by Dennis Diehl
When I was kid, I loved to ask my minister questions about things that, to
my young mind, made no sense when I read them in the Bible or more likely
heard them in Sunday school. His answers were always rather bland and not a
little aloof since, after all, he was the pastor and I was just a kid.
I remember asking about how humans and dinosaurs could coexist. After all,
they had to be a part of the creation story, even though not mentioned
specifically. Or why would dinosaurs be taken on the ark, only to go extinct
such a short time after? And how do you cage a T-Rex or fit a Brontosaurus
on such a boat, much less a pair of all sorts?
I got a lot of looks but very few answers. As the years went by, I concluded
that none of it was either possible or even addressed in the Bible. I
realized humans and dinosaurs had nothing in common (unless you live in the
SE USA) and the pastor was either ignorant, deliberately deceptive or hung
up somewhere in between himself, not knowing what to say to a kid. I
honestly think I would have appreciated knowing what I suspect he knew, that
being the story of Noah was fiction and I didn't have to worry about
dinosaurs or polar bears for tha matter on the ark. It never happened.
I remember asking why the Bible, a book which had to know better since it
was written by God himself, said Joshua raised his hands and the "sun
stopped for the space of about a day," when clearly it would be the earth
that stopped rotating? I asked him how oceans would not slop out of their
basins in such a scenario and drown the whole world? I asked him if humans
would not be cast into space by such a sudden stop of the entire planet? I
even asked if this really happened, why did no one else on the whole planet
notice it, or write about it? I got that dumb look again.
I asked what about all those in history and even now who have never heard of
Jesus. He said they all are saved in their ignorance, though another
minister I asked said they all go to hell of some sort. So depending on who
you ask, the ignorant either get an automatic free pass for their trouble or
go to hell, having no awareness of what they did to deserve that! Hmmmm.
Something ain't right here!
I did respond by asking him why then we should send missionaries and put the
ignorant at risk, when if we just leave them alone, they can make it in
their ignorance of never having heard the only name under heaven by which a
man can be saved. I got the look again.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_dennis_d_070614_questions_your_pasto.htm
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