Day 5. It Just Keeps Getting Better! - Tuesday, 22/11/2005
Today was the last day of this training level, and tomorrow we will start the other one.
Today the Apologetics were about the harmony of science and God by Trevor G, and why we can trust the Bible, by Luke (the one we all agree with).
Also today, we each had to break into groups and start preparing to give our own presentations of apologetics. Last year we chose our topics before we came on the project, but this year we chose them today, and we don't get much time to prepare, or to present them. I joined Noof and Emma's group to answer the question: “Would a just God send people to Hell?” The answer is “yes” by the way. Not because He wants to. Even though we all deserve to go there, God went to great lengths to make sure you don't have to, which included suffering as a man and going there Himself. Now that's more than just, that's going overboard!
Emma and Jonathon gave their testimonies at lunch today, and Kirsten gave hers at dinner.
Tonight I had Emma, Krystle and Tim L. in my group.
The first thing that happened, was that we ran into Rob D. who told us that because of an incident that happened there last night, there were less volunteers on the beach tonight. He told us we were badly needed, and that he would send more SCs as well. It was raining a bit tonight, and I didn't bring one of our transparent ponchos, so Rob also told us to go to HQ to get me one.
While we were talking to Rob, my brother went out of his way to sneak up and tap me on the shoulder, which I appreciated very much. Of course nobody knew what had happened, and I told them later when we were getting my poncho.
I got my poncho (HQ, who have moved this year, simply sent us to get it where HQ used to be last year), but it was opaque white and it hid my Yellow shirt. It also gave me tunnel vision when wearing the hood, which I considered dangerous when trying to keep an eye on our girls. I ended up taking it off, and I preferred not to wear a poncho anyway, which was the reason I didn't have one in the first place.
We decided to go to the lonely areas of the beach, because the music was too loud. They seemed to turn it up in an attempt to try harder to attract people into the rain. We spent a lot of time talking to each other as we walked, and getting to know each other.
We went back to the mall, and a guy and girl came up to us and asked if we were the people who helped people. After our affirmation, they asked us to swap SIM cards so that they could figure out what was wrong with their mobile phone. Somehow, the girl ended up talking to Krystle and Tim, and the guy ended up talking to Emma and me.
He seemed to think that Biology and evolution were the same thing, and that Science somehow had proven the theory evolution (which cannot be scientifically proven, whether it's true or not), and that somehow people who believed in the Bible didn't believe in Science. I was very happy that he didn't seem impressed that I was doing Physics and Maths at uni, and he was still convinced that it was his duty to convert me over to Science.
He thought that if I stayed with him at 5:30am that morning, that the glory of watching the sunrise would convert me to Science. Of course, I'm already converted to Science. I'm a student Scientist. But that's not what he meant. Emma said the sunrise might convince Him of God who created Science, and he seemed to see that as starting a never ending argument. We tried to explain that as we had to go to bed at 3pm every night, there is no way we would be allowed to stay up, even though I would have loved to. We promised to ask permission though.
It would have been nice to look at the rising of that big star (from our frame of reference), and to think about the fact that even when taking into account the approximately 1023 stars in the universe, the total probability that any kind of life could exist anywhere in the entire universe is about 10-20. That's 1 out of 100000000000000000000. And that's being as optimistic as possible. And that's just life existing. What about it starting? Don't get me started on the impossibility!
Believing that God created the universe is no less scientific than believing that it accidently harmonized out of a big explosion. It doesn't require more faith to believe in God, just more common sense. The theory of evolution is not more scientific at all. It's just more popular because our society doesn't want to believe in God.
Fortunately, we didn't get into this debate. It was tempting, because Trevor had only just covered this apologetic this morning. At the time though, It was far more important to clarify the definition of Christianity than the definition of Science.
While we were talking, two girls ran up to Tim and Krystle, and said, “The Red Frog Guys told us that the Yellow Shirt people could tell us about God. Can you tell us about God?”
The Guy we were talking to said, “Yeah, become Christians!” Then he turned to us and said, “No, I'm determined I'm going to convert you to Science. Just stay up with me this morning!”
Then we had to escort a girl to her hotel. On the way another guy was walking beside me, and I had a lot of questions for him about Buddhism. He said he wasn't the one to ask, even though he planned to teach it.
I had a little hope about staying up for the sunrise, because tomorrow night is our night off, and although I knew it was extremely unlikely, and I thought maybe I could get permission if I promised to sleep through our night off. Emma asked Bethany, and of course the answer was “no”. I told Jim about it too during debriefing. Last year all the guys got together in the Blue Room (which is for the girls to rest in during free time if they need to, and which happens to have blue walls) every night for debriefing. But this year we have it in our separate cars on the way home to save time, so we don't get to hear everyone's stories, except a few in the car, and a few who have time to tell them at lunch time after the testimonies. Then we pray in the car and go to bed.
This has been my best night so far!
