The lie of intellectualism
An interesting conversation.
Professor : You are a Christian, aren’t you, son ?
Student : Yes, sir.
Professor: So, you believe in GOD ?
Student : Absolutely, sir.
Professor : Is GOD good ?
Student : Sure.
Professor: Is GOD all powerful ?
Student : Yes.
Professor: My brother died of cancer even though he prayed to GOD to heal him. Most of us would attempt to help others who are ill. But GOD didn’t. How is this GOD good then? Hmm?
(Student was silent.)
Professor: You can’t answer, can you ? Let’s start again, young fella. Is GOD good?
Student : Yes.
Professor: Is satan good ?
Student : No.
Professor: Where does satan come from ?
Student : From … GOD …
Professor: That’s right. Tell me son, is there evil in this world?
Student : Yes.
Professor: Evil is everywhere, isn’t it ? And GOD did make everything. Correct?
Student : Yes.
Professor: So who created evil ?
(Student did not answer.)
Professor: Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things exist in the world, don’t they?
Student : Yes, sir.
Professor: So, who created them ?
(Student had no answer.)
Professor: Science says you have 5 Senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Tell me, son, have you ever seen GOD?
Student : No, sir.
Professor: Tell us if you have ever heard your GOD?
Student : No , sir.
Professor: Have you ever felt your GOD, tasted your GOD, smelt your GOD? Have you ever had any sensory perception of GOD for that matter?
Student : No, sir. I’m afraid I haven’t.
Professor: Yet you still believe in Him?
Student : Yes.
Professor : According to Empirical, Testable, Demonstrable Protocol, Science says your GOD doesn’t exist. What do you say to that, son?
Student : Nothing. I only have my faith.
Professor: Yes, faith. And that is the problem Science has.
Student : Professor, is there such a thing as heat?
Professor: Yes.
Student : And is there such a thing as cold?
Professor: Yes.
Student : No, sir. There isn’t.
(The lecture theater became very quiet with this turn of events.)
Student : Sir, you can have lots of heat, even more heat, superheat, mega heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat. But we don’t have anything called cold. We can hit 458 degrees below zero which is no heat, but we can’t go any further after that. There is no such thing as cold. Cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold. Heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it.
(There was pin-drop silence in the lecture theater.)
Student : What about darkness, Professor? Is there such a thing as darkness?
Professor: Yes. What is night if there isn’t darkness?
Student : You’re wrong again, sir. Darkness is the absence of something. You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light. But if you have no light constantly, you have nothing and its called darkness, isn’t it? In reality, darkness isn’t. If it is, well you would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn’t you?
Professor: So what is the point you are making, young man ?
Student : Sir, my point is your philosophical premise is flawed.
Professor: Flawed ? Can you explain how?
Student : Sir, you are working on the premise of duality. You argue there is life and then there is death, a good GOD and a bad GOD. You are viewing the concept of GOD as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, Science can’t even explain a thought. It uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one. To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing.
Death is not the opposite of life: just the absence of it. Now tell me, Professor, do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?
Professor: If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, yes, of course, I do.
Student : Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?
(The Professor shook his head with a smile, beginning to realize where the argument was going.)
Student : Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavor. Are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you not a scientist but a preacher?
(The class was in uproar.)
Student : Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the Professor’s brain?
(The class broke out into laughter. )
Student : Is there anyone here who has ever heard the Professor’s brain, felt it, touched or smelt it? No one appears to have done so. So, according to the established Rules of Empirical, Stable, Demonstrable Protocol, Science says that you have no brain, sir. With all due respect, sir, how do we then trust your lectures, sir?
(The room was silent. The Professor stared at the student, his face unfathomable.)
Professor: I guess you’ll have to take them on faith, son.
Student : That is it sir … Exactly ! The link between man & GOD is FAITH. That is all that keeps things alive and moving.
…
By the way, that student was EINSTEIN.
Read MoreA quick update
Sometimes I beat myself up that I allow so much time to pass, so many life events to happen without documenting them here. Not so much because I want to tell everyone about what’s happening, but mostly because I want to make sure that I don’t forget about the things that God does in my life. So, here’s a little update on what’s been going on.
I’m Engaged!
Not too long after moving to Texas I met Crys. We quickly became friends, then good friends and eventually best friends. She’s an amazing woman who loves God and loves to serve others and she has these Rain Man-like skills when it comes to numbers that is quite impressive, not to mention her card shuffling and dealing abilities which aren’t to be ignored. 
I love being with her and just last weekend I asked her to be my wife, she said yes. God is good, and I’m humbled that he would entrust her into my care. We’re planning to be married on June 1st 2012.
Full Time Job
I’ve been going back and forth about getting a full time job over the last year or two, mostly driven by a desire to get back into a team environment. Late last year after coming to Texas I started praying about wether or not God wanted me to take this step. My hearts desire was to get a job working at Gateway Church so I could be involved in moving the Kingdom forward through this amazing church. Through an amazing set of God-organized events I ended up with a full time contract at Gateway on the web team. Three weeks later I was brought on as a full time employee. I love working at Gateway and I love the people that I work with, but most of all I love serving in a way that directly impacts thousands of lives!
He makes all things new: lessons from Job
I’ve been thinking about Job a bit lately. Last year I read the book of Job on several occasions when I was walking through a particularly difficult time after my marriage came to an end. It has always been a particularly fascinating book to me for several reasons, not the least of which is the conversation between God and satan in chapter one where God essentially hands Job over into satan’s hands to be tested. If this doesn’t give you pause, you’re not paying attention…
Another aspect of the book of Job that intrigued me was the council of Job’s friends Eliphaz, Bildad, Temanite and Zophar. At face value they all seem to be giving him incredibly wise and helpful council. In fact the first time I read the book and got to chapter 42 and saw that God rebuked them for their unwise and UNTRUE council I instantly started re-reading the book. Verse 7 says:
7 And so it was, after the Lord had spoken these words to Job, that the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is aroused against you and your two friends, for you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has.
