bob@ihlpf.UUCP (07/10/83)
#R:itm:-101700:ihlpf:22600018: 0:2270
ihlpf!dap1 Jul 10 1:29:00 1983
Bob,
I am perfectly ready to accept any reasonable explanation for the flood.
Your selection of Bible verses does not address this problem at all. The
implication (as I see it) is:
Since God is beyond our limited understanding, don't even try to understand.
When there is some slight evidence for belief, argue vehemently, when not,
attribute it to "God's mysterious ways."
If there is a God, he gave me a brain to use. Why are you asking me to put it
on idle? I would think that God would be angry to see people sit back
complacently reciting Bible verses which only reinforce beliefs they already
hold. I think he would expect them to go out and try to find out the truth.
For instance, if he went to the trouble of rounding all the animals up for
Noah, why did he have Noah go to the immense effort of building the ark?
Why didn't he just make one up and hand it to Noah? It seems that oftentimes
people ridicule the questions which they don't know how to answer outright.
Finally, yes, I could believe that a God who singlehandedly built the
universe could gather all the animals into one place. I also believe that a
man of steel who can drill through the earth could lift a battleship. The
fact that I have a hard time imagining a man lifting a battleship (gathering
all the animals into one place) raises serious doubts about such a man of
steel (all powerful creator). In other words, sure, if you accept one
amazing, marvelous fact you can deduce a whole string of them. Unfortunately,
it doesn't have a thing to do with whether any of them are in fact true.
I could probably believe almost anything if I just put my common sense on
hold. I could have "faith" that Rev. Moon is a prophet. I could point to
the happy smiles on the faces of my "brothers and sisters" and gloss over the
financial dealings of Rev. Moon by convincing myself that he knows far better
than I what should be done with the money he so assiduously collects from his
"converts". This is what I use my common sense to guard against and if
"listening to the Lord" means abandoning it, then I see no compelling reason
to "hear".
Darrell Plank
BTL-Naperville