This was the topic in our Bible class before worship today.
This is a great question, so many people ask "why would God let such [horrible] things happen?" One example given was a real-life facebook conversation where someone praised God that no one was injured in an accident, and a fellow-facebooker (if that is a word at all) posted "where was he for the other xxxxxx traffic fatalities this year?" (I paraphrase).
Another example given from a book being read by our class leader cited a story about two churches who prayed for two different men. The first church prayed for the recovery of their deacon who had some serious illness, the other church prayed for the safe return of a soldier. The prayers were answered for the first church, but not the second. Does that mean the people in the first church were true believers and those in the second were not?
No, of course not. I'll just sum up some points regarding this topic and let you think about it.
1. The universe is God's creation, not yours or mine;
It's not about only you or me but about everyone and our relationships with God and one another.
2. God has a different perspective; he sees the "big picture;"
Whereas we cannot even fully take in everything going on around us at any given moment.
3. God answers prayers, but the answer may not be what you expect;
What is bad for you might be good for the spirituality of 10 other people - or yourself.
God is not unfair. God does not do us harm - he doesn't have to, we do a good enough job of that on our own. We are a unique creation. God has given us some of his own attributes; knowledge of good and evil, free will, emotion, etc. Because of this we are allowed to live our lives as we see fit, or as others see fit, or don't see at all. God does not allow anything, he allows everything. It's our world. He offers a future, a way into something else through his son... we just have to take him up on his offer.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Monday, August 3, 2009
Fear and Loathing
People seem reluctant to want to believe in anything but themselves, reluctant to raise the people around them yet worship a pop star, willing to hate unseen but not to love.
Humanity is special. We have been given the gift of intelligence and free will. I am a somewhat spiritual person and one of my own goals is to reconcile that which is of man with that which is of God. Perhaps reconcile is the wrong word. One cannot reconcile imperfection with perfection as far as I know. I split my understanding of the universe in two ways: spiritual, scientific. While I take some pride in the capabilities of my fellow man to study, observe and reason out why things are as they are, I also believe there are things man can never fully understand, problems that he can never solve. These are things of God.
Mostly these "things" do not overlap, but people try to FORCE them to overlap. This causes a rift in those who believe science should be everyone's religion versus those who believe science cannot explain everything - and should not TRY to explain everything. People want to believe in themselves, their own capabilities to master the universe around them.
Idol worship. There are people all around us who deserve to be praised and lifted up before their fellow man and God for the work they do day-in-day-out. People who work hard to provided for their families, who stay home to teach their children what they need to know to survive, who bake for a neighbor who is ill... these people are REAL. Their strengths and weaknesses can be experienced and appreciated in real time. I find it appalling that people will ignore the magnificent epics unraveling all around them in favor of someone they have never met in life and weep for in death.
Finally I am not sure what to make of the fact that many people are willing to hate entire populations on the other side of the world, yet not love. Two sides of the same coin. I understand that it is human nature to focus ONLY on those who are immediately important to them, and to neatly pack away the thoughts of starving children in Africa or some other place (even here in our own country). Out of sight, out of mind. Yet it seems easy enough for people to climb onto the bandwagon of hate when a country bad mouths our ways or religions.
Is there no hope for us as a race?
Humanity is special. We have been given the gift of intelligence and free will. I am a somewhat spiritual person and one of my own goals is to reconcile that which is of man with that which is of God. Perhaps reconcile is the wrong word. One cannot reconcile imperfection with perfection as far as I know. I split my understanding of the universe in two ways: spiritual, scientific. While I take some pride in the capabilities of my fellow man to study, observe and reason out why things are as they are, I also believe there are things man can never fully understand, problems that he can never solve. These are things of God.
Mostly these "things" do not overlap, but people try to FORCE them to overlap. This causes a rift in those who believe science should be everyone's religion versus those who believe science cannot explain everything - and should not TRY to explain everything. People want to believe in themselves, their own capabilities to master the universe around them.
Idol worship. There are people all around us who deserve to be praised and lifted up before their fellow man and God for the work they do day-in-day-out. People who work hard to provided for their families, who stay home to teach their children what they need to know to survive, who bake for a neighbor who is ill... these people are REAL. Their strengths and weaknesses can be experienced and appreciated in real time. I find it appalling that people will ignore the magnificent epics unraveling all around them in favor of someone they have never met in life and weep for in death.
Finally I am not sure what to make of the fact that many people are willing to hate entire populations on the other side of the world, yet not love. Two sides of the same coin. I understand that it is human nature to focus ONLY on those who are immediately important to them, and to neatly pack away the thoughts of starving children in Africa or some other place (even here in our own country). Out of sight, out of mind. Yet it seems easy enough for people to climb onto the bandwagon of hate when a country bad mouths our ways or religions.
