Call Me a Dinosaur II

An interesting revelation...

Well John,

My fairness is only the result of being part of a minority in the scientific community. In return, here is where I am coming from: I find no joy in defending evolution, because I too am a Christian. I admire the fact that you stand up for your beliefs in a class where they are often rebuked. I don't feel that I have this same liberty, since it is my job this semester to teach that evolution is good and creation has no place in science (neither of which I fully believe). There are so many difficulties in this debate that most of the time I just throw my hands up in the air and move on.

I am happy to discuss these issues with you because I need a better grasp on them myself. However, I will request that you try to limit your discussion of this topic in class. We are through the worst of the evolution material, and I only have 1hr and 45 min each lab to make sure that we get through the whole lab. Anything we discuss in class requires me to defend/support evolution, so please spare me! If I were to do otherwise, word would get out, I would likely be fired, and my credibility as a scientist lost, which would do nothing to help the situation. I guess that’s kind of a crummy way to look at it, but I haven’t worked out a better one yet.

The next couple weeks of lecture will be focused on evolution, and there is always the class discussion board if you really want to get people talking about the creation/evolution debate.

Talk to you later,

Natalie

~*~

Hey Natalie,

Thanks for being honest about your position. I can understand how difficult your circumstances might be…

However, never forget that “there is nothing new under the sun.” The enemy’s most powerful weapon has always been deception. Remember the Garden of Eden? The serpent said, “Did God REALLY say that…” And what did Dr. Elser present in class the other day? Something along the lines of “come on, you can’t REALLY take the Bible seriously, can you?” The arguments have always been the same. The evolutionist may fancy-up his words with all sorts of big, scientific jargon – but the fundamental questions of life still remain unanswered. So take heart – from the beginning men have tried and tried to both distort and destroy God’s Word. Yet, it remains. And it always will. His promise is always true, “the grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever,” Isaiah 40:8.

So anyway, I just want to let you know that I will be praying for you a lot.

I will definitely honor your request to limit my discussion in lab. I understand that you are in a teaching position, and therefore you must be able to teach the necessary material. Besides, these discussions are always more beneficial in smaller groups. So I will keep my discussions within my own lab table as much as possible. And please don’t neglect to correct me if I step out of line somehow.

One more thing: I am much more concerned about people than I am about a debate. Sharing and living the gospel is central my life. Therefore, I will always try with any conversation - like this one – to lead a person to knowing Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. That is my ultimate intention; I will never debate for the sake of debating – this often just leads to heated arguments and broken friendships. So, that is where I am coming from.

Thanks for the emails, I really appreciate it. I was very pleasantly surprised to read the words, “I too am a Christian.” You are not alone, Natalie. Maybe sometime I could come to your office hours and discuss this more. If not, then I completely understand.

Once again, I will be praying for you.

See you on Thursday,

-John