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www.greenevillesun.com
Friday, May 8, 2015
THE GREENEVILLE SUN
A-11
Faith
AT CHURCH
—
APPALACHIAN BAPTIST
Appalachian Baptist Church will observe
its 8th anniversary with a special Homecoming Service on Sunday, May 17. The Rev.
Clay McNeese will speak during the 10:30
a.m. worship service. Lunch will follow. The
Rev. Sammy Allen will speak during the
evening service, at 6 p.m. Host pastor is the
Rev. T.L. Jones. The church is located at 370
Sanford Circle, just off the Asheville Highway, in the South Greene community. For
more details, call 423-972-7809 or go online
to www.apalachianbaptistchurch.com.
BRADBURN HILL UM
The Rev. Steve Warren, noted evangelist
and singer, will conduct a revival at Bradburn Hill United Methodist Church, located
on the Kingsport Highway (Route 93) in
Greeneville. Services are Sunday, May 10,
through Wednesday, May 13, at 7 p.m. each
evening. Host pastor is the Rev. Clyde W.
Hester. Everyone's invited. There will be a
fellowship dinner at 5 p.m. on May 10. Bring
a dish.
PINEY GROVE FWB
Piney Grove Free Will Baptist Church in
the White Sands community will have a
Decoration and Memorial Service on Sunday,
May 10, at 2 p.m. The Rev. Tony Darnell and
the Rev. Jeremy Roberts will speak. Anyone
who wishes to sing is invited to do so.
UNION GROVE MISSIONARY BAPTIST
Union Grove Missionary Baptist Church
will begin Revival Services on Monday,
May 11. Services will begin at 7 p.m. Guest
preachers will be the Rev. Denny Crow and
the Rev. Sonny Davis. Host pastor is the
Rev. Donald Lynn Swatzell.
GOSPEL MUSIC
NOTES
—
CROSS ANCHOR COMMUNITY CENTER
Br ia n Burchf ield, f rom Surgoinsv ille,
w ill sing at the Cross A nchor Commu nity
Center th is Saturday, May 9, at 5 p.m.
Admission is f ree. A love of fer ing w ill
be ta ken, a nd a ca ke wa lk is pla n ned for
the operation of the CACC. Mothers w ill
receive specia l recog nition. T he community center is located at 421 Old Baileyton
Road.
DURHAM-HENSLEY HEALTH & REHAB
Southern gospel recording artist Terry
Collins will be in concert at Durham-Hensley Health & Rehabilitation this Sunday,
May 10, at 2 p.m. Everyone is invited.
REFORMATION LUTHERAN
The Jam Session of gospel, country, and
bluegrass musicians will meet in the Fellowship Hall of Reformation Lutheran
Church, 400 W. Main St., tonight at 6 p.m.
All singers and listeners are welcome.
Beginner musicians are also welcome. The
jam session is free to the public. For more
information, call 422-4366.
Tusculum Lecture Series Concludes With
Discussion Of Christianity And Science
gion and science are
mutually compatible —
that they are different
but can have transformative effect on each other.
BY TUSCULUM COLLEGE
COMMUNICATIONS
Quantum
physics,
string theory, and geological and astronomical discoveries have all changed
the scientific views of the
world and universe that
man inhabits.
The emerging cultural
paradigm that is arising
out of those discoveries,
its effect on Christianity,
and the question of how
science and the Christian
belief system can relate
to each other were among
the topics explored during the concluding session of the annual Theologian-in-Residence lecture series on April 21 at
Tusculum College.
Dr. Jim Miller, president of the Presbyterian Association on Science, Technology and
the Christian Faith and
an ordained minister in
the Presbyterian Church
(U.S.A.), has led the
series this year.
Now in its 25th year,
the lecture series is sponsored by Tusculum College and partially funded
by Ron Smith.
