Thanks again for coming, and I apologize for the delay. And thank you, Stephen, for the opportunity to clarify my views and beliefs. I will "read" a prepared statement, and then open it up for questions, as time allows. My prepared statement:
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I will simply outline my beliefs, without much attention to the "whys", nor to coercion to my way of thinking. There isn't a lot to the "why", other than this: it's what I have found to be the best fit with reality. That said, I fully acknowledge that I could be wrong. Maybe a little wrong in some details, maybe a lot wrong in details and in the big picture. But again, it's what I have concluded to be most consistent with reality, with logic, and with common sense. Note: An implied "most likely" could be tacked on to virtually every one of my statements of belief, and of course, this is all IMO!
GOD
As to God's existence (ignoring for the moment His detailed attributes), I am agnostic. He may or may not exist, and there is no way of knowing the answer to this question definitively. To me, it makes more sense for there to be a Creator, and if He does exist, I lean to deism. All stories of His intervening in the affairs of man can be explained in other ways, and (IMO) ways that are more plausible than actual divine intervention. (Please, hold the questions till the end.
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If God does exist, His attributes are anyone's guess. The Bible lists a lot of such guesses, some of which make sense, and some of which are at odds with each other and with the stories of His actions.
THE BIBLE
Centuries ago, mankind was trying to figure things out. Where did we come from and why are we here? What are we supposed to do? How can I make that guy stop stealing my stuff? In the process, people of various cultures and at various times cooked up many different stories, and imagined some things that God might say (such as commandments, complete with consequences for disobeying) and do (such as miracles, which add weight to the commandments). Some of them made a lot of sense, and still do today. Some no longer make sense. There is a lot of debate over which things still make sense and which do not.
Some things attributed to God are suspiciously self-serving to the ones who did the attributing. An army conquers a city, kills the males of all ages and the older females that were not virgins. They kept the young girls for themselves. They say God told them to. Okaaaay. A teenage girl is engaged to be married. Turns out she's pregnant. She says God made her pregnant. Okaaaay. Preacher kicks a sick lady in the stomach. Says God told him to. Riiiight.
OK, here's my belief: people either make stuff up, or misconstrue things like hunches and intuition that happen to be true, or sometimes are just plain crazy, when they claim that God talks to them. They've been doing it for many centuries. Sometimes, other people believe them. Sometimes, religions are started based on what they say, and on what is written down.
SIN
Man has a lot of potential for evil, no doubt about that. Much of the Bible is dedicated to lists of evil things. Again, someone thought it was pretty bad to lie, and wrote down a rule. Makes sense. Someone wrote a rule about killing. Fine. Then there are rules about what we can and can't eat or wear, what we must believe, how we should punish rebellious children, etc., etc. Again, some of these rules make sense. Some don't.
What's on my list? Well, it's not so much a list of dos and don'ts as it is a guiding principle, which, as it turns out, is Biblical: Love your neighbor. That's Jesus's famous law number two. From that and law number one (love God), all the law is derived, He said. Well, from those two laws, there is no way to derive certain other detailed rules, such as women must never cut their hair, or you must never fall in love with someone of the same gender. You need other scriptures for those rules.
FRUIT
Here is something I can admire about the Bible: it tells us how we can recognize someone that is following Him. The problem is that if we apply it, just as it is spelled out in several places in scripture, we will put a lot of people in that boat that, well, some people wouldn't expect to see in there. Buddhists, atheists, pagans, etc. They have love one for another. They have joy, peace, longsuffering, etc. Oops.
And we can judge a movement, or a "faith", or a fellowship, or even a local church by its fruit, too. If it is plagued with abuse, corruption, confusion, fights and arguments, one-upmanship, etc., we can conclude that there's something wrong. Draw your own conclusions!
FUTILITY OF MAN'S EFFORTS
Nobody is perfect. Some of us have made a mess of things. Drugs, crime, abuse, etc. What's the solution? Some would say that only Jesus can clean us up. Get saved, and your life can be changed. Maybe not instantly, but God will work on it, and things will be fine after a while. Yes, it works, for some. Sometimes it "sticks", too. Not always, but sometimes. But this is not the only way to fix a messed up life. There are other ways to get help, and even plain old self-determination can work wonders. And I contend that when the "Christian way" does work, it is due to the person's own "human effort", infused with a large dose of confidence based on faith. He is told that Jesus will help him, so he accepts that, and by George, it's working! He gives up cigarettes or booze or whatever it is. And hey, if it works, it works.
MIRACLES
One problem with miracles is that you never know if one really happened or not. Things happen almost routinely that seem to violate the laws of nature. Sick people are given mere weeks to live, and yet they recover. Parking places appear right by the entrance.
Some are looking for miracles everywhere. If something nice happens, it's always "a God thing". Nothing ever is accomplished by human effort. I think the reason for this is simple: fear. They think that God will be angry with them if they ever don't acknowledge His actions, or if they put any amount of trust in their own efforts (or their doctors' or anyone's) rather than in God. Me? I think God is pleased when His children accomplish things, from simple acts of kindness to amazing feats of engineering, or medicine, etc.
Another problem with miracles is their arbitrariness. We see that one person is healed (or gets better due to medication and/or natural processes) and another is not, despite the desperate prayers. We are forced to say things like "God knows better" or "he got his healing in Heaven". If you take comfort in such things, I guess I shouldn't complain. I get no comfort from them. I see can't-lose "promises", which is not a good thing: it just means we can never tell if such a promise is kept or not.
PROMISES
"I will never leave you nor forsake you." Nice. So, if we ever feel alone or forsaken, we're wrong! God is always there by your side, if you know it or not. When my wife was little, He was right there when that man, a friend of the family and a pillar of the church, had his way with her (and most of her siblings, too).
"The prayer of faith will save the sick." Nuff said.
"Train up a child in the way he should go and he will not depart from it." Nuff said.
TONGUES
Initial evidence? Pointless evidence, actually. Anyone can babble. And if the desire is there, one can start babbling without knowing whether it's really God's spirit "giving the utterance" or just mimicry -- a learned behavior. Expectations are high. Adrenaline flows. Awareness is altered. The power of suggestion is at work, even blatant how-to teaching in some cases.
And about that prayer language: among the things that "don't make sense", this is high on my list! So, what's the deal? God doesn't understand English all that well, so "tongues" works better? Is it more likely to get an answer?
PROPHECY, WORDS OF KNOWLEDGE, STILL SMALL VOICE, AUDIBLE VOICE, ETC.
God talks to people all the time, apparently. He did it back in the OT and NT times, and He's still at it. Sometimes He says weird things, too. Kill your child. Colonize a planet. But we can't second guess God, can we? He's God! He can say whatever He wants!
OK, here's my belief on this: God never talks to people and He never has. Simple. No need to wonder, "Was that from God?"
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So there you have it. I don't actually have much time for questions right now, but submit them in "writing" and I will be happy to address them at a later time.
By the way, my sister-in-law's condition is improving somewhat. Thank the Lord!
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