Silly conclusion isn't it? Looking at a day in time does not prove the season. Yet that is how science makes conclusions now and usually how we make conclusions too.
Is the Bible true? This is an eternal questions with eternal consequences. I do not pretend to be so knowledgeable to give a grand and fully reasoned answer. All I can offer is my experience (in a very shortened version) and another question.
I had my doubts. I thought maybe God's days were longer than ours. I have reasoned that God uses parables to teach and that maybe the Bible was just a collection of stories. Maybe God is so distant from us, that we don't matter to Him, it's just us against the world.
Then, I found some teaching that presented the Bible as fact. They read the stories as if we were a part of them. What were the people in the stories thinking, experiencing? How did they feel and what did they do right or wrong? Easy to see when sitting in a pew, but what if that was us? It's like the difference between playing football and sitting on the couch telling the players what they should be doing. The stories such as Jonah came to life like a movie and Frontier Hubby and I would talk for hours, sometimes days afterwards.
OK, if you are bored jumped down to the section after the line to read the second question.
There is a whole 'nother discussion about creation vs. evolution that I cannot do justice. It boils down to your underlying belief system. Science in no way disproves God. It totally depends on your basis of belief. In fact, there are a lot of scientific proofs for God and creation. Here is a website that discusses scientific finds from both perspectives. creationrevolution.com
I loved physics and biology in school. Loved them. I was fascinated by how things worked and getting down into cell structures and reproduction, how muscles worked, how the body was put together and all that was of great interest. I liked physics for how it showed how things worked. It also showed me the difference from hypothesis (educated guess), theory (testable guess) and law (proven consistency when tested). I could apply laws and theories to things in nature and get an outcome. Cause and effect. Story of my life in a way.
Now, I see these words tossed around like people do not understand their meaning. The "Big Bang Theory" can only be a hypothesis since it cannot be tested, but hypothesis does not sound strong enough. Global warming can only be a hypothesis too as it is a suggested conclusion to some facts that many scientist (even some who worked on the project) do not agree with. The world goes through heat and cold cycles over years. In the 70s we were told an ice age is coming and that no one could live north of California by the year 2000. Doesn't that sound silly now? But it was what the people were told to get laws made and give the government more control. Same 'ole same 'ole.
So what has all that to do with the Bible? I believe God shows Himself in His works. Go out and visit the mountains, deserts, beaches, rivers, valleys and such where there is little or no sign of man. Wow, it is breathtaking. Look in a microscope at a cell reproducing. The complexity of all things individually and then together, shout there is a God.
Spiritually, I have had a couple of scary moments that I could only describe as spiritual attacks and the instant I finally got the name "Jesus" out of my mouth, the attacks were gone. That convinced me right then and there that there is an unseen world.
Now as I read in the Bible, I can see God is consistent, yet surprising. He is loving, yet just. He had a plan from the beginning and it works.
I read a book, Cold-Case Christianity, that was written by a guy who was actually out to prove Jesus didn't exist and even if he did, Jesus was not the Son of God. He was a cold case detective and started reading the first books of the New Testament. He used his skills from his job to read the testimonies of the gospel writers. What he did convinced himself that Jesus was real and that God is the one represented in the Bible. He states that you have to go into any evaluation with an open mind and let the evidence take you where it will. Deciding beforehand that someone is guilty, does not bring justice. It only brings your own desires into play. There are a lot of stories about people who set out to disprove God exists by reading the Bible and God shows up. It's awesome.
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So why did I write all the above? Because of the second question I have. We ask ourselves this at church and growth groups (small Bible studies that review Sunday's sermon.)
"If the Bible is true, what does that mean to us?"
If God is God and he is the personal, caring God that the Bible represents Him as, shouldn't we somehow change? That question has rocked my world. I want to just fit Him into my life and keep on doing things my way, but that question makes me stop and wonder what it is that I have to change to fit better into His world.
How have the changes that I have been making affected me?
1. My marriage is better. Frontier Hubby was a diehard atheist and even he came to see the reality of God through Jesus since we have been in Aeneas Valley. We both have made Biblical principle based changes into our marriage. Our fighting is reduced to about 10% of what it was and is less emotionally harmful to each other.
2. We have a lot of friends. Now, understand I have had a few friends all my life and make new friends fairly easily. Frontier Hubby does not like people that much. In fact, we moved here to "get away" from everyone. But God in His infinite wisdom has put us in a place that has a multitude of exceptionally bright people in similar circumstances. They have built, with God's help, an extensive community interwoven with folks of different backgrounds and skills that help each other and get along fairly well. They are a blessing to us!
3. I am growing emotionally and spiritually. I look to God much more often. I love people more than ever. I am so grateful for what I have and no longer feel like I need more to be happy. These are all works in process and I feel like I am improving in so many ways I cannot write about them all.
If you are interested in learning more about God but have been put-off
by hypocritical Christians, find a church that isn't put-offing. They
are out there like AVEFC. It is worth the effort!
Are we going to change our life to be more like what God wants us to be? How? Each lesson we learn helps us do
just that and that is the purpose of this blog, to share what I am
learning.
May you find all things new in Him,
Frontier Woman @ FrontierChristianLiving
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