However, what made the largest impression on me in the book of Job was God’s full restoration of Job and the blessings that God poured out on him as a result of his faithfulness and unwillingness to curse God, even when faced with otherwise unbearable circumstances.
12 Now the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; for he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of oxen, and one thousand female donkeys. 13 He also had seven sons and three daughters. 14 And he called the name of the first Jemimah, the name of the second Keziah, and the name of the third Keren-Happuch. 15 In all the land were found no women so beautiful as the daughters of Job; and their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers.
16 After this Job lived one hundred and forty years, and saw his children and grandchildren for four generations.17 So Job died, old and full of days.
Job still suffered many things through his ordeal. His children were all killed in an accident, he was covered from head to toe with painful sores, his friends offered unwise and contrary advice which I’m sure made Job feel even more isolated, and he was all but abandoned by his wife to endure the ordeal alone. But, and it’s a big one, God blessed the latter days of Job’s life more than the first.
When I originally read this statement I failed to realize that God didn’t bring Job’s children back to life, he didn’t remove all memory of the sores and the abandonment from Job’s mind. He created a new life for Job, and one that was even more blessed than the first part of his life. He simply blessed Job to an extent that the pains of the past would be eclipsed by the blessings of the future.
That scripture spoke something to me the day I read it for the first time. However, what it spoke that day wasn’t what came to pass. Instead God had even larger blessings in store for me. Blessings that didn’t resurrect the things that had been lost, but new blessings that would far surpass anything I could have imagined.
Friends, I trust that someone needs to hear this hope. God can, and will rise your circumstances out of the ashes. Does this mean that he’ll resurrect the old from the dead? That’s very possible, you’d better believe it. However, when days fade into weeks and weeks into months and you begin to lose hope that God will work in a situation, fix your eyes on Him and His plans for your future. Trust that what God did for Job he will do for you as well. All you need to do is focus your eyes on Him throughout the process and He will straighten your path and bless you greatly!
Read More
I think you should know…
I feel that someone needs to hear this, so here goes. I want to tell you about Jesus. I want to tell you how amazing his love is, how incredibly humbling his grace is. I want to tell about the Jesus who changed my entire life, who gave me purpose where there was none, who gave me hope when I had none. I want to tell you about the Jesus that took me into his arms when I had nothing to offer and had every reason to refuse my approach. I want to tell you about the Jesus who took away my fear of death and replaced it with great anticipation of that glorious face-to-face meeting I’ll have with him when this portion of eternity comes to a close. I don’t JUST want to tell you about a Jesus who saved me from Hell. He did that, but more importantly he gave me the right to be called a son of God, a brother of Christ. Now, part of the Father’s family I’m heir to strength, peace, grace and most importantly fellowship with the Creator of the Universe.
Nothing you’ve ever done is too bad for Him to accept you. You can’t disqualify yourself from his forgiveness because it’s impossible to qualify yourself for it. You don’t have to pray a certain prayer (prayer is simply talking to God) or say certain words, you just have to confess that you need Him to come into your life and ask Him to do so. He’ll take over from there.
He’s a perfect gentleman and will never force himself on you. After all, how much would it mean to you if you had to force those around you to love you? You must choose, and it’s my promise to you that you’ll spend the rest of your life thanking Him for the privilege.
Read MoreAnd Seasons Greetings to you as well!
I have many wonderful memories of Christmas from my childhood. It is by far my favorite time of year, with the fall coming in at a close second. One of my fondest memories of Christmas is a tradition we always had with my mom. We would ride around in the car, windows all foggy, freezing cold and drive around town looking at the Christmas lights. I’m going to miss the Indiana snow this Christmas, but even more I miss the feeling of being a child and how magical all of the lights were.
This Christmas, just like the Christmases over the past few decades, will likely reflect a little less “Christ” than what most professing Christians would prefer. We’ll hear “Happy Holidays” or “Seasons Greetings” instead of “Merry Christmas”. We’ll see images of Santa Clause and other spiritually sanitized decorations hanging everywhere. A few brave business owners and individuals will paint their windows or hang signs outside proclaiming the coming of Emmanuel, but even those acts of devotion will be viewed as jabs to those who don’t understand the need for Christ in Christmas at all.
I’m reminded this year of how important it is for us all to seek first the Kingdom and His righteousness. I feel very confident that Christ would not want us to be arguing and battling against those that seek to remove him from the holiday that was created to celebrate his birth. After all, Christ is far more interested in people who are truly willing to follow him than those who would give him lip service by shouting “Merry Christmas” while truly caring nothing about the Christ.
Brothers and sisters, if we seek to celebrate Christmas. If we seek to Glorify Him and show appreciation for his willingness to come to earth as a child in complete humbleness. If we truly seek to worship Him in a special way during this season, then decorations and phrases fall far short of the displays of love we send to Him through our hearts and lives.
I encourage you all to seek Him this Christmas. Ignore the fact that more of the world will this year ignore His glory. Let your love shine through and trust that it’ll will be more of a witness than your protests ever will.
Love in Christ!
Evan
About Me
I'm a Christ-following website developer, filmmaker and songwriter. I love Jesus and love spending time and ministering to my brothers and sisters. I am owner/partner at Resonate Creative a creative services firm based in Fort Worth, TX and Systems Analyst at Gateway Church.
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