If a man became God, would we turn into little robots who praise and worship without ever having free choice again?
If a man became God, would we have to worry about getting wiped out in the blink of an eye because he got too mad at the world one day?
If a man became God, would we be concerned about getting crushed like an ant because he was bored?
If a man became God, would we live in fear of hell forever because some cruel guy got put in charge of everything?
If a man became God, would salvation no longer be open equally to all men because he didn't love equally?
If a man became God, would we never again be assured of our salvation because he turned it into a pluralistic, all-paths-lead-to-him, just-be-good-and-you'll-make-it mess?
If a man became God, would we feel slighted because a bunch of evil men made it to heaven just because he thought everyone should get in no matter what?
If a man became God, would we feel even more slighted when some people made it to heaven and some didn't, completely regardless of what they did and what they believed?
Thank God we don't have to worry about any of that.
Rather, thank God that he became a man and paid the price for us on the cross. Thank God for Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, in whom we must put our trust to inherit eternal life!
Grace and Peace
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Friday, August 28, 2009
Wake Up Call
Props to my wife for sending this link she came across today:
http://media.causes.com/544740?p_id=77580773
It breaks my heart to see things like that, especially when I have little girls of my own.
Too often I forget what a fallen and broken world we actually live in. Hearing incidents like this should be a wake up call for Christ's followers, myself included. Not just a wake up call to keep an eye out to help hurting people, especially the little ones that can't help themselves. Not just a wake up call to be report criminal activity and get the "bad guys" locked up. But also a wake up call that we need to do our part to get the gospel out to the whole world.
Why? I had a few thoughts about that.
The first is bunk and is something that will never happen, but I will share anyway. The thought is that if everyone trusted in and followed Christ, what would this world be like? What could disappear from the earth? Armies? Police? Jails? Homeless shelters? Food banks? Lawyers? Alarm systems? Surveillance cameras? Whatever-anonymous groups? Psychologists? Computer firewalls? Locks? I bet this list could go on for a while. Not a single one of these, and many more, things would be needed if we lived in world filled with disciples of Jesus Christ. But we know that's not going to happen. This world is going to keep getting worse before it ever gets better. We've got God's word on that.
The second is that the gospel, and key things that surround it, provide answers to questions that surround atrocities like the one shown in the video. The fact of the matter is we live in a fallen world with broken people that have abandoned God and are allowed to make choices. In that situation, there will always be evil. We can help heal and comfort those affected by it. We can influence legislation to control actions, even though it doesn't change hearts. We can speak out in many ways against the evil in this world. But no matter what we do, its not going away until the world is made new again by God himself.
The third, and most important, is that the gospel is essential to salvation. People can get outraged at the evil other people do all they want, and rightfully so. Just remember that it is not the basis for comparison to use when we're talking about our eternal destiny. That's what so many in the world do, isn't it? "Oh I've got some issues, but I'm not as bad as that other guy! So, I'm okay, right?" If you don't know Jesus Christ, the answer is, no, you're not. The "cold blooded killer" and the "moral man" both need Jesus Christ equally, because every single one of us has a desperately wicked heart bent on rebelling against God. No matter how good we think we are, that heart isn't made right until we repent and turn to Jesus and God puts a new heart in us.
So what's my point? Everyone needs Jesus. The "parent" who really wasn't, and the "good" person who doesn't know him. If you know him, great. Tell this broken world why they need him too, how one day he's going to deal with those who reject his Son, and how one day he's going to make this world all right again.
Grace and Peace
http://media.causes.com/544740?p_id=77580773
It breaks my heart to see things like that, especially when I have little girls of my own.
Too often I forget what a fallen and broken world we actually live in. Hearing incidents like this should be a wake up call for Christ's followers, myself included. Not just a wake up call to keep an eye out to help hurting people, especially the little ones that can't help themselves. Not just a wake up call to be report criminal activity and get the "bad guys" locked up. But also a wake up call that we need to do our part to get the gospel out to the whole world.
Why? I had a few thoughts about that.
