 Ranger Bill, warrior of the woodland, struggling against extreme odds, traveling dangerous trails, showing rare courage in the face of disaster, in the air, on horseback, or in a screaming squad car. Ranger Bill, his mind alert, already smile, unswerving, loyal to his mission, and all this in exchange for the satisfaction and pride of a job well done. Boy, Naughty Pine seems to get busier every week. Look at all the people down here shopping today. Yeah, I know what you mean, pal. I have an idea that before long we'll see a lot of new stories going up around here. They'll have to, hey, look over there, across the street. Isn't that Harvey Elroy? I'm not sure, Henry. Sure looks like him. I haven't seen him since he went off to college two years ago. Look, why don't you run over there and say hi to him, huh? I think I can find my way back to the ranger station alone. Boy, if you couldn't, we'd have a fine chief ranger. Thanks, Bill. I'll see you later on. Hey, Harv! I guess it's Harvey, all right. Well, I'd better get along to the station. So, when I saw you from across the street there, I could hardly believe my eyes. I haven't seen you for two years at least. At least that, Henry. Well, you're starting to look like a real man. Well, what about you? Look at you, all those Ivy League clothes. If I didn't know your name was Harvey, I'd think you were Joe College himself. Say, have you got a few minutes, Henry? Sure. I have to meet Bill back at the ranger station later, but I'm free now. Good. Let's stop for a soda or something. I've been away from naughty pine for so long I'd like to hear what all's been happening. Oh, you know us. Practically a new adventure every week. And that just about brings us up to today. I didn't think I knew so much about naughty pine. Well, you're the best newspaper I've ever seen. No, what about you, Harvey? It's been so long since I saw you. I can't even remember what your major is in college. It's botany, Henry. Botany? Why, that's swell. Oh, I guess when you grow up in a place like this, you can't help but get interested in plants and the like. It's a tremendously interesting program. Program? Oh, that's what they call the whole four-year course. Oh, I can hardly wait till I get to college, Harvey. Every time I hear of things you do and learn, well, I just get all the itchier. Well, don't you get too itchy for the kicks of college, Henry. It's hard work all the way. Yeah, I know. But it's so much more interesting than all the stuff you have to learn in high school. But did you ever think that if you didn't learn all that stuff in high school, you wouldn't be able to go to college? I know. They wouldn't let you. Oh, no, no. It isn't just the law that would stop you. No? No, no. Believe me, you use almost everything you learned in high school. Well, they just figured that you know a lot of things already, so they go right on to the more detailed work. So I guess it's a good thing to learn all you can before you go to college, huh? I think so. Makes your college career a lot more fun and interesting. Say, I just thought of something. What are you doing this coming Saturday afternoon? Nothing that I know of. Why? Well, I was just thinking, you being a botany major in college and all, my boys club is going on an all day hike Saturday. I sure would be swell if you could come along. You could show us some of the things we might not ordinarily see about the trees and plants and things. Boys club, huh? That's right. Some of the younger fellas in Naughty Pine get together at the school once a week. They ask me if I'd be their leader. Sounds like fun. What all do you do? Oh, you know, hikes, games. We visit all sorts of places and study lots of things that have to do with nature. It sounds like maybe I could learn something from your club. Oh, no, I doubt that. What about it though, Harve? Would you come along? Well, there'll be food. We can plan to cook lunch and supper in the woods, and then maybe you could say a few words about school and things that are meeting after supper. Meeting? That's right. One of the things we do each week is to look at the portion of the Bible and study it. We plan to save this week's study for after dinner in the woods. It kind of makes you feel closer to God. That's right. I'd forgotten. You always were a religious guy, weren't you, Henry? I guess you could call it that. College will do you a lot more good than I thought. What do you mean? Well, I think you'll change a lot of your ideas about God after you've been there for a while. I suppose I will. As a matter of fact, I'm planning on it. You are? Sure. I figure the more I learn about His creation, the better an idea I'll have of what He's really like. Oh, uh-huh. Well, I'm afraid that I can't buy God at all. There's a big lack of evidence. Huh? You don't believe in God? That's right. I tossed all that over when I grew up. Henry, I'll give you a good little rule to follow, a rule that anybody who is anybody uses, and it's this. Believe anything only on the basis of how much proof there is for it. That's a pretty