In chapter seven McLaren talks about Jesus not only talking about the Kingdom of God but "demonstrating" it through signs and wonders. McLaren suggests that the signs and wonders of Jesus have fallen on hard times in the modern world because "Most of us in the modern West--religious or irreligious---have inherited a worldview that was formed largely in the seventeenth century. In this perspective, our world is best compared to a a machine. God, if God exists, created the universe like a huge clock: the complex mechanism was designed and wound up in the beginning, was set in motion, hand has been ticking ever since winding down through a process called entropy"....McLaren goes on to declare that Jesus, "worldview, his model of the universe, was very different--more organic, less mechanistic....God was connected to the universe, present with it, intimately involved with it...so for ancient Jews the universe was not a....mechanistic system. It was an...organic community with both limits and freedom, accountability and responsibility. It had room both for God and humanity. There were limits, and there were order--but there were also breathing room and real possibilities to choose and make a life. In this universe, God gives space and time to live our lives....it's a universe in interactive relationship with God....and....I have become convinced that Jesus worldview is better than ours"...I am sympathetic to McLaren's concern of a mechanistic worldview, particularly in regards to how we have applied this model to so many different aspects of our lives. Four steps to this, twelve steps to that, and the "supposedly" scientific mechanistic solutions to everything from teaching methods in the classroom to making love in the bedroom...It's not that there isn't something valuable to be gained from such mechanistic/systematic approaches but as McLaren's comments imply, the organic, freedom of choice, and "breathing room" aspects that are so important to daily life are ignored in the process....on the other hand....I am also skeptical if not cynical when it comes to "romanticizing" the past. I am not asserting that this is what McLaren's is doing, but one could conclude from his remarks that the worldview and thus the implications of that worldview are superior to our own...which...is problematic from my vantage point because I don't think the vast majority of people living in the time of Jesus lived their lives as if God was an interactive aspect of their daily lives as McLaren's comments seem to suggest. From my reading of the New Testament and history I get the feeling alot of people felt like God had abandoned them and questioned why they were living under the bondage of the religious and secular Roman authorities which dominated their lives...and...I question what "real possibilities to choose and make a life" the people had living under the authorities I previously mentioned. From what I can gather most people living in ancient times where destined to live a life of economic poverty and hardship with little or no hope for change or opportunity to better themselves or their families...I hope this doesn't come across as nitpicking what McLaren is trying to communicate because I do agree with his comments about adopting or creating a perspective on life which is more organic and open to the possibility that God lives amongst us in our daily lives and in our world but I am just questioning to what degree the reality matches the worldview of those who lived during the time of Jesus......At the end of the chapter McLaren says that, "Some scholars see the stories of signs and wonders as fiction--parables, if you will, composed by the early church"....and adds..."Although I respect their differing viewpoint, I am not among them. I believe that signs and wonders actually, factually, clustered around Jesus and his secret message of the Kingdom of God".....McLaren seems to suggest/imply that there is a correlation between the worldview of Jesus and the ancients and the belief in "factual" miracles/signs and wonders....Personally, I am not sure or convinced that one has to "accept as literal history" the signs and wonders, or miracle accounts in the Bible in order to feel or believe that God is present or intimately involved with our world. I am not asserting that miracles didn't or can't happen but I feel like I am surrounded by the miracles of God whenever I eat a good meal, go hiking in a ancient forest, talk on the phone with a friend, feel a cool breeze on my face, listen to the ocean waves or feel the pleasure of making love with a woman I deeply care about and love...