The first is bunk and is something that will never happen, but I will share anyway. The thought is that if everyone trusted in and followed Christ, what would this world be like? What could disappear from the earth? Armies? Police? Jails? Homeless shelters? Food banks? Lawyers? Alarm systems? Surveillance cameras? Whatever-anonymous groups? Psychologists? Computer firewalls? Locks? I bet this list could go on for a while. Not a single one of these, and many more, things would be needed if we lived in world filled with disciples of Jesus Christ. But we know that's not going to happen. This world is going to keep getting worse before it ever gets better. We've got God's word on that.
The second is that the gospel, and key things that surround it, provide answers to questions that surround atrocities like the one shown in the video. The fact of the matter is we live in a fallen world with broken people that have abandoned God and are allowed to make choices. In that situation, there will always be evil. We can help heal and comfort those affected by it. We can influence legislation to control actions, even though it doesn't change hearts. We can speak out in many ways against the evil in this world. But no matter what we do, its not going away until the world is made new again by God himself.
The third, and most important, is that the gospel is essential to salvation. People can get outraged at the evil other people do all they want, and rightfully so. Just remember that it is not the basis for comparison to use when we're talking about our eternal destiny. That's what so many in the world do, isn't it? "Oh I've got some issues, but I'm not as bad as that other guy! So, I'm okay, right?" If you don't know Jesus Christ, the answer is, no, you're not. The "cold blooded killer" and the "moral man" both need Jesus Christ equally, because every single one of us has a desperately wicked heart bent on rebelling against God. No matter how good we think we are, that heart isn't made right until we repent and turn to Jesus and God puts a new heart in us.
So what's my point? Everyone needs Jesus. The "parent" who really wasn't, and the "good" person who doesn't know him. If you know him, great. Tell this broken world why they need him too, how one day he's going to deal with those who reject his Son, and how one day he's going to make this world all right again.
Grace and Peace
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Assurance and Emotion
That kid from Toy Story wrote his name on the feet of Woody and Buzz. Homer got a bowling ball with his name on it (for Marge, but that's a different matter). Old school moms theoretically write the kids' names on their underwear. There are titles for cars, deeds for houses, patents for ideas, trademarks for names, and so on. What's the point? Ownership. In a fallen world where people don't do the right thing, we feel the need to be able to show who owns what.
Well, that doesn't stop in the material world. There is ownership in the spiritual world too. Those true believers who genuinely follow Christ are sealed by the Holy Spirit, and that's God's way of showing that he owns us. When we put our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, we are given the Holy Spirit as promised. Now that's some seal! We have the spirit of God living inside of us, guiding our actions and guarding our hearts. At that point, we're his and he's not going to let us go.
Check it out. Romans 8:9 says that "You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him." You see? If you have the Holy Spirit, you know without a doubt you belong to Christ. If you do not have the Holy Spirit, you know without a doubt you do not belong to Christ and need to repent and turn to him.
So how do we know if we have the spirit of God in us? Well let's ask some questions. Is our faith in Christ alone? Are we trusting him for our salvation? Is there evidence of that faith through a changed life, through walking in obedience with the Lord, through conviction when we sin?
If the answers to these questions are yes, yes, and yes, then the answer seems pretty clear to me. We do have an assurance of salvation. There is no doubt. God seals us with his Spirit, and we know we are his now and forever. Freed from sin. We can live our lives in service to our king without ever doubting, without ever asking "am I going to make it?"
And when we yield to the Spirit God has put in us, and let him guide us, the feeling it brings is wonderful. I have never experienced the peace and joy that being filled with the Spirit brings through anything worldly. It is an absolute pleasure to serve Christ, who has given me the most precious gift imaginable. If wonder if all unbelievers could know, understand, and feel the same up front, would there be any unbelievers left in the world? Probably (what a stiff necked people we are), but not as many!
That is not to say we should based our assurance of salvation on our feelings alone. There are plenty of people following numerous false religions across the world who have emotional experiences that are very powerful. You'll be able to find "conversion experience" stories from people joining any of the major world religions and cults that seem powerful and moving. And there is no doubt in my mind that for those people, the emotions they felt are completely real. And why not? Satan is the king of counterfeiters, and he can certainly manufacture a false sense of closeness with God, to keep people away from actually following Christ.
