Q & A Session - PapaG Style

I was asked a series of questions by one of my son’s friends… at the urging of another friend. So I will answer these questions when time permits, here I have answered three. Keep in mind that there will be little referencing going on as I would view this as a dialogue rather than an essay:

Question 1) What church is your church? Its protestant, but which? Baptist, Anabaptist, Methodist, etc.

First of all, we are all Christians (Catholics & Protestants), there are true believers in all denominations and people who go just because their parents did, or out of ritual. So salvation has nothing to do with which church you attend. Within the Protestant category I would be considered a “conservative Evangelical.” The “conservative” in that “tag” has nothing to do with politics. North Park is really considered the same but is a non-denominational affiliation.

Long ago, Graham stressed that this term most be understood in doctrinal terms, if it is to be understood at all. He finally defined an "evangelical" as someone who believes all the doctrines in the ancient Nicene Creed. Graham stressed the centrality of the resurrection and the belief that salvation is through Jesus, alone. "I think there are evangelicals in the Roman Catholic Church, and the Eastern Orthodox churches," he said. The journalism Bible basically agrees. The Associated Press Stylebook notes that "evangelical" once served as an adjective. Today it is a noun, referring to a "category of doctrinally conservative Christians. They emphasize the need for a definite, adult commitment or conversion to faith in Christ. Evangelicals stress both doctrinal absolutes and vigorous efforts to win others to belief."

Question 2) Do you think evolution is true? Why or why not?

I think that microevolution is true, but I do not think that these small changes that occur in species (centimeter changes in bird beak sizes, or Great Danes to Chihuahua’s) mean that some day dogs will become cats. Evolution teaches that you came from a rock, Intelligent Design teaches that you came from a “hyper” intelligent Being, which would logically explain your ability to think and make choices. If you came from God you actually have the ability to have free-will, the evolutionist does not. Here I will quote a most interesting thought from Stephen Hawkings (who holds the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics, Isaac Newton’s chair, at Cambridge) at a lecture given to a university crowd in England entitled “Determinism – Is Man a Slave or the Master of His Fate.” He discussed whether we are the random products of chance, and hence, not free, or whether God had designed these laws within which we are free. In other words, do we have the ability to make choices, or do we simply follow a chemical reaction induced by millions of mutational collisions of free atoms dating all the way back to the Big-Bang?

C.S. Lewis puts this in an analogous form:

“If the solar system was brought about by an accidental collision, then the appearance of organic life on this planet was also an accident, and the whole evolution of Man was an accident too. If so, then all our thought processes are mere accidents - the accidental by-product of the movement of atoms. And this holds for the materialists and astronomers as well as for anyone else's. But if their thoughts — [i.e. of atheistic evolution] — are merely accidental by-products, why should we believe them to be true? I see no reason for believing that one accident should be able to give a correct account of all the other accidents. It’s like expecting that the accidental shape taken by the splash when you upset a milk-jug should give you a correct account of how the jug was made and why it was upset.”

Take note as well that there are many evolutionary theories “out there,” for instance: Punctuationist; Macromutationist; Neutral Selectionist; Structuralist; Natural Order Systematics; Transformed Cladist; Panspermia; Discontinuitist; Theistic Evolutionism; Darwinism; Neo-Darwinism. A theory that seems to be picking up more steam as of late comes from scientists who deal with bone structure… especially spinal disorders. One such scientist/professor is Dr. Bourne is the Director of Yerkes Regional Primate Research Center at Emory University, England (now dead). Dr. Bourne is Oxford educated, and is an American cell biologist /[slash]/ anatomist who is considered by most to be the worlds leading primatologist. He said that apes are descended from man. Why would he believe such a thing?? Because science has never seen any information being added to the evolutionary upward “slant” that is required by its theory (Darwinism). So since apes are less than us, Dr. Bourne says that science proves his theory.

