Walking Through Life With Your Eyes Closed

Legalism disturbs me.  In theological or secular terms, legalism is not the search for truth.  Legalism is a declaration of ABSOLUTE truth where there may not be any such thing.

I have no issue with respect for the truth.  I believe that there ARE incontestable truths.

I consider myself to be a Conservative Fundamentalist.  However, a Fundamentalist is NOT a Literalist.    A Literalist is, by definition, a Legalist.  A Fundamentalist is someone who believes that there are incontestable fundamental principles.  A Legalist is someone who believes that there is only one valid and acceptable interpretation of each individual detail.

It's not what you know that will hurt you...  It's what you know that just ain't so!

My book Following The Cloud will not be promoted by the Hiram Bookstore because contained in that book is the suggestion that the Earth might be more than 6018 years old!  I include everything from the Reformation to Quantum Physics and THAT'S the issue!?!  I was astonished to find that the owner of a bookstore with tens of thousands of books on every subject could object to such a thought. I was further amazed to find that he had no willingness to even consider any alternate possibilities.  In fact, there seemed to be a fear of considering any alternate interpretations to those that he already had.  The overt excuse he gave was that he might offend some Southern Baptist pastors that frequently come into his store.  But he revealed his real uncertainty when he said that believing that the Earth was older than 6018 years old "was a slippery slope".  What?  If you find out that a number somewhere is not what you thought it was, you can no longer believe in Jesus Christ?  That is a very weak faith.

I know for a fact that Southern Baptist pastors are NOT required to believe that the Earth is 6018 years old.  I took an Old Testament theology course in a Southern Baptist seminary class with 30 Southern Baptist pastors.  I listened to a Southern Baptist Theology professor explain the original Hebrew in Genesis 1:1 and 1:2.  The Bible begins by saying, "In the beginning, GOD created the Heavens and the Earth."  Genesis 1:2, which is traditionally translated, "and the Earth was without form, and void...", can be read, in the original Hebrew, "and the Earth became without form and void."  The interpretation of that one word introduces numerous possibilities.  There is no actual suggestion of the specific elapsed time between the original creation and the beginning of the current cycle of creation.  From the beginning of Genesis to the end of The Revelation, the Bible presents GOD as the sole Author, Creator, and Sustainer of everything that was, is, or ever will be.  Whether the Earth is 6 thousand or 6 billion years old does not change that.

In every aspect of my life, I am required to analyze - to find out how things work.  As an engineer, what I choose to believe had better agree with what is.  If it does not, I might endanger the machine that I am designing and the lives of the people using it.  There are practical, physical, moral, and legal implications surrounding my understanding of the world and the rules that God has created to govern it.  Likewise, as a Christian and a theologian, I am encouraged to understand the underlying principles that God has established to govern His Creation.  I do not need to be afraid that I will discover a scientific principle that will invalidate the sovereignty of God.  My faith is not a blind faith.  I am not required to close my eyes to what is around me.  At the same time, I am not required to believe every scientific theory.  (This requires the ability to distinguish between theory and fact - not something everyone is qualified to do.)

"If the King James Version was good enough for Paul and Silas, it's good enough for me!"  (old joke - still relevant)  God has given us analytical tools to discern reality.  He has given us the tools to distinguish between theory and fact.  In the physical realm, those tools include thousands of specialized measuring instruments.   In the theological realm, God has given us the Gifts of the Holy Spirit to discern what is so.  The Old Law in the Old Testament was based on ten simple principles (not, "The Ten Commandments", but "The Ten Words).  God was not commanding us to do or not to do ten things - He was telling us how things were.  The Old Law developed into an intricate and convoluted set of laws and regulations because Jesus had not yet brought the Holy Spirit and made the Gifts of the Holy Spirit available to every believer.

Legalistically closing your eyes to what is around you is crippling.  You build fences that are unnecessarily limiting.  You will miss many of the wonders of the world around you.  Your efforts will be wasted on needless crusades over issues that may not even exist.  Figuratively, you will walk out into traffic without looking.

Southern Baptists are missing many of the analytical tools that they need to discern theory from fact because they have rejected the pentecostal manifestation of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit.  Their particular edition of the King James Version of the Bible in English does not supersede the interpretation of the original Hebrew or Greek that it was written in!  And the original document, even though it was inspired by God, still reflected the limitations of the original (non-technical) languages and the understanding of the original (non-technical) authors.  What is revealed to us in the Bible is NOT WRONG - but it was never intended to be a physics textbook or a complete, detailed, technical manual on the whole universe.  God has left us the tools and discretion to determine those things for ourselves.  Use them!

Books I am Proud to Own

As a Design Engineer, I don't use MACHINERY"S HANDBOOK frequently, but it is a vital resource. I have at least 2 copies - one for work & one for home. I frequently use the AISC STEEL CONSTRUCTION HANDBOOK for steel shapes, dimensions, and properties - I have a 1973 edition at home that falls open to all of the right pages, a newer edition at work, & a couple of older, more collectible editions.

I am particularly proud of my father's copy of AUDEL'S MACHINISTS AND TOOL MAKERS HANDY BOOK (1942) - a very comprehensive introduction to all types of machine work at a manual level that is skipped over by newer CNC oriented books.

When I was first getting started in house construction, I bought every how-to book I ran across - more because of interest than need. One that still stands out is HOW TO USE HAND AND POWER TOOLS (Popular Science, 1970) - a very good general introduction to hand tools. I got most of my helpful tips on all types of carpentry and machine work by reading straight through all of my father's 1940s POPULAR MECHANICS. But, if I had not had that resource, I would have loved SHOPWORK ON THE FARM (1945) and THE BOY MECHANIC (Popular Mechanics, 1952). THE BOY MECHANIC is actually reprints of the tips and projects from the 1940s & 1950s Popular Mechanics.

I was particularly delighted to actually need to use AUDEL'S SHEET METAL PATTERN LAYOUTS (1942). Before AutoCAD was even invented, I had two different jobs that required frequent design of sheet metal transitions from one unusual shape to another. Flat development of oblique transitions is not for the faint of heart. I still have 2 compasses that I made to hold a mechanical pencil using collars or tube clamps - a 3 foot wooden one & a 6 foot metal one. Let's see today's HVAC contractor make a 14” to 12” reducer with an 8” takeoff that reduces to 4” at a 30 degree wye!

Half Full or Half Empty?

The optimist says “the glass is half full.”

The pessimist say “the glass is half empty.”

The engineer says “the glass was conservatively specified to have a service factor of two to one.”

What is Engineering?

One of the causes of the current decline of the United States is the lack of interest in engineering. Over the last century and a half, many of the greatest triumphs of this nation have been engineering – railroads, bridges, cars, air conditioning and refrigeration, electric power – the list is incredibly long... And all items that we take for granted.


There is a huge public misunderstanding of what constitutes engineering. Especially on television, most accomplishments attributed to ‘science’ or ‘scientists’ are actually engineering. “Scientists are working on that right now.” No, they aren’t! Engineers are!

Science is the attempt to determine the characteristics of the world around us from known or observed data.

Engineering is the art of using knowledge, objects, and methods that perform definite known functions to derive other knowledge, objects, and methods that perform other functions.

If the objective is knowledge, quite possibly the field is science.

If the objective is function, then the field is almost certainly engineering.

Give engineers the respect they are due. And maybe, just maybe, return this country to its position as the greatest nation on God’s green Earth.