Fossils, Carbon Dating, Dinosaurs and Man

One blogger asked the question about these things. My confession is that I'm not a physicist, archeologist or scientist. First of all, unless God is playing a huge joke on the human race, fossils exist, dinosaurs roamed the earth, and carbon dating gives us a timeline of history. I've never had a real problem with any of this because I've always accepted those things as part of the created design. I have also been a Methodist my entire life and as a denomination we affirm the infallibilty of scripture (scripture being true in terms of faith and practice), but not all of us affirm an inerrant Bible (scripture being true in all aspects - faith, practice, history and science, no errors). For me that's the difference. When I hear that the world was created in 7 days, I don't necessarily believe that God's time is the same as mine. The Biblical writers wrote in terms they understood for a people that were uneducated. To say that a day was from sunset to sunset (24 hours) was a mode of time that would have been understandable. The creation of the universe is an incredible task. Considering its complexity, the length of time it took to create it in no way diminishes this amazing show of creative power, whether it was 1 day or 100 million years.

The UMC just adopted an official stance on evolution at this year's General Conference. It says, "We find that science's descriptions of cosmological, geological, and biological evolution are not in conflict with theology. ... We find that as science expands human understanding of the natural world, our understanding of the mysteries of God's creation and word are enhanced." This affirms what I've felt all along. Was the Big Bang the real deal? Yes, I think it probably was. But I also think God pulled the trigger. We have prehistoric evidence of life evolving into the species we're familiar with today. Is it all a fluke? Does evolution happen just "cuz" it does? I think not...it's too complex for it to be a purely happenstance occurrence. But, evolution by the hand of God...that's more in line with what I think.

Simply put, the universe is a complex deal. There's so much we don't know. Some of it is a mystery, for theologians as well as scientists. Come Sunday...I'll talk more about this!

Uncomfortable with the Doctrine of Predestination

The doctrine of predestination and election was "made famous" by John Calvin, a reformed theologian of the 1500-1600s. Strict Calvinism affirmed the belief that God had "elected" certain people to salvation. If you were of the elect group, nothing you did or didn't do would hinder your salvation. On the flip side, if you were not of the elect, nothing you did, no matter how good or prayerful, would save you. With this understanding, grace was irresistible. If you had the grace, you couldn't lose it, and if you didn't have the grace you couldn't get it. This is a very simplistic explanation, but I think you get the point.

John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement, rejected this doctrine. He firmly believed that grace was resistible. We have the gift of freedom, and we can choose the accept the grace of God or we can reject it. I firmly agree with Wesley's understanding of grace. God preveniently reaches out to us, even when we're not aware of that need for grace, and God calls us into relationship. At some point, we decide, "Yes, I accept that grace and will enter into a relationship of faith," or we say, "No, thanks." I do not think that God forces a "yes" or "no" upon us. God is always, always beckoning, but ultimately the choice to accept is ours. The gift of freedom allows for an authentic love between creator and the created.

Why Did Jesus Speak in Parables?

Preachers across the world try to model Jesus' communication style. Jesus spoke in parables quite often when talking to the disciples and to the masses. A parable is defined as "a usually short fictitious story that illustrates a moral attitude or a religious principle". In other words, Jesus used illustrations of sorts. Remember that the people of his time were your average, everyday kind of folk; most were uneducated and worked the land for their livelihood. So Jesus spoke to them in terms they would best relate and understand. Today we call that being "relevant". He drove home his point using stories about farming (parable of the seeds in MT 13...a parable any gardener can relate to) and cooking (parable of the yeast, also in MT 13). Preachers do the same thing with illustrations. We make a point, and then make it contextual with a story from our experience in order to relate our story to the biblical story.

Where Does GOD come from?

I got punted this "ball" a couple of weeks ago. Gosh, I can't say that I have a complete answer to this great question. All I know is what John 1:1-4 says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men." This tells me that from the beginning there was God. More than that, I can't be exactly certain. Just one of those mysteries! Great question though!

Why Does God Allow Poverty?

One question that been asked frequently, is why does God allow poverty, or allow babies to be born into poverty, knowing they will die without food. We are going to touch on this in this coming weekend's message. But the quick answer is, God does not allow this. It's not a God problem, it's a distribution problem. There is enough food in the world to feed everyone. This issue is that it is not distributed evenly. There is enough money collectively to end world hunger, but the money is not distributed evenly. My guess is that God is asking us this very same question..."Why are my children hungry? Aren't you my hands and feet?" The local church is a solution to this epidemic. As the Body of Christ, we can work to be a transforming presence in our communities and in our world. When we hear of poverty, we feel challenged. Jesus said, "When I was hungry, you gave me food." And the disciples said, "Lord when did we see you hungry?" "Whatever you've done for the least of my brothers or sisters, you have done for me," Jesus replied (Matthew 25 - paraphrase).

Forgiveness

The issue of forgiveness is always a tough one. First and foremost let me say that forgiveness is for you, not the person that harmed you in some way. When we harbor feelings of hatred, guilt or resentment, it does nothing but harm us.

A good quote that I remember from my past is, "Lack of forgiveness is holding on to a burning coal despite the hurt, in the hopes that it is burning and hurting someone else."--Kevin Everett FitzMaurice

Having said that, I do not feel that forgiveness equals tolerance. We can forgive someone of the wrong they have committed, but we do not have to tolerate the continued behavior in our lives. And sometimes we have to love people from a distance. I do not think that God calls us to tolerate injustices in our lives!

Forgiveness is a process. And like any process, we will sometimes take two steps forward and three steps back. But we don't stop, we keep moving forward. Some wrongs are so heavy that forgiveness can be a long journey. Again, the forgiveness is for you, not the other person, so it must be worked towards for healing to occur. Jesus knew the power of forgiveness; the power it gives you, not the person that hurt you. In some cases, we harbor these feelings of resentment and the other person has no idea we even feel this way. Jesus knew the damage those emotions can cause the soul which is why he urges us to forgive. We forgive, because we have been forgiven.

If you're dealing with an issue such as this, I invite you to seek a trusted friend with whom to share your troubles. There is also a loving group of Stephen Ministers at COS that can help listen and provide a ministry of presence for people struggling with issues of forgiveness.