The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined. (Isa 9:2)

In case you haven’t noticed (and how could you have NOT noticed?) the mother earth goddess worshipping neo-pagan evolving mutated slime people are having a “Lights Out for Mother Earth” thingy planned for this weekend. We got an e-mail at work about it and there is this big poster in the lobby of the building announcing it to everyone. I’ve also seen articles in the various news outlets. It’s a world-wide intentional rolling blackout, yet few seem to think this is strange. I do. I think it is very strange, creepy, weird, silly, stupid and some other things I won’t put in print in a public place.

But I also think it’s very appropriate… FOR THEM … since they apparently walk in darkness, fear, anxiety, etc., etc., etc… “Lights Out” is a wonderful metaphor, as it were, for the mother earth goddess worshipping neo-pagan evolving mutated slime people.

So when the hour of darkness rolls around this next Saturday I plan on turning on EVERY LIGHT I CAN FIND. Heh, heh. That’ll show ‘em. You see, for those who are committed to the way of Jesus, we have to follow His commands:

Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. (Mat 5:14-16)

In the darkness of a fallen world there is a possibility to light a beacon of hope, renewal, and love that will never be put out. We don’t need these silly propaganda techniques to get the point across. Just let your life be a light to those who dwell in darkness, no matter what comes. Let them have their silly “Lights Out” party; but also be prepared to Light ‘Em Up whenever you can.

So - back a few days previously I caught this news report about how the “Vatican” has declared there is no conflict between science and religion. Since I already wrote about that stuff and how the entire thing is bogus to begin with I won’t repeat myself. But I notice that the loudmouths were all over the comments section on the article blathering on about how “there is no scientific evidence that God exists” and apparently thinking that by just repeating their little mantra over and over it somehow makes it true and therefore religion is bogus, etc., etc., etc.

My reply to such stuff is this: “There is no evidence that science exists.” Yep, I just need to repeat that statement a few thousand times until it seems right to you and the whole matter will then become perfectly, reasonably, objectively true. Right?

I was re-reading the book of Job around the same time and for those who don’t yet get it I will tell you that the whole answer to this nonsense is in the book of Job if you just could learn to read it without a bunch of propaganda prejudicing your reading of that ancient story. The fact was and is and always will be that there is no evidence that science exists. It goes like this:

Now the day came when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD  and Satan also arrived among them. The LORD said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” And Satan answered the LORD, “From roving about on the earth, and from walking back and forth across it.” So the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth, a pure and upright man, one who fears God and turns away from evil.” Then Satan answered the LORD, “Is it for nothing that Job fears God? Have you not made a hedge around him and his household and all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his livestock have increased in the land. But extend your hand and strike everything he has, and he will no doubt curse you to your face!” (Job 1:6-11)

And thus begins the saga of Job. Satan gets to mess wid’ him and destroy everything in Job’s life. Job is supposedly then going to turn his back on God and prove that God is an idiot and Satan is real smart. Satan’s remarks are a good summary of the arguments made by most of the loud-mouthed atheists on the Internet. They say, among other stupid things, that if God exists and is good there would be no evil in the world, and, since there is evil in the world, God cannot exist.

Let’s briefly review (for a moment) the obvious stupidity in those statements. If there is no God, how do you define evil? If you define evil solely in terms of “bad stuff happens to man” then all you have is a self-serving definition that completely ignores the OBJECTIVE FACT that different people will consider the same thing differently. Some will say X was a good thing; others will say X is bad thing. Who is right and who is wrong? With no external, objective standard to measure evil, you can’t even definitively conclude that there is evil in the world. Furthermore, if God doesn’t exist, then all the evil (however you define it) in the world must be created by man. Since man is the source of evil, man is not justified in defining what is good and what is evil. Since there is no evil, there is no objection to be raised about whether or not God exists. Get it? The whole argument destroys itself. HAH HAH HAH…

Like I keep saying, there is no evidence that science exists.

