Eastern Oregon On Fire Matthew Sheeks

Have you ever wondered where the story of Noah's flood came from, and if it has any basis in historical reality?

In this episode of Eastern Oregon on Fire Cade and Matt find some common ground, and also a few flaws with a recent presentation on the biblical (worldwide) flood account published on Harvard University's Youtube channel.

The presentation is called, "Faith in Nature: Noah's Flood and the Development of Geology," and it is presented by the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, which is a sub-institute within Harvard University.  The speaker is David Montgomery, who is a geologist at University of Washington.  We'll link to the full presentation below.

Montgomery recaps the various flood stories that exist throughout the world, then he discusses the similarities and differences to the biblical text regarding the flood.  He then dives into a synopsis of different views regarding geology and geomorphology throughout modern history, and how different theologians, scientists, and other experts have dealt with the scientific evidence for the flood and how a global or regional flood may or may not fit in with their understanding of geology.

It's a fascinating presentation because he is able to bring in evidence from long slow processes to explain the geologic record, while also acknowledging the role that catastrophes can play in shaping the modern landscape.

We were able to find a good deal of common ground with David, but also noticed some elementary flaws in the logic that was used to explain away the young-earth creationist viewpoint.

In this episode of Eastern Oregon On Fire (or the EOU in Action Podcast, since we clearly can’t decide on a name), Peter Hamilton has some provocative questions for Molly Gulden.  Molly is on the EOU cross-country and track team and has made some serious investments in her faith since arriving at EOU; she has many provocative things to say back!

How would you answer the questions that Peter has for Molly?


What do you think God is like?
Presently, would you say you are moving toward God, away from God, or in a holding pattern?
What do you think happens to us when we die?
If you died and stood in front of God, and he asked you, “Why should I let you into heaven?”, what would you say?
On a scale of 1-10, how sure are you  that you would get in with that answer?

Have you ever heard that EOU isn't very religiously tolerant?  We've heard statements like this from students in the past, and at first we really, really didn't want to believe them...but then the claims built to the point where they could no longer be ignored.  So how could EOU gain a better appreciation for the Bible?  That's exactly the topic Brock Johnson and Matt Sheeks take up in this episode.

Let's face it - EOU is a little quirky.  We once encountered an environmentalist student who paused while lecturing us about the virtues of sustainable forestry to refill her lip with chewing tobacco, then changed the subject and asked us for a ride to Wendy's.  Then another time we saw one of the hunters on campus came back with a nice deer strapped to the top of his Prius, only to park across two handicapped spots.

All of this makes it tough to generalize about EOU students at all, much less the spiritual environment at EOU.  Nevertheless, in this episode Brock Johnson from the EOU basketball team shares his observations about the spiritual beliefs of EOU students and staff in comparison to Biblical Christianity.  

Let's just say...there's room for improvement.

Should you want to hear his perspective, please give the episode a listen.

If you grew up going to church, did you have a positive experience?  Peter Hamilton did.  Peter is now a small forward on the basketball team for EOU, and believes God has placed him at EOU for a specific purpose.  We interviewed him specifically to get his thoughts on what the gospel is, the message that every EOU student needs to hear.

Questions answered in this episode:

Where does morality come from? 

How would you define sin?

What is the gospel?

What must someone do to gain eternal life?

What is God like?

It's a big question, maybe even the ultimate question. In the first full episode of the Eastern Oregon On Fire Podcast, three football players from the Eastern Oregon University football team discuss what God is like and how we can know him.  They have some really insightful and profound things to say!