is an ingathering of converts that exceeds anything hitherto known in human history. Add to that the tremendous social progress that has taken place, especially at the hands of the Church. For instance, 25 years ago, one out of every six persons on the planet had no access to clean drinking water. Today, studies reveal that it is one out of twelve that have no access to clean drinking water. In case you didn’t figure it out, the situation has improved 100 percent and that is largely due to church groups going to developing countries and drilling wells so the people can have clean drinking water.

Extreme poverty has been cut in half since the 1980s. Life expectancy around the world has doubled in the last 100 years. Thirty years ago, 80 percent of the population of the planet was illiterate. Today, statistics reveal that illiteracy rates have dropped to 25 percent of the world’s population.

Decent housing has been provided for a huge portion of the world’s population, and the median income of people around the world has increased dramatically over the last century.

None of those social scientists who have studied this incredible progress will deny that the Church of Jesus Christ has played a major role in these positive developments. So I say that while evil may be on the increase, so is God’s Kingdom. My interpretation of the parable of the wheat and the tares is not simply a subjective interpretation. If you read Matthew 13:36-43, you will discover that I am only restating what Jesus declares as the meaning of the parable.

The good news is that, as strong and as evident as evil proves to be, God is at work in the world through His Church and, as Billy Graham has said, “If you read the Bible, you will discover ‘WE WIN!’”

Contrary to T.S. Eliot’s statement that the world would not end with a bang, but with a whimper, we declare what Scripture says and boldly tell the world, “The kingdoms of this world have become the Kingdom of our God and He shall reign forever and ever!”

Jesus is coming back and, as it says in the first chapter of Philippians, the good work that He began in us, He will complete on the day of His coming. The future is bright because we have the promise of Jesus that His Kingdom will grow until the end, and at the end all that is evil and perverse will be destroyed. His Kingdom will come on earth as it is in Heaven. Faith, as you know, is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. To be Christian is to have faith and, thus, be people of hope in the midst of a world where evil is all too evident. Missionaries working in Third World countries; churches sharing their resources with the poor and oppressed of developing nations; church growth, seldom seen in North America, is evident around the world. Praise God for what the Church and its missionaries have accomplished in His name and through His power.

Tony Campolo joins us regularly on Steve Brown Etc. He's professor emeritus at Eastern University and the founder of the Evangelical Association for the Promotion of Education, an organization that develops schools and social programs in various third world countries and in cities across North America. He's the author of over 35 books, blogs regularly at his website, redletterchristians.org, and can also be found on both Facebook and Twitter

But most importantly, Tony is Our Favorite Lib. Click here for Tony's latest appearance on Steve Brown Etc.

According to a recent article by Whitehead, warrantless SWAT team raids are becoming commonplace and a rising number of innocent people are being subjected to brutal tactics in the failed war on drugs. All the while the Fourth Amendment is going up in smoke.

Join John W. Whitehead on this edition of Steve Brown Etc. as we talk about his article The War on Drugs Has Become the War on the American People and discuss repealing the pot prohibition.

John W. Whitehead is the author of The Change Manifesto and president of The Rutherford Institute, one of America's premier civil liberties organizations.

"On July 29, 2008, my family and I were terrorized by an errant Prince George's County SWAT team. This unit forced entry into my home without a proper warrant, executed our beloved black Labradors, Payton and Chase, and bound and interrogated my mother-in-law and me for hours as they ransacked our belongings… As I was forced to kneel, bound at gun point on my living room floor, I recall thinking that there had been a terrible mistake. However, as I have learned more, I have come to understand that what my family and I experienced is part of a growing and troubling trend where law enforcement is relying on SWAT teams to perform duties once handled by ordinary police officers."—Maryland Mayor Cheye Calvo in testimony before the Maryland Senate

Insisting that the "damage done by drugs is felt far beyond the millions of Americans with diagnosable substance abuse or dependence problems," President Obama has declared October 2011 to be National Substance Abuse Prevention Month. However, while drug abuse and drug-related crimes have unquestionably taken a toll on American families and communities, the government's own War on Drugs has left indelible scars on the population.

Indeed, although the Obama administration has shied away from using the phrase "War on Drugs," its efforts to crack down on illicit drug use—especially marijuana use—have not abated. Just consider—every 19 seconds, someone in the U.S. is arrested for violating a drug law. Every 30 seconds, someone in the U.S. is arrested for violating a marijuana law, making it the fourth most common cause of arrest in the United States.

So far this year, approximately 1,313,673 individuals have been arrested for drug-related offenses. Police arrested an estimated 858,408 persons for marijuana violations in 2009. Of those charged with marijuana violations, approximately 89 percent were charged with possession only. Moreover, since December 31, 1995, the U.S. prison population has grown an average of 43,266 inmates per year, with about 25 percent sentenced for drug law violations.

The foot soldiers in the government's increasingly fanatical war on drugs, particularly marijuana, are state and local police officers dressed in SWAT gear and armed to the hilt. These SWAT teams carry out roughly 50,000 no-knock raids every year in search of illegal drugs and drug paraphernalia. As author and journalist Radley Balko reports, "The vast majority of these raids are to serve routine drug warrants, many times for crimes no more serious than possession of marijuana… Police have broken down doors, screamed obscenities, and held innocent people at gunpoint only to discover that what they thought were marijuana plants were really sunflowers, hibiscus, ragweed, tomatoes, or elderberry bushes. (It's happened with all five.)"

Take the case of Philip Cobbs, an unassuming 53-year-old African-American man who cares for his blind, deaf 90-year-old mother and lives on a 39-acre tract of land that's been in his family since the 1860s. Cobbs is the latest in a long line of Americans to find themselves swept up in the government's zealous pursuit of marijuana. On July 26, 2011, while spraying the blueberry bushes near his Virginia house, Cobbs noticed a black helicopter circling overhead. After watching the helicopter for several moments, Cobbs went inside to check on his mother. By the time he returned outside, several unmarked police SUVs had driven onto his property, and police in flak jackets, carrying rifles and shouting unintelligibly, had exited the vehicles and were moving toward him.

Although the officers insisted they had sighted marijuana plants growing on Cobbs' property (they claimed to find two spindly plants growing in the wreckage of a fallen oak tree), their real objective was clear—to search Cobbs' little greenhouse, which he had used that spring to start tomato plants, cantaloupes, and watermelons, as well as asters and hollyhocks. The search of the greenhouse turned up nothing more than used tomato seedling containers. Incredibly, police had not even bothered to secure a warrant before embarking on their raid of Cobbs' property—part of a routine sweep of the countryside in search of pot-growing operations that had to cost taxpayers upwards of $25,000, at the very least.

Thankfully for Cobbs, no one was hurt during the warrantless raid on his property. However, that is not the case for many Americans who find themselves on the wrong end of a SWAT team raid in search of marijuana. For example, on May 5, 2011, a SWAT team kicked open the door of ex-Marine Jose Guerena's home during a drug raid and opened fire. Thinking his home was being invaded by criminals, Guerena told his wife and child to hide in a closet, grabbed a gun and waited in the hallway to confront the intruders. He never fired his weapon. In fact, the safety was still on his gun when he was killed. The SWAT officers, however, not as restrained, fired 70 rounds of ammunition at Guerena—23 of those bullets made contact. Guerena had had no prior criminal record, and the police found nothing illegal in his home.

Tragically, Jose Guerena is far from the only innocent casualty in the government's War on Drugs. Botched SWAT team raids have resulted in the loss of countless lives, including children and the elderly. Usually, however, the first to be shot are the family dogs. As Balko reports:

When police in Fremont, California, raided the home of medical marijuana patient Robert Filgo, they shot his pet Akita nine times. Filgo himself was never charged. Last October [2005] police in Alabama raided a home on suspicion of marijuana possession, shot and killed both family dogs, then joked about the kill in front of the family. They seized eight grams of marijuana, equal in weight to a ketchup packet. In January [2006] a cop en route to a drug raid in Tampa, Florida, took a short cut across a neighboring lawn and shot the neighbor's two pooches on his way. And last May [2005], an officer in Syracuse, New York, squeezed off several shots at a family dog during a drug raid, one of which ricocheted and struck a 13-year-old boy in the leg. The boy was handcuffed at gunpoint at the time.

Clearly, something must be done. There was a time when communities would have been up in arms over a botched SWAT team raid resulting in the loss of innocent lives. Unfortunately, today, we are increasingly coming to accept the use of SWAT teams by law enforcement agencies for routine drug policing and the high incidence of error-related casualties that accompanies these raids.

What's more, the government is providing incentives to the SWAT teams carrying out these raids through federal grants such as the Edward Byrne memorial grants and the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) grants. As David Borden, the Executive Director of Drug Reform Coordination Network (DRCNet), pointed out, "The exact details on how Byrne and COPS grants are distributed has not been studied, at least not to my knowledge, but an examination of grant applications by one of my colleagues found that they overwhelmingly focus on the number of arrests made, particularly drug arrests. Byrne grants also fund the purchase of equipment for SWAT teams."

Unfortunately, while few of these raids even make the news, they are happening more and more frequently. As Borden notes, "In 1980 there were fewer than 3,000 reported SWAT raids. Now, the number is believed to be over 50,000 per year…About 3/4 of these are drug raids, perhaps more by now, the vast majority of them low-level." Balko's research reinforces this phenomenon. Based on more than a year's worth of research and culled only from documented SWAT team incidents, Balko cites "40 cases in which a completely innocent person was killed. There are dozens more in which nonviolent offenders (recreational pot smokers, for example…) or police officers were needlessly killed. There are nearly 150 cases in which innocent families, sometimes with children, were roused from their beds at gunpoint, and subjected to the fright of being apprehended and thoroughly searched at gunpoint. There are other cases in which a SWAT team seems wholly inappropriate, such as the apprehension of medical marijuana patients, many of whom are bedridden."

Despite the government's current fanaticism about marijuana, America has not always been at war over the cannabis plant. In fact, in 1619, all farmers of the Jamestown colony were required to grow cannabis for rope and other military purposes. Over the next 200 years, a variety of laws required hemp harvesting. In some cases, landowners could be imprisoned for neglecting their duty to grow hemp. Oftentimes, a surplus of hemp could be used as legal tender, even for paying taxes. In 1850, there were 8,327 hemp plantations in the U.S.

It was only later, during the early 20th century, that the government embarked on an all-out assault on marijuana, largely due to corporate business considerations that favored the production of cotton over hemp and racist policies that tied Hispanics and blacks to marijuana use. For example, even though blacks only account for 15% of the drug using population (with whites making up a growing part of the market), the vast majority of drug arrests and convictions affect black drug users. Incredibly, more than 70% of prisoners convicted of nonviolent drug offenses are black or Latino.

The time has come to put an end to the government's racially-weighted, militant war on marijuana. It is a failed, costly and misguided program that has cost the country billions. As critics rightly point out, the war on marijuana has also resulted in a massive increase in incarceration rates. According to Joe Klein, writing for Time, "We spend $68 billion per year on corrections, and one-third of those being corrected are serving time for nonviolent drug crimes. We spend about $150 billion on policing and courts, and 47.5% of all drug arrests are marijuana-related."

Worse, the government's War on Drugs seems to have actually exacerbated the drug problems in this country, funding criminal syndicates and failing to restrict its availability or discourage its use. Indeed, the National Survey on Drug Use and Health revealed that as recently as 2005, 58% of the public found marijuana readily available, with 50% of 12 to 17 year olds declaring it easy to get.

A growing number of legal scholars, including Bruce Fein, who served as a high-ranking Justice Department official during the Reagan administration, are calling to end the prohibition on marijuana and treat it like alcohol by regulating and taxing it at the state level. Their rationale is that instead of allowing marijuana to flourish as a profitable black market crop, it should be taxed and regulated in a manner similar to tobacco and alcohol, which many in the medical community believe to be far more harmful than marijuana. Not only would that lessen violent criminal activity associated with the manufacture and sale of marijuana, but it would also provide an economic boost to ailing state and federal coffers. As it now stands, marijuana is the United States' largest cash crop (it brought in an estimated $35 billion in 2005), with a third of this production coming from California where it is the state's largest cash crop.

Recently, over 500 economists led by Nobel Laureate George Akerlof, Daron Acemoglu of MIT, and Howard Margolis of the University of Chicago, signed an open letter to the President, Congress, State Governors, and State Legislatures expounding the immense economic benefits of legalization. They pointed out that if marijuana sales were taxed at the same level as cigarettes and alcohol, the government would make up to $6.2 billion annually. Additionally, a repeal of the prohibition of marijuana would save federal, state, and local governments an estimated $7.7 billion annually by ending the need for enforcement of drug laws.

Acknowledging the medical benefits of marijuana, especially for those who suffer from Alzheimer's, HIV/AIDS, and multiple sclerosis, 16 states as well as the District of Columbia have also legalized it for medicinal purposes. Most recently, the California Medical Association, which represents more than 35,000 physicians statewide, called for the legalization and regulation of the plant.

As always, the special interests have a lot to say in these matters, and it's particularly telling that those lobbying hard to keep the prohibition on marijuana include law enforcement officials and alcoholic beverage producers. However, when the war on drugs—a.k.a. the war on the American people—becomes little more than a thinly veiled attempt to keep SWAT teams employed and special interests appeased, it's time to revisit our drug policies and laws. As Professors Eric Blumenson and Eva Nilson recognize:

During the 25 years of its existence, the "War on Drugs" has transformed the criminal justice system, to the point where the imperatives of drug law enforcement now drive many of the broader legislative, law enforcement, and corrections policies in counterproductive ways. One significant impetus for this transformation has been the enactment of forfeiture laws which allow law enforcement agencies to keep the lion's share of the drug-related assets they seize. Another has been the federal law enforcement aid program, revised a decade ago to focus on assisting state anti-drug efforts. Collectively these financial incentives have left many law enforcement agencies dependent on drug law enforcement to meet their budgetary requirements, at the expense of alternative goals such as the investigation and prosecution of non-drug crimes, crime prevention strategies, and drug education and treatment.

Constitutional attorney John W. Whitehead is founder and president of The Rutherford Institute and author of The Change Manifesto. He can be contacted at johnw@rutherford.org. Information about The Rutherford Institute is available at www.rutherford.org.

John W. Whitehead's weekly commentaries are available for publication to newspapers and web publications at no charge. Please contact marketing@rutherford.org to obtain reprint permission.

The goal was to talk about the role that religion did or didn't play in the life and death of Steve Jobs, whose passing was marked with the kind of flood of digital and literal ink that is reserved for the most beloved members of the Baby Boom Generation.

Think about it. How many major editors and producers in this land of ours are 56 or close to it? This was the end of an era for legions of journalists.

Anyway, Wilken asked a question that rather shocked me. He recalled all of the key elements of the famous "Stevenote" addresses that Jobs so famously delivered at Macworld conferences and other media events announcing new products. You have the smooth and witty pitchman, the almost branded everyman clothing, the looming backdrop of iconic images and funny film clips, etc. A host of digital entrepreneurs have started copying this format, but no one pulled it off like Jobs.

But wait, there is another army of professionals who have mastered this method — big-box, multimedia megachurch pastors. The similarities are striking, although it's clear that Jobs came first.

What is really going on in this scenario? Quite frankly, it's a rite built on a kind of sacramental theology. The goal is to consume the product in an attempt to become as cool and successful as the pitchman/preacher. The goal is to be changed, to merge with the image and become a new person — purchase after purchase.

As the Jobs obituaries rolled out, I was fascinated by two major themes related to this. The first was the uncomfortable reality that Jobs was not, in the end, a very nice person or boss. He was so, so, so driven that he often crushed mortals in his path.

The headline on Religion News Service piece that ran in The Washington Post nailed this:

Epitaph for Steve Jobs: Too great to be good?

Here's a key passage in this piece by reporter David Gibson:

So was Steve Jobs a saint or a jerk? Maybe it’s not an either/or scenario. If greatness and goodness are not necessarily mutually exclusive, the history of actual saints (of the canonized variety) offers plenty of tales of holy men and women who were as hard-driving as Jobs and just as brusque.

St. Jerome, for example, the great fourth-century translator of the Bible, was notoriously testy. His disagreement with longtime friend Rufinus over certain points of theology prompted Jerome to say that Rufinus snorted like a pig and walked like a tortoise.

St. Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Jesuits, could be withering in his criticism of the men under his command, and St. Catherine of Siena had no qualms about telling off the pope in the strongest terms.

Even Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, the modern touchstone for sanctity, could be a sharp-tongued taskmaster. “Is this not a humiliation for you that I, at my age, can take a regular meal and do a full day’s work — and you live with the name of the poor yet enjoy a lazy life?” she wrote to sisters whom she deemed insufficiently industrious.

Ouch.

“That’s like Steve Jobs telling someone the prototype you presented isn’t up to snuff,” said the Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit priest and author of “My Life with the Saints.”

The second subject that drove many of the Jobs hagiographies was the supposedly Zen-like quality that infused his work, which many journalists connected with the Apple czar's youthful turn toward the East and Zen Buddhism in particular. Once again, this is a man who narrated his life with quotes from The Beatles.

Thus, Jobs made the semi-Sixties pilgrimage to India and, many years later, a Zen master performed his wedding and served as the spiritual adviser to NeXT. That was the semi-successful computer company Jobs founded in between the Apple creation story and then his glorious second coming.

The problem, of course, is that no one knows the degree to which this supposed Buddhist influence played in this ultra-secretive man's life. We may have to wait for the biography (and the movie).

Then there was the actual philosophy that Jobs bluntly articulated as the Big Idea behind his life (cue the Stanford University commencement speech). Here's how I summed up this big question in a column for Scripps Howard:

Critics noted that Jobs was a relentless and abrasive perfectionist who left scores of battered psyches in his wake.

Whatever the doctrinal content of his faith, it seemed to have been a Buddhism that helped him find peace while walking barefoot through offices packed with wealthy, workaholic capitalists.

In his Stanford sermon, Jobs urged his young listeners to “trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”

For Jobs, the bottom line was his own bottom line — even when death loomed on the horizon. His ultimate hope was that he, alone, knew what was right.

”Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking,” he concluded. “Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition — they somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

Buddhist? Or radical all-American individualist?

Enjoy the podcast.

Professor Terry Mattingly writes the nationally syndicated On Religion column for the Scripps Howard News Service in Washington, D.C., which is sent to about 350 newspapers in North America. He's also a regular contributor at GetReligion.org and the author of the book Pop Goes Religion: Faith in Popular Culture.

Brennan Manning has touched countless lives with his message that God is a daddy who passionately loves us as we are, not as we should be. Now in the winter of his life, Brennan has given us the costly gift of a brutally (and beautifully) honest look at the man behind that message.

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Join us on this edition of Steve Brown Etc. as we talk with John Blase, co-author of Brennan Manning's latest, and likely last, book All Is Grace: A Ragamuffin Memoir. It's the story of a son, brother, soldier, priest, husband, author, speaker, alcoholic and beloved child of Abba who has come to embody the radical message of the gospel of grace.

John Blase is the developmental editor for David C. Cook Publishing. He's the author of Touching Wonder: Recapturing the Awe of Christmas and co-author, along with Brennan Manning, of the children's book Smack Dab in the Middle of God's Love.

