A Quote to Make One Think
"It is always easier to believe than to deny. Our minds are naturally affirmative." John Burroughs (1837 - 1921)
Thus I have to ask, Which is easier to believe and which is easier to deny: The Theory of Evolution or the ideas behind Intelligent Design?
This, or course, would require an absolute, razor-edged difference between the two concepts. A recent news story about the so-called "new Scopes Trial" taking place in Southcentral Pennsylvania has an answer to my question. Neither, it proclaims, when it details how both sides are intent on showing that a definitive difference is not readily apparent. Or, at least, not apparent enough to be settled at the circuit court level.
Both camps are conducting themselves in such a fashion that any decision can be appealed. The goal, of course, is to get a ruling at the highest judicial level to end the debate once and for all. With historical blinders firmly in place, activists on both sides of the issue have ignored the fact that the first Scopes Trial settled nothing. Rather it opened a dialogue that has been more or less healthy for many decades. Even if the issue reaches the US Supreme Court, nothing will be settled except the minds of people at each extreme who refuse to engage in any dialogue.
Mores the pity. To me this indicates the growing dissension and divide described in Revelations. As a Christian I should rejoice in another sign of the coming of the Apocalypse as it means I am just that much closer to taking my place in my Father's house, reunited with faithful and family. Yet I have a sense of mourning for those lost; the ones that harden their hearts to the Lord through denial and thus ensure their own Fall. Deny or believe, that is the choice. Be very careful in which you choose and over which issue you make that choice. The stakes are ever so high.
