Where's God's Plan in that Last Post?

I'm not quite sure I included it, but then, I inevitably did. I mean, God's plan exists in spite of me.

I know I have been called to ministry, but is that ministry of the more public sort, or is it the one that is more like a river. It's always there, but you don't really notice how it's affecting the landscape.

I think mine is more of the river type. I don't mean that I shall be there to make converts of everyone I meet, and I'm not anything near perfect, but, and I continually learn through parenting, that mine is the silent type of everyday style ministry. Minister through deeds rather than merely through words.

Of course, that doesn't mean I will never go on another missions trip or anything, but it just means that I'm here for the long haul. What does it have to do with my major?

Well, my major affects the kinds of people I come into contact with. I think God provides needs in our lives so that we can "hob nob" with the right people. These people will be those that minister to us and those that we minister to.

I think this calls into question what ministry is. Ministry is just offering to others something you have. It's service. That's it in a nutshell. The infrastructure built by some that folks call ministry is just a nice place for that "ministry" to "hang out." It can aid the ministry but it is not the ministry itself.

In fact, I think every Christian is called to this ministry, whether they are biological scientists, doctors, lawyers, chemists, teachers, bus drivers, etc.

Of course, I want to clarify that ministry type service is not like bussing tables or something. Ministry can have an income, but I think that diminishes the ministry, somewhat. Instead, pastors and such are ministered to by their church bodies. Okay, I'm getting into territory I didn't intend. I think that the pastor is necessary as the leader to the church which is a ministerial body.

It is God's will that we minister and that true ministry does not require belief by the individual being ministered to. The opportunity to share belief is part of Christian ministry, but if it expects it in return, it will be highly disappointing. We are to be instruments of God's work, not God, Himself. Only God can convert others.

Regi G

God's plan and My plan

I came here to share a revelation I had, but hopped over to bittersweetblue.blogspot.com for a read, and found there a confirmation, I suppose, of what I've been wrestling with lately.

I am really a very torn individual. I want to know everything about everything, and now I'm being told to make a career out of something. (Well, I did choose to return to school, and for some reason, they like you to declare a major. *shrug*)

So, I prayed and as I did so, made a list of my more major interests. I come from a long line of inventive men, and being a woman (INTJ, no less) who was raised by traditionally-minded women, have butted my head against the "establishment" for as far back as I can remember. Dang, I'm REALLY stubborn!

In response to my prayer, I got a few questions to think about, questions that I already knew much of the answers to:

What do you want to know everything about? (Cosmology, chemistry, biology)

What do you see yourself exploring for the rest of your life? (Cosmology and biology)

What has more potential beyond a paycheck? (all of my interests)

What will you do for money? *chirping crickets*

I have enjoyed my somewhat inventive and mechanical skills. I mean, I KNOW cars. I don't know how the stuff under the hood goes together, but I know when something is wrong with one--every time. Or, maybe that just has to do with the fact that we haven't had a new car in 10 years.

I like girly things, but don't think I could stand to keep houses or watch others' children, unless they are just sweet little angels who would like to play with me, but would be satisfied if I had to take care of something else or someone else for a minute, and slept about 75% of the time.

I do like computers. I like writing programs and some of the things in comp sci appeal to my mathematical side that first sprung up when I was little. (BTW, my younger daughter has a gift with numbers that I hope she doesn't lose as things get harder.)

Anyway...money is an issue, but I could get a computer job without a degree in comp sci. I'm really kinda interested in "green industrialism." I would like to develop methods that industry can use to help keep the environment clean.

I actually have a vested interest in that my hometown just narrowly missed getting landed with a coal energy plant that would leech mercury compounds into the environment there. Also, another plant arrived there when my aunt was young, poisoned their land and moved them into town. It's possible that my Downs' syndrome cousin has Downs' because of the pollution. The mercury compounds may have been relatively safe, but to us, it wasn't worth the risk. Plus, it would have brought jobs that these "resistors to Walmart" may not have liked.

