I apologize for taking so long to post this follow-up. I should be posting
chapters 3 & 4 today. However, I've had a long, hard week with some medical
problems and to top it off, I am writing this from the courthouse steps. I was
summoned to jury duty but was just granted a postponement for the aforementioned
medical reasons. Now I am waiting for my husband to pick me up. See? Even I
have to seize the odd opportunities to do Bible study.
I received no replies to the first questionnaire. My mother-in-law tells me she
tried but it would not submit for her. If you also had this problem, would you
please post a reply to this post so that I can investigate further? If you have
not yet signed up for email notifications, you can do yo at the right of the
screen. Or, contact me or post a reply with your email address and I can
manually add you to an email notification list, so you won't miss a study. As
there were no submissions, I suppose that you will have to put up with only my
own thoughts on these chapters.
The first question referred to whether we had ever run into anyone as volatile
and skeptical towards Christianity as the author. Yes, I have met people like
this. I think what motivates them is varied. Sometimes I think they are like the
author and want facts, not theory. I think they want something that they can
see and feel and prove. Sometimes I think it is a case where they have had a
bad experience with a church or a "Christian" and they judge it all to be as
fake and hypocritical. Sometimes I think people are honestly misled. It's the
same as what we Christians are accused of: blindly swallowing what we are fed.
They hear how old and archaic the Bible is or how this or that person or thing
disproves this or that or contradicts this or that and they just fall in without
ever really seeking out the truth for themselves. I always find it funny when
Christians are accused of being close-minded when the very people who say this
don't seem to be open to exploring Christianity as a serious viable option.
The next question asked if there was any part of the author's attitude that we
can personally relate to. I confess the only real part I can relate to is that
I am often frustrated with what I perceive as ignorance. But then I have to stop
and think that I must also be frustrating someone more intelligent than I!
My attitude towards Christianity has changed considerably over the years. You
may find that odd since I was raised in church, but it is true! When I was in
junior high, I learned that I could talk to God as a friend, that He wasn't just
off in some corner of the universe, too busy to be bothered with my puny life.
That changed my whole outlook on God. Another major spiritual event was when my
dad died. I had known people that had died, but never anyone that close to me
before. For the first time, I was confronted with the question, "Do I really
believe what I say I believe? Do I really believe that my dad still exists
somewhere else?" I had to search my heart and soul and ask a lot of hard,
uncomfortable questions that I thought I had already figured out. But, in the
end, my faith was stronger and I KNOW that I know that I know that I will see my
dad again in heaven! On the scale the author gave, I would say Christianity is
rated a 10 on my credibility scale. That's because I have seen God prove
Himself to me over and over again. Time and space and my memory would fail me
to list all of the examples, but allow me to relay one. In a very dark time in
my life, I was staying at my mother's house with my three children. My
then-husband had kicked us out. We had no money and I would not be receiving a
paycheck for a week and a half. Even when I did get it, it would be small and
had to be used for necessities. I ran out of conditioner and foundation
makeup. Not a big deal. In the grand scheme of things, the least of my
worries. So, I would have blotchy skin and tangled hair? Considering I was
homeless, broke, had no car, and was heading for divorce court, who really
cared? The next thing I knew, there was a knock at my mom's door. On the
porch, there were some women from a church that I used to attend and they were
inviting people to a charity event. Before they left, they handed me a bag.
When I opened it, I found cosmetics, including foundation makeup in my shade,
and a bottle of conditioner. It was as though God was saying, "I am concerned
with your details and if I can take care of your details, what do you think I
will do for your needs?" And that's just what He did. After all the things
that I have seen Him do for me, you cannot convince me that there is no God. I
know better.
The next question asked if Christianity is being eclipsed or enhanced by modern
science. I am probably not the person to answer that. I have never been
inclined toward science, which makes my study of this book a little puzzling, I
must admit. I am a right-brainer and therefore am not drawn toward math or
sciences, but towards language arts and creative pursuits. So, really, I have
no opinion whatsoever on the correlation between science and Christianity.
