Author Archives: Clarke Morledge

About Clarke Morledge

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Clarke Morledge -- Computer Network Engineer, College of William and Mary... I hiked the Mount of the Holy Cross, one of the famous Colorado Fourteeners, with some friends in July, 2012. My buddy, Mike Scott, snapped this photo of me on the summit.
March 16, 2014

Cosmos: Sagan, Tyson, and the Bruno Affair

By Clarke Morledge

I was a senior in high school when Carl Sagan entered my world on a PBS NOVA special, associated later with the memorable catchphrase, “Billions and billions“.

Carl Sagan had an incredible love for science, and he was a genuine humanitarian. It was Sagan’s imaginative vision that partly inspired me to pursue a science-related career. However, it was not until I had grown further along in my walk with Jesus when I finally realized how much Carl Sagan had bought into the tragic line that pitted a love for science and the world we live in against a belief in the God of the Bible.

Thirty-four years later, one of Sagan’s students, Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, is attempting to remake the famous Cosmos series for a contemporary, 21st century audience, Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey. Tyson has all of charm and imaginative vision of a Carl Sagan, but he sadly also has the same misguided view that Christian faith and science are irreconcilable. If you do not believe me, you need to view this Bill Moyers interview with Tyson, and then read my initial review of the first episode of the new Cosmos series….


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March 15, 2014

Resurrection: Dick Woodward

By Clarke Morledge
Dick Woodward

Dick Woodward. Evidence #1 for the Hope and Truth of the Resurrection.

My favorite Dick Woodward story goes back to my days just out of college, about 25 years ago. Dick and I met for lunch at Taco Bell. After I had taken his scooter out of the car and we got into the restaurant, Dick immediately ordered five large tacos.  I leaned over to Dick and said, “You know, I am not really in the mood for tacos, as I was just hoping to get a quesadilla or two“. Dick, in his most charming way, replied, “Well, actually I was just ordering for myself.”

The man could put away some food.

If you have not read John Paine’s tribute to Dick Woodward yet, I would encourage you to do so. Today, our church held a service celebrating the life and legacy of Dick Woodward. I have a few thoughts of my own to add…
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March 15, 2014

Storm of Doubt

By Clarke Morledge

For many living in our secular culture, there is widespread doubt about the Bible. There is a perception that we as Christians must somehow defend the Bible against all critics.

Wow. I get tired just thinking about it.

The problem is that the Bible is a big book and so many people simply feel overwhelmed by the task, including myself, and I spent several years in seminary!

So while such efforts at “defending the Bible” are well-intentioned, and they still serve an important purpose, they can distract the Christian from the main task in evangelism. In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul summarizes the Gospel to his readers: Jesus Christ, and him crucified, and then risen from the dead. Remarkably, the evidence for the Risen Jesus is so strong without a belief in “biblical inerrancy”, that I am willing to concede for the sake of the argument just about any criticism of the Bible so long as I can get someone to take seriously the claim of the Risen Jesus. If someone can in view of the evidence grasp in faith the reality of the Risen Jesus, then I firmly believe that any other problems we have with the Bible will in time be resolved.

The following posting on our church’s Lenten series gets to the heart of the matter…

lathamta's avatarLessons in Lent

Rembrandt (1606-1699). The Storm on the Sea in Galilee.               Rembrandt (1606-1699).             The Storm on the Sea in Galilee.

Jesus “replied, ‘You of little faith, why are you so afraid?’ Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.” (Matthew 8:26)

Have you ever struggled with doubt? I know I have, and I still do.

In Matthew 8:23-34, we read about Jesus sleeping on a boat while he was with his disciples. A storm picks up and the disciples wake him, pleading with him to do something. Jesus speaks and the wind and waves grow silent. The people are stunned.

I would be, too.

The problem is that I live in the 21st century. We have Science, Doppler radar, the Weather Channel, and Google now. By nature, I am
skeptical:

Surely, there must be a natural explanation for…

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March 11, 2014

Joy: Tim Hansel

By Clarke Morledge

An introductory note: Before Dick Woodward died on March 8, 2014, Dick asked me to write a tribute to Tim Hansel here on Veracity. Not too long after Dick Woodward realized that he would never walk again in the 1980s, Dick started to read Tim Hansel’s books. They made a huge impact. As you consider Tim Hansel’s example, you might see why Dick thought that this story is so important and still needs to be told… Clarke Morledge

Tim Hansel (1941-2009). Adventurer, friend of high school kids, …. and sufferer of unbearable chronic pain.

Tim Hansel (1941-2009). Adventurer, friend of high school kids, …. and sufferer of unbearable chronic pain. Tim is on the right in the middle photo (photo credit: SummitAdventure)

I never met Tim Hansel. He was speaking at a Young Life staff conference back in 1990 and I missed his talk. But I got a cassette tape later of his message. As I was listening to him make jokes left and right throughout his talk, I thought to myself that this guy was a real character. I was laughing right along with him, … until he was telling his listeners that he was living in continuous chronic pain.
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March 7, 2014

The Road to Spiritual Abuse

By Clarke Morledge
Another packed out arena for Bill Gothards's "Seminar in Basic Youth Conflicts". Where are all of these people today?

Another packed out arena for Bill Gothards’s “Seminar in Basic Youth Conflicts”. Where are all of these people today?

It looks like the Bill Gothard train has finally run off of the rails. The Bill Gothard story is an important one to tell, as it has important challenges for those of us in the Body of Christ respecting how evangelicals handle the notion of authority in a Biblical way.

I first heard of Bill Gothard way back in the late 1970s. I was a young believer in the Lord in high school, and some friends of mine had just recently attended something called the “Seminar in Basic Youth Conflicts”. Several thousand people had packed the Hampton Coliseum for about a week of Gothard’s teaching about Christian discipleship and family. Most of it was really, really good stuff. Gothard emphasized the principles of getting out and staying out of debt, emphasizing moral purity, confronting spiritual rebellion, and grounding oneself in the study of God’s Word.

Gothard would give the seminar participants a large, loaded red manual filled with practical teachings. For people looking for some solid, spiritual guidance in an age where permissiveness and ungodliness pervades society, Gothard’s positive teachings have served many, many people for the advancement of the Kingdom of God. Gothard eventually became a popular advocate for Christian home schooling, which I think is a really a wonderful thing to do, assuming it makes the most sense for the child and the parents.

However, all was not quite what it seemed from the outside within Bill Gothard’s world.
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