Note to Aaron:
Aaron,I am aware that the nature of this post is somewhat unorthodox, but I 
feel it is applicable in that it is a real life description of my own 
practical experience as a beekeeper. Hopefully it can be- in the end -a 
bridgebuilder between different ways of looking at beekeeping. My faith 
animates me and has a measured impact on the way I conduct my business. I 
certainly allow others their own point of view if different from mine.
Thanks


Allen said:

> Some believe that asking for clear and well developed proof before risking 
> even conditional belief is not only reasonable, but a good way to stay 
> alive, sane and solvent.
>
> and the list goes on...
>
> I guess we all have to believe in something, so I'll go with the last one. 
> Does that put me in the minority?

Allen,
I agree with the reasonableness of your statements above.
I guess this is probably a good a time as any in thanking you for your help 
in saving probably 50 of my hives in 2005.
At that time I was inquring on BEE-L as to how to feed bees. During  that 
period, I had  a vision of a barrel with a "gash" in it rolling down a hill. 
As i sought the interpretation, I felt as if The Lord told me that I was in 
danger of starving my bees(The color of the barrel was the same light green 
color as my only barrel of sugar syrup).
As it turned out,I dscovered LATER, the gallon bag feeding method I used was 
resulting in lots of unusable hard sugar.
 I was exploring "open feeding" and making slow progress- using 5 gallon 
pails-it never occured to be to use barrels. I inquired on BEE-L about this 
topic. You graciously responded by sending 3 websites(I saved your response 
from 2/18/05 in a folder) I gasped as I looked at the barrels with "gashes" 
that were very similiar to the one I saw in the vision. At about  the same 
time, a south Alabama beekeeper(Ted Kreitchman)also  graciously told me told 
me of a man only 100 miles from me that sold sugar in barrels.
I will shorten this by saying that as I applied this method of feeding .  I 
only ended up starving two hives....I am sure because of the stores lacking 
i would have starved many. many more.
Please note that I got my first beehive around 2000. I am being competely 
frank with you when I tell you that the reason i got into beekeeping was 
that I was walking across the yard one day and Christ spoke to me and said 
"Call Stan Mcdonald and get some honeybees" I did and we did..
We  have been steadily expanding since that time into a profitable honey and 
candlemaking business...and now queen rearing.
I have no words to describe how much I enjoy what I do, as I told one 
reporter "It almost feels illegal".

I guess what really got my attention was your heading "Faith vs. science" .

I recieved a transcript last week of a speech that was given to me by a 
friend who worked closely with Werhner Von Braun for several years on the 
Saturn program and beyond.
Here in part are  Dr Von Brauns words that I feel accurately describe the 
relationship between science and faith. It is titled "Science and Religion", 
and was given in 1965.

"The scientist works in an atmosphere where doubt is an accepted way of 
life, and unnecessary authority rejected . Thomas Huxley has said of the 
scientist: "For him skepticism is the highest of duties, blind faith the 
unpardonable sin". The rise of science has been accomapnied by a loss of 
tradition,which has been the mainstay of faith. Clashes between science and 
religion have, therefore, been frequent. And yet, it is one of the greatest 
tragedies of our times that science and religion have been cast as 
antagonists. To resolve the conflict, it has been tempting to adopt a policy 
of peaceful coexistence, and divide our experience into two parts, granting 
science contol over one part,and permitting religion its authority over the 
other.
Let science investigate the physical world while religion explains spiritual 
matters, the arguement goes. When science  gets to the end of its rope, let 
faith take over to account for the unexplainable. This is a fatal step. Two 
separate worlds for science and religion might work if no scientist were 
ever a Christian, and no Christian were ever a scientist. But science and 
religion do not operate in separate realms."

Allen, thanks for the inputs you and others have given over the years, they 
have been the instruments that have spared me untold headaches and mistakes. 
I could say the same thing about our local beekeping clubs and the members 
there.It helps make me aware of how little I know about keeping bees, which 
hopefully helps me to stay humble and teachable.
Best to all,
John Horton 

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