Clearly emotions are not enough. Our hearts are so deceitful, we cannot trust the feelings we think we have all on their own. Rather, we need to get into the written word of God so that it gets into us. We need to understand what it means to repent and turn to Jesus. We need to understand the significance of what he did on the cross for us. We need to understand what it means to die to self and live for Christ. When we follow the Living Word in the manner given to us in his written word, we know we are his without a shadow of a doubt. Then when, not if, the joy in serving him comes, we know also without a shadow of a doubt that it, too, is real.
If you, dear reader, do not know the light and love of Jesus Christ, then please turn to him. Know and admit your utter spiritual bankruptcy, that you have nothing to offer God on your own to make yourself right with him. Turn to Jesus for your salvation and trust in him. Receive the free gift God is offering you. Follow Jesus and experience the greatest joy in this world. You won't regret it, especially when you consider that such joy is merely a pitiful shadow of things to come.
Grace and Peace
Well, that doesn't stop in the material world. There is ownership in the spiritual world too. Those true believers who genuinely follow Christ are sealed by the Holy Spirit, and that's God's way of showing that he owns us. When we put our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, we are given the Holy Spirit as promised. Now that's some seal! We have the spirit of God living inside of us, guiding our actions and guarding our hearts. At that point, we're his and he's not going to let us go.
Check it out. Romans 8:9 says that "You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him." You see? If you have the Holy Spirit, you know without a doubt you belong to Christ. If you do not have the Holy Spirit, you know without a doubt you do not belong to Christ and need to repent and turn to him.
So how do we know if we have the spirit of God in us? Well let's ask some questions. Is our faith in Christ alone? Are we trusting him for our salvation? Is there evidence of that faith through a changed life, through walking in obedience with the Lord, through conviction when we sin?
If the answers to these questions are yes, yes, and yes, then the answer seems pretty clear to me. We do have an assurance of salvation. There is no doubt. God seals us with his Spirit, and we know we are his now and forever. Freed from sin. We can live our lives in service to our king without ever doubting, without ever asking "am I going to make it?"
And when we yield to the Spirit God has put in us, and let him guide us, the feeling it brings is wonderful. I have never experienced the peace and joy that being filled with the Spirit brings through anything worldly. It is an absolute pleasure to serve Christ, who has given me the most precious gift imaginable. If wonder if all unbelievers could know, understand, and feel the same up front, would there be any unbelievers left in the world? Probably (what a stiff necked people we are), but not as many!
That is not to say we should based our assurance of salvation on our feelings alone. There are plenty of people following numerous false religions across the world who have emotional experiences that are very powerful. You'll be able to find "conversion experience" stories from people joining any of the major world religions and cults that seem powerful and moving. And there is no doubt in my mind that for those people, the emotions they felt are completely real. And why not? Satan is the king of counterfeiters, and he can certainly manufacture a false sense of closeness with God, to keep people away from actually following Christ.
Clearly emotions are not enough. Our hearts are so deceitful, we cannot trust the feelings we think we have all on their own. Rather, we need to get into the written word of God so that it gets into us. We need to understand what it means to repent and turn to Jesus. We need to understand the significance of what he did on the cross for us. We need to understand what it means to die to self and live for Christ. When we follow the Living Word in the manner given to us in his written word, we know we are his without a shadow of a doubt. Then when, not if, the joy in serving him comes, we know also without a shadow of a doubt that it, too, is real.
If you, dear reader, do not know the light and love of Jesus Christ, then please turn to him. Know and admit your utter spiritual bankruptcy, that you have nothing to offer God on your own to make yourself right with him. Turn to Jesus for your salvation and trust in him. Receive the free gift God is offering you. Follow Jesus and experience the greatest joy in this world. You won't regret it, especially when you consider that such joy is merely a pitiful shadow of things to come.
