Jeff Mooney, My Husband For 18 Years and Counting

On this day, Sept. 28, 1991, I married Jeff Mooney. It was an exciting day but I had no idea what exciting adventures lay ahead of us!

I married Jeff because I was crazy in love with him. I loved his zeal (though at that time it was without as much knowledge), his passion for God, his sense of humor, his ability to make me laugh. I loved it that he called me sweetheart and that he would listen to me for long periods of time. I loved his piano-playing, his open and honest approach to everything and that he would say he was sorry if he hurt my feelings. It did not bother me that we had no money, that the job we would be doing would just barely coverd our expenses and that we had no idea what we would do after that two year job. “Young, in-love, and ready to take risks with Jeff”; that would have been my facebook status 18 years ago!

As soon as we got married we headed out to Kansas to live for a couple of years as we worked on a project for the Southern Baptists. Other than missing my family and friends, we had a great first year. Kansas was very different and we explored it, enjoyed the snow, the prairie, the slow-paced lifestyle of small-town mid-west etc. However, Jeff became restless that second year. Not restless about being married to me, but restless theologically. He was getting anxious about not being able to answer some significant questions about the Bible and about God. He could not be happy with short, simple, Baptist-life answers. He struggled with eternal security, with understanding redemption and tons other topics.

This led us back to school. We moved back to AL for him to study at Beeson Divinity School. It was an oasis for a very thirsty man. He dived in with great eagerness and immediately began to change theologically. It was scary to me as he questioned every doctrine we had ever accepted without question. However, I began to see him strengthen like crazy…he was changing and growing stronger as he fed on strong theology but still somewhat restless as he struggled to figure out what he would do with all this knowledge. At that time he did not think he was “pastor material” nor did he think he had the “call” to pastor. Two years into his master’s degree, he was asked to substitute teach in a Hebrew class. The students really liked him and encouraged him. A new goal emerged…teaching at the university level. This led us to Louisville, KY for Jeff to work on a Ph.D. in Old Testament. We really had no idea what we were signing up for and by this time we had three kids in tow.

It took 6 1/2 years to complete the degree because of job responsibilities, family responsibilities and the amount of study required, but the end product was worth it.

My husband today is still the zealous, passionate, man that I fell in love with 19 years ago; the difference is that today he has much more knowledge to direct his zeal and tons of growth. He still makes me laugh, listens to me, calls me sweetheart, and apologizes when he hurts my feelings I still see the young man that took my hand at the altar 18 years ago today; but I also see what he has become; a man committed to the gospel, a man who loves Christ passionately, a man of integrity and principles, a man of quiet strength and sometimes not-so-quiet strength, a man who loves generously, invests regularly in people, a man who loves his children deeply, a leader, a teacher, a pastor, a friend, a counselor, …. the list goes on, but my favorite title for him is “Angela’s husband.” Today my facebook status is “not as young, more in-love, and absolutely willing to take risks with Jeff for another 18 years!”

I love you more today, Jeff, than I ever could have imagined possible 18 years ago!!!!!!!!!!

Science and the Bible

There are several ways to begin a conversation with someone who thinks that the Bible is just a bunch of old ideas about life and that science research has given much more reasonable answers to the beginning of life.

The major point of disagreement is summed up here:  The Bible states that God created the universe and all that is in it.  Science proposes that nature created itself and thereby seeks to explain how it did so.

First of all, it’s simply not true that science has proven that God does not exist. To be fair, science has not proven, at least in the scientific way of proving a theory, that God does exists either. This should not surprise the Christian because the Bible explicitly says that “salvation is by faith.” Therefore, Christians see the “fingerprints” of God’s amazing creative ability and intricate design EVERYWHERE they look because they know Him by faith.

However, to the unbeliever, who wants to try to understand how a believer could possibly put so much faith in an Ancient book that they would live their daily lives by it, a few things could be said scientifically.

First, some of the greatest brains that have walked the planet and that have contributed enormously to science have been firm believers in God.  Who?

James Maxwell:  Scottish physicist who is considered the father of modern physics.  To even begin to understand his equations that demonstrate how the electromagnetic force works, you need two or more years of post-calculus study! He was brilliant.  He loved God so much that he insisted that this verse be carved in Latin on the door of his laboratory:  “Great are the works of the Lord; they are pondered by all who delight in them.”  Psalm 111:2

Sir Isaac Newton:  We have all studied Newton’s laws.  They are standard in every physical science or physics text book because they are foundational.  He studied creation with serious intensity and with an incredible brain.  He is credited with developing calculus to explain his observations.  Newton believed that science demonstrated the handiwork of God.

To those who think that we are silly for believing that God created the universe and continues to keep it going, we can say that we stand in good company!  (For more examples read Scientists of Faith, Kregel Resources:  Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1996.)

One more way to speak to the unbeliever’s “baffled mind” that we would trust that God created everything is to mention the governing laws of the universe:  The laws of thermodynamics.  No scientist disputes that these laws are governing the way the physical world is operating right now.  However, in order to get a theory like the Big Bang or evolution, these laws have to be set aside.  So, we have to “trust” the scientists who trust these theories that there was a time when things did not operate under these laws, EVEN THOUGH there is no proof that this time existed.

First Law: No matter or energy is being created or destroyed. That’s what is states in a nutshell.  So creation is complete.

Second Law:  If a system is left alone, with no energy put into it, it will become more chaotic.  (In other words if I leave a car parked in the driveway for a long time, it will rust, not turn into a fancy sports car.)  Things get less organized without the input of energy….not more organized.  Clearly this law was NOT in effect if things were evolving into more complex organisms!!  However, it cannot be proven that such a time existed when the universe was under a different set of rules….faith required to believe that.

In conclusion, I don’t think, in general, that we can or even should scare people into believing God.  I think that Christians believe in  God because they love  Him.  But…..for food for thought…..to the unbeliever, if we are right, and there is a righteous God, who governs over all the universe and judges according to His Word and has put this amazing creation here as a testimony of His existence and glory, then there are serious consequences for ignoring Him.  He is a judge and He will punish sin, sin as He defines it, not as we define it.

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.”  Prov. 1:7

Science is a wonderful subject to study, personally, I love it and am not “threatened” that it will turn me away from the Living God.  He has given me life and peace and joy and purpose….He is my redeemer and I love Him!

(NOTE:  This is just one way to approach the question, there are tons of ways!)