June 27, 2004
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YAHOOOOH!!!! I have finished my June book (I have a goal of reading 12 books this year, 1 every month). It was a fun read as well as enlightening, faith confirming, and head-shaking good time. The author never had this purpose in mind when writing it, but I am even more confirmed in my belief that this universe could have never been created by CHANCE (I am sorry some call it evilution). Today I am 478 pages wiser in my understanding of God's great creation that took Him only seven days to create. It is awesome to have a God who can create breath-taking sunsets, bluer than blue oceans, and extremely complex atoms all for the sake of His glory. All the evidence presented in this book makes an even stronger case for design by God. Otherwise your god is chance and according to a mathematicians world the possibility for evolution to have occurred is impossible.
The following is a quote from the last reading page of the book (emphasis mine):
"If this book has a lesson, it is that we are awfully LUCKY to be here - and by "we" I mean every living thing. To attain any kind of life in this universe of ours appears to be quite an achievement. As humans we are doubly lucky, of course: We enjoy not only the privilege of existence but also the singular ability to appreciate it and even, in a multitude of ways, to make it better. It is a talent we have only barely begun to grasp."
LUCKY? Let's assume he is correct in that we are lucky. Then our ability to appreciate life is also changed since we are now no longer made in God's image but that of an ape. Our ability to appreciate things then ought to be based now on evolutionary standards. Thus the survival of the fittest is how we ought to value all things since it is the greatest thing since spliced atoms. So what we as humans ought to appreciate the most in life is ourselves or the human race since we are ultimately the top of the food chain and the one thing that can survive and master all other life. But alas that is a politically incorrect we need to be tree huggers and animals rights activist - to bad that goes against the theory of evolution and the survival of the fittest. The way I see it is that a true evolutionist will not care for the things of this world that does not make them stronger if he follows through on the logic of evolution. But no one does. It's like the old saying that there are no atheist in foxholes. Luck? Hardly! Fate would be the better word since it indicates that there is something above all of this mere mortal material.
The only way we can truly appreciate this life is to see it as designed by an all powerful being, lets call Him God or Jehovah, and then use the morals, ethics, and the appreciation for life and beauty that can only be instilled by Him to evaluate it. While the authors lesson is flawed his ultimate conclusion is not, only his method of getting there. He said, "We enjoy not only the privilege of existence but also the singular ability to appreciate it and even, in a multitude of ways, to make it better. It is a talent we have only barely begun to grasp." God at creation (see Genesis 1-9) gave man the responsibility to care for the earth and all that was in it. Adam and Eve failed and so has every human since. We are God's stewards of everything here and as His stewards we will someday give an account for how we handled the management of this planet as well that of our lives and those around us.
If you read this book the lessons you need to learn is that our God is an awesome creator and that we have an awesome responsibility to care for what he has bestowed upon us as His stewards of this great planet we call home. Also be advised that the author is heavily biased toward evolutionary thought.
Comments (5)
If you dont mind me asking, what problems made it so you almost didnt marry your wife?
Thanks for visiting my site. Here is my response to your question.
We came to an empass about what we both believed about the transmission and preservation of the Bible. One of us believed (as taught in the home by their father who was a pastor) that we have a faithful translation in only 1 version (KJV) of the Bible . The other that no one translation is 100% faithful. It is only through diligent study of the Scriptures in a varity of acurate translations including the original languages (Greek and Hebrew) that we see how God has preserved the Scriptures for us. This conclusion took about 2-3 years of thought while we dated. Then it has been thought upon more since then due to writing a paper recently on the preservation of the text of Scripture.
While this may seem like a petty difference it is an emotional topic when you have to go against what you've been taught for 20+ years. Luckily those who in our family that hold to a KJV only postion place a higher importance on loving others and this issue has not caused any bad feelings between my wife and I or our families. Instead we all have a greta love and esteem for each others positions.
In the end we came to the resolution that this was a minor disagreement and one in which we both could compromise.
I recently did a paper on how God has perfectly preserved His Word in Heaven and on Earth. But he never said it had to be in one greek text or translation or that we would not have to search for it. If one does an honest examination of the evidence of what has been preserved and how we find that God has preserved His word through the many manuscripts that have been copied from the orignal autographs, the many translations of the last 2000+ years (OT and NT), and through the quotations of many past saints through the ages.
God's word is faithful and supernturally preserved for us to investigate, study, and apply to our lives. According to statistics only a small fraction of the Bible is in dispute and of these sections none affect any major theology that cannot be defended else where. Now if we only would apply and read a tenth of what we are 100% sure is apart of the text.
Amen to applying what we know is TRUTH.
That is so cool that you have a goal to read a book every month. As I once noted, I collect a lot of books but don't neccessarily read all of them, I need to start putting reading in my life as a practiced discipline.
So, what is on your list of the twelve books of 2004 for Wesley, son in the faith?
i agree with what you wrote on blovedwolfofGod's site. it's my friend elliott. him and i disagree on some things, but he's a great guy. i appreciate your comment because it made a lot of sense. Jesus is the way.
i appreciate your comment. i want to be able to respond to it fully so i wont respond to it right now. Give me a couple days. i work at a day camp and go to bed only three hours after i get home, so in order to give you a good response, i will need some time. thanks.
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