Hey everybody, Alex here! So this week we thought we'd let our good friend Jeremy write for us....he is an incredible man and shares this incredible-ness on his blog http://epawelan.wordpress.com/. So i urge you to check it out! His post raises quite a few touchy topics which we hope to address in the near future!
Peace and Love everybody!
A
Hi readers
of Rocking it Christian style! My name's Jeremy and I've been given the honour
of writing this weekend's post. Just to explain myself, I'm pretty good mates
with Jal...I can't say that, it's too silly. Jason and Alex. I'm good friends
with those two, the guys behind this awesome blog.
I study a
physical-science type degree. I’m also a Jesus-Freak (a Christian but I don’t
want to be compared to some of the Bible-bashing conservatives who give us a
bad rep). I don’t have a problem with gay people. I don’t have a problem with
people of different faiths (there has to be a grain of truth in any religion
that looks at the beauty of the world and declares someone somewhere divine). I
try not to drink or party too wildly (occasionally it happens though, as it
does for any student).
I believe
God spoke the universe into being…13 odd billion years ago. Today
scientists are not sure what caused the Big Bang. They know it happened, but
cannot tell us why. I believe God spoke it. Until it can be replicated in a lab
under chaotic, random conditions I will continue to believe that.
I believe
God spoke life into existence…3.8 billion years ago. Until a scientist can
create life from scratch in lab conditions repeatedly, using only the elements
of the periodic table I will continue to believe this. I know smart scientist
types have created their own virus from scratch, coding the DNA themselves, but
they had to use a blank cell as the base, and using what I believe is God-given
intelligence to manipulate the world around us is not wrong or unnatural.
I believe
humans evolved over millennia parallel to apes from common ancestors…under
divine guidance. I know Richard Dawkins has written numerous books to try and
disprove this, but I’ve read Origin of Species, and until someone can
sufficiently explain how we evolved with such an intricate body (with things
such as our eyes) that still suffers greatly and disgustingly from the common
cold (which seems counter-evolutionary…I know the cold would have evolved as
well, but still) I will continue to believe that.
I believe a
man called Jesus existed +- 2000 years ago…and that he was divine and the Son
of God. Contemporary Roman and Jewish sources of the time state they had heard
of a man called Jesus and that he was a great teacher. They state nothing about
his divinity. That part of my belief comes from my personal experiences in
life, along with the Bible and testimonies of people who have no reason to lie.
The problem
with some anti-religion promoters is that they refuse to accept the testimonies
of millions of people who have personally experienced God. While all those
testimonial experiences can be explained rationally, I personally think that
such hallucinations on such a grand scale are far too coincidental to be
coincidence. There’s no way so many people can experience such similar mass
psychosis separated by countries and decades or even centuries.
I believe
fully in science and I believe fully in God, and I hold Newton’s 3 laws for
macroscopic objects as close to my heart as the 10 commandments. Jesus also
never, ever mentioned homosexuality in the Gospels, so this is why I believe
persecution of the gay community is so wrong. Jesus came not to shackle but to
free
Sorry for
the long post not related to music. But seeing as though this blog explores
Christian life-style I thought I'd get back to basics :)
Jeremy
Hey Jeremy
ReplyDeleteI think it's always good to go basics from time to time, as we often get caught up in technicalities. I think the main reason why anti-religion promoters do not wish to accept the Gospel is that they feel 'bound' by aspects of Christianity, such as the Ten Commandments. When they think of the faith, the main thing that envisage is the 'rules' that they would then have to abide by. To them, this represnts the revocation of their freedom. However, there is so much more to Christianity (for example, Jesus dying on the cross for our salvation)
Also, non-believers, tend to twist phrases and verses in the Bible in way that misrepresents the Word of God.
With the ever-growing obsession with science and technology, do you think that the Christianity will become merely an alternative to believe, to what science tells us? Is there a way to believe in both, and it is even 'right' according to the gospel?
Hi Edwin,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the response! It's true what you say, they feel they'll be bound by the "rules" Christianity lays down for us, while in reality it's like a parent telling his/her child not to play with fire: it frees the child to enjoy childhood!
I think Christianity cannot be an alternative to believe. I feel it should be irrevocably intertwined with science. God created it after all. He laid out the rules of physics long before we humans were even around. God created our minds and our intelligence. And our God-given intelligence shows us the universe, allows us to understand the complex mathematics that make life possible, and allows us to ask not so much "why" as "how". There's a distinct difference....the "why" for everything is to bring greater glory to God.
I believe God wants us to ask how. I know why, and so I ask how. How did we evolve? How was earth started? How did we come to exist? All those questions that atheist scientists believe that when answered will disprove God are in fact just there for our benefit. I believe that when they are answered they'll only increase my awe of God. I don't care if we evolved over millions of years (I believe that we did). My own experiences with God let me KNOW He is there: faith.
So to sum it up: there is a way to believe in both, and I feel it is right. Jesus never mentioned science. But Proverbs repeatedly mentions knowledge as important. Not wisdom and understanding God's Kingdom. Knowledge. And Jesus came not for our intellectual aspect, but for our spiritual aspect: forgiveness and with it eternal life. I like to imagine Him feeling we're all missing the point with our trivial arguments over the finite physical world when He is infinite beyond it.
Jeremy