Who am I...continued

I have to confess that once upon a time, being troubled about all this Evolution of Species story and desiring to better understand the whole deal about our ancestors, on a summer day I ran to Congo in Africa to take a peek to our brethren (according to some) the primates. No little was my surprise when visiting several gorilla nests, I found them empty with a big sign stuck in the middle saying, "ON STRIKE!" Of course I immediately contacted the Gorilla Union about this issue and to my stupefaction I found out that this was a concerted strike coordinated by none other than Animal International! Oh deer! (pawn intended) Imagine this: animals are not content any more with their present status quo. Animals desire education. Animals desire culture. Animals desire the assurance of tomorrow. They asked for individual work contracts and paid vacations. They are no longer satisfied with the occasional vaccination campaigns and they demand health insurance. And of course, to have access to a private retirement plan.
Well, forgive me for this little anecdote, but by it I wanted to highlight a few essential differences between man and animal, differences that apparently are not considered in their study by neither of those advocating evolution.

1. Animals are not militants! They are perfectly integrated in the food chain (which I would say it's automated) and you will never see wildebeests picketing some government building because they've got tired of being eaten by lions.
2. Animals will never do politics! You will never see bears making a political alliance with wolves, nor foxes signing economical treaties with wolverines.
3. Animals have no conscience, nor are they conscious of good and evil. When was the last time you've seen a tiger showing remorse for killing a man? Or a white shark for swallowing a baby? How about a fox for stealing chicks from a farm, or a boar for ruining a potato field?
4. Animals have no void in their soul (of course! they have no soul!) but to be more precise, animals have no urge for fulfillment. Have you ever heard a peacock crying, "all these grains I have and they've only satisfied my appetite; I thought that at least these feathers I grow in my tail would give some meaning to my life but... vanity of vanities! I will put an end to my life!"

Now, I am pretty sure that you, dear atheists, are fully aware of these major differences. My question for you would be: how did they appear, and why, after millions and millions of years, all of the sudden animals feel the urge to make tools, get organized socially, politically, economically, and most important why do they feel the need for a purpose in life? Probably you have your answers to these questions, but I will tell you what I believe: God created every animal after its kind, and then He created man in HIS image and after HIS likeness.
Pascal said, "In every man's heart there is a God shaped vacuum, which can only be filled by God." You know, Adam bummed and the Adamic bomb left in our soul a huge void. Now, each one of us tries to fill it with something: some with money, others with power, or career, or hobbies, or charity, or prestige…but please, believe Pascal: only God can fill that void and bring fulfillment to our lives!
Yours truly,

Razvan

Who am I?

"What kind of question is this?" you probably ask, "I am John, the son of James…" And who is James? "Well, James is the son of Peter." And Peter? Aaah! Peter is the son of Nicolas." And who is Nicolas?...This is where your problem lies, my atheistic friends: how far can you go back in your genealogy? Could you spot your Homo Sapiens ancestor? How about the Neanderthal one? What is your individual value? According to your faith you would get lost in the void of pre-pre-pre-history, in the primordial soup of euglenas and amoebas…

 But you see, this is in direct contradiction with the desire that each individual has and with the effort we all spend to be SOMEBODY, for our lives to have meaning , to get respect and appreciation. It also contradicts the system of value we establish as we look up to people that are of success or of old nobility. "So and so comes from a noble family that's 400 years old !" But what are 400 years of nobility against millions of years of coelenterate and bugs and lizards and apes in the family? Even 10000 years of nobility could not make up for this kind of beastly heritage! No, dear friends! Our drive as men is to seek meaning. We strive our entire life to leave something behind us that could identify us, make us unique. Why? This is not some kind of instinct that could be inherited from animals. This is a special feature placed in us by our Designer. As each painting of Rembrandt, even though unique, it expresses Rembrandt, expresses his artistic genius, in the same way each man is uniquely made by God to uniquely express His glory. The fact that an all sufficient God took the time and spent the energy, so to speak , and made us gives us our real individual value and not by far the idea that we somehow, by endless series of accidents and coincidences  managed to evolve from a bug to Homo Sapiens-Sapiens.

You see, for me it is very simple: bodily I am an offspring of Adam and of Noah, but concerning  the spirit, the inner man as Paul calls it, I am a child of God, not by the will of man, nor by my own efforts, but born of God. (John 1:12, 13) And you can be too!

Questions we need to answer

Dear friends,
There are many questions that we come across daily and we need to answer. For instance: I buy myself a cool cell phone and the question that immediately arises is how to present the purchase to my wife so that she won't give me a black eye and serve me porridge for dinner? Or how should I remind my boss that he promised me a raise? So, questions pop up in front of us all the time and they are more or less important or demanding.
But there are 4 questions that are essential for each and every individual that lives on the face of the planet earth, questions that we MUST ask ourselves and that we MUST find an answer for at a certain point in time. All philosophies and all religious systems that ever existed sought to answer to these questions. They are questions that as simple as they seem in their statement, as serious and demanding are concerning the answer. These questions are:

1. Who am I?
2. Where do I come from?
3. What is my purpose?
4. Where am I headed?

Think about these questions, my dear atheistic friends, and next time I will begin to bring face to face my answers with potentially yours.
Till next time, yours truly,
Razvan

Getting rid of preconceived ideas!

The discussion that I propose through this blog is not about what one DOESN'T believe but rather about what one BELIEVES. I am speaking as a former atheist. The slogan that I used to have in those days was, "I don't believe that God exists!" I'm pretty sure that you guys use the same slogan. The problem with this slogan is that it creates a false premise: the premise that the debate, the discussion, the polemics, the contradiction is between reality and superstition; between concrete and abstract; between rational and irrational; between science and religion. FALSE!! Unless one of us possesses the totality of knowledge that is in the UNIVERSE, you BELIEVE that God does not exist and I BELIEVE that God exists. The debate is BETWEEN FAITHS. Therefore we all have arguments for what we BELIEVE and through this blog, with the little eloquence and humor that God gave me, I hope to be able to share mine with you. I encourage you to examine them with an open mind and if any of the things I say offend you, well, that was not my intention. Don't take it personally. I also encourage you to place comments (with the due censoring) and if you desire to further converse with me you can use the email address I posted in the side bar.
Until next time yours truly,
Razvan