But, but, but…. We have LOTS of people in white lab coats doing science!!!!!! Therefore, science exists. pfffftttttt… (Oh yeah. Well, we have LOTS MORE people worshipping God, therefore, God exists.)

But, but, but… we have all this TECHNOLOGY! We have FIGURE IT ALL OUT AND KNOW HOW TO MAKE STUFF WORK!!!! Oh yeah? Like I said, there is no evidence that science exists.

What all the ex-spurts on science say, (and I do believe they know what they are talking about here) is that science discovers repeatable laws that can be PROVEN because they allow us to make PREDICTIONS about what is going on in the UNIVERSE. Exactly my point. There is no evidence that science exists.

So, Job’s home-boys show up and start having a little discussion with Job, hoping to get him to see reason. You can read it for yourself; I’ll just summarize. “Job, you have obviously done something wrong that has gotten God pissed off at you and as soon as you repent everything will be OK.” Etc., Etc., Etc. Job denies all this, of course. And then proceeds to make his own stupid remarks about how God is good because God does not bring about bad things to good, righteous people like Job. In other words, having analyzed the phenomenon and applied the consistent laws of righteousness, they all claim to accurately predict the cause-and-effect of the situation. (But there is no evidence that science exists.)

All of this is the same-ol same-ol that is going on around us today. Man thinks that man can figure out everything there is to figure out with his puny little brain and limited perception. And why (you might ask) do men do this? Because man thinks and likes to believe that man is (or at least could be) in control over the things of this world and man’s destiny so that man can then avoid evil, calamity and such. Just a little more research, and a little more engineering, and surely (we hope, think, and seriously believe) that we can solve all of man’s problems in the not-to-distant future. How long have they been saying that?

Ahhh, but here’s the rub. If God is around, and made all things, we might not just be in control here! God might just do something we can’t predict, or control, or even understand, for that matter. So we better deny there is a God so that we can continue in our little delusional fantasy world of make-believe we are in control with our science and can bring about a glorious new age in the future. The idea that man’s moral nature might (perhaps?) be the greater part of the problem doesn’t seem to interfere with this little world of reductionist make-believe. Yep.

So, back to Job. In the end, God has to come down and explain a few things to Job and the boys and then proceeds to set things right. There’s lots of things in the story of Job to ponder, but for today, I only wish to make this one point. The story is about an argument between God and Satan. Job had his part to play, but he and his friends didn’t really see the whole picture. God set out to prove that Satan was the idiot - that God can glorify Himself no matter what evil befalls man. God can, and will, turn anything into good to those who remain His loyal servants. The characters in the story of Job were basing their claims on the physical happenings and what they could reason from it. But no matter how rational Job and his friends arguments were, they didn’t have all the facts, and couldn’t see the greater work that God was going to do. In short, their “scientific” approach didn’t work.

God is the Creator, we are the created, and the purpose of our existence is to glorify God, not man. God is and always will be in control, not man. The idea that science will explain all things and lead to man’s dominion over man’s destiny is not born out by objective observation and reason. In other words,

There is no evidence that science exists.

So, in conclusion, to sum it all up, finally, the real contest here is not “faith vs. reason” or “science vs. religion” or any other invented conflict. The real conflict is between the opposing ideas of man in control vs. God in control. Those who want to make man in control of all things (i.e., eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge) will use science (as they define it) as an excuse why they don’t need God. But when it all is said and done, human nature has not changed one bit down through the millennia, and no amount of science or technology will change that. Man still cheats, steals, kills, and lies and there is no reason to believe that will change by man’s own actions. Only a divine power, greater than man can work the miracle of a change of man’s moral being. In the end, the challenge of Satan will be shown to be wrong. God will turn all things to good in the end. Even the most evil thing imaginable, the crucifixion of an innocent, perfect man, could not stop God. In the resurrection of Jesus we have all the proof anyone could reasonably expect to know beyond all doubt that God exists and is in control of His creation.

(P.S.: this is, somewhat, tounge-in-cheek (obviously). For the “serious minded” philosophical types: I reject your empirical epistomology. Now, do the math…)