TED Community » Bill Davis

More About Me

I'm passionate about

Serving Jesus, my Savior and Lord, who revealed himself in dozens and dozens of events in my life, I call God-incidences [instead of coincidences].

An idea worth spreading

way of living: do kindness, love justice, and walk humbly with God [Micah 6:8] and other ways of living as a spiritual being in this physical world

Talk to me about

why Christians are so divided especially in their political priorities; how we can find common ground among ourselves and with non-christians globally so we can move toward peace on earth

People don't know that I'm good at

feeding on The Word of God

My TED Story

no story--just a seeker of truth wherever it can be found

Comments

• TEDCred score: +1.20 TEDCred reflects your contribution to the TED community.

• A comment on Conversation: Why don't people believe in God?

  Jul 10 2011: Matthieu, you sure have people of faith pegged: full of fluff without content to their old dumb mantra; thoughtless as to the effect of our words on the faithless; can't handle life with people different from ourselves; and certainly I, in particular, don't know a thing about science and accept only people of faith into my "family." You must have thought long and hard about the existence, or non-existence of God. Which is so much better than many who have never gotten out of their little box of self, not seeing beyond their arm's length to any other possible understandings of life on earth, To stereotype THEM --those people of faith so, reveals your closed mind.
  
  To open your mind to really consider people of faith in your "heterogeneous" world, I offer: 1] I spend my spare time helping the homeless, mentally ill, birth defective children, foster children & folks pursuing a worldview where love rules. I do this because I love God. How do you make this world better with your activities of choice? 2] Science brings this world technological & material progress. However, without spiritual wisdom, relying on our own strength, not a Higher Authority, we are in danger of being destroyed by this progress even as we benefit from it in so many ways, Would you depend upon the wisdom and power of those in charge of the technology and wealth to prevent tragedy in the use of it? This is such an overwhelming problem, some people of faith turn to God, the ultimate authority, to harness the good brought by technology and material progress for the safety of all. There are circumstances which are beyond us mortals to understand and deal with. You won't find that God is trustworthy to handle such unless you have personally tried it as I, and many people of faith, have.
  
  Thank you for considering what I have said. I look forward to further dialogue with you on this subject

• A reply on Conversation: comments

  Jul 9 2011: I am so grateful that my life is filled with God loving folks who are at least civil to strangers. Your vicious response to my comment does not offend me but proves you need God.

• A comment on Conversation: Why don't people believe in God?

  Jul 7 2011: You express faith in science instead of faith in God.The "LAW of gravity" you mentioned proved to be THEORY in light of the THEORY of relativity. All "laws" of humans are the best imperfect humans can come up with using present information. There is an all-knowing God who is in control of the universe. Wish your scientific method were able to always find perfect truth? 50 years ago I believed absolutely in the science. Having bachelor & doctorate degrees in science, I trusted in them to live and to practice my profession. But actual results of adhering to science proved not applicable in all cases. Something beyond science was needed to understand why patients that by all "laws of science" should die, did not, and those who should not die, did. One thing unaccounted for by science was HOPE. In many cases hope in God sustained persons through scientifically impossible events. Whereas, some died simply because they lacked hope, and gave up. Example of the latter is the classic death by fright of a person bitten by a non-venomous snake which they believed to be poisonous. Hope is in the realm of "religion" as you say, the "spiritual" as I say. If you discount spiritual, you not best informed, You are living trusting in humankind's "laws." You will be disappointed. You will not be able to understand and explain life's events without spiritual understanding too. Yes, in the name of religion folks do some unjust things but science without faith in God is doing some horrible things, like developing weapons of mass destruction and the internet. Both do not harm unless humans intent on evil use them to do harm. Faith in God results in good, not evil, and can make secure the weapons & the internet through the actions of these good people. The ultimate hope of our world is God, not science. Now, I don't know many, many things, so my life is lived based upon the soundest theory I can find. Outcomes of my way of living prove the soundness of my choices.

• A comment on Talk: Joshua Walters: On being just crazy enough

  Jun 24 2011: If I think that I am sane all the time then I am not honest with myself, actually I am showing insanity by that thought. I just know where the line I can't step over lies in my behavior out in the world. Oh, if I could let loose sometimes and share my true self and know that everybody would forgive me and forget it. Really I want to express who I really am inside and be accepted for it, don't you? Thanks TED.com and Joshua [Jesus actually].

• A comment on Conversation: comments

  Jun 8 2011: I think that our discussion as to why people don't believe in God can't end with "comment 666!" So I add my bit again. If there were no God, there would be no love and no hope on earth.
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  A reply on Conversation: Why don't people believe in God?

  Apr 5 2011: Stacey, I found that one way you prove to yourself--"your truth to live by"--God exists is to jump into something so far over your head you could not possibly do it on your own, looking to God for help. Don't jump randomly but after a thing weights heavy on your heart seemingly forever. When you swim, and not sink, remember that you did not do it alone: thank God. After years of doing this myself, I find myself living in miracles of God's provision almost all the time. Now I've proved to myself that God exists and that God exists only desiring an relationship with me [& everyone else who seeks God]. The purpose of our existence is to join God, moving this world toward God's Plan for it. You can be "lucky" too.
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  A comment on Conversation: Why don't people believe in God?

  Apr 4 2011: To know truth, I need not only to hear it, but to experience it.Example: Preparing for a test on “the EKG changes with heart attack.”I can study the information for the test & retain it for the test & a few weeks.BUT I won't know the information until I apply it in treating a heart patient, then teach it to someone else.Thus the adage in medical training, see one, do one, teach one.AND truth is relative to the person: for the test just mentioned, truth has to be what your teacher said it is [if I want to pass the test].I think this insight about truth applies to the truth we speak of: the reality of God.Comparing the creation story with evolution theory: I believe The Creation Story because I have experienced that God is truth in my life.God is the most credible being out there.I believe in evolution because it works in practice.It allows me to understand embryology of humans, the differences between the species, etc.Evolution allows folk like me to understand science--the way humans get how this physical world works. My experience has shown me the truth of God.Cummulnation of many things I experenced that were paradoxical was: when I finished my medical training, I thought I knew everything about diagnosing and treating human illness.When folk who, according to science, should die, did not, and those who should live, died, I learned there was something beyond the physical and mental to consider in diagnosing and treating humans.I searched until I found Paul Tournier's explanation: “there are two diagnoses in every illness, the scientific and the meaning of the illness for the individual.”Later I understood that science only gives half.God is about the meaning for us of life.To learn, I started putting God in my life, just as I acted as if my EKG teacher knew what she was talking about so that I could pass her tests.To be good at finding God-whose-only-son-is-Jesus, I studied God's textbook, The Bible, applied & reflected upon it as I experience my life.It works!!
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  A reply on Conversation: Why don't people believe in God?

  Mar 30 2011: What makes a person certain about God are personal experiences of God in their life [for one thing]. I can tell you about my experiences. They can not be proven wrong because no one else had my perspective on the events. It is my truth. I wish that everyone would seek God's input in their lives so they could have the certainty I have been blessed to have!
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  A reply on Conversation: Why don't people believe in God?

  Mar 30 2011: There is no contradiction between science and God's Good News through Jesus, as you say. Science is theory. God's Good News through Jesus is reality. I know this personally to be true.
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  A reply on Conversation: Why don't people believe in God?

  Mar 30 2011: I too am a scientist with a BS in Biology and MD. There is absolutely no contradiction between science and faith as I know them both.