Is there no hope for us as a race?
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Snap, Crackle, Pop
The creation of the universe is often debated in scientific and religious circles.
It is a difficult subject to wrap one's mind around so this post is a but larger than my last.
If a religious person, such as myself, were to suggest before a person of science that an almighty being simply spoke it into existence I would surely be scoffed and mocked. But what do "they" say?
There are several theories about the universe. There is the old "steady state" theory, that the universe always was and always will be. But this theory did not seem to explain the apparent expanding motion of the galaxies and galactic clusters.
Steady state was replaced by the "Big Bang" theory (which I'd like to note was actually posited by a Catholic Priest who was also a scientist - it was not accepted by much of the scientific community at the time simply because it WAS the brainchild of religious person). The big bang theory has the advantage of being "heard" by radio telescopes around the globe. It would seem to indicate a high energy event that occurred sometime in the past that runs in conjunction with the expansion of our universe.
The big bang is not the creation of the universe but the result of the creation of the universe. The big bang is the sudden and vast expansion** of all energy and, eventually, matter (as the universe cooled and force could split and energy could "condense" into matter - so to speak).
What CAUSED this big bang is the moment of creation (if it is even believable or not) and it ties back to my third paragraph about it being spoken into existence.
Scientists do not know. They have no clue. They will admit they don't know but quickly move to "but we know it had to have happened because we are now all evidence of this event!"
There are some theories of course. One is that the universe was compacted into the size of a pinhead and something happened to destabilize it and *BOOM*! Another theory is that there are many parallel dimensional planes and that if two of them where to somehow bump into each other, at that point a universe would be created. Whoa. I am sure there are many more "fringe" scientific explanations.
It's a heck of a lot easier (and to me more believable) to say "God made it." Why is it so hard to believe in God? Why is it harder to believe in the divine and easier to believe in mortal theories that can never be proven?
I know I cannot prove that God exists... but neither can you prove that the universe was created by some sort of complex mathematical accident.
==
** Scientists have found that the universe has expanded far more than it should have based on their estimate of its age. Some scientists explain it by a suspension or absence of the laws of physics during the initial "explosion" because all the known forces were unified, therefore allowing the universe to expand at a rate far greater than the speed of light.
It is a difficult subject to wrap one's mind around so this post is a but larger than my last.
If a religious person, such as myself, were to suggest before a person of science that an almighty being simply spoke it into existence I would surely be scoffed and mocked. But what do "they" say?
There are several theories about the universe. There is the old "steady state" theory, that the universe always was and always will be. But this theory did not seem to explain the apparent expanding motion of the galaxies and galactic clusters.
Steady state was replaced by the "Big Bang" theory (which I'd like to note was actually posited by a Catholic Priest who was also a scientist - it was not accepted by much of the scientific community at the time simply because it WAS the brainchild of religious person). The big bang theory has the advantage of being "heard" by radio telescopes around the globe. It would seem to indicate a high energy event that occurred sometime in the past that runs in conjunction with the expansion of our universe.
The big bang is not the creation of the universe but the result of the creation of the universe. The big bang is the sudden and vast expansion** of all energy and, eventually, matter (as the universe cooled and force could split and energy could "condense" into matter - so to speak).
What CAUSED this big bang is the moment of creation (if it is even believable or not) and it ties back to my third paragraph about it being spoken into existence.
Scientists do not know. They have no clue. They will admit they don't know but quickly move to "but we know it had to have happened because we are now all evidence of this event!"
There are some theories of course. One is that the universe was compacted into the size of a pinhead and something happened to destabilize it and *BOOM*! Another theory is that there are many parallel dimensional planes and that if two of them where to somehow bump into each other, at that point a universe would be created. Whoa. I am sure there are many more "fringe" scientific explanations.
It's a heck of a lot easier (and to me more believable) to say "God made it." Why is it so hard to believe in God? Why is it harder to believe in the divine and easier to believe in mortal theories that can never be proven?
I know I cannot prove that God exists... but neither can you prove that the universe was created by some sort of complex mathematical accident.
==
** Scientists have found that the universe has expanded far more than it should have based on their estimate of its age. Some scientists explain it by a suspension or absence of the laws of physics during the initial "explosion" because all the known forces were unified, therefore allowing the universe to expand at a rate far greater than the speed of light.
We are alone
We are alone in this universe, unimaginably vast as it is.