good rule, all right? Yes, it is. And seeing as there's very little, if any, proof for God, well, I'm afraid I just can't buy the whole idea. Hey, Henry, I didn't mean to shatter your faith just like that. Oh, you didn't, Harv. You just got me to thinking a little. Oh, good. Good. With a brain like that, you'll be a college man before you know it. Bill? Yeah, Henry? Can you prove that God really is? Oh, uh, been talking to Harvey Elroy, Bill? Yeah, he says that you should only believe something that has enough proof for it, or something like that. Uh-huh. That's a good rule to follow, Bill. Well, that's what I thought too, but then he said that there isn't any proof to prove God, so he doesn't believe in him. Is that what he said? Yeah. It really shook me up. I never met anybody who didn't believe in God before. I mean, I know a lot of folks who aren't Christians, but they all probably believe in God. Is what he said right, Bill? Can you prove that God really is? Well, Henry, that's one of the oldest problems in the world. You see, pal, it isn't as easy as just saying that you can or can't prove that God exists. What do you mean? Well, let me give you an example. Let's take the argument that says that because the whole universe is running in an orderly way, you know, all the planets spinning around the sun at their own speeds and seasons always coming around on time, well, almost everything you know about nature is pretty well ordered. Sure. Otherwise, we couldn't really know anything about nature. I mean, if everything was all haphazard, how could we know what would happen next? That's right, pal. Now, some of us look at this orderliness of things, and we say that it's a proof that God is running it all. We say that it shows that there is some single operator of the whole thing. And in this way, we say that this is a proof that God exists. Makes good sense to me. But what did Harve mean? Well, what he meant was just this. Still using our orderliness argument, it might not mean that God is running things. It might just mean that things are just that way, that they don't need any single person to run them. There aren't some people who take this side of it. Yeah. I guess you can say that that could be. I just never thought of that side of it before. Maybe it's a good thing that you do, pal. That way, when you meet people who are highly respected, learned people, and they believe that way, you won't be swayed. At least I'll know more of what to expect. But wait a minute. What's the matter? If all the facts that you can use to prove God might really not prove Him at all, how do you, I mean, we know there really is a God? Well, I would have been disappointed in your thinking if you hadn't thought of that, pal. And there is a rather complicated process, but I'll see if I can boil it down for you. It might not all make sense to you right now, but as you get older and study more and think more, I'm sure it'll all fall right into line. Boy, I sure hope so. What the thinking, Christian, dies is to use the kinds of proof we were just talking about to support the only real evidence of God's existence. What's that? The Spirit Himself beareth witness with our Spirit. You see, the only real assurance we have is personally from God. But that doesn't help show someone like Harv, who doesn't believe it to start with, does it? He'd probably just say I was having hallucinations. And that's pretty well where these other proofs come in. It all sounds like a big circle to me. Well, we've said an awful lot in a little time, pal. It'll take you a lot longer to work all this out for yourself. But don't worry too much. Your friend Harvey has just as big a problem with his side. He does? Sure. It takes as much, if not more, faith to believe that God doesn't exist. And it takes just as big and fanciest circle of argument to keep him out of things. He said all that, huh? That's right. Your guardian sounds like he's a real intelligent guy. I'm a little surprised. I never saw an intelligent man who called himself a Christian. I mean, like you mean it. Well, boy, I'll tell you. What you said the other day sure had me shaky. I don't understand the whole thing yet myself, but I know that there is an answer. Well, I'll stick to my faith, as he calls it. I think there are too many reasons why belief in God is opposite to what's really good. But what do you mean? Don't you have something there in the Bible that says to believe in God no matter what? I think so. I know we're to have faith in God no matter what the circumstances. That amounts to the same thing. I think that's ridiculous. Why do you say that? I think it's pretty obvious. Look, if I believe that hitting somebody with a ball bat didn't really hurt them, and you showed me a whole hospital full of people who were hurt by ball bats. And I said, it doesn't matter because I don't believe that ball bats can hurt people. Well, you'd think I was crazy, wouldn't you? I guess so. Sure you would. Nobody in the world believes anything at all on a no matter what basis except in religion. And I think that