Anyway, just some ribbons of thought that have been seemly (as opposed to seemlessly) taped together.

Regi G

FABNAQ at TalkOrigins

Please see the following link for the original questions. Also, this is incomplete, but I will try to update as often as possible.

FABNAQ

1. Basically, this question is asking why I think the Biblical account is correct.

Well, firstly, it’s the one I was taught. Secondly, much of the Biblical creation account is very pragmatic. Thirdly, the Biblical account introduces the idea that God wanted to share profound knowledge with us. What evidence do we have for all of this? If we had all the evidence we need, there would be no need for faith. There would be no true choice to love and serve God.

I can’t say dinosaurs weren’t on the ark.

I think some Christians are evolutionists because they want to believe what other people see. They take it as “gospel” what a lot of scientists say, rather than knowing it all out for themselves, and relying on God to reconcile what seems amiss. Rather, they choose to believe that the parts of the Bible that seem conflicting are not literal. But why ask me, or someone like me? Why not ask them?

Again, I don’t know why some choose not to believe the Bible is a perfect representation of what God wants us to believe. It’s better to ask those people directly, or to ask questions that I can honestly supply the answer to. I can really only answer for myself. But, again, I think it comes down to faith. I choose to have faith that God’s answers will pan out, and more than faith, actually. What others do instead, I can’t attest.

Young-life? Is this phrase implying that life began on earth shortly after the formation of the earth? Well, even Campbell and Reece, who wrote the college text, Biology, mention that. Bacterial life arose surprisingly early after the formation of the earth, and molecular clocks are giving us much earlier dates for certain events. Why other people don’t believe this, I don’t know.

I do not think that science and religion should be held separately. Both evaluate the limits of truth, and there is ambiguity. One can have both. In fact, Newton was a believer, as were many early scientists. Einstein’s theology is questionable, but even he seems to have respect for that which he didn’t know, and funny enough, hated uncertainty. Rather, I think it is ridiculous to attack someone else’s faith when you must have faith, yourself. As long as a Christian doesn’t lie about scientific findings, or engage in dishonest debate, I see no cause for ridicule.

2. Well, I don’t know how much THEORY there is in belief in a Biblical account of creation, but I can say with confidence that the ideas, or hypotheses, that such an idea gives rise to have not been completely evaluated, and to write it off is questionable scientific practice. If I’m correct in interpreting the phrase “young-life” then that is just one such instance that is being explored by molecular biologists, today. Again, in Biology, 6th Ed., Campbell and Reece state that life began much earlier than originally estimated, according to molecular evaluations.

Can the Biblical idea make predictions that are concurrent with observation? Well, early arisal of life. But if we take current data and reinterpret Scripture to fit it, that isn’t making a prediction. Rather, let’s look at ERVs (endogenous retroviral insertions). These might suggest that viruses arose from existing life, rather than arising naturally. Any way to prove this? I don’t know that all instances of ERV can be accounted for, but I do know that transcription of ERV segments of DNA have given rise to viable, infectious viruses. I have more to say about ERVs, but this answers the question at talkorigins.

Regi G

PS. Yes, these are my original answers.

Annoyances with Public Scientists

I was accidentally listening to PBS the other morning while trying to sleep (the tv was left on because my brain doesn't always settle down and it sometimes helps). A documentary or something came on, talking about Creation, Intelligent Design and science.

Well, I just want to say that Creationism and ID are not necessarily the same things. I think IDers are politically motivated groups, openly stating that they accept other Creation stories or believe in some off-planet source of life with an alien race or something, while creationists aren't, necessarily, politically motivated. In other words, Creationists can be IDers, but IDers include more than Creationists.

Creationism is the belief that God (and in the wordly perspective, any god or a pantheon) created our universe, world, and life.

Belief is not science, but tenets of faith can be evaluated scientifically. To do this, you must first start with a right perspective of the belief. In the cases of scientists arguing against an Intelligent Designer, especially God, they mistakenly assume that Creationists and IDers believe that God would use many different ways of creating life, whether by morphology, DNA composition, some other heritable molecule besides DNA, etc. It appears that many non-Creationists assume that if there is a God or other Creator, that the Creator MUST use uniquenss in all His creatures. I don't think so.

