Welcome to my blog! As you may have guessed, Thomas is a pseudonym that allows me the anonymity to work through issues like evolution without having to worry about what my friends and family might think. I sympathize with the weakness of the apostle Thomas’s faith and hope that the Lord will deal with me with the same compassion as he gave to this early disciple, and that like him, Jesus will use me to do good things for his kingdom.
I do not mind telling you that I am a year shy of thirty, have been very happily married for three years, and am now the proud father of a fat, fat boy. I spend my time teaching Latin at a prep school, hanging out with my wife, walking my dog, going to a PCA (Presbyterian Church in America) church, reading books, and watching Netflix rentals.
For the last two or so years, I have been thinking about science and Christianity. I have come to reject young earth creationism, embracing instead a universe is that is billions of years old and accepting evolution as the best explanation for the variety of earth’s life. I am in the process of trying to understand how that affects the way I read my Bible.
For now, this blog is mostly about science and Christianity, but I hope that it will evolve (pardon the pun) into all things Christian. The pathway I am taking isn’t as scary as it was at first, but it is still uncertain, and I covet your prayers as I seek God, the source of all truth.
Now I Know In Part 
8 comments
Comments feed for this article
March 4, 2009 at 5:37 pm
alphonsuspeck
Thank you for introducing me to your blog. I subscribed to it immediately. I find your posts to be honest, questioning, and very logical.
June 15, 2009 at 6:13 pm
d'Espeville
I understand the journey you’ve been on. I only became a Christian at the age of 29 (now over 20 years ago) and had a scientific background. Early in my walk of faith I discovered “scientific creationism” and eagerly devoured the popular tomes that supported YEC, though as an avid astronomer I knew that the speed of light and cosmically distant objects posed a difficult conundrum for believers in a young creation.
Over time, the proffered evidences for “scientific creationism” fell one by one, and I became convinced that I had been mistaken.
Contact with other evangelicals in my own community convinced me that there was a subset of people who affirmed both divine creation and biological evolution, and finally I began to realize that I had been embracing a false dichotomy, though to this day I am very reticent to discuss publicly the convictions I have come to, at least in the church community I am a part of (very similar to your own).
The Psalmist tells us that creation itself – the heavens – declare truth and knowledge about God. Paul affirms that the creation attests to God’s eternal power and divine nature. Seeking the truth, no matter where it leads, no matter how far it goes, can only and ever uplift the glory of God. There is no need for obscurantism.
But there is still need for discretion. Open use of the term evolution violates treasured theological shibboleths and causes many to be fearful. People feeling afraid often do hurtful things, so for right now it is not unwise to use pseudonyms…
June 15, 2009 at 8:21 pm
Thomas
Welcome D’Espeville and thanks for your encouragement! Though I still don’t have everything figures out yet, it’s nice to not have to look at science with fear and discomfort. I hope to come to a place of peace in my understanding of God and science and gradually be able to share with others openly. This is a very important issue, one which I think evangelical Christianity needs to reconsider.
June 18, 2010 at 10:15 pm
Aldis Kim
I understand the journey you’ve been on. I only became a Christian at the age of 29 (now over 20 years ago) and had a scientific background. Early in my walk of faith I discovered “scientific creationism” and eagerly devoured the popular tomes that supported YEC, though as an avid astronomer I knew that the speed of light and cosmically distant objects posed a difficult conundrum for believers in a young creation.
+1
June 20, 2010 at 7:06 pm
Thomas
Thanks, Aldis, and welcome.
March 27, 2011 at 8:10 pm
WoundedEgo
The funny thing is that the scriptures that what Yehovah is to be credited with making is not “the universe” but the “sky-structure” and the “dry land” and the stuff thereon. The “universe” as the Hebrews understood it (and others of the time) consisted of a pre-existent, bottomless sea. Yehovah is said to erect a firmament (“firm” – or rather, “solid” structure) that suspended the rain water above the abyss, then caused the dry land to emerge from the abyss (bottomless sea) and placed it on mysterious foundations. (Other cultures solved the problem of heavy land floating on the abyss by imagining that the dry land was on the back of H-H-U-U-U-G-E sea turtles. But to the Hebrews, just awesome, unknowable pillars:
Psa 24:1 A Psalm of David. The earth [land] is the LORD’S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.
Psa 24:2 For he hath founded it **upon the seas**, and **established it upon the floods**.
Above the sky ceiling was the throne room of God. From there he looked down at us:
Isa 40:22 It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth [dry land], and the inhabitants thereof are [from his viewpoint] as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:
The “heavens” are “skies.” The one we see is our ceiling, but his floor. There is another sky above his, and he lives as if in a tent.
YEC is not even scriptural, let alone, scientific.
June 23, 2011 at 4:01 pm
Chick
The funny thing is that the scriptures that what Yehovah is to be credited with making is not “the universe” but the “sky-structure” and the “dry land” and the stuff thereon. The “universe” as the Hebrews understood it (and others of the time) consisted of a pre-existent, bottomless sea. Yehovah is said to erect a firmament (“firm” – or rather, “solid” structure) that suspended the rain water above the abyss, then caused the dry land to emerge from the abyss (bottomless sea) and placed it on mysterious foundations. (Other cultures solved the problem of heavy land floating on the abyss by imagining that the dry land was on the back of H-H-U-U-U-G-E sea turtles. But to the Hebrews, just awesome, unknowable pillars:
+1
July 7, 2011 at 12:28 pm
Thomas
Agreed, Chick. Unless they know about mythology, modern readers are tempted to read their own understanding of the universe into the text. An understanding of ancient near eastern mythology makes a lot more sense of Genesis 1 and gives it richer meaning, imo.
(Your comment, btw, got lost in my spam folder. I just rescued it.)