...hey babe....I'm on your side! We must have a misunderstanding here! I thought he was referring to HIS own ability to do better than the Creator!
I understand the fundamentalist Bible-believer position that since God is the creator of everything, including physical laws governing the properties and behavior of elements and every form of energy, all it takes is an infinite miracle, a blink of God's eye, to bring us and everything else into existence. . . . and while some scripture seems to validate that point. . . . I don't care to put all my beans in that bag.
It is an assumption. . . . . made by pious folks thousands of years ago just as well as an assumption pious folks today are sometimes willing to make. I take the position that I don't know how God did it, principally because there is no scripture competent to address the way He did it. . . . no scripture that lays out the laws and principles utilized in "creation".
I can understand a scientific discussion, and I might fault "evolutionists" for not strictly adhering to professional attitudes and professional methods, and for being too willing to "fill in the gaps" with speculation. . . . seeing that in doing so they are no better than pious folks who do the same thing, and on perhaps an even larger scale. . ..
Being a "partisan" and committed to any one side is fundamentally contrary to the process of scientific inquiry that should leave bias behind in the discussion.
When I say I believe in God because of my anecdotal experience set, I fully understand that that is not a "scientific" statement. A statement of faith, but I am willing to connect even that with whatever reasonable support I can give it.
As for being on your side, I am on your side in the sense that I respect someone of your beliefs who can articulate them better than I can, and maybe support them with reason I have not considered. But I must settle myself on the position that I don't know everything, I might be wrong on a point or two, but I expect that we cannot argue God out of existence, or out of His character, and we are liable one day to realize where we have been wrong about Him.
God is His own person, and is sovereign. . . . and as the song say. . .. "is his own interpreter".
I figure God has given us the gift of life, and how we choose to appreciate that, and return love or respect. . .. well. . . . that's our gift to give. Pretty clear to me that the ball is in our hands on this play. It's our decision to make. . . . whether we will believe in God or not, or give Him any reverence or appreciation. . . . and we can't steal that choice from anyone with our own logic. On the other hand, I consider it just as misguided for nonbelievers to hammer away at believers in any attempt to impose their beliefs. I don't want the government doing that, and I think even people need not be that partisan.
If someone is voluntarily in the discussion, I'm willing to spout off and say I can about. . . . that's about it.
might not rise to the level of injunction as "Go into all the world and preach the Gospel" exactly, but when I was a missionary I found my efforts more effective when I focus on people who were "in the market" for answers, not on crusades for their own beliefs. . . .
