|
Tim has put together several studies on such things as the design
of the universe for life, with mention of the philosophical implications
that has on the existence of God. Likewise, various articles related
to science, ethics, etc. are discussed. While care must be taken
not to be overtly evangelistic in such a setting, there are often
opportunities to put in a word naturally. For instance, in a recent
discussion over "near death experiences," a doctor,
who is in charge of caring for the health of Japan's astronauts
and the support staff at Japan's rocket launch facilities, said,
"When I was in the United States, a scientist friend of mine
said that he believed Jesus Christ was resurrected from the dead.
But medically that's impossible. He's a scientist, and yet he
said he believed that. What do you think about that?" Well,
how's that for a natural opportunity! My response was: "Yes,
of course something like that is 'medically impossible.' It would
require an absolute miracle, which can't be proven by experimentation.
But if there is a Creator God who has the power to create the
universe and life here on earth, then it is at least possible
he could do such a miracle. The only way to objectively evaluate
such a claim, however, is through historical evidence. Many skeptics
have scrutinized the evidence carefully and have come to the conclusion
that it must really be true. I too believe it is true, but it
is, of course, not something that can be directly proven."
That's somewhat better wording than what I was able to say on
the spur of the moment (Isn't that always the case!), but that
is the type of opportunity for witness that comes up from time
to time in the class.
Juji has just finished another round of plasma exchange treatment
in the hospital. Things went smoothly, but the whole process took
four weeks, and so Lisa "took care of" daddy during
that time. Lisa has changed her career goals a bit and will be
applying for admission to a graduate school in California for
traditional Chinese medicine (which is integrated with Western
medicine). This will kind of combine her two interests of medicine
(she was a pre-med, biology major) and Chinese culture and history.
Jennifer will be coming home for a long Christmas holiday, and
so we will be together as a family again for the first time in
quite a while. She is really enjoying her studies as Biola University
in intercultural studies.
As always, your prayers for and financial support of our work
here in Japan are deeply appreciated. We pray that you will have
(or "had" as the case may be) a really wonderful Christmas
and Happy New Year! God's blessings be on you all.
Grace and Peace
Tim, Juji, Lisa and Jennifer Boyle
The 2003 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, page
178
|
