A 21st Century Christian's Quest for Truth

About the Book

 Any book that attempts to assert basic truth about the origins, nature and relationship of humankind with the Earth and universe we live in is inherently controversial. Throughout human history truth claims have been based on authority, faith, and observed evidence. Each of these sources of truth have changed truth claims over time. Only about 500 years ago any fool could observe that the earth was a flat surface (not a sphere spinning at about 700 miles per hour at the equator) with a sun that traveled above the surface of the earth about every 24 hours(23 hrs and 56 min).

 In a very short period of human history our evidence or observation based truth claims have expanded exponentially as we have advanced our unaided human observations. Examples include: space based instruments that transmit vast amounts of information about an unimaginably large universe; atom smashers that provide knowledge of the smallest element or force within an unimaginably small atom; seismographic instruments that can analyze and map deep inside the Earth; glacial ice core analysis that tell us a lot about annual climates and major earth events on a year by year basis over hundreds of thousands of years in the past; recent advances in radiocarbon and radiometric and other dating methods that provide a reliable chronology of Earth and plant and animal life over the past 4.65 billion years; oceanographic vehicles that explore the extreme depths of the oceans that cover the majority of the earth’s surface; and, instruments that allow humans to study the very basic sub-microscopic elements (DNA) that make up plant and animal life.

This book does not claim to be a fully documented scientific or religious text. It is based on one persons extensive research of authoritative sources. Even research requires evaluation of sources and subsequent conclusions. Thus, this book is proposed as an editorial opinion based on one person’s “quest for truth in the 21st Century”.

About the Author

The age old truth questions are:

•    What is the origin history and fate of the universe in which we live?

•    What is the origin history and fate of the Earth we inhabit?

•    What is the origin history and fate of humankind?

The easy answers provided to me as a child were to be found in the Christian God and the Christian Bible. Like all humans on Earth I cannot totally escape the early environmental and cultural indoctrination of my formative years. In my case this was the heart of “The Bible Belt” and Protestant Christianity. In recent years I have tried to gain a better understanding of human values and awareness by considering possibilities other than Christian faith.

In recent years I have taken many college level courses in religions, science, history, philosophy and ancient mythologies. (Myth is what one culture calls another culture’s religion and legendary history.) The courses are available on CDs and DVDs and taught by the most highly regarded scholars in their field. Religious studies have included individual courses on the development and the different practices of Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism. Included were individual lectures on Zoroastrianism, Confucianism, Daoism and Jainism. Other courses have evaluated the written and archaeological evidence of ancient Western, Eastern and New World religions that predate those very late religions noted above in the approximately 250,000 year history of modern humans. Modern history courses have focused on the evolution of Christianity from its founding in the 1st and 2nd  Century AD; its expansion as the State religion of the Roman Empire; the Crusades; the Inquisitions, the Witch Craze, and the Reformation Era ending in about 1648. Science courses have focused on what mankind has learned in the last few decades from many recently developed scientific disciplines such as geology, archeology, paleontology, anthropology, cosmology, astronomy and microbiology.

In my 76th year on planet earth I may not have the wisdom and insight of renown ancient or modern philosophers, sages and prophets who have plumbed the depths of mankind’s most fundamental questions. However, I do have access to a wealth of knowledge not available to earlier truth seekers. The 21^st Century access to mankind’s collective scientific, historical and religious experience is totally unprecedented even to that of the most dedicated scholar only a few years ago. Thus, one individual’s quest for truth based on mankind’s collective knowledge was undertaken.