h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Frightening, am I? smart am I?

How is that? (you heard it here folks..... my own daughter thinks I'm not a complete idiot!)

I'm just glad to see the thread revived. I expected to see maybe one reply in about a week or two, instead I see a whole string of 'em.

Well, anyhow, Clive.......

I once heard someone describe making the leap of faith as the scariest thing he had ever done. He pictured himself standing on one side of a canyon, and faith on the other, and he could swing across this canyon holding onto a rope, but not quite land on the other side, unless he let go of the rope and trusted that God take him the rest of the way. I suspect he wavered and tried to find a way to get there all by himself for some time, but finally decided to trust God to support him.... or find himself smashed on the bottom of the canyon, cause he had to find out for sure.

God caught him. Safe landing.

Go ahead, take that leap. I know you're still working on the dissertation. Making that leap to faith and finishing your dissertation are not mutually exclusive. You'll still be able to function academically with faith. Honest you will. Probably even better than before, cause you'll be able to look to a higher power for some help. Look at Amy+, she didn't suddenly lose all her brain cells, and apparently none of the rest of us turned into blithering idiots either.

When you really, *really*, **really** want to know for sure, you know what to do... it's up there somewhere in the middle of my micro-mini-dissertation.

It is in turkey? Really? Come on gang, lets head to the grocery store.... they got lots of them!

Oh, rats, mine only had giblets in it.

And yes, by the way, nice to make everyone's acquaintance. .

Um... I didn't lose any brain cells, but that doesn't mean I had any to begin with... Though I have found that being a believer makes it harder for your opinion to be accepted in certain debates-- and being educated (or at least somewhat educated) sometimes makes it hard to be accepted in religious debates. The interesting thing I've found is that learning-- scientific, most obviously-- and religion are not exclusive, no matter how people try to separate them. [Ex: evolution and the story in Genesis are pretty darned similar except for the fact that evolution is accepted to be undirected. Point being that God created everything and therefore created the laws that govern things in the universe-- there's no logical reason He can't use them once in a while. Box? What box?]

I had another thought while typing that-- what was it? Oh, , I'll let you know when I think of it...

*waits*

quickie before bed. The dissertation thing was meant as a sort of joke. (i.e have I no redeeming features!? )

don't worry I'm not hung up on hesitancy through some sort of academic fear of faliure!
I started this thread as a way i suppose of just airing some of the notions I've had rattling around in my head for the past couple of years.

I still remeber the advice I was given by several of the contrbutors who said that introspection and debate can only take you so far ('shuffles-of faith', notwithstanding ) the first step to take is to read the bible - where else to look for the best possible begining than "The Book", right?

I'm taking my time with this one because I'm pondering it.

I want to thank everyone who's listened to myramble it has been most helpful.

Clive

I fear I may have somehow led you to believe that I thought you had no redeeming features (your words).... eh? I certainly meant nothing of the sort. But as Amy said, sometimes academics have a hard time communicating with people of faith, and vice versa... most probably because the only ones they've ever dealt with on the other side were "all or nothing" types - the kind who won't even listen to the other side (possibly because they have so little confidence in their own position that they are afraid they'll be swayed to the other side?) Just wanted to make sure that was not what was holding you back.

I know we've all offered different advice on just how a person comes into a state of belief from unbelief, and the truth of the matter is that there is no one and only way to mentally quit straddling the fence. One person may be so moved by reading the Bible, or just reading the Gospel of John that they immediately believe. For another person, it may be looking around at nature and realizing all the diversity in the world could not have come about by accident. Yet another may start asking God for signs of his existence. The answer could come through the natural, through what seems to be constant uncanny coincidences, through reading the Bible, or even in an undeniably supernatural experience. (not wanting to put that box around God, there could also be an infinite number of other possibilities)

But if you've decided that you need to start by reading the Bible, by all means feel free to do so as this could easily settle it for you. I would suggest that rather than reading it from cover to cover to start with (since there are places where the story tends to bog down in long lists of names and such - unless of course you're really into that sort of thing...), you might begin by reading just the gospel of John. It's relatively short, to the point, and gives a good overview of the message of the entire Bible.

I read down through all of the postings and chose to reply to this one mainly because it was the first.One thought kept coming to me as I read all of them.How easy it is for us to get off the main road and get stuck in what seem to be a very confusing or complex issue.The main issue is very simple.(1)Man is in rebelion to God Ever since Adam And Eve decided to disobey him.They fell for the lie of Satan that if they ate the fruit they would be like God. All of us still think we We could do better With our lives than follow God's principals. (2) Jesus gave us a chance to be restored into a relationship with Him by paying the price of our rebellion to Him When he took the penalty of death on the cross.It is ours to accept or reject. Jesus said "if the Son (Jesus) shall set you free you will be free indeed".(3) When we accept the gift of the new birth ( which is what happens when say we yes to his invitation to restoration)He gives us his Holy Spirit to be our strenght and guide to live an exiting life that is pleasing to him. How do I know all this? I have experienced it.

Blessings

Resercher Dave

sorry if it seems like we've been ignoring you Dave (Can I call you that?) Real life I mean, why bother?

___
*

Anyhoo...well thank you for posting, as usual there is always a lot of very worthwhile stuff that is written here. Your right that we can get bogged down so to speak in a lot of compicated issues that fuzz the edges and make everything more complicated and so on.
As I have said before In my posts to this conversation: my problem is that I recognise the scencario you've set out and the choice it would seem is dissarmingly simple - the gift of God is something we either accept or reject.
I do feel I've come a long way with this in the what ...year or whatever, since I started this conversation and yet I still I ask myself do I believe in these things and again and again I come up with the answer 'I don't know.'

I am happy that you found your faith - it is up to me really to find my own....

Clive

There several reasons I havent relpyed to your post wich was much appreciated. First since I am rather new at this I still have problems getting around.I fnallly found it about a week ago but then I think some thing disturbed me and I had to get off line.I will be honored to be called Dave. It is with great joy to know that you have come a long way. I would like to suggest that perhaps you are not sure because you are trying to believe in things rather than believing in a person (Jesus).If you believe in Jesus and put your full weight on him He will help you sort out things.It is like going across a bridge . If you trust the bridge you will put your weight on the bridge and you will get across safley. If you don't trust the bridge it is of no use to you and you will never get across. Jesus is the bridge to a new life. That new life can only begin once you have crossed . Have a good day. will be waiting for your response.

Blessings and peace

Researcher Dave