‘MODERN’ PERIOD’S
‘DUALISM’ VIEW
Currently, there is an
emerging cultural paradigm, Dr. Miller noted, in
which “things are changing substantially, but the
modern world is still with
us in the way that people
think.”
During what is spoken
of as the “modern” period,
a dualism developed in
which science and religion were considered to
be separate, and that
view is still prevalent
today, he continued.
The emerging worldview also has roots in
the classical world in that
this emerging view has
an organic characteristic.
But, Dr. Miller said,
the new worldview also
has its foundations in the
writings of Immanuel
Kant, who asserted that
knowledge is not obtained
directly but is mediated
through something else.
Miller is currently the
co-chair of the Broader
Social Impact Committee
of the Human Origins
DR. JIM MILLER
Program at the Smithsonian’s National Museum
of Natural History.
THE QUESTION OF TRUTH
In the emerging worldview, knowledge comes
through personal commitment, he said, in
that an individual has
to commit to a framework through which he
explores the world.
The whole is considered
greater than the sum of
the parts in the emerging worldview, and metaphysics are considered
circumstantial, in that
one person’s truth is not
seen as necessarily being
another person’s truth.
Dr. Miller said that in
current society, Christians need to be wary of
the “fallacy of misplaced
concreteness. We have a
tendency to think of our
notion of God as though
it is God and our notion
of the world as how the
world really is.”
Scripture is important,
he continued, “but we
must be cautious to not
give it a status it does
not have. The Bible is
not God, but points us
toward God.”
If asked, most people
would say that science
and religion are in conflict in the public realm,
and on a personal level,
most would say they see
the two as separate and
best if walled off from
each other, Dr. Miller
said.
However, there is an
emerging view that reli-
RELIGION BRIEFS
Religious Appeal Part Of Huckabee’s
Second White House Bid
Beaty said that distinguished the case from a U.S.
Supreme Court decision upholding prayers before
HOPE, Ark. (AP) — Former Gov. Mike Huckabee public meetings as long as officials make a good-faith
has launched his campaign for the Republican presi- effort at inclusion.
dential nomination with an unabashed appeal for
evangelical support.
Cartoon Contest Organizer Known
In his hometown of Hope, Ark., Huckabee said
America has lost its way morally on issues like For Warnings Against Islam
NEW YORK (AP) — The Prophet Muhammad carabortion and gay marriage and is “now threatening the foundation of religious liberty by criminal- toon contest that exploded in violence over the weekizing Christianity.”
end in suburban Dallas was organized by Pamela
The Southern Baptist minister turned politi- Geller, a 56-year-old New Yorker who has warned
cian portrayed himself as an economic populist for years that Islam threatens to destroy the U.S.
and foreign affairs hawk with deeply conservative
The contest was offering $10,000 for the best
views on social issues.
depiction of Muhammad. In an interview with The
As the Supreme Court weighs whether states Associated Press last month as the contest was being
must allow gay marriage, Huckabee said the organized, Geller called it an attempt to stand up
justices “cannot overturn the laws of nature or of for free speech and said: “We will not bow to violent
intimidation.”
nature’s God.”
Geller has been involved in numerous lawsuits in
He preached a more muscular response to the
rise of Islamic State militants, saying, “we will recent years, many of them related to her efforts to
deal with jihadis just as we would deal with place ads in public transit systems. New York City’s
deadly snakes.”
transit authority recently banned all political adverAs for Iran’s nuclear ambitions, Huckabee said, tising after a judge upheld Geller’s right to run bus
“Ayatollahs will know that hell will freeze over ads about Islam that said, “Killing Jews is worship
before they get a nuclear weapon.”
that draws us close to Allah.”
In 2012, the transit authority was forced to run
Geller
ads that read: “In any war between the civilized
Judge: Rowan Leaders Must Stop
man and the savage, support the civilized man. SupChristian Prayers At Meetings
port Israel. Defeat Jihad.” She paid for similar ads in
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) — A federal judge San Francisco, Detroit and Washington.
has ruled that North Carolina’s Rowan County commissioners must stop opening their meetings with Islamists In Pakistan Celebrate Cartoon Gunmen
prayers that almost always referred to ChristianISL A M A BA D, Pakistan (A P) — About 50
ity.
