Thursday, August 03, 2006

Confession

Some of you think you know me. I’m a Christian, a wife, a mom, a daughter, a southerner, a teacher, an American, a conservative. Like most people, there are any number of labels that very aptly describe my leanings, my tastes, my talents, my positions, my faults. But I have a secret. One that very few people know. One that I really don’t talk about much, because it’s the sort of thing that will cause people to stare at you blankly and sidle away from you trying to look, at the same time, both at you (to make sure you’re not about to sprout another head or grab them about the neck with a tentacle) and where they’re going (to avoid personal injury as they attempt to escape from your imminently evil clutches).

I am just about obsessed with Bigfoot. As a matter of fact, a couple of years ago I developed and maintained a Bigfoot search results page for about.com. (Was getting paid for it, then they said they were abandoning this program and I wouldn’t get paid anymore. But, hmm. Guess what. It’s still there, still pops up in Google, still has ads on it. Somebody’s making money and it ain’t me…Time to check into this.)

I digress. I believe in Bigfoot. I have good reason to believe in Bigfoot. I have a close friend/relative (I try to specifically be very vague) who had a Bigfoot encounter (in the U.S.) several years ago. This is a person I know very well and have known for years, someone I would trust with my life. Someone who is educated, and who is a Christian and does not believe in alien abduction. So, I really have no choice but to believe in Bigfoot. This person’s encounter was verified and is presented in the many sightings reports of the Bigfoot Field Researcher’s Organization as a Class A report. (No, I will not tell you which one. I have pledged to maintain this person’s anonymity; only 3 other people have been told about this encounter by this particular person. Others were involved and, to the best knowledge, they have not discussed the matter outside their family. It’s not really coffee klatch conversation for those who have experienced it, apparently.)

Let me add that I also do not believe in aliens. God clearly states that he created heaven and earth; light; water and land; plants; animals; and, finally, His most beloved, blessed and special creation of all: man. Nowhere does God claim to have created any other sort of living being anywhere beyond the realm of our Earth, and certainly there is no mention of any living creation of His having reason and intellect other than man.

But Bigfoot? Is it really that wacky? There are dozens of field reports each year of scientists and researchers discovering animal species that have never before been reported, or re-discovering some that were thought to have been extinct. God spends quite a bit of time telling Job that God alone knows the total depths, wonders, and complexities of the world; after all, He created it. We will never know everything about this amazing planet that supports life in our solar system against all odds. I do not believe we are supposed to know everything. But don’t take my word for it. I’ve included some select charges to Job from God. Read Job 38-41 for “the rest of the story.”

“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding. Do you know the ordinances of the heavens, or fix their rule over earth? Who has put wisdom in the innermost being or given understanding to the mind? Is it by your understanding that the hawk soars, stretching his wings toward the south? Behold now, Behemoth [which some take to be dinosaurs], which I made as well as you. He eats grass like an ox; His bones are tubes of bronze; He bends his tail like a cedar; His limbs are like bars of iron. Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook? Can you fill his skin with harpoons, or his heat with fishing spears? Lay your hand on him; remember the battle; you will not do it again.”

Now, after hearing God challenge the knowledge that Job thought he, himself, possessed, it is easy to see that we are not intended to have God’s knowledge about our world. There are many things that are unknown to us because our Creator has deemed them fit for His mind alone, at least for a time. But, now you know one of my deepest, most closely guarded secrets. I believe in Bigfoot. And I believe in God. Faith and mystery can, certainly, co-exist.

For a fascinating and easy read on dinosaurs and other “monsters” from a biblical perspective, check out Dinosaur Questions and Answers from Answers in Genesis.

Favorite Bigfoot Questions and Answers

I have declared that which I did not understand, Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. – Job 42:3

1 comment:

The Cluck Wagon said...

It's not really that weird. I believe in the possiblity of just about anything.