that is crazy. Oh, you sure come back from college full of ideas, Harve. I can't answer a thing like that. But on the other hand, I sure can't toss over my whole Christian faith that easy either. These are just some of the things we kick around at school, Henry. I didn't mean to get you all bothered. I suppose you don't still want me to join you and your club on Saturday, huh? Oh, that's not so, Harve. I still think we can learn a lot from you along the lines of botany. Don't worry, Henry. I won't preach any of my anti-religious sermons to your impressionable young boys. Not all really. I think religion is good for young people. Well, when they're young, it gives them some pretty right ideas about how to act. We'll see you on Saturday then? Right. Sounds like it'll be fun. Father in heaven, I don't really know how to pray this to you. Harve has some pretty good sounding arguments against you. I never thought anything like this before. Maybe it's even a sin to think this way. But you have said to be honest and I don't think honesty could be a sin. Please show me more about yourself for two reasons. My faith is a little shaky right now and Harve needs to know the truth about you too. I ask in Jesus' name, amen. Okay, Frankie. Now hold on tight. Here we go. Now don't trample each other to death, trying to get up there for the next ride. Hey, this really kicks, Henry. No kidding. We always have a good time, Harve. But you sure have contributed to the fun. Hey, you sure know some neat things, Mr. Alwhite. We never rode those birches before. Fellas, fellas, try not to ride any one birch too many times. They lose their spring after a while and it does real damage to the trees, huh? Boy, boy, who you ever thought you could climb up high enough to make a bend over that way? Boy, that's really keen. Hey, what happened to your hand, Frankie? Call me on nothing. Just a little splinter, I guess. Don't hurt much. Let me have a look at that. Let's see it. Boy, we better get that splinter out before it infects. It's okay, honest. Come on, Frankie. Looks to me like you'd rather have it hurt just a little than a whole lot when it's taken off. Sure. Come on, Frankie. It'll only pain for a minute. Just let me do the work. Oh, hey. Hey, is all that hurtin' gonna make it better? I know what I'm doing, Frankie. Trust me. Here we go. What is it, Frankie? Hey, look, it's an old metal trap of some kind. Boy. What do you make of this, Henry? Didn't they tell you about how traps grew in botany class? Seriously, I think this is probably one of those traps they used out here a few years ago, when there was such a plague of timber wolves. I guess they tried just about everything to get rid of them. It's not too good an idea to leave a trap like that lying around where somebody might step in it. That's right. Let's take it with us. Hey, can I carry it? I found it. Well, it isn't set, so I guess it's safe. Sure. Boy, look what I have. How's it work? I don't know. You know, Henry, when you've been away from here for a while, you sure forget about what a beautiful place this part of the country is. I didn't think you could ever forget that. I guess I thought that too when I used to live right here. But when you get away and taken up with studies and other things, you sort of forget all this. Frankie, now what? That's what I was wondering. I'm caught. I'm caught. How did you do a thing like that? I was just seeing how it worked. Please, please get off my arm. It hurts and hurts. Give me a hand there. Will you harp? It looks like he's really stuck in this thing. Let me take a look. Oh, boy, it sure hurts. It looks to me like you have to pull these two things apart and then slip the arm out this way. That's what I was thinking. But he's got his arm in there so funny. It's not so funny. Harvey, you pull those pieces apart and I'll wiggle the trap around a little. Frankie, I think you'll have to push your arm farther in. Farther in? I want to get it out. But it looks like you'll have to push it farther in to get it out all right. Doesn't seem right. Push it farther in to get it out. Henry's right, Frankie. Just trust us. We have you out of there in jig turn. Fellas. Fellas, may I have your attention for a few minutes? Henry's gotta see something. Thanks. For our Bible lesson tonight, I want to read just one verse. It's from Hebrews in the 10th chapter. Let us hold fast to profession of our faith without wavering. Now, you know that that means we should believe in God, that we should trust Christ. And it says without wavering. And you know that means no matter what. I was having a chat with a fellow about this very thing not too long ago. And he was saying that in everything else we do, we follow a different idea. In everything but religion, we only hold fast to that which seems right. And as soon as anything else comes along that makes it look wrong, we can't hold fast to it anymore. Well, if I was to say that I believe that lions were friendly animals, what would you say? I'd say you were crazy. Well, sure you would. Because you know that some lions have