Dear Editor:

I've noticed over the course of my life that the freethinkers of the world are completely blinded by their own biases in their attempts to eliminate any belief system in a higher power. They rationalize that there is no God before even analyzing all information available to them, an unfortunate mistake when attempting to persuade someone such as myself. They fault believers for being narrowminded, without realizing their own proclivity for the same. This would be the same transgression committed recently by a gentlemen named Mr. Joseph L. Koperna in a letter published by this newspaper roughly one month ago.Mr. Koperna begins by attacking the veracity of the Bible from what appears to be a scientific point of view. I won't pretend to have the distinction of being world renowned physicist or astronomer Robert Jastrow and Albert Einstein on the other hand, are, however. Jastrow, the founder of NASA's Goddard Institute of Space Studies and former director of the Mount Wilson Observatory (yes, he sat in Edwin Hubble's chair) stated, "Now we see the astronomical evidence SUPPORTS the biblical view of the origin of the world…the essential elements in the astronomical and biblical accounts of Genesis are the SAME." Furthermore, he said, "For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountain of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries."Einstein actually created a fudge factor in his Theory of General Relativity that was exposed in 1919 by cosmologist Arthur Eddington. Einstein called his initial discovery "irritating" because it proved the universe was not static, but had a beginning. According to the Law of Causality (the fundamental principle of science), the beginning would then need to have a CAUSE. After accepting his own bias, Einstein said that he wanted "to know how God created the world…I want to know His thought, the rest are details."Mr. Koperna then insults our country, calling her "a lumbering, bellicose, dim-witted giant" when compared to other developed nations. Last time I checked, the only reason there are other developing countries in this world is BECAUSE we were a God-fearing country with high moral standards. Our citizens toppled the Nazi regime of Adolf Hitler after the extermination of 12 million Jews and civilians in World War II. Hitler, as we know, ordered the burning of Bibles throughout his Reich.Furthermore, take a good look at the other worst genocides of the 20th century 50-75 million Chinese under Mao Ze-Dong, 23 million Russians under Stalin, 5 million under Tojo in Japan, 1.7 million Cambodians under Pol Pot, just to name a few. What do they have in common? None of these regimes were tolerant of Christianity.Mr. Koperna goes on to borrow from the theistic world to make his atheistic argument. You see, REASONS require that the universe be reasonable. Hence, it must presuppose logic, truth, order and design. These things can only exist if there is an unchangeable objective source and standard with which we can draw comparisons (God). For instance, you can't say something is not true, unless you know what truth is. You can't say somebody doesn't possess morals, unless you know what morals are, and so forth.That brings us to his example of the little girl who is raped, tortured, and killed. How does he know these things are evil? Simply put, he knows what good is, which leads us to chapter three in the book of Genesis. Mr. Koperna cherry picked within Genesis which kept him from attaining all of the information available.Chapter three explains how man disobeyed God by making a CHOICE to eat from the tree of knowledge. God granted free-will and enabled him to determine the difference between bad (evil) and good. By knowing the difference between the two, you must admit that both exist. By admitting both exist, it is easy to discredit the assertion "that the murder of a single little girl…cast doubt upon the idea of a benevolent God." Simply put, the perpetrator chose evil, as did Hitler, Stalin, bin-Laden, etc. The benevolent God chose to take the little girl for his own after the heinous acts committed by an insidious human being.It is this pull, the pull between good and evil, that lead a dear friend of mine to find the faith. A young lad I work with, we'll call him Toco, explained to me that even when he was an atheist he felt this pull, and he knew it wasn't something that was man-made. He and I laugh about it now when sharing our faith. We joke around that morality didn't come from a group of white-haired board members sitting around an oval table in a big office. They had to come from somewhere or something, and that something for us we call God.In closing, Mr. Koperna is entitled to his opinions, and I for one, am actually glad he expressed them. He doesn't even realize it, but he already has the seeds of faith planted within him. He feels that pull.I'll pray that he takes the next step.Roger L. BergerLehightonThe results of this submission may be viewed at:http://www.tnonline.com/node/203194/submission/75