Life is a gift. It is creation. This universe was created by an all-powerful being I refer to as "God." Evolution is accepted as fact in most scientific circles, taught in school, etc. But it has never been proven and there is only circumstantial evidence that supports this theory. Scientists will tell you "we have created the essential building blocks for life in our laboratory!" But what they don't mention is that none of those blocks have ever mutated and begun forming complex, self-replicating, molecular chains. And it won't happen. If you ask how they might have formed, under what conditions, the answer will be a cop-out: the conditions of the ancient Earth and over a billion years of chance molecular billiards. In other words it cannot be proven.
Scientists enjoy their own leap of faith when it comes to evolution, allow me mine.
Life is a gift. It is creation. This universe was created by an all-powerful being I refer to as "God." Evolution is accepted as fact in most scientific circles, taught in school, etc. But it has never been proven and there is only circumstantial evidence that supports this theory. Scientists will tell you "we have created the essential building blocks for life in our laboratory!" But what they don't mention is that none of those blocks have ever mutated and begun forming complex, self-replicating, molecular chains. And it won't happen. If you ask how they might have formed, under what conditions, the answer will be a cop-out: the conditions of the ancient Earth and over a billion years of chance molecular billiards. In other words it cannot be proven.
Scientists enjoy their own leap of faith when it comes to evolution, allow me mine.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Camping
Summer has officially arrived here. Today is the last day of school for the kids, tomorrow we go camping.
It should be fun, we are meeting up with some friends from Cub Scouts and Sandi's parents plan on showing up as well. We will be bringing one of our dogs with us, the other creatures are staying home this time.
I've lined up a buyer for my current system and most of the components for my new system have arrived. When all are here I will document putting the system together and installing/running Mac OS X on it. I will post this information on my website, http://www.mikesjunkyard.com. (The site will be up and down a little during the installation process).
Work has been very busy which is very nice. I like to have things to do, and not have to sit and wait for more. I think I might thrive in the "we have 2 minutes to implement a complex new feature!" scenario.
That's it for now!
It should be fun, we are meeting up with some friends from Cub Scouts and Sandi's parents plan on showing up as well. We will be bringing one of our dogs with us, the other creatures are staying home this time.
I've lined up a buyer for my current system and most of the components for my new system have arrived. When all are here I will document putting the system together and installing/running Mac OS X on it. I will post this information on my website, http://www.mikesjunkyard.com. (The site will be up and down a little during the installation process).
Work has been very busy which is very nice. I like to have things to do, and not have to sit and wait for more. I think I might thrive in the "we have 2 minutes to implement a complex new feature!" scenario.
That's it for now!
Saturday, April 25, 2009
My OTHER blog
Just an FYI...
I do have another blog, indeed, another website. www.mikesjunkyard.com. It's my experimental site. I use it to experiment with software. The current site is written in Euphoria and runs as CGI via Apache 2. It is up and down (whenever I need to connect to our company network, all other traffic is blocked), but mostly up. If you would like to see some of the source code check out the links page there.
Anyway, I reserve that site to do more with computers and programming, sometimes other things. I also post my own product reviews there.
That's all! Have a nice day!
I do have another blog, indeed, another website. www.mikesjunkyard.com. It's my experimental site. I use it to experiment with software. The current site is written in Euphoria and runs as CGI via Apache 2. It is up and down (whenever I need to connect to our company network, all other traffic is blocked), but mostly up. If you would like to see some of the source code check out the links page there.
Anyway, I reserve that site to do more with computers and programming, sometimes other things. I also post my own product reviews there.
That's all! Have a nice day!
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Boots molted!
Wow. It seems like forever since her last molt.
FINALLY (yesterday WHILE I WAS WORKING, just 4 feet from her) she molted. And I missed it. Arg! Anyway, she is so drop dead gorgeous!
I am letting her harden up a bit then I think I will take her out and get some nice photographs of her. She is such a pretty spider.
OH! Boots is my Brachypelma emilia. A Mexican Red Leg tarantula. Her abdomen has been the size of a golf ball for half a year. Took a long time, probably has to do with the seasons? I don't know. She is a Northern Hemisphere spider, and it has been Winter...
Anyway, I will post the pics when I take them in my tarantula gallery (on my .mac account).
FINALLY (yesterday WHILE I WAS WORKING, just 4 feet from her) she molted. And I missed it. Arg! Anyway, she is so drop dead gorgeous!
I am letting her harden up a bit then I think I will take her out and get some nice photographs of her. She is such a pretty spider.
OH! Boots is my Brachypelma emilia. A Mexican Red Leg tarantula. Her abdomen has been the size of a golf ball for half a year. Took a long time, probably has to do with the seasons? I don't know. She is a Northern Hemisphere spider, and it has been Winter...
Anyway, I will post the pics when I take them in my tarantula gallery (on my .mac account).
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