Grace and Peace
Friday, August 21, 2009
Stupid Cookie
We had a message on integrity recently at church, plus I've been writing a bit on integrity at home. Its funny how the Lord drops things into our lives to show us the disconnect between our head knowledge and our hearts at just the right moments in just the right way to make the point stick.
Today he did that with a cookie. That's right, a cookie taught me something today -- probably a couple of things in reality. Sometimes we're a little dense and need something as clever as a dessert snack to impart knowledge and bring growth. The main lesson brought through one stupid cookie? Don't even leave the door open a tiny crack for your integrity to be compromised. I did, and it grieved me.
Here's what went down. I went out to lunch with the family today. The girls wanted cookies. I wanted a cookie. They got two cookies with their meals, total. I got zero cookies. So I went to the bakery counter and ordered three cookies and asked how much the third one would be. "Seventy one cents" replied the nice woman behind the counter. Then she handed me my cookies and said don't worry about that last one.
Uh oh.
At the time I reacted in a fairly stupid way. "Are you sure that's okay?" "Yes." "Really?" "Yes." "Thank you, have a good day."
That's where I went wrong. I got back to the table and said to Jamie "You think its okay for her to give these away?" "Probably not." D'oh. Now I had a situation on my hands. My natural man tried to rationalize it. Because I was allowed to give things away when I worked in the deli, maybe she was allowed to give cookies away. That wouldn't do. I was the night manager. She wasn't the manager. She didn't have authority in the place.
So what did I end up doing? Not wanted to embarrass her -- or at least that's what I told myself, the truth of that may be suspect given our deceptive hearts -- I went back inside and asked the manager if it was okay for her to do that. Even then I screwed up the story. The way I said it sounded like she gave me the third cookie without asking for three! He briefly double checked what I was asking and said that's fine, but his eyes told a different story. I can't read people very well, but either he thought I was insane, or it really wasn't okay and this lady's going to get in trouble.
Not a good situation either way. Maybe the woman gets in trouble at work. Maybe I look like a bad witness to the manager for even accepting the stolen goods, especially after talking to him about the Lord not a half an hour before! I definitely didn't enjoy the cookie as I should have with a clean conscience. It was a completely rotten event that's been bothering me until now. But since all things do work for good for those of us who love God and are called according to his purpose, it sure gives me a way for me to remember in the future not to even open the door up a tiny smidge when dishonesty knocks.
And all this over a stupid cookie.
But then, its not really about the cookie, is it?
Grace and Peace
Today he did that with a cookie. That's right, a cookie taught me something today -- probably a couple of things in reality. Sometimes we're a little dense and need something as clever as a dessert snack to impart knowledge and bring growth. The main lesson brought through one stupid cookie? Don't even leave the door open a tiny crack for your integrity to be compromised. I did, and it grieved me.
Here's what went down. I went out to lunch with the family today. The girls wanted cookies. I wanted a cookie. They got two cookies with their meals, total. I got zero cookies. So I went to the bakery counter and ordered three cookies and asked how much the third one would be. "Seventy one cents" replied the nice woman behind the counter. Then she handed me my cookies and said don't worry about that last one.
Uh oh.
At the time I reacted in a fairly stupid way. "Are you sure that's okay?" "Yes." "Really?" "Yes." "Thank you, have a good day."
That's where I went wrong. I got back to the table and said to Jamie "You think its okay for her to give these away?" "Probably not." D'oh. Now I had a situation on my hands. My natural man tried to rationalize it. Because I was allowed to give things away when I worked in the deli, maybe she was allowed to give cookies away. That wouldn't do. I was the night manager. She wasn't the manager. She didn't have authority in the place.
So what did I end up doing? Not wanted to embarrass her -- or at least that's what I told myself, the truth of that may be suspect given our deceptive hearts -- I went back inside and asked the manager if it was okay for her to do that. Even then I screwed up the story. The way I said it sounded like she gave me the third cookie without asking for three! He briefly double checked what I was asking and said that's fine, but his eyes told a different story. I can't read people very well, but either he thought I was insane, or it really wasn't okay and this lady's going to get in trouble.