This next question was quite disturbing to me. It related to the quote from
William Provine about the five implications if Darwinism is correct. I think he
is right. If evolution is true, then where does a God fit into that and it
makes Genesis a lie. And if Genesis is a lie, how can you trust anything else
that the Bible says? Truthfully all the implications were disturbing to me. If
there is no God, there is no hope, no order, no love, everything I know is gone
from my world. No life after death is a hopeless, meaningless prospect. It
means funerals are the absolute end, it means are lives are pointless, it means
there is nothing but darkness after this life. If there is no God, how can you
make a foundation for right and wrong? Who's version of right and wrong do we
adopt? Why would your right and wrong be any more valid than mine? This sounds
like total anarchy. I touched on this before when I said if there is no life
after death, there is no meaning to life. If we all are creations of a cosmic
accident, then what is our purpose? There is none. We are here by random. We
are just a jumble of random cells, no more special than a plant, a rock, an
animal. I had a harder time following his implication that people don't have a
free will. Maybe that is a throwback to "survival of the fittest". However, if
we don't have a freewill, that is a disturbing thought, to think that we have no
choices, that we are just mindless, numb apes or robots, wandering this earth
until we die, making no impact on it whatsoever. All are disturbing, but I
think the one that disturbs me the most is the idea that there is no God. The
others hinge on that truth. If there is a God, then there is life after death,
there is a foundation for right and wrong, we have a purpose and free will, and
there IS meaning to life.
The next question that was asked was about how you were first exposed to
Darwin's theories. I think the first time that I remember being exposed to them
was in high school science class (as I attended a public high school). I
remember scoffing at it. I did my assignments and tests as expected, but given
any opportunity, I voiced my opposition. I don't recall seeing any of the
images that were vital to the author's beliefs in evolution, but I'm sure they
must have been in a textbook I studied. I'm guessing that they didn't make that
big of an impression on me.
The next two questions were probably the hardest for me to answer. I am not
sure what to say in response to the quote about science being the only begetter
of the truth. I believe that God and His Word are the only begetters of the
truth, but I am not quite sure how to qualify that statement or if I even need
to. For someone that doesn't come from a background of faith, what WOULD be the
begetter of the truth? I do know that God's Word says that even nature itself
shows God, so wouldn't that speak to science itself proving God's existence?
Guess we will see as we continue this study. I don't know how much confidence I
place in science or what its limits are. I believe God can break the natural
laws that He created when and if He wants to.
Well, I hope that these first two chapters have whet your appetite for this
book. I look forward to hearing from you for chapters 3 and 4!
Sent from my iPhone
problems and to top it off, I am writing this from the courthouse steps. I was
summoned to jury duty but was just granted a postponement for the aforementioned
medical reasons. Now I am waiting for my husband to pick me up. See? Even I
have to seize the odd opportunities to do Bible study.
I received no replies to the first questionnaire. My mother-in-law tells me she
tried but it would not submit for her. If you also had this problem, would you
please post a reply to this post so that I can investigate further? If you have
not yet signed up for email notifications, you can do yo at the right of the
screen. Or, contact me or post a reply with your email address and I can
manually add you to an email notification list, so you won't miss a study. As
there were no submissions, I suppose that you will have to put up with only my
own thoughts on these chapters.
The first question referred to whether we had ever run into anyone as volatile
and skeptical towards Christianity as the author. Yes, I have met people like
this. I think what motivates them is varied. Sometimes I think they are like the
author and want facts, not theory. I think they want something that they can
see and feel and prove. Sometimes I think it is a case where they have had a
bad experience with a church or a "Christian" and they judge it all to be as
fake and hypocritical. Sometimes I think people are honestly misled. It's the
same as what we Christians are accused of: blindly swallowing what we are fed.
They hear how old and archaic the Bible is or how this or that person or thing
disproves this or that or contradicts this or that and they just fall in without
ever really seeking out the truth for themselves. I always find it funny when
Christians are accused of being close-minded when the very people who say this
don't seem to be open to exploring Christianity as a serious viable option.
The next question asked if there was any part of the author's attitude that we
can personally relate to. I confess the only real part I can relate to is that
I am often frustrated with what I perceive as ignorance. But then I have to stop
and think that I must also be frustrating someone more intelligent than I!
My attitude towards Christianity has changed considerably over the years. You
may find that odd since I was raised in church, but it is true! When I was in
junior high, I learned that I could talk to God as a friend, that He wasn't just
off in some corner of the universe, too busy to be bothered with my puny life.
