7a. A creationist once gave a presentation where he asked “What evidence would you use to justify your belief that God created the world?” How would you answer this question? What evidence would you cite? Do you need to justify your belief?
- If this question came up and I were to answer it, I would say that faith is how I justify what God has created. The world is so beautiful and so detailed that there is no way that God who is so good did not make this beautiful place that we call our home. I have no research that I can cite because seeing is not believing. I was confirmed at a Lutheran church in grand island and I had a youth pastor who taught me everything I know. I am a believer and I don’t think that I need to justify what I believe in.
7b. Where would you locate yourself on the Naturalism/MN/Open Science/Theistic Science spectrum? Why?
- I am not really sure where I would place myself on this specific spectrum. I think if I have to decide I would be open science, I think this because it doesn’t have a concrete view. The view of this open science is that it values scientific findings but doesn’t denounce that there are other things that could be like supernatural forces. I have been raised in a Lutheran home, got confirmed, baptised, and was a part of my churches youth group. When I decided I was going to go to Concordia, I was super excited to grow in my faith. The specific classes such as NT, OT, faith and life, Interp, etc all of these allowed me to read the word of God and made me grow in my faith as a child of God. I believe that there is one God. However, I also want a world view to see what other interpretations the world has to offer about the creation of our Earth.
7d. Is God still in the miracle business? God seems to hide his involvement in nature, for the most part. He could certainly reveal his actions to scientific scrutiny if he wanted to, but that would be unusual. Do you think it’s appropriate to be skeptical about claims of miraculous manifestations of God’s power (healing miracles, divine intervention, the actions of angels), or is that an inappropriate stance for a Christian to take?
- I think that it can be appropriate about skepticism when talking about miracle events. I think that miracle events such as abductions done by aliens are way too far dramatized. Stories of where some people miraculously recover from horrible things, I believe that it was God’s plan all along. My uncle was hit head on by a semi and broke almost every single bone in his body, underwent numerous surgeries but the impact didn’t touch his head whatsoever. I believe that God has a plan for him and wasn’t ready for him. I believe that God works in ways that we can never understand and that right there is a miracle.
https://www.christianscience.com/what-is-christian-science
- This link explains what the beliefs of christian science is, their beliefs and teachings.
- This link is to a sermon that talks about miracle business and how God works in those mysterious ways.
https://www.asa3.org/ASA/education/origins/open.htm
- This link explains the difference between Theistic Science and Open Science.
https://answersingenesis.org/evidence-for-creation/
- This link explains the scientific way for evidence for creation of the world.