Not a good situation either way. Maybe the woman gets in trouble at work. Maybe I look like a bad witness to the manager for even accepting the stolen goods, especially after talking to him about the Lord not a half an hour before! I definitely didn't enjoy the cookie as I should have with a clean conscience. It was a completely rotten event that's been bothering me until now. But since all things do work for good for those of us who love God and are called according to his purpose, it sure gives me a way for me to remember in the future not to even open the door up a tiny smidge when dishonesty knocks.
And all this over a stupid cookie.
But then, its not really about the cookie, is it?
Grace and Peace
Christianity Is Not A Religion
A video post by SinCityPreacher motivated me to write this quick post up. He drove the point home so well here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rZE-2t8E7s&feature=related
I've been called religious before. It bothered me a little bit. I certainly hope not! I don't think people using that word understand what it means sometimes. Christianity is not a religion; therefore, it follows, that Christians are not religious.
A religion is a system of things to do to earn approval from God. Such systems fail because we cannot earn our way to heaven. Anyone who trusts in religion to get them to heaven is condemned.
Christianity is not based on what we do for God, but rather what God has done for us. God became a man, Jesus, who suffered and died on the cross to be an atoning sacrifice for our sins. He rose again from the dead on the third day, proving who he is, and showing that the sacrifice was acceptable.
Christianity is about our relationship with Jesus. A Christian worships Jesus because he is God. A Christian trusts Jesus as his savior. A Christian follows Jesus as his lord.
If you are trusting in religion to save you, run away from it, straight into the waiting arms of Jesus Christ.
Grace and Peace
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rZE-2t8E7s&feature=related
I've been called religious before. It bothered me a little bit. I certainly hope not! I don't think people using that word understand what it means sometimes. Christianity is not a religion; therefore, it follows, that Christians are not religious.
A religion is a system of things to do to earn approval from God. Such systems fail because we cannot earn our way to heaven. Anyone who trusts in religion to get them to heaven is condemned.
Christianity is not based on what we do for God, but rather what God has done for us. God became a man, Jesus, who suffered and died on the cross to be an atoning sacrifice for our sins. He rose again from the dead on the third day, proving who he is, and showing that the sacrifice was acceptable.
Christianity is about our relationship with Jesus. A Christian worships Jesus because he is God. A Christian trusts Jesus as his savior. A Christian follows Jesus as his lord.
If you are trusting in religion to save you, run away from it, straight into the waiting arms of Jesus Christ.
Grace and Peace
Thursday, August 20, 2009
You Must Be Born Again
I've heard it said here and there "those born agains" or "I'm a Christian, but I'm not a born again". Now, I can understand semantics and not wanting to identify with this label or that one, but, labels aside, let's make one thing perfectly clear. If you are not born again, you will not inherit the kingdom of God. Period. There's no way around that. Don't believe it? What did Jesus say to Nicodemus? "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." Nicodemus was confused. Jesus clarified with "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God."
What does that mean? The Barclay Daily Study Bible puts it nicely: “There are two thoughts here. Water is the symbol of cleansing. When Jesus takes possession of our lives, when we love Him with all our heart, the sins of the past are forgiven and forgotten. The Spirit is the symbol of power. When Jesus takes possession of our lives it is not only that the past is forgotten and forgiven; if that were all, we might well proceed to make the same mess of life all over again; but into life there enters a new power which enables us to be what by ourselves we could never be and to do what by ourselves we could never do. Water and the Spirit stand for the cleansing and the strengthening power of Christ, which wipes out the past and gives victory in the future.”
In other words, when you are born again, you are made new. Like Paul said, you are literally a new creation. Your heart of stone is torn out and replaced. Your carnal, fleshly, worldly, natural nature is dead, crucified with Christ on the cross. You rise with Christ. As he rose from physical death so do you rise from spiritual death. You're no longer in bondage to sin. No, now you have the spirit of God himself put in you so that you can live a life pleasing to him, for his glory.
So what's that look like? Well for one, you're not a natural man anymore, you're a spiritual man.