been very unfriendly, don't you? But what if I just kept on believing it? What if I held fast to it? You think I was crazier still? Well, not about lions, Frankie, but about God. We're supposed to believe him no matter what things look like around us. Now, that isn't very hard for you fellows because you haven't seen too much of the troubles of the world. But for my friend, this was very hard. He could see many things that looked like just the opposite of what you would expect if there was a God. And he said that to hold fast in the light of all these things was foolish. Well, right at the time, I didn't have any answer for him. But thanks to God and to you fellows today, and especially you, Frankie, I have a good answer. Sure. Because at least twice today, you held fast to an idea even when the way things were working looked like the exact opposite of what you wanted. I did. Sure. Remember your splinter this morning? You believed that I could make you feel better even when I had to hurt you to do it. And you did too. And then this afternoon with that trap, remember how you believed that they were going to get you out of it? Even though we were telling you to put your hand farther in? Yeah. All I want to say to you fellows right now is that a lot of times during your life, things are going to come along that just don't look like God is interested in them at all. But you might have all kinds of reasons to doubt his care. And when that happens, remember Frankie and his splinter or his trap. Things may hurt more for a while or even what seems to be backwards for you. But in the words of our verse from the Bible tonight, let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering. And now we'll pray and then we'll have to break camp and head for home. Good night, Frankie. Good night. And that's the last of them. They sure are a lot of fun, but it really tires a fellow out. You can say that again. I want to stop at the soda fountain for a minute before you head for home, Henry. Sure. Henry. I guess that little talk was aimed at me. No, it wasn't hard, really. It's just that I've been puzzling over all that you said the other day. And when I finally got a few of the answers, I thought that the other fellows ought to know too. Well, you make me feel kind of stupid. I'm sorry, Harp. I sure didn't mean... Oh, you don't need to apologize, Henry. I know you didn't do it on purpose. It was just that, well, what you said was really good. I should have thought of things like that myself. You didn't need to. What do you mean? Well, you don't believe in God. So you don't need to work your way out of tight spots like that. I see what you mean. I just thought it was great that God arranged all those little things just to show us the answers. You think God did that? I'm sure of it. You see, Harp, lots of places in the Bible. It says that God will tell you what to say when people question your faith in him. All I can say is that I believe in him and trust him because I know him. But that doesn't convince you. I left this whole argument up to him, and I think he did pretty well with it. You give the guy the creeps the way you talk. Like God was really right along with us out there. I think he was. Henry, on second thought, I think I'll just go straight home tonight. Let's take a rain check on the drugstore. Well, it all sounds wonderful, pal. I can't help getting a little excited about it myself when I hear a God's definite answering of prayer. You know what I think is so great about all this, Bill? What's that, Henry? Well, I have to admit that all those things Harvey was saying about there being no reason to believe in God and things like that. Uh-huh. Well, I really was bothered by them. I probably even started to doubt a little bit, I think. I'm not surprised. But when God really arranged things out there on that hike and made just the right things happen, well, how can you doubt a thing like that? Isn't it pretty much what we were talking about a few days ago, pal? The only real assurance we have is personally from God himself. We can think up all the reasons we want, for or against, but that is only man at work. When God makes himself known, he does it in a definite positive way. I sure hope Harvey learns that about God. Well, from what you've told me, I'd say he's well on his way to learning it. Bill? Hmm? I just thought of something. Why didn't it make you upset when I started bringing up all those questions and when I told you that I might have started doubting God? Henry, when you get as old as I am, you've gone through a great many doubting times. And as I think you've seen this time, if you follow through honestly, God will honor your truthfulness than even more a thrilling assurance of himself. He sure did that this time. God is real, Henry. He's all in all a great God of gods. If he can't stand up to a few little arguments, then he isn't God, but he can and he does. Well, see you next week for more adventure with Ranger Bill was produced in the radio studios of the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago.