Matt W Cook

Hey every one!
This is Ruth. We are in Canada and I want to thank you all for praying for us through out these past years. I hope we can see many of you soon:)
Here is something I have been meaning to write. Just want to share it with every one. I guess I am just happy about what I have to say that I can’t keep it inside me! :)
As I sit here and think of all the blessings God has bestowed upon me, I think of my best friend and companion that God has given to me – Matthew. There are 2 people in my life who mean so much to me. My dad and my husband. I am blessed that I had a godly father who always loved his Master and was obedient to His Word no matter what. I still try to understand how he could be so enduring, kind and patient! He actually lived out what most people just claim to live for. I miss him so much and the thought of seeing him again excites me!
Matthew reminds me a lot of my dad in a way that he too is so kind, patient and humble. I love him so much and pray that our marriage would bless us and others around us. I truly find it amazing how Matthew adapted my culture, befriended my people and became one of us! Most people who met us for the first time while in Pakistan told me how humble and good man at a heart Matthew was. I am so proud to be his wife:)
I want to tell every one that I am so blessed by God and am very happy. Thank you Matthew for always taking care of me and my family in Pakistan during the hard times. For comforting us all in times of trouble and sorrows. For always showing how much you care and love. I know for sure that you are here for me no matter what and I can always count on you. You are a wonderful husband, great and fun father and my best friend and I love you so much!!!!

It’s nice being back in Canada, but I’m shocked at how suddenly I am busier than I have ever been in my life. If anyone has good advice for getting the plethora of things I want to do done, please let me know!

For now I’ll share a few thoughts I’ve been having.

For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?

So Jesus is on his way down the Via Dolorosa he makes this very enigmatic comment to the women weeping for him. Immediately I wondered what he meant by wood being green. Is it dry yet? I scribbled a few notes into a book I carry around. I don’t know if I have this figured out, but I’ll share what I have.

‘They’ must refer to the authorities, especially the religious authorities with whom Jesus had most of his beef. I think, though, you could take it also to mean society in general, especially (again) religious society. Religious sub-cultures are almost always willing to commit any evil so long as respected religious leaders tell them it’s a good idea.

‘These things’ refer specifically to the crucifixion of Christ. And, by association, refer to every act of deceit, injustice, abuse of power and misuse of truth that the authorities and their followers commit. No one could argue against the fact that these religious leaders completely betrayed their sacred commitment to aid people in coming to a fuller understanding of God and brotherly love. And it seems they did this while the wood was ‘green’.

Green wood. Healthy. Strong. Resistant to burning. The authorities and religious leaders of that day had it made. People respected the institutions that were set up. A rabbi was generally considered a good man. A governor was obeyed. With the right man in charge the conditions were ripe for life, health and resilience. They had a decent shot at fulfilling their purpose.

But they blew it. Big time. And they blew it while all the conditions were right. And now, partially because they blew it, the conditions are no longer right. The institutions have lost the trust of society and, as a result, lost all power to make things right. But they haven’t lost the power to make a buck.

So the wood is dry. A rabbi or pastor or mayor is hard-pressed to make a positive difference in his circles because no one trusts him anymore. But he could still make a profit from his office or religion. And if he can’t make a positive difference anyway, why not just sell out?

Dry wood sucks.

What are you doing in three weeks?

I guess I can’t be sure. I’ve been ‘sure’ of a lot of these over this past three/four years that have never happened. But I think I’ll be walking out of a warm airport into a frigid blast of Canadian February. We’re coming home.

Good or bad? Bitter or sweet?

It’ll be hard leaving the family and friends I have here. It’ll be hard to leave them and this country that I’ve fallen in love with. It’ll be hard to leave the unique opportunities that this place presents us with.
It’ll be good to get to Canada and see the family and friends I have there. It’ll be good to enjoy the great things Canada has and the unique opportunities Canada will present me.

I’m excited to get back. I’m excited about all the great things I will be able to be a part of. Good things are in the future. Pray for us. See ya in a few weeks.

Here I sit again, thinking about my dad…

It’s been a little over three months now. In a way time has passed very slowly yet quickly! I have such amazing memories of my dad and I find myself wanting to be like him. I can’t figure out how he was always so patient and king. Not once in my life did I see him fret. No matter what came up, or how hard life would get, or how sick he would become, he always trusted, always rested in God. And God rewarded him for his faithfulness.

I cannot understand why what happens happens, but I know for sure everything has a reason. God knows the answers to all things and that’s good enough reason to rely on the Almighty and be comforted that he has it all under control.

We have three weeks left until we come to Canada.

Mixed feelings.

When I see my mom and her mourning eyes it crushes me to think about leaving her. I wish I could just take her with me. I didn’t think it would be this tough, but both my mom and I cry when we talk about how I’m leaving. It’s a relief, though, that I won’t be leaving my dad behind in a situation of uncertain health.

Pray for me, eh? For my mom and all my family. I’m blessed in so many ways. I praise God for my family, amazing in-laws, all you friends out there, and Matt and my kids. See ya soon.

I wonder if the church’s shallowness in the creative and professional world is due to shallowness of theology.

The church’s theology and worldview is generally very shallow. A search of the most popular books read by Christians today puts The Shack at the very top with different Max Lucado works not too far behind. And whatever else you can say about the books contemporary Christians read, you could never accuse them of being too deep. Since 2001 I can think of three books that made a mark on the Christian scene. The Prayer of Jabez, The Purpose-Driven Life, and The Shack. I’ve read two of them, and I’m disappointed by them. Not just because they contain things that I disagree with (which they do). I can respect a book I disagree with. I respected Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion. I was disappointed with them because there seemed to be little of significant substance in them. At least Dawkins made me think. At least Dawkins had something profound to offer his readers. Does it not seem that contemporary Christian writers offer little more than witty sayings and neat ideas that bring some encouragement when the going gets rough?
Theology, which ought to be the deepest and most profound and intellectually challenging study out there, is marked as something almost useless at best and dangerously divisive at worst. But the Christian worldview is built on theology! And if our theology is the lite version found in The Shack or Left Behind are we not just drinking the Diet Coke of theology? Lite beer, instead of miraculous wine?
And if our theology is truly shallow, as I’m sure it is, and if our lives are built on our theology, how could we be expected to produce anything deep?

There was a time when Christian thought was deep. People like Dante, Bunyan, Bach, Newton, Lewis, and others, all working in their own fields, generating creative works that have lasted generations. These people sweated to produce things that showed off the Source to the world. Some were not necessarily prolific, but they were all profound. But how can we be expected to be profound today? Our theology isn’t profound. The god we have make for ourselves is certainly not profound. Our religion and sub-culture is anything but profound.

It starts with a right view of God. The profound God. The God that dares you to apply every ounce of intellect toward understanding him and his work. But who dares take Him up on the offer? Why bother, when a much cheaper god is available at every corner bookshop?

A man or woman’s work will always show what his underlying worldview or values are. I am sad to say that I have had more spiritual insight from Stephen King’s The Stand than from The Shack or any other ‘Christian’ novel written in the past ten years.

But I think there is hope. I know people who can shake things up. There are friends of mine who are good at what they do. I have been blessed with amazing friends. Friends who recognized the profoundness of Christ. Who have skill with the pen or brush or tune or thought. I pray the tides will be changed in my generation. Profound Christianity may never be popular, but it should at least be present.

I like big books (and I cannot lie).

I’ve been seriously reading novels for about two years now. Not just as a minor hobby, but really digging into the books, ripping them apart and digesting them. I think I haven’t had a time in the last two years where I wasn’t in the middle of some book. I read just about anything I can get my hands on. I find almost every genre appealing. Right now I’m in the middle of Silence of the Lambs (creepy, I know). I started it yesterday. I think I’ll be done it tonight.

The book that I was reading before Silence of the Lambs was Dan Brown’s Deception Point. What a difference between the two! Deception Point is clever. Silence of the Lambs is profound. Fortunately for Dan Brown, we live in an odd society where cleverness is almost always to be preferred before profoundness. So in the west we now have a society where everyone knows J.K. Rowling, Dan Brown and all their creations, while many may have never even heard of amazing writers like Thomas Harris or the like.

And then I thought of the Christians.

Have you ever read a ‘Christian’ novel or seen a ‘Christian’ movie? Are they not almost always incredibly shallow? Why is that?

I think I’ve made this rant before. Have I? The rant that the Christian world is generally not very good at what it does, especially in regards to creative things. Why is it that to get a deep, profound work of creative genius I need to look to writers who generally deny that creative Source that gave them their creativity?

Are we just lazy? I’d really like to think so. If not, then we’re just stupid and shallow. I think we have a lot to offer and teach and show if we really pulled up our socks and got to it.

More to come later…

I like big books (and I cannot lie).

I’ve been seriously reading novels for about two years now. Not just as a minor hobby, but really digging into the books, ripping them apart and digesting them. I think I haven’t had a time in the last two years where I wasn’t in the middle of some book. I read just about anything I can get my hands on. I find almost every genre appealing. Right now I’m in the middle of Silence of the Lambs (creepy, I know). I started it yesterday. I think I’ll be done it tonight.

The book that I was reading before Silence of the Lambs was Dan Brown’s Deception Point. What a difference between the two! Deception Point is clever. Silence of the Lambs is profound. Fortunately for Dan Brown, we live in an odd society where cleverness is almost always to be preferred before profoundness. So in the west we now have a society where everyone knows J.K. Rowling, Dan Brown and all their creations, while many may have never even heard of amazing writers like Thomas Harris or the like.

And then I thought of the Christians.

Have you ever read a ‘Christian’ novel or seen a ‘Christian’ movie? Are they not almost always incredibly shallow? Why is that?

I think I’ve made this rant before. Have I? The rant that the Christian world is generally not very good at what it does, especially in regards to creative things. Why is it that to get a deep, profound work of creative genius I need to look to writers who generally deny that creative Source that gave them their creativity?

Are we just lazy? I’d really like to think so. If not, then we’re just stupid and shallow. I think we have a lot to offer and teach and show if we really pulled up our socks and got to it.

More to come later…

This was made a while ago, it was just waiting for a decent internet connection:

Hey everyone!

This is Ruth. I, along with my family, am so thankful to all who ever prayed for my father, DevRaj. He no longer lives on this earth but is residing with the King of Kings! I can’t even imagine how happy he must be to be with His Jesus and to fellowship with the One he served all his life! I am looking forward to that glorious future myself.

I want to tell the world about my dear dad. He never met most of you, but the ones he did he remembered in his prayers daily. He was always thankful about how so many of you never stopped supporting him and his family in all the ways you have. Lots and lots of thanks to you all for praying, encouraging and everything. We miss him so much! It’s hard to believe that he is gone…kind of strange that we will not see his face until we see him there…partially sad but a glorious hope. Please keep praying for us all. Especially my mom who feels all alone at this moment…we Pakistani people spend almost all our years with the families and it is just so hard to be away from each other. But I am so thankful that I was here and my visa arrived late. God works all things for good.

I love my dad and am so proud to be his daughter. He gave me all the freedom regardless the cultural/tribal barriers and I’m proud to know that he always encouraged us to accomplish our goals. One BIG thing I noticed was that he was truly a man of God. Faithful, devoted to God, kind and gentle, our good friend. I spent hours talking to him and realized this one thing that mattered to him – trust God no matter what. Follow His lead. Don’t run after this world and its vanity but chase after God. Only He matters. He spent so much time with His God that he actually knew all about his death – how it would take place and even when he’d be buried! He was very perceptive. He loved his God above all. I learned so much from his faithful life and praise God to have been given an amazing godly man. I could go on and on about his character.

Even on his death bed, in the very last moments, he said this to me as I was crying: “God is always faithful and will never leave His people. Be content and happy in all things. We must praise Him in all circumstances.” The thought that gives me peace is that he is up there with his God and have no sickness and totally has a new body. He ran his course well. Praise God!

I’ve been reading a book by Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion. I have half a chapter left, and I’ll probably write a full review at some time. I’ve been itching to deal with one thing I’ve noticed in the book since about chapter three, especially since my father-in-law crossed the river. So I’ll deal with it a little bit right now.

Dawkins talks about the popular idea of NOMA (non-overlapping magisteria). That is, the idea that science cannot comment on things related to religion (and, presumably, that religion cannot comment on things of science). Dawkins denies NOMA, and I think I do, too. Dawkins finds no reason why our scientific knowledge cannot give us a clue to whether there is a God or not and (if he exists) what he is up to. Makes sense to me. But then he takes a fatal turn in his logic.

One of his main arguments is about regress. Where did a God complicated and powerful and personable enough to create such a vast and complex universe come from? Christians give the almost cop-out answer that God was always there and they generally leave it at that. That sort of answer does not satisfy Dawkins. Nor, I suppose, does it satisfy me. It’s a true answer, I think, but it’s missing something.

When we talk about God, especially in regards to his existence, we usually miss the most important concept. If any kind of God exists, he is necessarily transcendent. When we talk about God without keeping utter transcendence in mind we will always make mistakes. God is not a He or a She. He is transcendent. He is not a person as we know people, but he is more like a person than anything we know. We can only imperfectly compare him to things we have come in contact with.

Trying to talk about God is usually like a couple amoebae talking about the scientists that are growing them. The scientists are completely transcendent to the amoebae and there is no way the amoebae can even conceive of the scientists in any real ways (unless the scientists somehow gave them that ability, but that’s another blog).

So when we talk about the God Hypothesis we will be talking utter nonsense unless we acknowledge transcendence. Which is why Dawkins, arguing from a purely biological standpoint, cannot understand why regress cannot end with God. In his book he never argues metaphysically, but any discussion about God must needs be metaphysical. Not to say that science cannot tell us anything about God, but science, because of our own limitations, cannot ‘pin him down.’

This makes me think about my father-in-law. He is the amoeba who has now evolved into something higher. I am sitting here in my little petri dish, my tiny thoughts stabbing in the dark at something beyond me. He has been taken out of the dish and given a chair in the scientist’s house. I can hardly conceive God without falling into idolatry, but he can walk and talk with him now, metaphysically speaking.