June 24th Column

Old Story: A man was having severe problems with periodic dizzy spells. He saw doctor after doctor with no real progress. The periodic dizzy spells continued to haunt him. He became a nervous wreck and as expected his health began to deteriorate. He soon lost hope, made out his will, and began making arrangements for his own funeral. After picking out a casket he went to very fine clothing store to buy an outfit to “be laid out in.” He picked out shoes, socks, coat, pants, and finally he asked for a size 15 silk shirt. The clerk informed him, “Sir you need a size 16 ½, not a 15.” The man son , “No, I have always wore a size 15.” This went on for a few minutes with each insisting he was correct. Finally the clerk blurted, “If you wear a size 15 you will have severe problems with periodic dizzy spells.

  Doing what I have always done doesn’t guarantee it is the right thing for me. Being open to learning new information about God’s creation is not a bad thing.

  Not long ago a fundamentalist preacher told me that an educated minister was the tool of Satan. He felt it was sufficient to “just know” the Bible. His words took me back to a Bible Study early in my life. In that study, my preacher said, “Adam and Eve were the first humans.” I asked, “Then who are the people in the land of Nod? Where did Cain’s wife come from?”

  My preacher responded, “There are mysteries we should not question.”

  I thought, “Baloney!”

  Ever since then I have discovered the more I learn about this planet, the universe, human history, and the history of the church, the more I learn about how wonderful God really is for us. Knowledge did not corrupt.

  If I had accepted what my old preacher said, would my religious life be wrought with severe spiritual dizziness? Would I be like many others and drift away from the Church or just church hop?

  I am glad I searched for answers to my questions in life. For instance, I have discovered through further study of Scripture that the word for the Spirit that breathed life into Adam and Eve was the same Spirit that fell on Jesus at his baptism and on the people at Pentecost, when the church was born. In other words they could have been the first humans to receive the Holy Spirit. That would make them the first Spiritual human beings. That information doesn’t make me dizzy in light of all the new knowledge in the world beyond the land of Nod.

  Science and theology have identical goals - find out more about Creation and the Creator. Science seek the first cause, which we label God. Science is primarily interested in how and religions are primarily interested in why. Both seek God, so how can we be in conflict? People with severe dizziness believe they are in conflict, because that’s what they have always been told. This all makes me dizzy. But ignorance always chokes off the real truth about God.