Time is Flying By...9th week.

November 7^th, Monday

I was just laying on the couch pondering God’s awesomeness and faithfulness, when I realized how dark the room had become. Hearing a loud crash like thunder, I went to look outside! As I looked through the window it began snowing softly and fog began covering the mountains. Strangely, thunder boomed and lightning flashed in the midst of the snow. Never had I seen snow, thunder and lightning all at the same time. Then occured a downpour of hail-like-snow, more thunder, and more fog. No longer could I see the mountains. The incredible sight made God’s awesomeness even more awesome. God, full of surprises is a God of restoration, of love, of comfort, of faithfulness. He is indescribable and wonderful. Psalm 148:7-12 “Praise the Lord from the earth, you great sea creatures and all ocean depths, lightning and hail, snow and clouds, stormy winds that do his bidding, you mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars, wild animals and all cattle, small creatures and flying birds, kings of the earth and all nations, you princes and all rulers on earth, young men and maidens, old men and children.”

November 8^th, Tuesday

Yesterday, in addition to the snow storm, was simply wonderful. More than half of our group traveled to the Grand Canyon Sunday morning(they camped in snow!), so it was very quiet in both lodges. I was able to spend peaceful, alone time with God, finish my sonnet for English class, study “Philosophy Made Slightly Less Difficult”, and ponder life in silence. It was exactly the atmosphere I needed after these three insanely busy weeks.

The group arrived home around ten last night very satisfied with their journey. So life is back to “normal” again here at Snow Wolf Lodge. J.P. Moreland arrives tonight and begins teaching tomorrow. Hurrah!

November 9^th, Wednesday

This morning and evening in class Dr. Moreland gave a case for the evidence of God. Here is my summary of it:

The universe exists right now(obviously). It either had a beginning or didn’t have a beginning. This beginning was either caused or uncaused by something or someone. The something or someone had to be personal.

® Proofs for the beginning of the universe: 1) the second law of thermodynamics states that the amount of useful energy in the universe is being used up day by day(like a tank of gas). If something is running out then there must have been a time when it was full or complete. So there must have been a beginning to this energy, the beginning of the universe(I think this makes sense). 2) The universe is expanding and galaxies are getting further away from eachother; therefore, there must have been a time when the universe and galaxies were at a perfect spot, hence the beginning of a universe.

® Proofs for the universe caused by something/someones: Scientists have discovered that if certain constants in the universe(charge of electron, mass of proton, gravity) were off by a billionth of a second, life would be impossible. Chance could not have gotten that close. Also thinking about the complexity of DNA and the cells. There just must have been a causer who could create such intricate, working things. Moreland continually reminds us that if there are two explanations, complex or simple, it’s more knowledgeable to believe the simple explanation. I’m still thinking about that theory.

® Proofs for a personal causer: our free will and our consciousness. These couldn’t have come from a non-spaceless, timeless, immaterial, supernatural, invisible causer. Looking at creation, there are proofs for an intelligent designer.

November 10^th, Thursday

Today Moreland lectured about picking a religion and the problem of evil. Summarizations again? I think, yes!

Picking a religion requires four criteria(according to Moreland): 1)Pick a religion whose picture of God harmonizes with what we know about God from creation. He said that Buddhism and Hinduism do not explain the origin of the universe while Christianity, Judiasm and Islam do. 2) Pick a religion whose diagnosis and solution of human condition is most profound. Or in English(hardy har har), pick one that tells or analyzes what’s wrong with us and helps us fix that problem. What is wrong with us? Humans everywhere experience alienation from God, others, and themselves; experience shame and guilt; desire for life after death; desire for meaning in life; have a need for help and empowerment to live a life of character; and desire intimacy with God. 3) Pick a religion whose origin/continued success is best explained by miraculous and supernatural activity. If it doesn’t have the supernatural, then there is no reason tha God is behind it. 4) Pick a religion where you get all of Jesus, not just a watered down version of him.

