(Articles about Evangelical environmentalism)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evangelical_environmentalism
http://www.christianpost.com/news/majority-of-evangelicals-believe-global-warming-is-man-made-and-dangerous-65837/
http://nae.net/lovingtheleastofthese
I decided that science does not actually prove anything. It takes an equal amount of faith to believe in squiggles and scientists as it does Jesus and the Bible. Like we said in class, Levi seems to be very intelligent and an interview with him at 20 years old verifies that. He's capable of reading a science textbook and I'm capable of reading the Bible. We simply choose to perceive one as truth and one as fallacy.
I never questioned my teachers, just like Levi doesn't question his mother. It's no different. I put a lot of faith in what I believe about space, weather, geography, and history. I've never been to mars or met the president, but I believe they're real. Levi has never been to Jerusalem or met Adam and Eve, but believes they're real.
(How are the Bill Nye videos any different from the video Levi was watching about creation?)
We're all brainwashed by our parents. That's how we learn and grow as a person. That's how we have culture. Extreme religious faith is nothing new in the world. It only made a good documentary because they're speaking English and living in Kansas.
It's up to us individually to decide which truth verifies our existence. It doesn't matter if that's God or Bill Nye.
The following quote form Ayn Rand often helps me get back on track. It's been on the wall next to my bed since my sophomore year of high school.
As a human being, you have no choice about the fact that you need a philosophy. Your only choice is whether you define your philosophy by a conscious, rational, disciplined process of thought and scrupulously logical deliberation—or let your subconscious accumulate a junk heap of unwarranted conclusions, false generalizations, undefined contradictions, undigested slogans, unidentified wishes, doubts and fears, thrown together by chance, but integrated by your subconscious into a kind of mongrel philosophy and fused into a single, solid weight: self-doubt, like a ball and chain in the place where your mind’s wings should have grown. - Ayn Rand
I agree with many comments you make. The comment you make about science I especially agree with because science does prove things in our reality. I even incorporate science into my Christian beliefs because science can't be ignored.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with what you first said in your post about being some-what disgusted with what scientific things were being said. Somethings in life are questionable and some are not, and that leads us to what you said about faith: as long as we believe in what we think is true, and tend to disregard the latter. Like you said as well, Levi is far beyond his intelligence circle, which makes him uniquely stand out in a positive way. Lastly, I was intrigued by your Ayn rand quotation. It really outlined how we as human being see philosophy and interpret it as our own.
ReplyDeleteThats an interesting point that I often overlook myself, that science takes just as much faith as religion. Its quite true that evolution is just a theory, but I was still just as shocked by the ridiculous show Levi was watching. I guess we are all very much influenced by the beliefs and teachings of our parents, who is to say what is right and what is wrong.
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