A Christian Worldview applied to Isaac Asimov's Foundation Series

The Foundation Series by Isaac Asimov is an amazing series of books that I would recommend to anyone who enjoys a good story. With Asimov, it's always more than a good story, Asimov's view of humanity and human history is clear throughout his writing. I wrote this paper as an analysis of Asimov's view of history within the Foundation Series. If you're a fan of Asimov, give it a read, if you're not a fan, get one of his books.

Asimov's Foundation Series analysis by a Christian Worldview paper

A Brief Theology Derived from the Nicene Creed

I put this document together in order to have a brief overview of Christian theology set within the framework of the Nicene Creed. The Nicene Creed was adopted in 381 A.D. and was accepted by virtually all of Christendom. We as a Church have splintered badly in the last 1700 years, but it is important to realize that the Church was able to overcome its differences and unite behind this powerful statement.

Read and enjoy,

An overview of theology derived from the Nicene Creed

II Corinthians 1:4 "so that we can comfort"

Why do we endure troubles and trials? No simple answer will satisfy the question that has echoed since the days of Job (beware of those peddling simple answers), but in II Corinthians 1:3-7 Paul offers us one reason why we may endure such difficulties. The answer is that we learn to comfort others when we ourselves receive comfort from God. Because God is merciful, we can learn to show mercy, because God is forgiving, we can learn to forgive, and because God comforts those in need, we too can learn to be comforters in the imitation of our Father. It's not a complete answer, it isn't supposed to be, but perhaps the next time you stare into the heavens and ask, "Why me Lord?", it'll be a bit of comfort for you to know that you may be learning to be a more useful child of God.

Greed and the Death of our neighbor the "Bicycle Man"

Today in Federal Court two men were charged with the kidnapping and murder of our neighbor Donald Dietz, the "bicycle man", on Sep. 11, 2007. Donald was a very private man who lived at the end of a dirt road across from the state park (about a mile from my house, a couple hundred yards from my parents' house). I used to park across from his trailer (set a hundred yards back from the road) and go run on the park's trails. Donald road his bicylce to Ionia weekly, six miles on a busy narrow road; I always thought he'd get killed by a driver who didn't see him. The darkness of mens' hearts had other plans though. These two men tried to steal $450,000 from Donald and transfer it out of the country (the bank stopped the transfer, it looked suspicious). In the process, they evidently tasered this quiet older man, and at some point killed him. My father used to help Donald from time to time with things like paperwork, they both worked at Amway, and nobody would have known that this unassuming man had half a million dollars. The money had no hold at all on Donald, he just kept on saving it, but to these two men (whom I will not dignify by using their names) had enough Greed in their hearts to contemplate theft, to plan it, to contemplate and carry out kidnapping, and to let it lead to murder. Sin is like that, it blackens our hearts and destroys the humanity that we all have as Children of God. Donald certainly would not have appreciated being front page news in the Grand Rapids Press again and again, and he obviously didn't deserve to die, but in a world crying out for redemption by God this is what happens. My neighbor, a quiet man, was murdered by greed, our world is like that.

I Corinthians 15:14, "If Christ has not been raised.."

It's popular in some circles to say that it doesn't really matter if the Bible is true or not; what's important is the teachings of Jesus ("do unto others", "love your neighbor"). It may be popular, but it couldn't be more wrong. If Jesus Christ wasn't really the Son of God, didn't really die for our sins, or didn't really rise from the grave, everything we're doing in the church is a waste of time. Paul says in I Corinthians 15:14, "if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith." I couldn't agree more. Christianity is not just a social club, we belong to Christ because we BELIEVE that the Truth about Christ is so amazing that we're willing to stake our lives on it. It really does matter, the empty tomb on Easter morning makes all the difference in the world.