Sorry to have tuned out. I've been busy (see facebook photos of awesome summer fishing)!
I know my one follower and mother's friend (That's you, Jane) have been anxious to see what I am up to. And I hate to disappoint my fans. And yes, 2 fans deserves the plural.
Every morning I read the the headlines on cnn.com, the NYT, local Nantucket news, and the Houghton MI Daily Mining Gazette. The DMG is the last bastion of xenophobia driven news and opinion written by a troop of semi literate baboons.
Bible clear on Earth's age
Once again, Robert Kohtala, you are mistaken in your view that the Bible does not tell us how old the earth is. It seems that for someone who loves to talk about the Bible so much that maybe you would actually read it instead of just believing everything you hear. Please allow me to educate you.
The Bible is very clear on the age of the earth. The first sentence of the Bible states that in the beginning, God made the heavens and the earth. This means there is no prior life or aliens or events which happened before this time. God is relying on the fact that we know what the word "beginning" means. Then God made light and called the light "day" and the dark "night." "And evening passed and morning came, marking the first day." How much more clearer can you get? Our seven-day work week is based on the Bible's seven-day work week of creation. Do we have a seven billion-year work week?
So now we have the six-day creation, which includes mankind, starting with Noah. Genesis 5 gives Adam's genealogy to Noah. Chapter 11 gives the genealogy from Noah to Abraham, and on and on it goes until Jesus Christ. The Bible describes each and every generation from Adam, so there is no lapse of time, no billions of years went by, just generations. There is no gap between Adam and Jesus Christ, from which we now base our dates (i.e., 2,009 years from Christ).
From Adam to Abraham are 2,000 years, from Abraham to Christ are 2,000 years, from Christ to the present is 2,009 years. The earth is about 6,000 years old. Scientists are now proving that the Grand Canyon and the Niagara Falls could have formed in that time period. However, imagine this: The day God created the earth, scientists would have said the earth was billions of years old. Why? Because God has the power and ability to form the earth so well that the appearance of it seems to have taken billions of years. It was fully formed on day one.
True Christians believe on every word written in the Holy Scriptures, which were breathed by God, in the same power He used to create the world and all mankind. Read up before you start preaching false information. God is watching.
Rachel Laurn
Hancock
Now, one letter is just a sign of a kook. In my head I started to outline a satirical letter in response, praising Ms. Laurn's stolidity. But arguing with fanatics is like kicking yourself in the balls, so I let it go.
Enter the 9/25
response. Now one is a kook, 2 is an epidemic. Remember, at 2 people we can start using the plurals, which means more of these folks are probably lurking.
Bible has God's infallible words
Rachel Laurn's letter of Sept. 12 was good. She is correct when she stated that true believers in Christ Jesus our Lord believe the Bible is the inerrant, infallible Word of God.
Genesis 1:1 declares, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." And after this statement the details are given in day 1 through 7.
God created the earth first and the sun, moon and stars were not created until the fourth day, (Genesis 1:14-19). Genesis 7 depicts the flood (about 4,000 years ago) that covered the earth, was by the judgment of God because of the wickedness of man, (Genesis 6:5-7).
Genesis 7:22-23 "All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died. And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark."
According to Henry M. Morris, "It is reasonable that Adam and his descendants all knew how to write and kept records of their own times. Genesis records the eyewitness accounts of these histories as written by Adam, Noah, Shem, Isaac, Jacob and other patriarchs. The respective divisions can be recognized by a recurring phrase: "These are the generations of Adam..." (Genesis 5:1) for example.
Moses compiled the writings of these God-fearing patriarchs into the book of Genesis. Genesis is cited at least 200 times in the New Testament and Moses is never noted as the author of any of the citations, according to The Institute for Creation Research( icr.org).
John E Saari
Mohawk native
Calumet High School Class of 1951
Jackson, Tenn.
At least this one graduated from high school.
OK. Not only do I have nothing better to do, but I'm kinda an asshole too. I'm going to see if I can bait these folks. Here is my response. Will post link if the DMG publishes.
Bible laws no modest proposal
I was quite pleased to read Ms. Laurn’s (9/12) and Mr. Sari’s (9/27) Letters to the Editor in the Daily Mining Gazette. It seems that we too often settle for the general sentiment of passages rather than their literal truth. In the book of Genesis, as noted by Ms. Laurn, lifespans were clearly detailed: Noah lives for 959 years (9:29), and Methusaleh 969 (5:27).
But it is not enough to merely accept the Bible at face value. Besides providing a rich genealogical history, it also clearly dictates how we can avoid a sinful life - and maybe live past 900 too.
Personally, I am trying to be a good emissary, though I find it hard to lead by example. I know I should stone anyone who has left Our Lord to worship other gods, but that seems impractical (Deuteronomy 17:2-7). I live on an island, and we only have very small pebbles.
I try to avoid eating pork, as it is an unclean animal. I also avoid hare (though I will eat rabbit), and since I don’t know what a rock badger is, I avoid both badgers and rocks, as I previously noted (Leviticus 11).
I also am trying to grow a beard and keep from cutting my hair as outlined in Leviticus 19:27. But I just can’t fill out a beard very well. I get jealous every time I see a lumberjack, knowing that he is a better Christian than me!
I have since read about others who are taking a literal approach to their own Holy books. Apparently, there is a small sect of people across the ocean somewhere who think like me (and apparently, like my Copper Country friends!). I forget what they call themselves, but they have no problems growing beards, avoiding pork, and killing those who disagree with their literal fundamentalist interpretations.
It’s not our right to try to contemporize the Bible, to weigh competing messages, or to examine the role of metaphor. Jesus never questioned (Matt 27:46), so neither should we. God may be love (1 John 4:8), but that is just not enough. Love alone will not help you live a thousand years, smite your enemies, or gain your entrance to heaven.
Noah Karberg
Nantucket, MA
Too far? Not far enough?
Don't start thinking that I have gone all religious on you. The bible is many things, among them a collection of parables, folksy wisdom, a guide for healthy living in ancient Mesopotamia, and a quasi-history of some historical figures. I tried to walk a line between satirist and fundamentalist, meanwhile hedging my bets lest I get struck by a thunderbolt.
BTW - Mad props if you can find the Thomas Swift allusion.
