Musings About Multiple Things

Today came with the need to go to a co-worker’s home and finish up helping her with setting up your new laptop computer. This lady has finally moved away from dial-up internet modems to a high speed connection. After such a long time of denying herself some goodies, she took a bonus and bought a new AT&T modem and Jo helped her pick out a new laptop.

A couple of weeks back we spent part of a Saturday helping her set up the modem, configure the wireless connections, and configure the new laptop and new wireless printer. Today, we went back to do a “mirror image” of the computer hard drive and cancel out her old AOL paid account and left her with her new “FREE” AOL account, thus keeping her old e-mail addresses.

Dark Ages and its Influence

While we were over in that area of town, we ended up behind a pickup that had a bumper sticker stuck in the back of the window. That bumper sticker read, “While the world was ruled by religion, it was called the Dark Ages.” That began a discussion between Jo and me.

There was a time when the Roman Catholic Church had forgotten the meaning of Christ’s message and was punishing those whom the church deemed heretics. Many of those victims of the church’s crusade were put to death. While I don’t know all the details of the history of the early Catholic church, it did begin somewhere around the 3^rd century after Christ.

Some years ago, I was having an online discussion with another Oklahoma City resident about religion. I had spoken of the need to get closer to the Bible as it was the inspired word of God. His answer was to say that the Catholic Church had “helped” determine the make-up of the Bible, but even the church didn’t deem it as God’s word.

That statement has led me to closer study the beliefs of the Catholic Church. I have a dear friend and co-worker who is also a Catholic, so I asked her to ask her priest a question for me. That question was, “Between the Bible and the Catholic Canon, which does the Catholic Church deem the one to follow?”

She came back with the answer that the Canon took precedence over the Bible. (She had made statements to me in the past that the Bible was just “a good book with good stories.”) The answer from the priest further makes me question that if the Bible is not considered such an important document, what in the world does the Catholic Church base its beliefs upon that is a “rock” of a foundation.

I don’t know how Canonical law (?) is decided, but if it is similar to how the Catholic Church chooses a new Pope, do we have a faith based on the consensus opinion of a group of men and not the teachings of God? If so, what will God do with those that usurp his word? If he has a standard as to how we are to live and worship, how will he judge those who live and worship in different ways?

It was similar concerns that led the reformers of religion to create the Protestant movement. They were of the belief that the Catholic Church had strayed from the Bible and its teachings and wanted to return to more biblical beliefs.

Since it will be God who judges mankind, I would presume to believe that he will judge according to his “yardstick” as opposed to mankind’s opinion of what that yardstick should look like. It is for that reason that those in the churches of Christ, of which we are members, adhere to the teachings of the Bible, a movement begun in this country of “restoring” worship and a way of life based on what is deemed God’s word.

Evolution

When we returned to our part of town and went to Walmart for groceries, we stopped at a Braum’s Ice Cream Store for lunch. (Yes, we had lunch, not ice cream.) While there, I could overhear snippets from a nearby table about evolution. The discussion was kind of along the lines of how does one say to convince a non-believer in religion that creation has more validity than evolution.

I was sorely tempted to say something, but held my piece. I don’t think any controversy would have ensued as I believe that all at the table believed in God. I didn’t want to intrude, so I said nothing, but I’d like to share the questions that I ask unbelievers that give them something to consider.

Let’s say that it were given that evolution was a viable option for the creation of the entire universe, I have two questions.

1. If the “Big Bang” occurred, how does that “create” such intricately functioning things such as the bodies of humans, animals, and fish and the interrelationship of soil, rain, and plant seeds?

2. If evolution is a long process of genetic changes over time for man to evolve from “whatever” through the appearances of monkeys and apes, how is it that the blood of man AND OF ANIMALS managed to “develop” to the stage of being able to coagulate without seeing the extinction of man and animal from bleeding to death before those genetic changes could have developed?

There are many more points to argue in favor of creation as opposed to evolution, but non-believers should be given the opportunity to ponder those two questions. I don’t expect them to answer me, nor do I insist that they do. I just like to ask them so they have something to think about.

So, do we have the contemplation of evolution, or is this an interpretation of a biased journalist?

Politics

I ran across a story from earlier this year that demonstrates the bias of the media. Among many points in that story, there was the telling fact that following the killing of several in Arizona and the wounding of Representative Gabrielle Giffords MSNBC savaged Sarah Palin. This quote from the story followed by a link to the story:

Indeed, four days after the shooting, the day Obama cautioned the nation to discuss the issue "with a good dose of humility rather than pointing fingers," MSNBC over the course of five hours mentioned Palin in connection with the massacre 166 times while mentioning the alleged killer, Jared Loughner, only 18 times.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/sarah-palin-msnbcs-obsession-75184

Jackson Lake and the Grand Tetons; Wyoming 2002.  How many of you knew that Jackson Lake leans?  I have photographic proof right here.