This woman called me “evil” and refused to accept (or even consider) that I had any relationship with God as long as I was taking psychiatric medicines. When I told her that I had been on them at the time I wrote the book, she said I should have put a notice on the book regarding that, as I had been “under the influence.”

Even in the midst of this, the woman was telling me how much my book had helped her, how God had dropped it in her lap at just the right time, but that the person I was now had somehow cancelled all that out.

It was a messy conversation, and many of her words were all too familiar. She didn’t realize that she sounded exactly like some of those described in my book as being hurtful and damaging — she had read those words, but in her frustration she was sounding precisely the same way, without even really hearing herself.

I knew that I have been making progress when the words didn’t trigger me. In a not so recent past, those kind of statements would have me curled over on the floor, triggered, feeling guilt, shame and self-loathing.

Instead, I found myself initially furious, and responding that way. As I re-read her words however, my anger turned to compassion, and sadness.

I’m learning that is the difficulty with publishing something. It can’t help but define the writer, even as the book is written, but at the same time, the writer continues living beyond their work. And a life, unfortunately isn’t re-written and edited, it is simply lived.

My book was written 8 years ago, and while it is a piece of me frozen in transport, that’s also exactly what it amounts to.

A lot of things have happened in the past 8 years of my life; all which changed me in some degree or another, all which gave me new insights, new perceptions, new beginnings. Some of them have been very painful, and I have been shaken even more. My struggle has changed, become more complicated, more frustrating.

Do I dare expose these things without losing more people who have high expectations for me? I have been writing things down, trying to lay out my second book, trying to continue the authentic, open writing I am so known for.

I wonder, dear readers, have you considered the frozen flash nature of your favorite books? Someone as our beloved Steve, of course, spends time with his readers and listeners, and therefore, they are a part of his current life. To some extent, though, we can never really cage someone in. They are their own. Other writers, like me, only have facebook or a blog, and many things go unwritten in those places.

A book can only capture part of a story. A writer is deeper and more dimensional than simply one book. There are active lives being lived in between books, in between sentences and fragments and periods. There are many question marks.

If you have a favorite book or author, even, remember to have grace with them. Remember there is much you may not know outside of those marvelous hundreds of pages that changed your life. Remember that we are all human—subject to the whims and difficulties that change us, solidify us, or altogether redefine us. And most of all, please remember that we are all in this together.

Peace, love, patience, and understanding to all.

Renée Altson is the author of Stumbling Toward Faith, a photographer, and a web developer. She lives with her husband, daughter, and 2 cats in Southern California. Click here to listen to Renée on Steve Brown Etc.

Join Kimberly on this edition of Steve Brown Etc. to hear how she let go of it all and found herself in God's dream, saving thousands from human trafficking, disease and genocide.

(If you're on the front page of the site, click "Read More" to see audio player options.)

Kimberly L. Smith is the president and co-founder of Make Way Partners, a mission organization committed to ending human trafficking. She's also the author of Passport through Darkness: A True Story of Danger and Second Chances. Find out more at KimberlyLSmith.com and get involved at MakeWayPartners.org.

Get your tickets today!

Synopsis from CourageousTheMovie.com:

Four men, one calling: To serve and protect. As law enforcement officers, Adam Mitchell, Nathan Hayes, David Thomson, and Shane Fuller are confident and focused. Yet at the end of the day, they face a challenge that none of them are truly prepared to tackle: fatherhood.

While they consistently give their best on the job, good enough seems to be all they can muster as dads. But they're quickly discovering that their standard is missing the mark.

When tragedy hits home, these men are left wrestling with their hopes, their fears, their faith, and their fathering. Can a newfound urgency help these dads draw closer to God … and to their children?

Filled with action-packed police drama, COURAGEOUS is the fourth film from Sherwood Pictures, the moviemaking ministry of Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, Georgia. Riveted moviegoers will once again find themselves laughing, crying, and cheering as they are challenged and inspired by everyday heroes who long to be the kinds of dads that make a lifelong impact on their children.

Protecting the streets is second nature to these men. Raising their children in a God-honoring way? That's courageous.