Silver Lake Chaplain, (the Rev.) Greg Franklin was invited to speak at the local United Methodist Church in Perry this month. As his topic, he chose to present one of the issues that he feels is at least partially responsible for the Millennial Generation rejecting the usefulness of the church in their daily lives--the Bible in its totality. Some denominations claim "the infallibility of the Bible" which flies in the face of modern Science. Rev. Franklin spoke about the Scriptures as containing "all that is necessary for faith and practice" since the Scriptures "contain the Word of God" as opposed to every word of the Scriptures being God's Word.
I reject the concept of such passages stating that the Earth was created in seven days approximately 6,000 years ago. I also reject the concept of such passages that claim that the earth was created flat, held up by four strong pillars "above the waters of the deep," although the beauty of the descriptions are very inspirational and therefore useful in the enhancement of faith. I reject the concept of the Biblical idea that the transparent firmament holds the waters described as being "above the earth" and that the stars play a valve-type role in releasing the rain water to the earth. I also reject the Biblical idea that the Sun travels around the earth making the Earth the center of the Universe.
When we do not make these premises clear to our children, when they are introduced to Science in the High School and College curriculums, they begin to feel lied to about God and all that God stands for--which is extremely unfortunate and totally unnecessary. God has created everything in the Universe and on earth, but not necessarily as the Bible, in its context, has described it. Chaplain Greg's message was very well received.
Who was the chaplain?
ReplyDeleteThank you for inquiring. In response, I wrote a more comprehensive article.
ReplyDeleteSorry I missed an opportunity to hear you speak, Greg. Sounds like it was something I would have enjoyed hearing ~
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