Friday, September 28, 2012

Today sucks. Tomorrow will be better.

Any attempt to promote yourself as a "Christian" environment; meaning a wholesome, safe, secure place is doomed to fail. This is because a "Christian" isn't someone who never does wrong. You are starting on a false premise.
A "Christian" is someone who does wrong, but accepts God's forgiveness and trusts in God's grace to give him the ability to do right.
A Christian environment isn't free of wrongdoing. A Christian environment openly admits that wrong has been done, and lovingly enables the wrongdoer to not do wrong again. A theif isn't beaten down and told "go find a job, don't steal." A theif is told, "hey, here's a job we need done that your talents fit. Work for us and we'll pay you a decent wage."
An environment that tries to label itself Christian, but hide wrongdoing from the public eye is going to fail. Not only is it going to fail, it will do more to mar the name Christian than if it just admitted they weren't perfect in the first place. Not admitting you're a sinner is just as much a slight to Christ as saying, "yeah, I'm a Christian, but I'm going to sin anyway."
The gospel is keyed to, "while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Anyone that's been through the Romans' Road knows the first "step" to Salvation is admitting you're a sinner in need of God's grace.
And anyone that's been an honest Christian knows that accepting God's grace doesn't immediately transform you, or any other Christian, into a sinless person.
To try and hide the fact that Christians are sinners from the world is to lie to the world about who Christians are, and lie about the real need for Christ.
We should strive for honesty with those around us. Because honesty is more powerful than a polished front.
I know, it's very utopian of me. But you know what, dreaming and striving for a better world can't be all that bad. I don't expect it to happen in my lifetime. But I do think my life can make a difference. Not just by living for today, but by living so I'll make a difference sixty years from today. By living for a brighter future. Because I know it will someday happen, He promised me it will. And I believe Him.

Monday, September 24, 2012

True Science

Washington Post
The problem with what Bill Nye is saying is, I personally know many PhD's that  found scientific conflicts in the scientific data on assertive statements like, “The Earth is not 6,000 or 10,000 years old,”  and they changed their scientific stances accordingly.
It wasn't religion that changed their mind, at least initially. It was when they found that the thories put forth by Creationists better fit the data they saw that they came to faith.
If you want to start with the science, please do, but do so honestly. If the "facts" so strongly supported evolution, you wouldn't have a (rising) near majority of the population disbelieving that the "facts" presented to them in the classroom are true. Especially when, not a generation ago, that percentage of disbelief was much smaller.
If you truly believe in science, in facts, truth will out. I know many Creation scientists, including my father, who are more than willing to let the facts fall where they may, as long as you don't supress the other side of the scientific coin.
It's a viewpoint based on science whether the earth is 10 thousand or 10 billion years old. If the facts speak as strongly as Nye is saying, then truth will out. If the facts aren't so strong, then causing these young minds to question the status quo is probably a good thing and may lead to many scientific advancements.
I always find it interesting that questioning the status quo is alright as long as it only leads to a viewpoint that the speaker agrees with. If it doesn't, it's dangerous and shouldn't be tried. Then again, my own questioning of the status quo in Christianity puts me in a minority among most Christians, liberal or conservative, so I see this happening a lot on both "sides."
Anyway, back to my point.
What Bill Nye is suggesting is unscientific. Telling people to supress their theories, supress facts and knowledge, despite how well the facts may fit, simply because they don't agree with the prevailing theory is just as bad as telling people not to believe that the earth orbits the sun simply because the prevailing theory says the sun orbits earth.
Truth will out. Shut up an let freedom speak.