Since there are people of both the Creationist and Evolutionist (aka C's and E's) persuasions within the confines of church buildings and groups, this following blog arose as a hopeful point of contact where those involved in the often-heated "discussions" between C's and E's could stop, pray, and consider their own beams before inspecting their brothers'/sisters' specks, know what I mean? I know it's a bit long, but hopefully -- prayerfully -- it will be as worth the time for you as it has been for so many others. -j† 13:35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. * * * * * * * * * * * * * **This post reproduced from the WFJF group page, from a thread on the Evolution v. Creation issue:
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Something has been said that is completely true, AND useful, and should be pondered by those on both sides of this issue:
[Paraphrase] "You're not going to believe what I say regardless of how much evidence I give in support of it, and I'm not going to believe what you say regardless of how much evidence you give in support of it, and in reality it doesn't matter nearly as much as what DOES, and what DOES matter is faith in Jesus Christ."
Few things in the Gospels are so important that they get a whole chapter dedicated to them, but [John chapter 9] is one such important thing. Jesus came to a man who had been blind since his birth, and had compassion on him. Jesus healed the blind man, but when the religious leaders found out about it they pulled the man in for questioning. Honestly, seriously, we all should take time TODAY to study John 9 afresh. The man's replies to their questioning -- and the methods and reasons the Pharisees rejected his statements -- should teach ALL of us -- Creationist and Evolutionist alike -- a bit of proper perspective in regards to our motives for believing as we do and how much focus we should give to things that are not essential. Evolutionists, read through this listing of replies and see how it applies to you where you're at as an evolutionist, DON'T sit thinking about how it describes the Creationist "so much better" than you. And Creationists, likewise read through this and see how it applies to you where you're at without worrying about how it describes the evolutionists "so much better" than you. Every Christian regardless of geo/biological theorization should be looking at the log in his/her own eye right now and not worrying about the speck of dust in their brother/sister's eye.
--==[[Full chapter in NKJV, as linked to above], or click the individual links below in their sections for "study panel" format]==--
*- The Pharisees asked the man what happened to him, and he replied simply that He (Jesus) had put clay on his eyes, he washed, and now he could see. And rather than ponder how this man born blind had received his sight, they zero in on the minor point that the healing had happened on a Sabbath because they had already come to the conclusion in their minds that Jesus could not possibly be Messiah -- this is arguing from a pre-conceived, faulty theory instead of observing the evidence and allowing it to further guide the sharpening of a yet-future conclusion. [Verse 16] reads: "Therefore some of the Pharisees said, 'This Man is not of God because He does not keep the Sabbath.' " What, praytell, was the actual Sabbath law as given to Moses? This: "Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy; six days shall you labor and do all of your work (i.e. your normal "pay-the-bills" occupation and labors), but the seventh day...you shall not work..." As Jesus would point out, "Is it a day for doing good or evil?" (Mark 3:4) and "Which of you if your animal fell in the ditch on the Sabbath would not pull it out right away?" (Luke 14:5)
*- The Pharisees then asked him what he thought of the Man who opened his eyes, and he said "He is a prophet". Not "I think He might be a prophet, listen to his certainty at what he knows: "He is a prophet." And the Pharisees' response? [Verse 18] They did not believe him, AND they questioned whether the man had ever been blind at all -- not whether he was born blind or had become blind later, as for some reason my memory had previously thought it remembered, but whether he was actually EVER blind that he could receive his sight back (and the wording of their doubt very strongly implies that they could tell he could see at that moment in time). So they "check his references" by calling in his parents, people who were afraid of being put out of the synagogue (who would blame them, but still...) who affirmed [verses 20-21] that a) this was their son, b) he was born blind, c) he could now see, and d) how he know saw or by whom he was enabled to see they did not know, but that he was of legal age and they should just ask him about it.
*- They call the man back in, but instead of asking questions they toss a firm theological exhortation and statement at him: [Verse 24] "Give God the glory [contextual implication being "instead of this Man"]! We know that this Man is a sinner", kind of an ironic statement to make when they themselves were refusing at that very moment to give God the glory, trying to destroy the man's witness any way they could. And the man's reply is truly God-inspired, not arguing with them over theology which he could tell he would not be able to convince them of anyways but merely stating the facts of the case: "Whether he is a sinner or not, I do not know; but one thing I know, that though I was blind, now I see." We would all do well to maintain such simplicity.
*- Unable to handle such "simplistic" logic, they ask him again something he had already answered ("What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?", to which he replied -- now certainly under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit as his tone and approach so perfectly match that which Jesus Himself addressed the Pharisees with -- "I told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become His disciples?" They didn't like that answer, but could not directly refute what he was saying by it, so they fell back to their "We are Moses' disciples" defense, even though they were ignoring what God told Moses regarding the Sabbath in two ways even as they spoke: a) they were ignoring the simple command God gave Moses in favor of the Talmudic re-interpretation of what that simple law actually meant (favoring man's interpretation of what reality was instead of what was plainly stated by God as the reality); and b) it could also be inferred from the structure of the chapter that they were interrogating this man on the same day he was healed -- i.e. a Sabbath day -- and as such they were "doing their labors" on the Sabbath day, a real violation of the same law they were trying to pin a false violation of on Jesus.
*- The man's final reply to the Pharisees, and the most God-inspired words of the whole exchange, found in [verses 30-33]:
"Why, this is a marvelous thing, that you do not know where He is from; yet He has opened my eyes!
31 Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him.
32 Since the world began it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind.
33 If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing."
Sad as it is, since they have no good answer for such glaring truth, they retreat into "you lack proper qualifications to make such theological statements" mode, tell him he was "completely born in sins" (inferring of course that they, the higher class, were not), and cast him out of the synagogue.
--==[Take a minute to soak all that in, meditate on it and ask the Lord to impress upon your heart what He wants you to hear from Him about it]==--
Now, we could continue doing the endless back-and-forth arguing about a geo/biological process that may or may not have any place in reality relating to humans -- and that we'll honestly probably never know about conclusively during our own lifetimes anyways -- or we could spend the same amount of time going through sections of Scripture together, learning together and being taught by the Holy Spirit together as brothers and sisters, ALL being brought back into one Family of Christ and being re-focused on the more important matters of the Gospel.
Which do you think we should do, from this point forward? The choice is yours.
In His service, and yours,
jason† |
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