Randal Rauser

Home of progressively evangelical, generously orthodox, rigorously analytic, revolutionary Christian thinking (that's what I'm aiming for anyway)

The Ultimate Elevator Pitch Continues: Defending a Worldview in Thirty (or Ninety) Seconds

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Here’s my second (and final) list of elevator pitch worldviews. This time out, we have two entries from outside the Christian worldview courtesy of John Thomas and Jerry Rivard. In addition, we have an interesting entry from Glen Scrivener which was submitted by Mark. Scrivener’s summary is much longer — 90 seconds. Unfortunately, that’s too long even for the elevator in the Burj Khalifa. But I decided to allow it anyway. If you want to see and hear Scrivener rather than simply read him, here’s a link to his video.

30 Seconds

John Thomas

I am an agnostic, but my experience tells me that there is most likely a mind behind the workings of reality; I don’t know anything more about that mind for sure. So I like Stoics just focus on seeking tangible truths grounded on that mind and leading a life of virtue (excellence) in accordance with those truths for the sake of it as best as I can without expecting anything in return. I think that mind behind the reality would most likely be okay with that. I don’t worry about anything else. My spiritual practices include daily mindfulness meditation and frequent contemplative meditation.

Jerry Rivard

From the beginning, there was matter in motion and the laws of physics.  No agent created these, matter just exists and something has to happen when particles interact.  Mindless matter behaving in a consistent manner over the course of infinite time has led, through processes we’re only beginning to understand, to some amazing constructs, including sentient beings.  Sentient beings seek explanations, but nature doesn’t come with a manual, so we sometimes make them up.  Some of these made up explanations evolved into religions.

The process of testing our explanations and rejecting those that prove untrue has enabled us to fulfill our needs and desires with increasingly less time and effort, and to extend individual human lives in terms of both quantity and quality.  Despite inevitable hiccups, these trends will continue for as long as mankind and its progeny survive.

90 Seconds

Glen Scrivener (transcribed by Mark)

In the beginning there was light and life and love. There was a Father loving his Son in the joy of the Holy Spirit. And everything has come from light and life and love. And out of this has come a world that is destined to share in light and life and love.
But you know that this world is not like that. I know this world is not like that. I look around and I see darkness and death and disconnection. Where’s that come from?
Well we’ve turned from the Light and when you turn from the light where else do you go but darkness? And when you turn from Love where else do you go but disconnection? When you turn from life where else do you go but death?
So this is the kind of world we live in. But what does Love do when Love sees the beloved in trouble? Love says, “Your pit will be my pit, your plight will be my plight, your debts will be my debts, your darkness will be my darkness, your death will be my death.”
So who is Jesus? Jesus is love come down. The son of the Father comes and becomes our brother. To be with us in the darkness. To take that darkness on himself on the cross, to take that disconnection on himself. Even to take that death that we all deserve for turning from God. Took that on himself on the cross, plunged it down into the hell that it deserves and he rose up again to light and life and love and he says, “you in the darkness do you want my light? You in death, do you want my life? You in disconnection, do you want my love?”
And anyone who simply says “yes” to Jesus, we get Jesus in our life. We get his Father as our Father, we get his Spirit as our spirit, we get his future as our future. It’s for free and it’s forever. So do you want Jesus?