First, I have had the opposite problem: people rejecting Christianity
and Christ because of a perceived inconsistency in Bible
interpretation. These persons (engineers mostly) have stated, in
essence, that they cannot see how you can believe in the claims of
the resurrection and Christ, yet reject the rest of the Bible,
especially when Jesus and the apostles (as these persons have pointed
out) hold to the entire Bible as being true. I pointed out some of
their objections in my previous post.
Second, in your professional capacity and ministry, by no means do I
mean you should not discuss what you believe. The focus of my post
dealt with a perceived desire of some persons to bring this debate
into the church. Until this debate is complete in the scientific
circles, being concluded with incontrovertible, repeatable proofs as
is the requirement of science, it has no place in the church.
Perhaps I should rephrase my warning/advice: you may personally be
secure in your faith and hold to an evolutionary point of view about
the origin of the universe. While I may disagree with you
personally, I have no problem with accepting you as a brother or
sister in Christ. Your position is between you and God, not me.
However, there are many in the church who are not so strong as you,
their faith is weak and is founded on an all or nothing stance. If
you take away a piece of their foundation, you destroy the totality
of their faith (I have been a pastor and have seen this). "And
thus, by sinning against the brethren and wounding their conscience
when it is weak, you sin against Christ." (1 Cor 8:12, NAS). This
was my point: be quiet in the Church about this issue, lest you wound
the conscience of the weak and thus sin against Christ.
William M. Frix
Assistant Professor, Electrical Engineering
Box 3021
John Brown University
Siloam Springs, AR 72761
Phone: (501) 524-7466
FAX: (501) 524-7499
EMAIL: wfrix@engr.jbu.edu