U.S. District Judge James Beaty Jr. ruled Mon- Islamists have held a special ser vice in Pakiday that the way the commissioners opened meet- stan to honor the two men who were killed
ings with prayers violated separation of church in Texas after they opened f ire at a cartoon
and state. Rowan County commissioners them- contest featuring images of the Muslim Prophet
selves delivered prayers before their meetings.
Muhammad.
Judge Beaty said the commissioners stood,
The cleric Mohammad Chishti led the service for
almost always bowed their heads and asked Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi at a public park in
audience members to also stand and join them northwest Pakistan.
Chishti told journalists that the two men were marin prayers that normally included references to
Jesus, the Savior, and other tenets of the Chris- tyrs and that he organized the service to pay tribute
to them.
tian faith.
THE SCIENTIFIC PROCESS
AND THE SEMINARY
Parallels can be seen
between the scientific
process and religion, Dr.
Miller said.
For example, in science,
an individual has a theory and then publishes
it to the scientific community, which tests the
theory. If it passes the
test, it is accepted by the
community and is incorporated into education.
A parallel process can
be seen in religion, such
as the Presbyterian process of approving a person for the ministry, he
stated.
When an individual
feels called to ministry,
the person takes that
personal idea and communicates it to the community. The community
takes the person under
the care of the Presbytery and then he or she is
examined through their
education at seminary.
As the person completes
seminary, he or she is
examined and accepted
into the community if the
person is successful with
the last step, as installation into an office of
service.
“Both processes begin
with the individual, but
ultimately involve the
community,” Dr. Miller
said. “Science is a communal enterprise, and
our faith lives are communal.”
HOW SHOULD THE CHURCH
RESPOND?
Dr. Miller had several
recommendations about
how the Christian church
can respond effectively to
new scientific developments.
Christians have the
same duty as their forefathers to express faith
in their world, he said,
which is not to say that
it will be easier or less of
a challenge than those in
the past faced.
He recommended that
pastors speak of God as
creator in present rather
than past tense, since
creation is a continuing
process.
Dr. Miller said he considers himself a creationist in that he believes the
ultimate reason for the
creation of the universe
is God.
“God called the world
into being, and each
being has the freedom to
create itself and decide
how much it will embody
God’s call,” he said.
‘IDEOLOGICAL SANCTUARIES’
Rather than ignore science, as the church has
done in the past, it is
important for Christians to understand
basic science and recent
discoveries so they can
credibly talk with those
outside the faith about
science, he said.
Local churches can
help equip their congregations by providing
answers to questions
members of t he congregation may have about
science and religion.
“Congregations can
act as ideological sanctuaries where people
with differing ideas
can engage in civil
discourse,” he said.
“Churches have historically been safe havens to
discuss issues, which is
needed into today’s environment.”
ABOUT TUSCULUM
Tusculum College, the
first college in Tennessee
and the 28th oldest in the
nation, is a liberal arts
institution committed to
providing a liberal arts
education in a JudeoChristian and civic arts
environment, with pathways for career preparation, personal development and civic engagement.
Approximately 2.100
students are enrolled
on the main campus in
Greeneville and three
off-site locations in East
Tennessee.
The academic programs
for both traditional-aged
students and working
adults served through the
Graduate and Professional Studies program are
delivered using focused
calendars.
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The Greeneville Sun
121 W. Summer St.
Greeneville, TN
638-4181
Circulation Department
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MAIL: The Greeneville Sun, Faith Page, P.O. Box 1630, Greeneville, TN 37744. E-MAIL: [email protected] FAX: (423) 638-3645 PHONE: (423) 359-3114