Gilbert Thurston

Random Thoughts About Life, Ministry and Whatever Else Happens to be on my Mind

Archives for February 2014

Evolution vs. Creation Debate

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Two weeks ago Ken Ham and Bill Nye the Science Guy had a live debate on Evolution vs. Creationism.  If you haven’t seen it, you can watch it below and then I’ll give my thoughts.

Ok so here are my 2 cents on this.  First, I don’t think Ken Ham did followers of Jesus a favor by limiting this to Creationism being strictly defined by the Young Earth argument.  In fact he is in the minority even amongst Protestant pastors according to the last time Gallup poll.   For a debate like this it would have been much better if he went with “intelligent design”.  In other words whether you believe in the Young or Old earth, all creationists believe that behind every creation there is a creator.

But here is the real point I want to make.  My faith is not dependent on is the earth young or old.  My faith is not dependent on the flood of Noah or the dozens of other things that these two gentlemen debated.  My faith is based on “Did Jesus rise again from the dead or not?”  You see as I discussed in this message and as Andy Stanley has said so well, “Christianity isn’t based on teachings but rather on an event”.  No matter how good the teachings of Jesus are or the rest of the bible for that matter, if Jesus didn’t rise again from the dead then our faith is useless (1 Cor. 15:7).

This then is the question all of us must investigate and then answer for ourselves.  I don’t care if your an atheist or a person who attends church each week.  I don’t care if your an evolutionist or a creationists.  Did Jesus really rise again from the dead?  If He did then we must take His teachings and the bible seriously.  If He didn’t then none of these debates really matter because our whole existence is pointless.

So again I’d encourage you to investigate this for yourself.  I’d recommend you read,”The Case for Christ“.  In this book an investigative reporter interviews scholars, archeologists, medical doctors, historians and others to see if there is enough evidence to not only see if Jesus lived, but if  He died and rose again.  It’s worth the read and then you draw your own conclusions.

Rejected Superbowl Commerical

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This past Sunday the Seahawks scrimmaged a Pee Wee team from the Denver area but thankfully the game was called because of the mercy rule.  Wait!  What?  That was the real team from Denver?!?  Oh well at least the Superbowl commercials were good right?  Nope wrong again.  Perhaps if this one had made the cut America would be talking, laughing and a bit creeped out.

Whatever Wednesday: Random Thoughts

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  • Haven’t been motivated to write this past week so this is easy to do a Whatever Wednesday post since I can just bullet point stuff.
  • I’m still wrestling through the emotional stuff from the shooting.
  • I don’t think about it immediately when I wake up now but I have started dreaming about it…although that has morphed into some weird things.
  • The other night it was of Lisa getting shot.  That’s even worse than me so I don’t like those thoughts at all.
  • I have an appointment with a counselor tomorrow so hopefully he will be able to help keep me on the right track.
  • Ok enough of that…what else is going on?
  • Was disappointed with the Super Bowl…not necessarily the outcome but just the game itself…really thought it would be a close, exciting game.
  • The commercials were a bit lame as well this year.
  • I’m taking my own advice from this past Sunday’s message and I’ve done a good job this week not complaining about the snow, ice, cold, shoveling, etc.
  • It’s been nice this past week with all the bad weather having Lisa home more.
  • After not using it hardly at all our first few winters here in Harrisburg, we are firing up the gas fireplace quite a bit this winter.
  • Not so much for the heat but just because it’s relaxing.
  • It was a bad night for my sports teams last night…both the Caps and Terps suffered disappointing losses.
  • Oh well, at least the Wizards are above .500 for the first time in 4 years!
  • I’m excited about our new series that starts this week at Exponential.  It’s called “Crazy Love” and is based off the book of the same name by Francis Chan.
  • The entire premise I’m going off of for this series is, “You won’t do what God wants you to do until you fully appreciate who He is!”
  • Now you can do stuff for God but if you’re doing it because you HAVE to instead of you WANT to, all of the sudden your faith will seem like a burden and will be no fun.
  • This is why many Christians struggle with their faith and have no joy.
  • This is also why a lot of people reject Christianity…they think it’s just a bunch of rules and rituals…but who wants that?  No one…so they end up missing out on the most life-changing and awe inspiring relationship a person could ever want.
  • So for 6 weeks I want to help people fall in love with who God IS not what He can do for you or wants from you.
  • OK guess that’s all for now…I have a busy day tomorrow but if I have time I think my Theological Thursday post will be my thoughts from  last night’s Evolution vs. Creationism debate.