In fact, my creativeness starts in one place, leads me to a new place, and then another place and another, and it follows a logical progression. Now, I'm not as smart as God, but if I am made like Him in any capacity, this definitely follows from an Intelligent Designer.

I think that randomness is more inherent to completely chemical start with no Creator. I would not expect nature to be logical, but wild, untamed and unpredictable. That's not the way our world is, though it is in some locations. This fits with my idea of God, too. The simple things boggle our minds. But, the world is logical and chaotic at different times. There are reasons for everything, with some apparent randomness.

What do we make of it? Intelligence is also logical, not random. So, how can anyone arguing against Creation ideas dismiss the ideas just because life has a logical pattern? I must say, "Duh!" I mean no disrespect to persons, but to faulty ideas only, especially strawmen like this one.

Regi G

Purification Process Through Chemistry

You can read my previous posts and see there that I refer to difficulty in school. I was ashamed, embarrassed that I was having a tough time in this one class very related to my major. Well, the major that I was wanting to pick up.

The last few days, I've had some difficult decisions to make, so went to talk to some professors and GTA's (graduate teaching assistants). I was considering a change of major, since it's difficult to pursue a career in research (and minor in computer science) when you have three homeschooled children.

I'm on the A/B cusp in microbiology, though I've been a little disappointed with my performance in that class. But chemistry...that's been the real kicker.

While there are always some difficulties in chemistry, I've been performing under my potential. Maybe I'm overloaded, stretched for time, or maybe it's the professor, or some combination of all of these things. (I know for sure that I was 3 chapters behind, going into this semester.)

Well, yes on the first, yes on the second. Speaking to my micro professor and GTA, my chem prof is "like primo." You can take this prof for chem 1 and then anyone else for chem 2, but you can't take anyone else for chem 1 and him for chem 2, which is exactly where I am. It really discourages me because I want to KNOW chemistry, not just think I know chemistry. You know?

But, I do want to get my degree, too. So, I may get a D or F in chemistry this semester and have to retake it. Add to that that I'm coming from a community college to university and having to adjust...

I've come to the conclusion that I will still aim to do my best (no shot at an A, right now), and whatever comes, comes. If I have to retake chemistry, so be it. That is, unless I become a computer science major.

I really don't know where I ought to be. I'd prefer a major in the natural sciences, but if that's not possible...

Let me let you know why I wanted to go into biology in the first place. My grandmother has diabetes and I wanted to understand the current treatments and find better ones, not limiting my scope to medications but extending into cure (research).

I'm still fascinated by research. And now, my dad has diabetes, and so that means I've got 2 marks against me for the future.

I just learned, however, that University of Florida may be on the verge of a cure for diabetes. This doesn't dampen my interest, at all, just redirects it.

I want to be where God wants me to be, but I can't continue on at this pace. I feel like I'm losing touch with my family, at times, and that just kills me. I had to recommit to our family fun day (Sunday) and inject time for prayer, which is still shaky for me. I pray, but not in a structured way, which doesn't help me feel like I've spent a good amount of time with God.

Anyway, computer science and programming have been easy for me, thus far. While I was not attending school, I taught myself HTML and did a number of installs to learn other coding/languages. I was already embarking on javascript. Now, I've learned C and it puts what I was learning in js in a new light.

I have an opportunity to go to Thailand this summer and minister to missionaries whose lives are endangered, daily. They could use those trained in the medical sciences and in computers (encryption, upgrade, etc). Which do I do? Either can be used for God. I just ask that He lead me, so that His work can be done and my family provided for.

I plan to post a separate post on the Thailand trip, but ask that you will pray with and for me, and if you don't think you could do that, but want to do something, offer your thoughts on the choices before me. May God bless whatever you are able to contribute, whether to me or to someone else.

Regi G