Re: [asa] Does nature leads you to believe or to reject God?

 anyway, then that is still ok too. > >We have to be prepared to deal with this right off the bat because if life was just about love and fellowship with God which we often hear, then why didn't He create us in some other venue where we weren't in the presence of a tempter? And what was fair about Adam getting beguiled by his wife?  Those easily undo all the love and fellowship arguments and we have to have something better than that. > >I think the clue is in the story of the book of Job where God accepts a wager from Satan concerning Job and his family. God shows us that the point of our life and existence is to be used as pawns in the game of a quest of cosmic judgement on Satan. I think He spoke all of creation into being after the fall of Lucifer for a stage on which to play out this cosmic drama. That explains the Lamb being slain from the foundations of the world which makes no sense otherwise. And because Christ was chosen to suffer as well, it makes our sufferings a little more bearable. > >So in short, nature is red in tooth and claw because nature is corrupted on earth because the presence of evil corrupts it, and that was the condition on which God agreed to allow creation to be controlled by Satan while they played out their drama. God will show Satan that even selfish, fallen creatures born into a cruel world of competition and survival of the fittest can rise above that and will worship Him and will show Satan that God alone is worthy of worship. In contrast Satan gets to be the God of this world and directs and controls the worlds systems and attempts to exploit worship from the selfish people he owns via an antichrist and a one world government system, but it never is true genuine worship like the followers of God give Him, even in the midst of their suffering and affliction. So Satan sees the error of his rebellion before he is cast into the lake of fire and we partake of God's presence for eternity. > >There are real theologians on the list that may have differing opinions but I think this contrast explains why nature is the way it is and to me, this makes it understandable and somewhat more bearable. Although I admit I don't have any sufferings compared to what some poeple have so this explanation may not be as simple and easy for them. But it is what makes sense to me and what I choose to believe and I am happy to share it with you if you think it may help you reach your professor. > >Thanks > >John > > > > > > > > > > > > > >  > > > ________________________________ From: Oscar Gonzalez <ecoteologo@yahoo.com> >To: AmericanScientificAffiliation <asa@calvin.edu> >Sent: Sat, November 28, 2009 2:02:23 AM >Subject: [asa] Does nature leads you to believe or to reject God? > > >Hello Asaers. > >I ask this question in this forum for this reason: I have started this year my PhD studies in Ecology; and this topic appeared while I was talking with my advisor. He is a well known ecologist with several years of experience in the Neotropics. Mean while I was discussing my research proposal, which is in the effects of climate change on birds, we swifted to social causes of environmental degradation and he expressed his interest in how religious communities impact the environment. > >I told him how I worked with a faith-based institution in my country to get christians towards nature conservation and the opennes that we found in poor rural communities; also explained him what is the responsible stewardship of creation and how to interpret the bible. He defined himself as a atheist but not a "hard-core" hater of religion. He was raised as a baptist, his parents are christian; but he lossed his faith while studying nature and as he told me, understood how cruel, irrational and  senseless the interactions of animals are. > >Then I felt free to share how I became a christian a year before I entered the University when I was 16, to study my bachelor's degree as a biologist. I did see Biology as the wonders of God's creation; also how I became a young earth creationist (It was impossible to be an evangelical christian and not be a creationist in the fundamentalist environmment where I lived) and later a Theistic evolutionist. > >The time for the interview reached an end, but he wants to talk more about this, I know that he has a strong spiritual need. > >I will not advocate intelligent design or something similar to convince him that God is present in nature, I know that ID is not science. But if he thinks that nature led him to reject God, what can I say? Any advice of how to preach to your advisor? > >Thanks, > >________________________________ >¡Obtén la mejor experiencia en la web! >Descarga gratis el nuevo Internet Explorer 8 >http://downloads.yahoo.com/ieak8/?l=e1 > To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@calvin.edu with "unsubscribe asa" (no quotes) as the body of the message.

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Received on Sun Nov 29 06:55:19 2009