Almost Too Deep For Me

Time to get a little philosophical.

Mike has just awakened some thoughts that I had put to rest for some time. Through an e-mail, he described to me a Web site that he'd come across to talk about "out-of-place artifacts" or OOPARTS, which mainly seems to discuss ancient artifacts dating back to Biblical times -- especially The Great Flood, in which according to the Bible, Noah built his Ark and loaded it with his family and all the animals of the world.

It basically looks for physical evidence that such things have happened. Supposedly, The "Pre-Flood" age has been cataloged in ancient Egypt, where supposedly researchers have uncovered evidence of a possible "lost race" of humans, in which they developed "high techonolgies" -- technologies that we use on a day-to-day basis, like computers, airplanes, and nuclear weapons -- which maybe even go beyond that. Everything was wiped out due to The Deluge, or The Great Flood.

This Web site takes a look at that all of that, and more. This is something that I never could have possibly comprehended. It just boggles the mind.

Some of the stuff is so far-fetched that it's almost hard to believe. Although I have not read much of the site (and mind you, lots of stuff on the Internet is also "tough to prove"), it just seems to me that there are these researchers out there that'll find something, carbon date it, then will come up with some wacky theory to tie it all in. It's like creating a whole civilization from scatch ... that never really existed! It's got such a great backstory so these researchers have a lot riding on it, almost to the point that they'll believe their own stories so much, that subconsciously they'll become true. But in the end, you need the proof, the physical evidence that certain things existed.

It's just too much to comprehend. I appreciate Mike in giving me the heads up to this site. The site itself is very persuasive -- but there's just something about it that just bugs the heck out of me. What -- I don't know. I just cannot get my finger on it.

Back in the day, when Mike and myself were just out of high school, reckless beyond reason, we'd sit back, drink a few beers (maybe smoke a few cigarettes) and talk all philosophical. I remember one particular night during the summer, we were at my cousin Eric's house and we were hitting it up pretty good. I had just started college and in the meantime, I had taken an anthropology course. You can probably see where this was headed -- your classic Evolution vs. God argument. It got so heated to a point that I stormed out of the house with Mike begging me to come back to settle down. I declined. I had defended Evolution -- where as homo sapiens we had evolved from primates -- all because of that stupid anthropology class. Deep down, I really didn't know what I was thinking.

I'm a Christian, indoctrinated by the teachings of the Bible and the Lord Jesus Christ from Martin Luther's point-of-view (Lutheran). After all those years of Sunday School and Confirmation, it's tough to shake your fist at the church and say that you don't believe in God. Basically, I was taught to have faith in Jesus, believe in God (The Apostle's Creed) and I'll have everlasting life in Heaven.

Is there proof that there is a Heaven? Or a God? Depends who you talk to, maybe a dead philosopher or an atheist -- but I believe that God existed through Jesus and that there is an afterlife -- without having any proof. It's tough, although contradictory towards that Web site that Mike sent to me, but you just got to have Faith.

Here's just something to throw back -- how about the book, The DaVinci Code? There's even a movie coming out this spring. Although I own the book, I haven't read it. From what I have heard, it's all about the church's cover-up, "conspiracy-theory"-like scandal that covers up over 2000 years of dogma (a belief or an idea). Has the Church been fooling us all of these years? Now, that's far-fetched -- but a person has to realize, that is fiction.

How about the Left Behind series? It is our belief that the Anti-Christ will rise, only for Jesus to come back in the nick of times to save the world (or basically, the Book of Revelation in a fictional series). It's just interesting reading.

People bring forth many ideas concerning religion and historical fact through science. Sometimes it just gets too much and it seems for me, I just want to shy away from it all. What happens, happens. Maybe we are on our way to Armageddon. The atheists are coming forward in packs (like the story of an elderly Italian man suing a Roman Catholic priest for preaching lies) and now people are taking down The Ten Commandments from courthouses or labeling them as a "historical monument." I think the only possible way to know EVERYTHING is to die (if that's possible -- but that's a different argument in itself, but I believe it!).

My last stance: As a man who loves ancient history up to the point of yesterday, I still believe in an omnipresent being that we know as God. I believe in what I want to believe -- nobody else can control that. Although I have my faith, I still take in consideration of actual physical evidence that has been uncovered to relate to Biblical history, contradictory or not. Otherwise, Web sites and books, although very persuasive, just make out for some interesting reading.

Just be cautious!