That changed my whole outlook on God. Another major spiritual event was when my
dad died. I had known people that had died, but never anyone that close to me
before. For the first time, I was confronted with the question, "Do I really
believe what I say I believe? Do I really believe that my dad still exists
somewhere else?" I had to search my heart and soul and ask a lot of hard,
uncomfortable questions that I thought I had already figured out. But, in the
end, my faith was stronger and I KNOW that I know that I know that I will see my
dad again in heaven! On the scale the author gave, I would say Christianity is
rated a 10 on my credibility scale. That's because I have seen God prove
Himself to me over and over again. Time and space and my memory would fail me
to list all of the examples, but allow me to relay one. In a very dark time in
my life, I was staying at my mother's house with my three children. My
then-husband had kicked us out. We had no money and I would not be receiving a
paycheck for a week and a half. Even when I did get it, it would be small and
had to be used for necessities. I ran out of conditioner and foundation
makeup. Not a big deal. In the grand scheme of things, the least of my
worries. So, I would have blotchy skin and tangled hair? Considering I was
homeless, broke, had no car, and was heading for divorce court, who really
cared? The next thing I knew, there was a knock at my mom's door. On the
porch, there were some women from a church that I used to attend and they were
inviting people to a charity event. Before they left, they handed me a bag.
When I opened it, I found cosmetics, including foundation makeup in my shade,
and a bottle of conditioner. It was as though God was saying, "I am concerned
with your details and if I can take care of your details, what do you think I
will do for your needs?" And that's just what He did. After all the things
that I have seen Him do for me, you cannot convince me that there is no God. I
know better.
The next question asked if Christianity is being eclipsed or enhanced by modern
science. I am probably not the person to answer that. I have never been
inclined toward science, which makes my study of this book a little puzzling, I
must admit. I am a right-brainer and therefore am not drawn toward math or
sciences, but towards language arts and creative pursuits. So, really, I have
no opinion whatsoever on the correlation between science and Christianity.
This next question was quite disturbing to me. It related to the quote from
William Provine about the five implications if Darwinism is correct. I think he
is right. If evolution is true, then where does a God fit into that and it
makes Genesis a lie. And if Genesis is a lie, how can you trust anything else
that the Bible says? Truthfully all the implications were disturbing to me. If
there is no God, there is no hope, no order, no love, everything I know is gone
from my world. No life after death is a hopeless, meaningless prospect. It
means funerals are the absolute end, it means are lives are pointless, it means
there is nothing but darkness after this life. If there is no God, how can you
make a foundation for right and wrong? Who's version of right and wrong do we
adopt? Why would your right and wrong be any more valid than mine? This sounds
like total anarchy. I touched on this before when I said if there is no life
after death, there is no meaning to life. If we all are creations of a cosmic
accident, then what is our purpose? There is none. We are here by random. We
are just a jumble of random cells, no more special than a plant, a rock, an
animal. I had a harder time following his implication that people don't have a
free will. Maybe that is a throwback to "survival of the fittest". However, if
we don't have a freewill, that is a disturbing thought, to think that we have no
choices, that we are just mindless, numb apes or robots, wandering this earth
until we die, making no impact on it whatsoever. All are disturbing, but I
think the one that disturbs me the most is the idea that there is no God. The
others hinge on that truth. If there is a God, then there is life after death,
there is a foundation for right and wrong, we have a purpose and free will, and
there IS meaning to life.
The next question that was asked was about how you were first exposed to
Darwin's theories. I think the first time that I remember being exposed to them
was in high school science class (as I attended a public high school). I
remember scoffing at it. I did my assignments and tests as expected, but given
any opportunity, I voiced my opposition. I don't recall seeing any of the
images that were vital to the author's beliefs in evolution, but I'm sure they
must have been in a textbook I studied. I'm guessing that they didn't make that
big of an impression on me.
The next two questions were probably the hardest for me to answer. I am not
sure what to say in response to the quote about science being the only begetter
of the truth. I believe that God and His Word are the only begetters of the
truth, but I am not quite sure how to qualify that statement or if I even need
to. For someone that doesn't come from a background of faith, what WOULD be the
begetter of the truth? I do know that God's Word says that even nature itself
shows God, so wouldn't that speak to science itself proving God's existence?
Guess we will see as we continue this study. I don't know how much confidence I
place in science or what its limits are. I believe God can break the natural
laws that He created when and if He wants to.
Well, I hope that these first two chapters have whet your appetite for this
book. I look forward to hearing from you for chapters 3 and 4!
Sent from my iPhone
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