The Sun Stood Still

My breakfast companions remain staunchly convinced that evolution is some cockeyed theory that Darwin thought up without any evidence.  The Bible says that God created man on one day a few thousand years ago, so it must be so.  Over our scrambled eggs, the three of them continue to try to convert me to their way of thinking.

Von mentioned the story in the Bible which tells how the sun stopped moving for two hours so that Joshua could win a battle..  Von said, “Don’t you believe the sun stood still?”  

I said, “I believe that Joshua thought the sun stopped moving.  He did not have a watch or a clock.  (They had not been invented.)  You know yourself that there are times when you are busy and time passes quickly.  Then other times – like sitting in the doctor’s waiting room – when time passes slowly.  You look at your watch and can’t believe it has been only three minutes since you last looked.

“God can do anything,” said Von.  “I believe the sun stood still.”

What difference does it make if Texans cling to these absurd ideas?

School children are taught to accept the Bible as the authority for everything.  Science is something devised by atheists.  Refusal to accept facts causes “true Christians” to reject everything that leads to progress.

“True Christians” give abject acceptance of everything their preacher says. Since their minister was “called” to his vocation, they blindly follow him, even when the lessons he gives are the opposite of what Jesus taught. 

 If a preacher finds a verse in The Bible to support a certain point of view – “The sun stood still” – then it must be true.”   Passages in the Old Testament condemn homosexuality.  Educated people now recognize that people are born with a sexual preference. They are not seduced into choosing that lifestyle.  Jesus accepted everyone – the tax collector, the woman at the well, the thief on the cross.  He never rejected anyone.

When I was a child taken by my parents to College Avenue Baptist Church, I listened to many sermons on the evils of dancing and card playing.  “A deck of cards is the Devil’s prayer book.”  Then I saw the preacher come to our house and join other men in lively games of dominos. The man never realized that he was not preaching from the Bible but from a narrow-minded distortion of Scripture.  As a teenager I learned the joy of dancing.  In college I became an avid bridge player. And did not feel a bit guilty.

At the retirement home where I live now, we have a couple, devout Christians, who have never danced or played cards.  They will not go to anyplace where alcohol is served.  To celebrate the Lord’s Supper their church serves grape juice in tiny little shot glasses.  Jesus went to a wedding, changed water into wine, and said, “Let’s have a party.”  If Jesus had invited them to the Last Supper, they would have refused his invitation.


The television evangelist, Joel Osteen,.preaches, “Get rich through Jesus.”    Jesus told the rich man to sell all his goods and give to the poor. 

Which leads me to the ridiculous politics we have in Texas.  All a politician has to do is say he is “protecting our religion.”  Texans hear catch phrases like “lower taxes, less government” and do not question what this really means.  Rich Republicans demand Congress cut programs that help people in order to get lower taxes so that they can increase their wealth and build McMansions.

If the sun stood still, our Earth would spin off into Outer Space.  Instead of Jesus coming back, maybe we would bump into Him floating around on some cloud.