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Saturday, July 5, 2008

OPINION

Letter: Faith offsets lack of doctorates

  • Published: May 16, 2008 - Page: 8B - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

This has reference to a letter from James Houk in your May 5 edition titled, “Bill goal to swap Genesis for science.”

Mr. Houk seems to imply that state Sen. Ben Nevers, D-Bogalusa, lacks the schooling to deal with the subject of Creation since his educational credentials consist only of graduation from Louisiana Technical College.

That being the case, I’m sure he would say that I have no business even thinking of the subject, let alone writing a letter. You see, I didn’t earn my high school diploma until I was in my mid-40s, and then obtained it through a correspondence school. Even so, I was head of the Louisville, Ky., operations of a nationwide service organization, having worked myself up from the bottom.

Now, I am so “unlearned” that I don’t believe God was thinking of science when He created the Earth and all that was in it, nor when He inspired the writing of the first two chapters of Genesis. I’m certainly unaware of the mountain of evidence supporting the concepts of evolutionary theory, and stupid enough to believe that the theory of evolution is just that, a theory and nothing more. I believe the entire Bible is the inspired word of a living God.

I have two questions I always ask when the subject of evolution comes up: If I evolved from a fish, I’ll attach some credence to that claim if you will first tell me where the fish came from and why it is not still evolving. Or, if this thing we call Earth was once just a blob of shapeless matter, I might believe that if you will first tell me where the blob came from.

The fact that monstrous beasts once roamed this Earth doesn’t bother me. The Bible tells us that, to God, a day is as a thousand years and that a thousand years are as one day. We do not know how many million years were involved in the Creation.

Rock-bound faith and belief in an almighty God — omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient — more than offset the lack of Ph.D.s, and I take nothing from education. Just wish I had one.

Daniel T. Jones
retired transportation manager
Gonzales


Comments (9)
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fratboy al
Friday, May 16, 2008
8:58 AM

As a believer that the entire Bible is the inspired word of God, then you should know that Creation took seven days, not milions of years, or maybe just six, if we don't count the day of rest. Slaves, obey your masters. Women, no speaking in church. Pi is equal to three. Good luck on the Ph.D. It generally takes more than just wishing.
Stinkee
Friday, May 16, 2008
9:35 AM

"Rock-bound faith and belief in an almighty God more than offset the lack of Ph.D.s" How can somebody made such a nonsensical comment? And what does that mean really? Must be why we are competing with Mississippi to get out the bottom of most quality of life indicators, including educational attainment. My PhD surely got me more jobs, income, and opportunities than faith. Do you really think businesses are looking for faithful (fanatical) employees in Louisiana or educated ones?
abb3w
Friday, May 16, 2008
9:50 AM

To answer the questions.... 1) "If I evolved from a fish [...] first tell me where the fish came from and why it is not still evolving." The present theory suggests that the earliest fish were variants on a worm-like sea cucumber. The second part of the question is based on a false premise; all species of organisms continue to evolve (search the last week's news for "stickleback" for a recent instance), but evolve in different "directions". 2) "Or, if this thing we call Earth was once just a blob of shapeless matter, I might believe that if you will first tell me where the blob came from." Strictly speaking, that's not a question of biological evolution. However, current theory is that planets are formed by the same mechanism of coalescence from nebulae as stars are. Your letter also seems to confuse the colloquial notion of "theory" with the formal scientific sense of the word. I suggest you might wish to check out Florida's recently adopted science standards (available on-line at the FLDOESTEM.org website); in particular, benchmarks SC.6.N.3.1 and SC.912.N.3.1. After all, it's never too late to learn something, and there's no need to pay $150000 to Harvard for an education you could pick up from the local Library for $1.50 in late fees. As for faith in God, you're welcome to make that choice. However, I personally find the idea of Biblical Inerrancy a more difficult clear-field starting position to accept than the Commutativity of Logical Disjunction -- which just a fancy way to say "'This or That' means the same as 'That or This'".
john
Friday, May 16, 2008
9:54 AM

The debate between evolution and creationism is akin to a debate between someone who speaks only English and a person who speaks only German. The two may have some common words but the real meaning is lost to both sides. The problem arises from time to time, when politics buts its ugly head in. The fact that creationism is not taught in schools has more to do with the fact that to teach something is a educational setting that is no religious means that the subject is going to be dissected and not swallowed whole. There may be room in a philosophy class to discuss religious creationist stories but not in the science class. By injecting creationism into a science class the idea of creationism will be destroyed, in short order, by rational based scientific thought. This will only cheapen the idea to those who believe it based on FAITH. That word means belief in something without proof, which simply is unscientific. Again, no to creationism in the science classroom and allow it in the philosophy classroom with all the other origin tales. The problem arises when those of the majority religion demand that their religion’s version of how we got to be who we are be taught as fact in a setting that is all about challenging ideas and backing ideas up with observation and data. In other words they want science to acquire faith something that will never be done.
joshua985
Friday, May 16, 2008
10:28 AM

I want this creationist to tell me: 1) Where did God come from? 2) Why would the Bible say 7 days if it really meant thousands or millions of years? 3) Why is the Bible's creation story any more believable than the creation stories of the ancient Greeks, or Chinese, or Egyptians?
God?
Friday, May 16, 2008
2:08 PM

You see, it's because you are uneducated that you believe how you believe and don't do anything about educating yourself. If you don't know the answers to these questions then look them up. Better yet, go to college. You'll learn about evolution (take anthropology) and how the earth formed (2 semesters of astronomy should do the trick) and maybe some geology. If the answers to those questions that others have provided in the comments aren't believable to you, then answer me this...How did God make everything? Why? Are we the only planet with intelligent life and if so, why make the billions of other planets/stars/galaxies/etc? If not, do those on other planets believe in God too, and if so, Jesus wouldn't be their savior because he is from Earth so does that mean God has multiple children? And if that's the case, how many illegitimate children does God have? Just food for though....
chapt
Friday, May 16, 2008
5:47 PM

if creationism is strictyl faith and not science how is it that the bible stated the earth is a free float in space (Job 26:7) 3500 years ago? How is it that the bible says it was a sphere (Isaiah 40:22) while science said it was flat resting on the back of a large animal? I think that one would've been nice to have in public education. How is it that science use to say there were only 1,100 stars while the bible said they were innumerable (Jeremiah 33:22) and now science agrees with the bible? How is it that in Hebrew 11:3 the bible says creation is made of invisible elements (atoms) while science was still ignorant on the subject? How is it that while science said all stars were the same the bible said they were all different (1 Cor. 15:41) and now science agrees with the bible? How is it that the bible said air has weight (Job 28:5) and science said it was weightless and now science agrees with creationism? These are just a few scientific facts of the bible. I have many more but for sake of time i would just like someone to explain these few facts to me. How is what i stated faith and not science?
OEF Vet
Friday, May 16, 2008
11:07 PM

Chapt, Job 28:5 says "As for the earth, out of it cometh bread: and under it is turned up as it were fire." according the the King James Bible. How do you get that air has weight from that?
Realist Rocket Scientist
Saturday, May 17, 2008
3:18 AM

The bible thumpers here are getting spittle all over their screens.
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