Solid Ground

Why Christianity and not Islam, Buddhism, Mormonism, etc.? What does history and scholarship actually say about Biblical accounts? Do you wonder about these and other questions about faith, reason, atheism, science, creation, evolution, proving God exists or doesn’t, the reliability of the Bible, the reality of miracles, the evidence for God, the problem of evil, how free will works, the coherence of the Trinity, and other related subjects? Solid Ground is for you. Solid Ground meets at 9:00 a.m. in a lecture, discussion, and question and answer format in Room 250A to discuss these types of issues. Please bring your questions, atheist and agnostic friends, and your skepticism with you and learn the reasons and evidence for your belief. The instructors are Scott Tomlinson, Will Gaines, and Karthik Abrams. Instructor: Scott Tomlinson

Scott is a strategic thinker for the U.S. Department of Defense and spends both his personal and professional time trying to solve difficult problems, with varying levels of success. His personal research interests include philosophy of science, perfect being theology, philosophy of mathematics, and problems in physics and cosmology. His professional research interests are even less exciting. Scott did his undergraduate work at a small trade school in Colorado Springs and has served in the U.S. Marines as an officer and with the U.S. Army as a civilian. He has a passion for working towards a complete and consistent theology and learning to follow the first commandment as well as is humanly possible. He is married to Tracy, a professor of psychology and statistics at the University of Maryland. She is very patient. They have two sons, Seth and Jesse. Instructor: Karl Blanke

Karl Blanke is a trial attorney in Fairfax County and a serving U.S. Marine Officer. from Georgetown University Law Center where he was the Executive Editor for the Georgetown Journal of Law and Public Policy. Karl served with distinction in Kuwait, Baghdad, and Fallujah and is currently the Executive Officer for 2nd Battalion, 24th Marines. Karl has a family of enormous talent and curiosity and those who know Karl well describe him as a man of the highest levels of virtue, patience, and intellect. He is also sufficiently humble that he will be embarrassed by this biographical sketch. Solid Ground is a community of people from many different backgrounds, including Christians, both Protestant and Catholic, agnostics, atheists, skeptics, occasionally Orthodox Jews, and others who wish to meet in order to explore, learn, and know truth. Solid Ground wishes to sound the depths of Christian belief, discover the truth about the world, and leave no important question unasked or unanswered. We wish to integrate religious belief, philosophy, scientific knowledge, and personal searches for happiness and fulfillment into a single body of knowledge that can stand the most rigorous examination. At present, SG meets at 9:00 a.m. on Sunday mornings at Reston Bible Church in room 250A.