From the time the natural man gets up in the morning to the time he goes to bed, what does he think about? Things of the flesh. I'm not just talking about overtly sinful perverted things or anything like that, only, but rather things of this world. The natural man gets all wrapped up in work, family, finances, sports, entertainment, movies, whatever. He may go to church once a week and go to a Bible study now and then. He may do service projects and volunteer at the church. He may do many things that look good on the outside, and these things are not wrong. But the natural man's heart and mind are not focused on God.
The spiritual man is different because he a new creation. He has his heart and mind focused on the things of God. He doesn't make big decisions in life without consulting the Lord for direction. He dives head first into things of the spirit, seeking God's will, God's plan, God's purpose, God's priorities.
Now, don't get me wrong here, I'm not saying the spiritual man thinks about God 24/7 -- the same way (some) natural men don't think about the world 24/7. It's really just a priority reversal, but its not one that comes from our own efforts. In our own efforts the best we can do is try to kill the flesh with the flesh. It never works. All the well intentioned lifestyle choices we make won't do it. All the service in the world won't do it. All the giving in the world won't do it. All the rituals in the world won't do it. All that will do it is to recognize our spiritual bankruptcy and come to Christ in humility, with a pure heart, pleading for him to save us. All that will do it is realizing and believing in his work on the cross. Only then can we be born again and have something greater to kill the flesh, and that is the spirit of Almighty God living in us.
Grace and Peace
What does that mean? The Barclay Daily Study Bible puts it nicely: “There are two thoughts here. Water is the symbol of cleansing. When Jesus takes possession of our lives, when we love Him with all our heart, the sins of the past are forgiven and forgotten. The Spirit is the symbol of power. When Jesus takes possession of our lives it is not only that the past is forgotten and forgiven; if that were all, we might well proceed to make the same mess of life all over again; but into life there enters a new power which enables us to be what by ourselves we could never be and to do what by ourselves we could never do. Water and the Spirit stand for the cleansing and the strengthening power of Christ, which wipes out the past and gives victory in the future.”
In other words, when you are born again, you are made new. Like Paul said, you are literally a new creation. Your heart of stone is torn out and replaced. Your carnal, fleshly, worldly, natural nature is dead, crucified with Christ on the cross. You rise with Christ. As he rose from physical death so do you rise from spiritual death. You're no longer in bondage to sin. No, now you have the spirit of God himself put in you so that you can live a life pleasing to him, for his glory.
So what's that look like? Well for one, you're not a natural man anymore, you're a spiritual man.
From the time the natural man gets up in the morning to the time he goes to bed, what does he think about? Things of the flesh. I'm not just talking about overtly sinful perverted things or anything like that, only, but rather things of this world. The natural man gets all wrapped up in work, family, finances, sports, entertainment, movies, whatever. He may go to church once a week and go to a Bible study now and then. He may do service projects and volunteer at the church. He may do many things that look good on the outside, and these things are not wrong. But the natural man's heart and mind are not focused on God.
The spiritual man is different because he a new creation. He has his heart and mind focused on the things of God. He doesn't make big decisions in life without consulting the Lord for direction. He dives head first into things of the spirit, seeking God's will, God's plan, God's purpose, God's priorities.
Now, don't get me wrong here, I'm not saying the spiritual man thinks about God 24/7 -- the same way (some) natural men don't think about the world 24/7. It's really just a priority reversal, but its not one that comes from our own efforts. In our own efforts the best we can do is try to kill the flesh with the flesh. It never works. All the well intentioned lifestyle choices we make won't do it. All the service in the world won't do it. All the giving in the world won't do it. All the rituals in the world won't do it. All that will do it is to recognize our spiritual bankruptcy and come to Christ in humility, with a pure heart, pleading for him to save us. All that will do it is realizing and believing in his work on the cross. Only then can we be born again and have something greater to kill the flesh, and that is the spirit of Almighty God living in us.
Grace and Peace
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Little, Big
I did two things today. Okay I did a lot of things today, but two of them are relevant to this post.
The first is that I looked at "The Human Body Book" with my kids. There were various things they were interested in, but one of the most interesting things, to me, was the innards of a cell. You know what's in a cell? A whole lot of junk, that's what. It varies depending on cell type, but the picture of a generalized cell we looked at looks like a huge aquarium teeming with a couple dozen forms of life. You have parts for nutrient absorption, cell reproduction, moving substances through the cytoplasm (cell goo), sugar/fat digestion and energy production, material/water storage and transport, structural support, protein assembly, substance flow control, plus the control center in the middle and various other pieces that make this whole thing work. Its like a factory more complicated than any I've seen. And we've got a gazillion of these things working together in our bodies.
The second is that I took the dog on a walk at night and looked up at the stars (and maybe one planet, it was really bright). I saw maybe a couple of dozen stars, billions of miles away, shining brightly in the depths of space. Its estimated that there are 100 billion stars in our galaxy, and maybe the same number of galaxies. Let's say those estimates are off by a factor of 100, each. That would still be 1 000 000 000 000 000 000 stars. I don't know about your universe, but in mine, that's a lot of freaking stars.
Then I thought of something. Okay I thought of a lot of things, but one of them is relevant to this post.
In ages past, people didn't know about the complexity of the cell. It wasn't that long ago that people didn't even know what a cell was. It wasn't that long ago either that people didn't know how vast the universe was. Yet many believed in God.
Now we live in a time when people can see small things so much more than ever before and large things so much more than ever before. These are the very things that point to God's existence. The complexity of the human body and the vastness of the universe is so great, it is a huge testimony to the vastness and glory of God himself. And what do some so called "brilliant minds" do with it? They try use the very evidence of God's existence to say that he could not possibly exist.
"Yes, this vast universe just popped into existence from nothing! And life too! This incredibly complex system called life just popped into existence from nothing too! And the little complex things grew into more and more and more complex things until one day they grew into something that had enough of a brain to think about its own existence and say 'There is no God'".
Rubbish.
If with greater revelation comes greater accountability, how much more accountable are we today, knowing the enormity of God's creation? I think much, but that's just one man's opinion.
Grace and Peace
The first is that I looked at "The Human Body Book" with my kids. There were various things they were interested in, but one of the most interesting things, to me, was the innards of a cell. You know what's in a cell? A whole lot of junk, that's what. It varies depending on cell type, but the picture of a generalized cell we looked at looks like a huge aquarium teeming with a couple dozen forms of life. You have parts for nutrient absorption, cell reproduction, moving substances through the cytoplasm (cell goo), sugar/fat digestion and energy production, material/water storage and transport, structural support, protein assembly, substance flow control, plus the control center in the middle and various other pieces that make this whole thing work. Its like a factory more complicated than any I've seen. And we've got a gazillion of these things working together in our bodies.
The second is that I took the dog on a walk at night and looked up at the stars (and maybe one planet, it was really bright). I saw maybe a couple of dozen stars, billions of miles away, shining brightly in the depths of space. Its estimated that there are 100 billion stars in our galaxy, and maybe the same number of galaxies. Let's say those estimates are off by a factor of 100, each. That would still be 1 000 000 000 000 000 000 stars. I don't know about your universe, but in mine, that's a lot of freaking stars.
Then I thought of something. Okay I thought of a lot of things, but one of them is relevant to this post.
In ages past, people didn't know about the complexity of the cell. It wasn't that long ago that people didn't even know what a cell was. It wasn't that long ago either that people didn't know how vast the universe was. Yet many believed in God.
Now we live in a time when people can see small things so much more than ever before and large things so much more than ever before. These are the very things that point to God's existence. The complexity of the human body and the vastness of the universe is so great, it is a huge testimony to the vastness and glory of God himself. And what do some so called "brilliant minds" do with it? They try use the very evidence of God's existence to say that he could not possibly exist.
"Yes, this vast universe just popped into existence from nothing! And life too! This incredibly complex system called life just popped into existence from nothing too! And the little complex things grew into more and more and more complex things until one day they grew into something that had enough of a brain to think about its own existence and say 'There is no God'".
Rubbish.
If with greater revelation comes greater accountability, how much more accountable are we today, knowing the enormity of God's creation? I think much, but that's just one man's opinion.
Grace and Peace
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)