Darwin,
I appreciated our exchange of views last Sunday on
Willingdon Avenue. We have been praying for you. I appreciate some
of your reasoning, as I held many similar beliefs for the first 33 years of my
life. I was a very doubting Thomas. Fortunately a number of
different people planted seeds of faith in my life.
A number of
circumstances let me to faith. When our son was in public middle school,
he was hanging out with the wrong crowd and developing a very rude attitude,
especially towards his mom. I recalled a Pastor who had been in a
Toastmasters (public speaking) club doing a speech on how they brought their
church youth to Mexico on a house building project. That sounded to me
like something that would benefit our son, so we started attending that Pastor's
small church. Over the next year I started to listen to the Pastor's
sermons, and started reading a Bible. Then at a summer family camp on
Keats Island, suddenly the faith discussions started to sound true to me.
At that point I accepted Jesus by faith, and since then His spirit has been
working in my life. I have a become a better husband to my wife, a better
father to my kids, a better boss to my employees, and much more sympathetic than
I used to be. I am still far from being perfect, but my faith has led me
to be a better person, and I continue to grow as a person. How can this be
wrong?
I look at the beauty around us, and it's difficult for me
to comprehend how this was all caused by some random occurrences.
Evolution does not explain how the world was created in the first place, and
does not explain adequately how the first man was formed. If we evolved
from apes, why can't this transformation be repeated?
I was disappointed
with all of the profanity on your web site. It is difficult to have any
serious debate with such insulting language. I encourage you to clean up
your web site so that you can search for truth without unduly offending
people. I also encourage you to read the whole Bible. Any "apparent"
contradictions in the Bible can be understood when the Bible as a whole is read
in context. I am far from having a perfect biblical understanding, but
Willingdon Church has very strong teaching, and they encourage everyone to do
their own personal studies, to uncover God's truth. You seem to have a
strong passion for your "atheist" cause. What if you are wrong and the
Bible is true? It would be wrong not to let them believe! Just to
make sure, take another look at the Bible, and read the whole Bible, or start
with the whole New Testament. While you read, consider the possibility,
however remote by your reasoning, that the Bible could be true. As a
self-proclaimed Messiah, you owe it to any of your followers to be
sure.
Hopefully I have planted a seed of doubt in your
doubt!
Regards,
Tom Chimick