A more modern view of this comes from Dr. Aaron G. Filler, who studied evolutionary theory under some of the leading biologists and anthropologists of our time: Ernst Mayer, Stephen J. Gould, David Pilbeam, and Irven DeVore, he wrote a book entitled The Upright Ape: A New Origin of the Species. In this book he argues like Dr. Bourne that apes have “devolved” from mankind… not mankind coming from apes. This is the “monkey wrench” in current evolutionary consensus. In other words, much of what evolution teaches about the primates may be very wrong!

Another reason I reject it is because the evidence leads to Intelligent Design, you can see from this list of 660 scientists and professors that many deep thinking people are skeptical of Darwinian evolution and have chosen to align themselves with the Discovery Institute. There is now a new list that will grow quarterly as well, that list is of Medical Doctors and professors.

Science should not be:

• “Science is the human activity of seeking natural explanations for what we observe in the world around us.”

It should be:

• “Science is the human activity of seeking logical explanations for what we observe in the world around us.”

Question 3) What is your views on gays? Are they bad? Are they going to hell? Are you born this way?

I have written heavily on this subject, both papers are on my blog at:

http://religiopoliticaltalk.blogspot.com/search/label/Homosexuality

The homosexual man or woman is just as much a sinner as you or me. We all need Christ. To touch on the hell issue first, I believe hell is a testament to free-will, and dignity as well. C.S. Lewis mentioned that hell is locked from the inside. The only thing separating mankind from God is a belief in the finished work on the Cross. By choice people reject their Creator, they choose their path, God never imposes it. Many who are saved are not immediately pure in action, nor will they ever be. Sometimes people take decades to work through their faults (counseling, prayer, reading God’s Word, etc), so just like the person who may cheat on his wife regularly, when he comes to a saving knowledge of God, he will be challenged to change his ways and seek counseling and prayer and reference from God’s Word. The same with a gay man or woman. If they truly have a saving knowledge of God, they will be challenged by the Holy Spirit to seek biblical guidance in their life, and like many others, they will turn away from their homosexual lifestyles.

However, there is a “created order,” or, even a natural order (if you do not believe in God). My argument for heterosexual (between a man and a woman) unions is usable both by the atheist (non believer in God) and the theist (a believer in God – in the Judeo-Christian sense). Here is the crux of the matter in regards to “nature’s order:”

“…take gold as an example, it has inherent in its nature intrinsic qualities that make it expensive: good conductor of electricity, rare, never tarnishes, and the like. The male and female have the potential to become a single biological organism, or single organic unit, or principle. Two essentially becoming one. The male and female, then, have inherent to their nature intrinsic qualities that two mated males or two mated females never actualize in their courtship… nor can they ever. The potential stays just that, potential, never being realized…..

“….Think of a being that reproduces, not by mating, but by some act performed by individuals. Imagine that for these same beings, movement and digestion is performed not by individuals, but only by the complementary pairs that unite for this purpose. Would anyone acquainted with such beings have difficulty understanding that in respect to movement and digestion, the organism is a united pair, or an organic unity?”

So you see, the two heterosexual organisms that join in a sexual union cease being two separate organisms for a short time and become one organism capable of reproduction. This is what the state and the church are sealing in a marriage, this intrinsic union. The homosexual couple can never achieve this union, so “natures order” has endowed the heterosexual union with an intrinsic quality that other relationships do not have or could never attain. Both the atheist and theist can argue from this point, because either we were created this way or we evolved this way. Either way, nature has imposed on the sexual union being discussed.

Also, I do not think it is wholly genetic. I believe choice is involved as well as violence. For instance, take this thought from a pro-choice, lesbian woman, Tammy Bruce:

“ . . . . and now all manner of sexual perversion enjoys the protection and support of once what was a legitimate civil-rights effort for decent people. The real slippery slope has been the one leading into the Left's moral vacuum. It is a singular attitude that prohibits any judgment about obvious moral decay because of the paranoid belief that judgment of any sort would destroy the gay lifestyle, whatever that is…. I believe this grab for children by the sexually confused adults of the Gay Elite represents the most serious problem facing our culture today. . . . Here come the elephant again: Almost without exception, the gay men I know (and that’s too many to count) have a story of some kind of sexual trauma or abuse in their childhood -- molestation by a parent or an authority figure, or seduction as an adolescent at the hands of an adult. The gay community must face the truth and see sexual molestation of an adolescent for the abuse it is, instead of the 'coming-of-age' experience many [gays] regard it as being. Until then, the Gay Elite will continue to promote a culture of alcohol and drug abuse, sexual promiscuity, and suicide by AIDS.”

