On The Creation and Western Civ.

For those of you who don't know I am now a student of Dordt College. Before coming here I had heard some odd things were coming out of the social sciences and theology departments but thinking that I would mostly be taking engineering classes, I figured I wouldn't have to put up with much of it. However, I did have to take a Western Civ. class. My professor, Dr. Hubert R. Krygsman, started saying some funny things and kept talking about a framework in Genesis 1. Wondering where he was coming from, I walked up after class and asked him how he believed the creation happened and if he believed in some kind of framework hypothesis. After much hemming and hawing he finally said, "I believe that Moses wrote in ways that his audience could understand." That was what I was looking for.
The next class period he wrapped up class by drawing a time line on which he allowed an open end for evolution before the Paleolithic era which was labeled at 10,000 B.C. Again after class I walked up to him and said I don't agree with that. I then asked him why he believed in a variation on evolution to which he replied by saying something to the effect of, "We need to look at scripture through the wonder of God's creation." My reply was, "So what you're saying is that you believe in evolution because of the scientific evidence which has been found?" At this point he nodded his head so I continued, "If "scientists" claimed to have found evidence that Christ had not risen from the dead, would you believe that too?" Here he started to turn red, but he kept his calm. Again I continued, "Instead of interpreting scripture through science or nature, we need to interpret science through scripture." He nodded his head and said we could talk more about it on Wednesday and with that he left so as to make room for the next class.
After doing a lot of studying on the hermeneutics of Genesis 1 and sending Dr. Krygsman an e-mail with a selection from the "253rd Synod of the RCUS - Defend the Doctrine of Creation Report" I went to class. This class was different. He began by asking the difference between Creation and Evolution to which I responded that the Creationist view is God centered where as the Evolutionist is earth or nature centered. He said, "Ah yes, Luke has it. On one side you have what is called Evolutionary Naturalism and then you have the Christian/ Biblical view." He then went on about the Christian/ Biblical view and completely surprised me by saying that the Bible is the spectacles through which we must se science and the world. Going back to the subject of the Christian/ Biblical view he said that there are several different ones. There is the oldest view, which he said is "don't worry or think about it"; the second oldest view which is what Augustine and many of the early church fathers thought, the Old Earth view; the next oldest, Theistic evolution; and the newest, which he said was founded by people like James Ussher in the near past, was the Young Earth view. When asked which he believed, he again to my surprise responded differently than he had two days before and said that he didn’t know because he wasn’t there in the beginning.
After all this I asked my professor where Augustine had said that he believed in an old earth because I had just read on Tuesday that he believed that the days of creation were all twenty-four hour days. Professor Krygsman nodded his head and said that he Augustine had. Upon closer study I found that many of the members of the early church believed in a young earth and from what I have seen the ones who didn't were those who sought to make scripture agree with the Greek philosophers or with paganism. Those from the early church who didn't believe in six literal days did so, not because of the text, but because it fit their's or someone else’s pagan notions. That is the way it was and that is the way it still is. The words have just changed.

A Small World

Today something fairly funny happened. A guy from Eads Colorado, Derek (my peer counselor whose last name I don't know), and I were all sitting down at the Freshman dinner. As we ate I heard Ryan Trosper (the guy from Eads) ask Derek (who is from Colorado Springs) where he went to school and he said that he had gone to some Christian academy. Knowing that he was in his late twenties I immediately asked him if he knew the Powells to which he replied that he did. I then asked him if he knew Matt and he again said yes. Upon hearing this I quickly informed him that Matt was my pastor and that Sam was preaching in Calhan, Colorado. Derek's initial reaction was one of disbelief but he soon came out of it. For nearly ten minutes afterward he just stared into space, every now and then chuckling to himself and saying, "I can't believe it" or "Amazing". :)

Forward

After seven months of thinking, writing, and rewriting it is finally here (don‘t get your hopes up). That is right, here is the rough draft of the rough draft of the first section of the first chapter of The Condition. Upon looking at it again tonight I suddenly realized that I forgotten why I had Aver say “ They always do” in the sixth paragraph but I have left it in just in case I remember later. A quick note about the end, I tried very hard to create a normal cliffhanger at the of the section but failed due to my obsession with tactics. Thus I created a tactical cliffhanger which will bore most of you and thrill very few (I couldn‘t help it, just writing this ending gave me goose bumps). If you can see any problems or can guess the plot leave a comment. One last note, things may change on this section over time. I would also like to say that I am not writing because my friends are. I started long before I knew about James's and I came up with the plot long before I learned of Derek's. One must do something when sitting in a tractor for hours on end.

Chapter 1 Section I

The Condition,
or
What is the Problem?


The daylight was waning fast as the two men sat down at the table. It had been raining all day and the ground was thoroughly saturated. Lew had just arrived on his long trip to the northern end of the empire. The storm had set in a few days ago and had become so thick that very little sunlight could get through and it had reached the time of day when thing appeared one way when they were another.
"So how was your trip?" Aver asked his long time friend.
“Long,” Lew replied, "Long and dangerous, but it's not over yet."
"I can’t believe that they would have you come all the way up here."
Lew nodded his head, "Well, I’m sure they have their reasons."
"Yes," Aver said, "They always do."
Lew got right to the point. "So, how are things here? Have you had any luck, have you been able to stop these barbarians from moving in?"
Avers smiled, "Yes, I’ve even been able to keep them back and I’ve actually gained some ground. Our latest intelligence says that they are retreating."
"Good!" Lew said triumphantly, "Maybe soon there will be peace."
"Yes, that is the ultimate goal," said Aver and at this point his expression changed. "But in my opinion this isn't the enemy that is hindering it."
"You mean them?" Lew asked, "Do you agree with me that we should kill them?"
"Yes," he said sneering, "there will never be peace as long as they keep distorting society with their spells."
Lew looked obviously shocked, "So you believe they have magic?"
"No," Aver replied, "And I didn't mean to imply that I did. The idea of magic is just a popular superstition. They can't do anything that I or any other normal person can't do."
Lew smiled, "Really, then how do you explain their ability to turn completely sane people to their side? I've seen them do it and I'm sure you have too."
Aver was obviously getting irritated, "Oh, it's just another brain washing trick, probably like the ones we use to interrogate prisoners. They make weak minded people feel good. If we could get rid of them like you suggest then I am sure we could fix this corrupting society."
"Well," Lew said, nodding, "Fortunately the Emperor agrees with us on that condition."


In a trench several miles to the north, a messenger could be seen in the hazy twilight running towards an earthen bulwark.
"General" the man said, "our intelligence shows that the empire is retreating."
"Good" the General replied, " We will pursue in the morning."

Camp pictures

I will post camp pics as soon as I can set up a photo blog, then all I have to do is figure out how to get them off my phone. If you would like to see Camp pics now you can do so at the links for James's, Jess's, and Chell's blog on the side bar.

Camp

Camp was last week and I am just now finally stating to get over the lack of sleep. It was great seeing Jonny, James, Chel, Denae, Jess, Carson, and Micah again and I made a lot of new friends too. With the exception of one lecture, camp was the best so far, it would suffice to say it was flippen awesome. This was my second year as a counselor and my first year as a senior counselor which made it kind of odd. I only look like I’m eighteen which was nearly the same age as many of the campers. Even so, the kids were very nice and gave me a lot of respect. We had a lot of fun. Jonny, James, and I spent most of our free time trying to find good reasons to burn things. I confess that I acted more like a camper at times than a counselor. I was kind of afraid that I would get a reputation as an evil counselor or something and that they wouldn't let me come back next year, but when I talked to Roger, the camp director, on the last day he sounded more than happy to have me come back next year.