Is anybody else outraged?
Now, I understand that this country was founded on (among other ideas) the notion that you can practice your religion freely here. The Puritans came here on the Mayflower so they could worship as they liked. Still, we have to have rules. If your religion, for example, demands that you sacrifice people, then that's still not okay. That's kind of how I look at this YFZ ranch thing. Just because their VERY misguided interpretation of what they call Christianity says that middle aged men should "wed" and impregnate as many women and/or teenage girls as possible, doesn't mean they should be allowed to do so. I understand that the FLDS dates back to the mid-1800's when it was somewhat normal for a girl of 16 or so to be married. It's even legal in Texas, I believe for a 16 year old girl to get married with parental consent. This is not that. This is apparently not a choice for these young ladies and apparently, many of them have marriage thrust upon them well before they even turn sixteen.
I find it very interesting and disturbing that through the whole thing, I haven't seen ONE of these men speak out about what's going on. We have only seen the women, the mothers who refuse to answer any questions about whether anything illegal or strange is happening. Their canned response: "We just want our children back." Of course they do. What mother wouldn't? I do feel for them. However, I feel that anyone that would allow their twelve year old to passionately kiss Warren Jeffs or any other middle aged man has got to have their priorities WAY out of whack. The whole thing is a perversion.
I do not believe that these people really know God or Jesus. I don't believe they are really godly. They are under a powerful influence, for sure, but it is not a holy one.
Jesus said: "But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believeth in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea." Matthew 18:6 KJV
It is for God to judge their punishment, but I can't help but be angry at these apparent sins. Now it seems that many of these kids are going back to their parents. I pray that God will protect them and help them to grow in his love and wisdom so that they might escape the bonds of this dangerous cult and discover what freedom to worship God according to His will is really all about.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Monday, April 28, 2008
Expelled!
I can't wait to see "Expelled."
A local pastor mentioned in his sermon that he had seen an ad for the movie. He couldn't recall the name, but his description of the basic premise intrigued me. A recent article published in our local paper piqued my interest as well. In fact, it's fairer to say that I'm going to make a point of seeing it because of these two events.
The article was submitted by Dr. Keith Lockitch, a fellow at the Ayn Rand Institute. He gave the movie an 'F.' However, the bulk of his commentary was not on the film itself, but rather, it was an attack on intelligent design and the ridiculous notion that the universe was created. Lockitch dismisses the film as a simple attempt to discredit Darwinism. He also says that the defenders of intelligent design will do anything except use science to explain Biblical truth.
Militant scientists would have us believe the even more ridiculous notion that the universe somehow created itself.
What troubles me is that they fault those of us who believe in God because of our faith without acknowledging that they place their complete trust in what their science can reveal. Science is their religion.
They tell us that everything in the universe formed from one tiny speck of super dense, super hot material. They're talking about something smaller than an atom and into the billions of degrees. Why should we all believe this? Well, because science tells us so, that's why! They make no attempt to explain where this 'speck' came from or why it formed, just that it was there and exploded - giving rise to the entire, infinite universe. In fact, they can't prove it either, by any scientific means. Based on what they can know, they can only hypothesize. Theorize. Guess. Dare I say it? Believe.
They defend Darwinism as if Charles Darwin was their messiah. Why? Because they think they can prove evolution. They are not willing to take the leap of faith to believe in God because their faith lies in something that men created.
Personally, I think that it's at least possible that evolution is the way life changes on Earth, but in the same breath I would say that if that is how it happens, then it's still all part of God's plan, which we were not meant to understand entirely. Science is a gift from God. We were created with questioning minds. God can handle all the questions. As I wrote in an earlier post, science isn't killing God. It can't. It's revealing all the majesty and mystery that is the Almighty. God isn't Oz behind the curtain. God is so far beyond the curtain that we simply cannot comprehend.
When science asks us to take it on faith that there are trillions of stars or that the universe is boundless, they do so out of faith. Their faith is in science. We place ours in God.
They would say that we don't need God. We have science. There is no right and wrong. No good and evil. Only survival of the fittest and, to paraphrase Ayn Rand, the pursuit of whatever makes you happy.
I just finished a very interesting book by Scott Hahn, Reasons To Believe. In it he recalls a moment in his classroom when a student spoke up to say that if God didn't exist, we would have created Him anyway, and we did. Dr. Hahn responded beautifully, saying that even if God exists (and He does) that we'd create atheism anyway...and we did. Then he took things a step further:
If humans created God, then why didn't we create a God that let us do whatever we want without fear of punishment or separation from Him? Why not create an amoral god that allowed us to indulge every worldly pleasure? Good question, eh?
Peace in Christ,
Damon
A local pastor mentioned in his sermon that he had seen an ad for the movie. He couldn't recall the name, but his description of the basic premise intrigued me. A recent article published in our local paper piqued my interest as well. In fact, it's fairer to say that I'm going to make a point of seeing it because of these two events.
The article was submitted by Dr. Keith Lockitch, a fellow at the Ayn Rand Institute. He gave the movie an 'F.' However, the bulk of his commentary was not on the film itself, but rather, it was an attack on intelligent design and the ridiculous notion that the universe was created. Lockitch dismisses the film as a simple attempt to discredit Darwinism. He also says that the defenders of intelligent design will do anything except use science to explain Biblical truth.
Militant scientists would have us believe the even more ridiculous notion that the universe somehow created itself.
What troubles me is that they fault those of us who believe in God because of our faith without acknowledging that they place their complete trust in what their science can reveal. Science is their religion.
They tell us that everything in the universe formed from one tiny speck of super dense, super hot material. They're talking about something smaller than an atom and into the billions of degrees. Why should we all believe this? Well, because science tells us so, that's why! They make no attempt to explain where this 'speck' came from or why it formed, just that it was there and exploded - giving rise to the entire, infinite universe. In fact, they can't prove it either, by any scientific means. Based on what they can know, they can only hypothesize. Theorize. Guess. Dare I say it? Believe.
They defend Darwinism as if Charles Darwin was their messiah. Why? Because they think they can prove evolution. They are not willing to take the leap of faith to believe in God because their faith lies in something that men created.
Personally, I think that it's at least possible that evolution is the way life changes on Earth, but in the same breath I would say that if that is how it happens, then it's still all part of God's plan, which we were not meant to understand entirely. Science is a gift from God. We were created with questioning minds. God can handle all the questions. As I wrote in an earlier post, science isn't killing God. It can't. It's revealing all the majesty and mystery that is the Almighty. God isn't Oz behind the curtain. God is so far beyond the curtain that we simply cannot comprehend.
When science asks us to take it on faith that there are trillions of stars or that the universe is boundless, they do so out of faith. Their faith is in science. We place ours in God.
They would say that we don't need God. We have science. There is no right and wrong. No good and evil. Only survival of the fittest and, to paraphrase Ayn Rand, the pursuit of whatever makes you happy.
I just finished a very interesting book by Scott Hahn, Reasons To Believe. In it he recalls a moment in his classroom when a student spoke up to say that if God didn't exist, we would have created Him anyway, and we did. Dr. Hahn responded beautifully, saying that even if God exists (and He does) that we'd create atheism anyway...and we did. Then he took things a step further:
If humans created God, then why didn't we create a God that let us do whatever we want without fear of punishment or separation from Him? Why not create an amoral god that allowed us to indulge every worldly pleasure? Good question, eh?
Peace in Christ,
Damon
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)