What she is basically saying is that there are emotional reasons, usually trauma, or circumstances that push these young boys into the choices they make in regards to their sexuality. For instance, one of my co-workers is a homosexual man. He is a wonderful guy; I would invite him to my wedding if I could go back in time. He is very open about his past, he was “initiated” into the homosexual lifestyle by a grown black man when he was 14. In other words, he was raped. Whether he feels now that he consented, or the person was a family friend or complete stranger. This act of sex with a minor by a grown man is rape. And this rape, at an age where boys are having surges of hormones and confused about a lot of things is what Tammy Bruce was speaking to. It is a psychological trauma that if not dealt with has traumatic results in one’s life. This sometimes works its way into sexual matters. There are many homosexual people, Al Rantel (790am 6pm to 9pm), to name a more popular one, that believe marriage should be kept between a man and a woman. Tammy Bruce wants it, but she, like most Republicans, want the states to decide, and not the Supreme Court.

Also, in 1993, the biggest march by the “gay” community (Elite gay community) on Washington was held, and they had this as part of their platform:

• The implications of homosexual, bisexual, and transgendered curriculum at all levels of education.
• The lowering of the age [12 years old to be exact] of consent for homosexual and heterosexual sex.
• The legalization of homosexual marriages.
• Custody, adoption, and foster-care rights for homosexuals, lesbians, and transgendered people.
• the redefinition of the family to include the full diversity of all family structures.
• The access to all programs of the Boy Scouts of America.
• Affirmative action for homosexuals.
• The inclusion of sex-change operations under a universal health-care plan.

Obviously the Elite gay community Tammy Bruce spoke of knows which age is best for “recruiting,” e.g., traumatizing.

More can be said on all the above issues, but my book is not yet written. I will post three wuotes from Tammy Bruce (a pro-choice lesbian):

Even if one does not necessarily accept the institutional structure of “organized religion,” the “Judeo-Christian ethic and the personal standards it encourages do not impinge on the quality of life, but enhance it. They also give one a basic moral template that is not relative,” which is why the legal positivists of the Left are so threatened by the Natural Law aspect of the Judeo-Christian ethic. (Tammy Bruce, The Death of Right and Wrong: Exposing the Left’s Assault on Our Culture and Values [Roseville: Prima, 2003], 35.)

...these problems don’t remain personal and private. The drive, especially since this issue is associated with the word “gay rights,” is to make sure your worldview reflects theirs. To counter this effort, we must demand that the medical and psychiatric community take off their PC blinders and treat these people responsibly. If we don’t, the next thing you know, your child will be taking a “tolerance” class explaining how “transexuality” is just another “lifestyle choice”.... After all, it is the only way malignant narcissists will ever feel normal, healthy, and acceptable: by remaking society - children - in their image (Ibid., 92, 206)

... and now all manner of sexual perversion enjoys the protection and support of once what was a legitimate civil-rights effort for decent people. The real slippery slope has been the one leading into the Left's moral vacuum. It is a singular attitude that prohibits any judgment about obvious moral decay because of the paranoid belief that judgment of any sort would destroy the gay lifestyle, whatever that is…. I believe this grab for children by the sexually confused adults of the Gay Elite represents the most serious problem facing our culture today.... Here come the elephant again: Almost without exception, the gay men I know (and that’s too many to count) have a story of some kind of sexual trauma or abuse in their childhood -- molestation by a parent or an authority figure, or seduction as an adolescent at the hands of an adult. The gay community must face the truth and see sexual molestation of an adolescent for the abuse it is, instead of the 'coming-of-age' experience many [gays] regard it as being. Until then, the Gay Elite will continue to promote a culture of alcohol and drug abuse, sexual promiscuity, and suicide by AIDS. (Ibid., 90. 99)