Dandelions on the Trampoline

L: Mom, C put dandelions on the trampoline and won't take them off.
(I had seen the dandelions on the trampoline, but I just figured they would take them off when L came out to jump. She is allergic to them.)
Mom: L, go tell your brother that "Mom said" to take the dandelions off the trampoline.
2-3 minutes later:
C: Mom, why do we have to take the dandelions off the trampoline?
M: Because I said so. Your sister is allergic to them.
C: But, we were having fun jumping with them on there.
M: But, they can't be on the trampoline when L is out there jumping.
C: But, we were having so much fun!
M: Take the dandelions off the trampoline! Now!
C: (pouting) OK. . . . What is allergic?


I would never have thought that this is the type of conversation we would be having about the trampoline. Well, C took the dandelions off the trampoline. Five minutes later, the entire incident was forgotten.


On Sunday, both of our pastors who preach were out of town at a conference, so they had asked a member of our church to speak. This gentleman, prior to retiring, was a full professor of cell biology at the state university. He was widely published and was part aauthor of a major textbook. The current series is on Tough Questions. The speaker had the topic of Creation and Evolution. Since this is a topic of interest to me, I can't say that he said anything particularly new to me. But, I loved how he put it together. He did an introduction, then he stepped to the right of the stage and put on a hat with a C for Creationist and went into character to present the Creationist position. He then moved to the left of the stage and put on a hat with an E and did the same thing for the Evolutionist position. Then, he moved toward the center and put on a hat with an ID and discussed the intelligent design position.

He did not have enough time to discuss in depth the differences between Young-Earth Creationists (YECs) and Old Earth Creationists (OECs) or the position of the Theistic Evolutionists. But, he did comment that these differences are there. He had a list of resources for those of us with further interest in the topic.

What I really liked about his presentation was his conclusions. He rejected atheistic naturalism or naturalistic materialism because of their rejection of God. But, from there he did not make a definite conclusion from the pulpit - I know he has one. He reminded us the importance of being ready to provide an answer for our faith and to do this with gentleness (1 Peter 3:15-16 But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.).

Another conclusion was that children should not be shielded from the concepts of evolution. They are going to come across them in high school or college (or with friends and neighbors) so they need to understand the philosophical underpinnings, at a minimum. He did agree, though, that this is something that kids aren't ready to wrestle with until junior high or high school.

The last conclusion was that, as Christians we bring faith in the Lord and trust in the Bible to our discussions. What can be better than that? So, wherever on the spectrum we land about origins, we must remember that the most important thing is that we are to always be working to bring people to meet Jesus.


TV review: "The Mormons" on PBS.
I only watched the last hour of the first part of this Frontline series on PBS. It is a four hour series that traces the history and explores the beliefs and social setting of the Mormons. I really enjoyed what I watched last night. About 40 minutes of what we watched was about polygamy (or "plural marriage" as some call it). They discussed the history of it - how it was "revealed" to Joseph Smith to be the will of God and how the head of the church around 1900 had another "revelation" that it was not the will of God. Interesting. They also had interviews with families who currently practice polygamy. One of them was, externally, pretty normal. There was a husband, three wives, and eleven children. Of course, during the TV show, everyone seemed to be getting along just fine. Polygamy, though, has caused lots of family problems in many other families throughout the history of the practice. Currently, few families practice it and it is illegal. They tend to only prosecute those who do things like take young girls for wives. Apparently, the whole show will be available on the PBS website as of noon today. I'm really interested to see the rest of it. This is an interesting topic, anyway, but it is taking a more central role because of Mitt Romney's entrance into the Republican fray for the presidential nomination.