David wrote:
>-----Original Message-----
>From: asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu [mailto:asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu]On
>Behalf Of D. F. Siemens, Jr.
>Sent: Thursday, June 06, 2002 2:05 PM
>
>Do you remember Glen's encounter with a Turk and a translator? There is a
>fully natural explanation, though not quite a strictly scientific one,
>for it was a singular event. Each individual had a reason to be in the
>terminal. Their interpersonal contacts were in no way out of the
>ordinary. Normal is written all over the events. On the other hand, the
>probability of such meetings in order to bring about the witness is
>extremely low. So we are persuaded that God intervened. Yet there is not
>the slightest indication of any variation in any natural law.
I don't think Walter was on the list when I posted the Turkish translater
event. I repost it below. It was originally posted to counter the common
view that I am a deist. I am not. Of the other person mentioned in this
post, I found Wayne since I posted this and he is the historian
for the PCA church last we e--mailed each other. True story follows:
>> The first time I went to Dallas, I was 19 years old. I went to a Campus
> Crusade Christmas conference there. My best friend and college roomate was
> with me. His name is Wayne Sparkman and I think he lives in Pittsburgh or
> Philly now (I have lost track of him).Anyway, at 1 AM on a Thursday night
>in Downtown Dallas at the Adolphus Hotel, a girl walked up to us and asked
us
> if we knew where she could find a Turkish translator. Of course, at 1 AM
> most folks are asleep and we weren't from Dallas. Wayne asked why she
> wanted one and the girl replied that they were trying to witness to a
> Turkish fellow but he didn't know enough English and they didn't know any
> Turkish. What made me say this, I don't know but I said, "lets pray about
> it." I must tell you that there were two desks at the Adolphus at that
time
> (they have changed it), one ran east west and the other north south. I
> prayed that the Lord would bring us a Turkish translator to the
north-south
> desk in 10 minutes. (Once again, I don't know why I was brazen enough to
> pray that particular prayer). When we finished, Wayne said, 'Lets look
> around.' I say (once again to my own surprise) lets wait, we have another
8
> minutes. We waited. In 10 minutes a guy walked in from the street and
went
> to the north south desk. Wayne told me to go ask the fellow if he spoke
> Turkish. I told Wayne that I couldn't do it. (I chickened out!) Wayne
had
> the courage to walk up and ask that guy if he spoke Turkish. He did!
Wayne
> brought him to the girl who took him over to where they were witnessing.
> Wayne and I were amazed. So we hung around till they were through using
the
> translator to talk to the translator. The guy was a short order cook in
> downtown Dallas. He got off at 12:30 and had never gone home the way he
> chose to go that night. He ran out of cigarettes and came into the hotel
to
> get change so he could buy some(who said smoking was bad). He had been
with
> the airforce at Adana, Turkey (I recall) and worked as a translator. He
> wasn't a Christian so he got witnessed to that night also.
>
> About a year later, I was working at the Okla. University Research
Institute
> in the Oil Information Center. We put oil production statistics into the
> computer. They decided to branch out and help Wycliff develop their first
> computer translation helps. A Dr. Joe Grimes (I believe) was the liason
and
> I asked him how many people in the U.S. spoke Turkish. He said that about
> 5000. When you figure out what percentage were probably asleep at 1 AM and
> what percentage were in Dallas, it was truly amazing to find one of them
in
> a 10 x 3 foot area of Dallas after that 10 minutes had passed.
>
> So, Burgy, (and Steve Peterson), I do believe that God interacts TODAY. My
> objection (and I suspect Howards and George's) to ID is that it is
entirely
> a cop out to have God solve the scientific problems so that particular
> theological viewpoints can be maintained. It is asking God to dance to our
> music rather than us dancing to His.
>
> Please try to remember that I am not a deist.
glenn
see http://www.glenn.morton.btinternet.co.uk/dmd.htm
for lots of creation/evolution information
anthropology/geology/paleontology/theology\
personal stories of struggle
>
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