Today the Apologetics were about the harmony of science and God by Trevor G, and why we can trust the Bible, by Luke (the one we all agree with).
Also today, we each had to break into groups and start preparing to give our own presentations of apologetics. Last year we chose our topics before we came on the project, but this year we chose them today, and we don't get much time to prepare, or to present them. I joined Noof and Emma's group to answer the question: “Would a just God send people to Hell?” The answer is “yes” by the way. Not because He wants to. Even though we all deserve to go there, God went to great lengths to make sure you don't have to, which included suffering as a man and going there Himself. Now that's more than just, that's going overboard!
Emma and Jonathon gave their testimonies at lunch today, and Kirsten gave hers at dinner.
Tonight I had Emma, Krystle and Tim L. in my group.
The first thing that happened, was that we ran into Rob D. who told us that because of an incident that happened there last night, there were less volunteers on the beach tonight. He told us we were badly needed, and that he would send more SCs as well. It was raining a bit tonight, and I didn't bring one of our transparent ponchos, so Rob also told us to go to HQ to get me one.
While we were talking to Rob, my brother went out of his way to sneak up and tap me on the shoulder, which I appreciated very much. Of course nobody knew what had happened, and I told them later when we were getting my poncho.
I got my poncho (HQ, who have moved this year, simply sent us to get it where HQ used to be last year), but it was opaque white and it hid my Yellow shirt. It also gave me tunnel vision when wearing the hood, which I considered dangerous when trying to keep an eye on our girls. I ended up taking it off, and I preferred not to wear a poncho anyway, which was the reason I didn't have one in the first place.
We decided to go to the lonely areas of the beach, because the music was too loud. They seemed to turn it up in an attempt to try harder to attract people into the rain. We spent a lot of time talking to each other as we walked, and getting to know each other.
We went back to the mall, and a guy and girl came up to us and asked if we were the people who helped people. After our affirmation, they asked us to swap SIM cards so that they could figure out what was wrong with their mobile phone. Somehow, the girl ended up talking to Krystle and Tim, and the guy ended up talking to Emma and me.
He seemed to think that Biology and evolution were the same thing, and that Science somehow had proven the theory evolution (which cannot be scientifically proven, whether it's true or not), and that somehow people who believed in the Bible didn't believe in Science. I was very happy that he didn't seem impressed that I was doing Physics and Maths at uni, and he was still convinced that it was his duty to convert me over to Science.
He thought that if I stayed with him at 5:30am that morning, that the glory of watching the sunrise would convert me to Science. Of course, I'm already converted to Science. I'm a student Scientist. But that's not what he meant. Emma said the sunrise might convince Him of God who created Science, and he seemed to see that as starting a never ending argument. We tried to explain that as we had to go to bed at 3pm every night, there is no way we would be allowed to stay up, even though I would have loved to. We promised to ask permission though.
It would have been nice to look at the rising of that big star (from our frame of reference), and to think about the fact that even when taking into account the approximately 1023 stars in the universe, the total probability that any kind of life could exist anywhere in the entire universe is about 10-20. That's 1 out of 100000000000000000000. And that's being as optimistic as possible. And that's just life existing. What about it starting? Don't get me started on the impossibility!
Believing that God created the universe is no less scientific than believing that it accidently harmonized out of a big explosion. It doesn't require more faith to believe in God, just more common sense. The theory of evolution is not more scientific at all. It's just more popular because our society doesn't want to believe in God.
Fortunately, we didn't get into this debate. It was tempting, because Trevor had only just covered this apologetic this morning. At the time though, It was far more important to clarify the definition of Christianity than the definition of Science.
While we were talking, two girls ran up to Tim and Krystle, and said, “The Red Frog Guys told us that the Yellow Shirt people could tell us about God. Can you tell us about God?”
The Guy we were talking to said, “Yeah, become Christians!” Then he turned to us and said, “No, I'm determined I'm going to convert you to Science. Just stay up with me this morning!”
Then we had to escort a girl to her hotel. On the way another guy was walking beside me, and I had a lot of questions for him about Buddhism. He said he wasn't the one to ask, even though he planned to teach it.
I had a little hope about staying up for the sunrise, because tomorrow night is our night off, and although I knew it was extremely unlikely, and I thought maybe I could get permission if I promised to sleep through our night off. Emma asked Bethany, and of course the answer was “no”. I told Jim about it too during debriefing. Last year all the guys got together in the Blue Room (which is for the girls to rest in during free time if they need to, and which happens to have blue walls) every night for debriefing. But this year we have it in our separate cars on the way home to save time, so we don't get to hear everyone's stories, except a few in the car, and a few who have time to tell them at lunch time after the testimonies. Then we pray in the car and go to bed.
This has been my best night so far!
posted by Mathieu | 12:56 am
2 Comments:
A prolific blog, Mat. Gives a good picture and some quirky humorous episodes.
go Mathieu! when do we see more posts?
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