The basics:
I'm just your average American high school student with a fascination with the world around me and the pursuit of knowledge-facts-but not only the facts, the "whys" behind all facts.
I love reading and playing my guitar.
My favorite rock band is Journey.
My favorite color is purple.
My dream is to work as a doctor for a foreign culture.
The languages of our world fascinate me.
The religions of our world fascinate me.
The cultures of our world fascinate me.
The science of our universe fascinates me.
Disclaimers:
I do believe in absolute truth. Two plus two equals four (as does seventeen minus thirteen or twenty-four divided by eight). Water is wet. Three oxygen atoms combine to form ozone. Etc. Truth is absolute.
The purpose of this blog is not to pick fights, but to engage in scientific, logical assertions concerning truth.
Beneath the skin:
In my personal pursuit of truth, I have come to believe in the existence of a supreme being whom you would call "God."
I have come to accept micro-evolution (adaptations within a set species) as a well-established scientific facts, but reject macro-evolution (the idea that a creature of a given species can over eons of time under given circumstances actually become another creature) as an unconfirmed hypothesis. Raw science does not contradict the truth whatsoever, but is governed by it.
I have examined all major world religions briefly (others not so briefly) and have come to two big conclusions.
1: It is within human nature to develop spiritual beliefs not because people are/were primitive, but because they looked at our universe in all its magnificence and concluded that an even greater force is behind it.
2: The vast majority of (if not all) religions are in fact based upon some valid truth. (This is a critical distinction from the claim that all religions are essentially equally true.)
Let me borrow an example. Five blind persons are put into a room with an elephant. Each blind from birth, all of these persons were limited to other valid forms of perception (hearing, touch, smell, taste). Overtime, all five of them discovered the elephant, but each of them discovered a different part of the elephant.
One found its leg and concluded he found a tree. One found its tail and concluded he found a snake, and so on. All of these people created conclusions based on the very real elephant they had found, but none of them discovered the full truth that they had indeed found an elephant.
Now imagine that a sixth person entered the room. A different person. Unlike the others, this person was not blind. So he told them the truth. "What you have found is an elephant."
Like all analogies, this one is limited and does not cover all facets of the idea of absolute truth, but it serves to demonstrate the need to not only search for truth, but to have it disclosed to you.
Mankind is limited to their physical perception of things. God is not. People have searched for the truth since time immemorial and have discovered valid facets of the truth. God is the whole truth. He has directly revealed himself through a thousand-year string of prophets The copied and preserved manuscripts they wrote consist some of the longest preserved historical writings.
God took on our skin and lived among us for thirty-three years. The sixth man. They called Him "Jesus."
The witnesses of Jesus' life, death (and yes, resurrection) together compiled what is known today as the New Testament.
I believe all 66 accounts within the book known as the bible to be messages from God to mankind.
I build my life around Jesus Christ and His message.