Problem of evil is a bit more complicated and confusing. In a nutshell, evil is a privation or lack of goodness that should be there. A defect is evil. Evil came from humans’ (and angels?) choices due to free will. God created us with free will; we disobeyed his commands, hence, came evil. Free will is a very good thing. If God had forced us to choose and love him instead of letting us choose, it wouldn’t have been real love; it would have been forced love. Moreland presented an important point: God paid a high price by giving us free will. He was willing to be rejected by his own creation by letting us choose. This point really stood out to me. Evil serves as a warning to humans that something is wrong, and it also points to the fact that there is a way things are supposed to be. Summarizing it, God didn’t create evil. He created humans, gave them free will, and due to our disobedience, evil arose.

During our evening class we also learned about epistemology, the study of knowledge. One point that Moreland believes was the fact that when you believe something it has to be between 51% and 100%. I had never thought about this before. He said if you believe something 60% then it doesn’t mean you don’t believe it; it just means that it’s a weak belief. But the point is to continue to grow in the belief until you reach 100%. Pretty interesting I thought.

November 11^th, Friday( My brother Caleb’s birthday!)

Today we learned about empirical knowledge and states of consciousness and how the states of consciousness are not physical. Just like there are 3 states of water, there are 5 states of consciousness or so Moreland believes. These are the following: sensations, thoughts, beliefs, desires, and volitions(acts of free wills and choice). This intrigued me. The difference between a thought and a belief is that a belief can exist without thinking them while thoughts can’t exist unless you think about them. Makes sense! I won’t go into all that we learned, just because it’s complicated and I don’t want to bore you with all this philosophy. But I’m really loving learning all these important facts about knowledge and beliefs and truth. Although it’s complicated and takes me a while to comprehend, I enjoy it a lot.

Today is our nine week anniversary, which means that we only have three weeks left. Insane. I’ve been thinking a lot about how life will be at home after these three months. It scares me honestly because I’ll be out of this “bubble”. But like I said, I know God has plans for me at home, so that’s where I’ll go. J

November 12^th, Saturday

Dr. Moreland wasn’t exactly what I expected him to be. I found myself either disagreeing with him or being skeptical towards what he was teaching us quite often. He talked a lot about words of knowledge, the presence of angels and demons, experiences of people dying then returning to their bodies, and his belief in old earth creationism. His beliefs in the first four caused me to think about my beliefs in those, and I realized that I am very very skeptical towards miraculous things occurring today. I’m trying to figure out if that’s a bad thing that needs fixing or just something that needs looking into. I didn’t dislike Moreland; I just disagreed with him on a few points. One student said that we’ve been spoiled by Dr. Bauman. He doesn’t tell us what he believes or thinks. He teaches us the facts then forces us to make a decision about what to believe in. It seems like Dr. Moreland teaches us facts, but then adds his own beliefs into it. This is important though because it causes me to not just believe in what Moreland says. I have to think about his beliefs and compare them with what I have been taught and then decide which best fits into God’s story. Dr. Moreland deserves praise, however. He has spent years researching, studying, preaching, and teaching. He has gone through depression and anxiety, yet has remained faithful to the Lord and continues to serve him. He takes his vacation time to come to Semester to teach us. I am very grateful for his service to us and to God.

Speaking of God….he’s super duper amazing. His faithfulness is unending; his love is continuous. He rewards when I obey him and brings peace to my troubled soul. Joy fills my heart as he restores my broken relationships and teaches me to trust people, to be more relational, and to be intentional in my conversations and listening to others. In addition to those, He is teaching me to be slow to speak, to be patient with those I don’t get along with, and to not be legalistic in many areas of my life. He reveals, teaches, and rewards with patience and love. Serving my Savior is so fulfilling.

Other aspects of this ninth week: late night conversations with my roomie as she massages and beats out the stress in my shoulders( as she did this one night, I had a thought: there will be no stress or anxiety in heaven. that’s awesome ); reading and learning about the life of a president to whom I never gave a thought: Ronald Reagan(I have to write an essay about how he beat communism); eating breakfast in silence as all of us pray for a mentor’s father who was close to death; rejoicing that God is allowing the father to live at least for a little while; and thinking about the future.

Thanks for reading!