Gospel truths?

As I have stated before, I am a Christian: Forgiven by God the Father, redeemed by Jesus the Son and guided by The Holy Spirit. I am not perfect and I do not have all the answers therefore I cannot, and will not, enter into arguments of religion or theology but, I do know, through personal experience, how my faith and commitment and God's love and Grace have changed me and my life and therefore when I see something that diminishes the Glory of the Triune God, I cannot, and will not, keep quiet.

Just recently a very old E-Mail started doing the rounds again. It is a story about a high ranking NASA employee or consultant, clearing up a discrepancy in the calculations of the movement of planets. It claims that Harold Hill, a Christian author and consultant to NASA, cleared up the mystery of the "lost day in history", when the NASA scientists tried to plot the movement of planets. He referred them to two episodes in the Bible which made up the lost 24 hours.

This is an exciting and beautiful story and for many years I also believed it - I even own one of the books in which he tells the story. I was totally stunned when I realised that in fact it is only another urban legend. Harry Rimmer, a Presbyterian minister and amateur archaeologist, first told the story of an encounter that took place between a professor at Yale University, C.A. Totten and a British astronomer, Sir Edwin Ball in the 1800's. (Of course this was long before NASA even existed).

Then, in the 1960's, Harold Hill started using the current version of the story in motivational talks and in 1974 the story also appeared in writing in one of his books. When the authenticity of the story was queried, he put out a bulletin or form letter in which he admitted that he might have "misplaced" relevant details such as names and places.

Referring to Harry Rimmer and Harold Hill I cannot help but ask: "Did they really believe that they would be doing other Christians (and God Himself) a favour by telling stories about Him?

My believes are based on faith. Faith in God does not need concrete proof or it would not be faith. In my books, God is almighty. He does not need people, even though they call themselves His childen, to tell fibs to prove His status or what He can do. He does not need to be proven through science either, after all, He created it. All He needs, or require from us, is faith in Him and His risen Son. He will take care of the rest Himself, in his own way and in His own time.

So please, let us stop trying to prove the might and glory of God through our all too human stories and legends and let us allow God to do His own convincing in the hearts of people.